Because of our climate here in the Northern Rockies, we have to feed hay to our horses from November until June ... and given the number of horses we have (about 30), that means we buy a lot of hay -- 125 tons this year. Like everyone else with large animals, our hay costs have skyrocketed ... from $95 a ton a couple of years ago to $140 a ton last year to ... ouch! ... $210 a ton this year. Fuel and fertilizer costs are the main culprits.
Our next-door neighbor grows the hay we buy, and bales it in small square bales weighing about 75 pounds each. Until we built our own hay barn last year, we had to store our hay purchase in our neighbor's barn and make weekly trips to pick up hay. This meant stacking two or three tons at a time by hand on a flat-bed trailer and driving the load back over to the ranch. Then we'd unload it and stack it in the various horse barns. Needless to say, that was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive task every week, and although it made for great muscles, it was a chore we could do without.
Building the hay barn last year meant we could store the entire purchase right here at the ranch. These past two days our neighbor has been bringing over this year's hay crop, and by this evening, all 125 tons -- that's about 3,300 bales -- should be in the barn. And thank heavens, we don't have to stack them by hand! He uses an automated hay wagon that scoops the bales right up out of the field, shuffles them onto the bed of the vehicle, and builds a 6-ton load that can be mechanically raised to a vertical position until it forms a 14' high wall of hay bales ... no human muscle applied. (Unless, of course, a wall collapses, as it did yesterday on us -- and then human muscle is again pressed into service!)
I thought you might be interested to see how this works, so I shot a video of one of the wagon loads being stacked in the barn yesterday evening about 7 p.m. I edited down the video into a short clip of the highlights:
You all truly work so hard. Thank you for your efforts. I am happy you had the machine available to do this labor. It is amazing! Again, thanks for all that you do!
Posted by: Colleen - San Antonio TX | July 17, 2008 at 03:55 PM
Very interesting stuff! Thanks for posting it. My question echoes that from Mr. Stemnock. How do you get the hay down? Do you have to climb a 14 foot ladder?!
Posted by: Mircat | July 17, 2008 at 09:22 AM
That's a big change in what used to be a summer time job where I grew up, hauling hay! Someone to drive the truck, very slowly, someone on the back of the truck to stack the bales, several in the field to pick up & throw the bales, etc. Amazing! I enjoyed watching this. Just as I enjoyed watching the roof conveyer hauling shingles up to the roofers, what a smart idea!
Hugs to all,
ginger
Posted by: ginger & Tobias (the greythound) | July 16, 2008 at 08:09 PM
Why didn't they have one of those when I was a kid? "Doing the hay" for a kid that has hay fever is pure torture...lol this would have made it so much easier!!
Posted by: Monica | July 16, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Amazing... we put 14 ton in a year for our 4 old friends. We paid $65.00/ton, delivered, 25 years ago. We paid $255/ton last year and just now $295/ton AND we have to pick it up and take it to our feedbarn. I do not know how you all do this work every day even with mechanical help. I have 22 animals... 4 horses,6 dogs and 12 cats. The quality feed and vet care are very high priced and it takes a lot of time and energy. Your dedication is a gift and much appreciated.
Posted by: Oregon22 | July 16, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Thats amazing! It sure does save you guys a lot of time and effort. I've never seen a tractor like that. What a wonderful idea!
Posted by: Wendy | July 16, 2008 at 10:06 AM
That is so neat that they now have a machine to do what used to take hours of extremely hard, back-breaking work! I shudder to think what happens when one collapses!
Posted by: Valda | July 16, 2008 at 09:25 AM
I think we, as readers, sometimes forget how much hard labor goes into what you guys do. It's not all just petting and running back and forth to the vet...it's a very time consuming, labor intensive job...We all appreciate you!
Posted by: Debbie | July 16, 2008 at 05:30 AM
SHOCKING how much hay has gone up in price. I'll pray your donations match! Very interesting so many facets to running Rolling Dog Ranch!
Posted by: Shirley * James * Portland, OR | July 15, 2008 at 11:24 PM
Okay, so now you have a mechanically constructed 14-foot wall of hay. So how do you get one of those bales down from the top?
Posted by: Jerry Stemnock | July 15, 2008 at 05:44 PM
Cool! So glad you are blessed to have that big storage barn now too!
Posted by: Leila - Washington | July 15, 2008 at 04:54 PM