Post by simplynaturalfarm on Oct 13, 2017 22:56:13 GMT -5
Due to a move, I am shopping around for a new hay guy. Found a couple contacts and yesterday got to meet the one gentleman? Generational farmer who just got into large scale hay production the last five years.
I have never seen such gorgeous hay in my life!!! Like candy , four cuttings and even first cutting had rfv of 197, protein of 26% with really nice adf, sugar, and magnesium, potassium profiles. He had any kind I might be interested and when I said his top quality stuff (I mean soft soft stems and gorgeous - I wanted to eat it!) was too rich for bale feeding (my cows would bloat or be streaming diarrhea) he said he had four other sheds he could show me and he did. He had analysis done by two companies to compare and had them come out and do it themselves so he could show he didn't hand pick bales.
He took me to another farm and showed me gorgeous 2nd cutting, some in the field that was only 170 rfv (and more in my budget ), showed me some crp, took us to his alfalfa fields, showed us his chopped feeds, and then asked if I wanted to take a couple bales home. I told him to get the closest most convenient bales and he said it takes two minutes to get a loader to any farm so to hand pick whatever I wanted. He said be picky and if I see a bale I don't want in a load to please point it out as he doesn't want me to be unhappy. It was all well stored, net wrapped, not nitrogen fertilized, not round up ready, and cut pre bloom - he goes for quality over quantity to - first guy I've met in 15 years who doesn't cut at 80 -100% bloom when stems are thick and cows sort).
he does 100% guarantee and he will give replacement bales without a question if I tell him some were moldy. I don't have to bring them back, just tell him!
He asked what I was looking for,shared what he didn't know about feed values, shared what equipment he uses, and then said he will give discount for return customers and is looking for long term relationship and has referrals from dairies all over three states. He said he will sell one bale or 1000, he'll just give a good discount if I do larger trailer load.
He was still very humble and easy to talk to, and when I left he shook my hand and said to let him know what I need and he will do his best to work with us in re. to whatever we need.
And crazy enough, he doesn't fertilize and gets four -5 cuttings with excellent feed analysis. He does soil test but hasn't needed to fertilize yet.
For anybody curious about pricing, his prices were $35 a round up to $110 for his best stuff. Every bale was weighed and none under 1650 lbs, the higher quality stuff weighed closer to 1750. Heavy load for our tractor for sure!
I haven't cracked open a bale yet as they are 1700+ lbs each and I need to unload but I'm very excited to work with him!
And figured you would all appreciate a good hay man .
I have never seen such gorgeous hay in my life!!! Like candy , four cuttings and even first cutting had rfv of 197, protein of 26% with really nice adf, sugar, and magnesium, potassium profiles. He had any kind I might be interested and when I said his top quality stuff (I mean soft soft stems and gorgeous - I wanted to eat it!) was too rich for bale feeding (my cows would bloat or be streaming diarrhea) he said he had four other sheds he could show me and he did. He had analysis done by two companies to compare and had them come out and do it themselves so he could show he didn't hand pick bales.
He took me to another farm and showed me gorgeous 2nd cutting, some in the field that was only 170 rfv (and more in my budget ), showed me some crp, took us to his alfalfa fields, showed us his chopped feeds, and then asked if I wanted to take a couple bales home. I told him to get the closest most convenient bales and he said it takes two minutes to get a loader to any farm so to hand pick whatever I wanted. He said be picky and if I see a bale I don't want in a load to please point it out as he doesn't want me to be unhappy. It was all well stored, net wrapped, not nitrogen fertilized, not round up ready, and cut pre bloom - he goes for quality over quantity to - first guy I've met in 15 years who doesn't cut at 80 -100% bloom when stems are thick and cows sort).
he does 100% guarantee and he will give replacement bales without a question if I tell him some were moldy. I don't have to bring them back, just tell him!
He asked what I was looking for,shared what he didn't know about feed values, shared what equipment he uses, and then said he will give discount for return customers and is looking for long term relationship and has referrals from dairies all over three states. He said he will sell one bale or 1000, he'll just give a good discount if I do larger trailer load.
He was still very humble and easy to talk to, and when I left he shook my hand and said to let him know what I need and he will do his best to work with us in re. to whatever we need.
And crazy enough, he doesn't fertilize and gets four -5 cuttings with excellent feed analysis. He does soil test but hasn't needed to fertilize yet.
For anybody curious about pricing, his prices were $35 a round up to $110 for his best stuff. Every bale was weighed and none under 1650 lbs, the higher quality stuff weighed closer to 1750. Heavy load for our tractor for sure!
I haven't cracked open a bale yet as they are 1700+ lbs each and I need to unload but I'm very excited to work with him!
And figured you would all appreciate a good hay man .