My friend has 4,000 bales of hay for sale in Ontario,they are Organic farmers.How do we find a buyer,shipper etc. for a U.S. sale?I know some buyers come up here for large quantities.

-- teri murphy (dnsmacbeth@aol.com), August 22, 2001

Answers

Teri, we have hay coming out of our ears here in SE OH, round bales, square bales, and more to harvest yet! We charge 1.00 to 1.25 for 60 pound square bales of first cutting hay ( orchard grass, red clover, timothy and brome mix), and 10.00 for 700 pound round bales of first cutting of the same type of hay. We grow our hay organically only, and have for 7 years now.

Contact a local trucking company if you want to know rates for a truckload shipment, be advised though, it will probably cost you 2.00 a mile, or more, to ship it to you, and you will most likely have to pay to load it on the truck!

Look around, hay is very plentiful in the southern mid-atlantic states, we have been getting rain and flooding, all summer. No drought around here!!!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), August 22, 2001.

Teri, Like Annie, I am in Ohio and this has been a good Hay year. helped a neighbor put up way to many wagon's for my back worth of hay. I think he was upto 10,000 bales (square). He still have another cutting to go. $1/bale in 1000 qty,+ Upto $2/bale small quanities.

There are several Hay sellers sites. Have you checked with the ONTARIO HAY 'PRODUCERS' ASSOCIATION http://www.agpub.on.ca/ohpa/ohpa.htm Check out

Also check out http://www.hayexchange.com/hay.htm http://www.haybarn.com/

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), August 22, 2001.

Just out of curiosity, how much hay will an acre of land produce?

cheers,

-- Max (Maxel@inwindsor.com), August 22, 2001.

If anyone in a 'dry' area is looking for hay, this may help:

http://www.haybarn.com/reports/listforsale.asp?category=Hay

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), August 22, 2001.

Max, depends on the cutting and the weather as well as soil fertility. This year, with lots of rain, and our good soil, a 5 acre section produced 450 bales, first cutting. Second cutting, 53 bales, same section. Second and third cutting is about like baled yard grass, soft, fragrant, no stems, all leaf, very high in nutrition and protein, as high as 10% protein. First cutting can be good too, if cut very early, just as it forms the very beginnings of seed heads, but we had neverending rain for a month straight when the hay should have been cut, have to have sunshine to make hay!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), August 22, 2001.

Southern California

Alfalfa #1 $8.95 a bale " #2 7.95 "

Sudan Grass $5.00 -$7.95 per bale all other grasses about the same prices as Sudan

Straw $4.00 a bale

now if you buy a ton it is cheaper the more one purchaces the cheaper it gets.

-- westbrook (westbrook_farms@yahoo.com), August 23, 2001.

Hey, Westbrook, you feed feeds that we'd never feed in these parts....like Sudan.

Health Concerns when Feeding Forages to Horses

"Horses are extremely susceptible to molds, fungi, and other sources of toxic substances in forage. Mold problems generally occur in hay that has been baled at too high a moisture level (20% or more) without the use of a preservative. This is especially a problem with first cutting hay because it is harvested during a period of time when it rains frequently and the weather conditions are less than ideal for hay drying.

Always use clean, unmoldy forages when feeding horses. In addition to molds and fungi, some forage species contain chemical compounds that can have negative health effects on horses.  

Sudan grass and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids contain compounds which can cause muscle weakness, urinary problems and death in severe cases. Do not feed these grasses to horses!

Older varieties of tall fescue contained an endophyte fungus that could cause severe health problems if horses have only tall fescue to eat during the summer months. Mares are especially sensitive to the health problems associated with tall fescue. On pastures that contain endophyte infected tall fescue, remove mares from the pastures during the last three months of gestation. Newer tall fescue varieties that are free of the endophyte fungus are now available.

Another health problem could occur when horses are fed hay that contains blister beetles. When consumed, the beetle causes irritation to the lining of the digestive tract which usually results in death. Alfalfa hay that has been produced in southern areas of the U.S. is most generally associated with the potential to contain blister beetles. Do not feed any hay containing blister beetles to horses!

Poisonous plants in pastures or hay can be fatal to horses. Ornamental shrubs and nightshade are the most common poisonous plants in Pennsylvania.

However, any plant that is known to be poisonous to other animals is probably poisonous to horses. Some poisonous plants are highly palatable and should be identified and removed from pastures. However, many poisonous plants are not palatable and horses will not eat them unless there is inadequate forage available to meet their needs."

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), August 23, 2001.

sudan is fed to goats with supplimenting their nutrition the sudan is used for roughage. I feed a goat ration.

I promised my husband no horses when we married...I had 12 prior to meeting him....but....I never said anything about goats, sheep, cows, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits ...

-- westbrook (westbrook_farms@yahoo.com), August 23, 2001.