Alfalfa

[Deleted]

One of the neighbors offered to sell us some alfalfa, and they stopped by last night with their kids to get Hallowe'en treats, and I mentioned to them we were still interested in getting the hay, but we'd been busy this last week and hadn't got back to them to finalize. I told them we needed to figure out how much it would cost, too, so we could fit it into the budget and the husband said he paid $3.50 a bale, so that's what he'd charge us for it. These are at least 100 pound bales - the big long ones! Then Rich said we'd have to get it in batches because we don't have a trailer big enough to haul two tons, and the neighbor said not to worry, he'll just run it over on his flatbed - no charge for delivery! Can you believe it? $140.00 for two tons of the nicest alfalfa hay I've ever seen, delivered!

I love this place! ;D

~Lannie

[bergere]

Man, did you ever get lucky!

Cost me $360.00 for 2 true tons of local Grass hay. Got it from the source so it is cheap for here.

[Kathy]

Lannie, that's awesome! I paid that much for alfalfa when I lived in WI in the 1990's!

You have a good set of neighbors there; that sure makes a place even more special.

I hope your animals enjoy their gourmet winter 'salad'.

[Deleted]

Yeah, Kathy, hopefully there'll be enough to go around. The horses will get some mixed with their grass hay, as well as the cow, and I'm going to throw some in the chicken coop from time to time to keep them in greens once all our green stuff is finally dead. It's amazing that with all this bitter cold we've been having (and snow) that we still have green grass and weeds. This is simply NOT normal for around here. Usually everything is dried up and brown by the first part of September, but we got some late rains this year and everything started growing again. I guess I shouldn't complain, eh? ;D

Bergere, that's atrocious! ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DOLLARS a ton?? The most I ever paid over there was $70.00 a ton for grass, and $100 - $120 a ton for pure alfalfa. But those are 1995 prices. Even so, I can't believe it's gone up so much. Good thing we left, because at those prices, I couldn't afford to feed one horse, much less two. Yowza!

~Lannie

[Kathy]

If you want to give the chickens & guineas a real treat. Take some old cookie sheets that you can pick up from the Good Will for 25Cents and plant them a 'lawn'.

I would do that when I was in WI. I'd use some potting soil or whatever kind of soil I had available and just broadcast grass seed on it. I'd sprinkle it and just leave it under a 100 watt light bulb. In a week or so of watering it would pop up and within a couple weeks my girls got themselves a mid winter salad.

If I had any old garden seeds for things like mustard greens, lettuces or even beans I'd plant them too. If they were going to get pitched; it was better to give the poultry a treat!
Ok, so mine were pretty babied! But they sure did love those winter greens!

[bbird]

First off, so I don't forget the topic, lol.....Wow Lannie, that is great. There is nothing like the smell of alfalfa. Great price too. I don't need hay right now, but bought some for the chicken coop and doghouse. Local hay was selling for $5.95 for nice eating hay or $3.50 for local hay I wouldn't feed to a horse. Hay has really got expensive here. A couple of years ago I was paying $11 something for a smaller bale of alfalfa for the goats. That was for Easter Washington Alfalfa.

Now to the other topic, lol. I know a couple people who throw wheat or rye seeds in a bucket of water and let them sprout and that is what they feed their chickens. Every night they throw in more seeds to sprout.

[bergere]

Lannie,,, if I bought the same bales of grass hay from the feed store.
It would cost me $390.00 for 18 bales!

So getting from the source is a big, big savings.

Am lucky here. There is plenty of Grass out in the 10 acre pasture.
They get to feed on that during the afternoon. Unless there is a heavy fog or poachers about.
So that really helps with the feed bill.

And having hardy, easy keepers along with small & mini horses also helps save money on the feed bill.
My Fjord and Grey Icelandic mare....lets just say they need to go on a diet.

[Deleted]

Oh, yeah, I know feed stores rip you off, but over $21 a bale is outright robbery. How can anyone afford to feed their animals over there anymore? You guys just keep reminding me what a good decision I made to bug out! LOL!

Deb, sprouting the grain is a FABOOOLOUS idea! Why didn't I think of that? Right now they mostly just throw it all over the floor of the coop, looking for the odd sunflower seed in the mix. I finally decided to leave the sunflower seed out of the barley/oat/wheat mixture and give it to them separately as scratch. Maybe I can go out and scoop up a bunch of what's on the floor and sprout it. At least that way maybe they'd eat it and it wouldn't end up being wasted. There must be 30 pounds of grain on the floor in there, mixed in with their wood chips and leaves. That really frosts Rich, he's such a scrooge!

Anyway, thanks for the idea. I'll try that and see how they like it.

Kathy, the winter salad idea is good, but I can just see what would happen. You know, when you've had animals for a while, pretty soon you can become a pretty accurate soothsayer! LOL! OK, I'd spend a couple weeks lovingly tending my little crop of grass or whatever, then take it out and set it down, and 87 chickens would dive onto it and shred it up and have it scattered over 50 square feet in approximately... oh.... 7 seconds. What? I only have 12 chickens? Oh, yeah, well it seems like more... ;D

~Lannie