Hey! I Mean Hay!

Growing up in central Illinois hay was usually alfalfa or red clover. My dad usually had a field of alfalfa that we cut and baled every summer. In later years he had mostly red clover. When we first got dairy goats we were living in California, in the L.A. area. The only hay available was alfalfa that was grown outside of the area and trucked in. Probably most of it was grown on irrigated ground and was never in danger of being spoiled by rain after it was cut.

When we moved back to Illinois and got our goats there we purchased hay, again alfalfa or occasionally red clover. It was somewhat of a surprise to find that most hay here in this area of Kentucky is grass hay. I bought hay several times from a fellow that raised hay to sell and it was orchard grass. For the last couple of years Darryl had been able to cut and bale (with a little help from me) enough hay to supply his needs and mine. His hay is also grass hay, a mixture of grasses.

My barn was almost empty of hay, only a partial bale left, so I took my little truck down the hill to Darryl’s barn and hauled up a dozen bales this morning.

Just a few bales left in the truck to unload.

The bales are moved from the truck to the barn using my garden cart.

The bales are lifted up to and through the loft doorway. I can get about 3 bales in before going up into the loft and stacking them back away from the doorway.

With a dozen bales of hay in the barn I’m all set for a few more weeks. Three goats don’t go through the hay the way a cow and calf do (Darryl is feeding about a bale a day).