[Jacob-list] Hay woes

[Neal and Louise Grose]

The reasons hay is expensive in this area are as follows:
(BTW: The landscape industry in the southeast has become one of our major agricultural industries. They are sucking up straw like you would not believe. Wheat is only economically feasible to grow if you sale the straw.)

* Hay is more expensive to raise than row crops. Take the 5 acres of Bermuda grass I had last year which produced unusually well. We grew 100 round bales at 500 pounds each. That would be about 20 large round bales per acre at $15 per bale equal $300 per acre gross. (Alfalfa picked up here would be $20 per bale, but it is more costly to produce.) It takes 50 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre for each of 4 cuttings. mowing and baling costs run at least $5 per bale. We wound up with a cost of about $10/bale or about $200/a. Oh yeah, one cutting took rain damage and is now helping to control erosion in a gully, so subtract $150. All in all, I did a little better than break even.
The same land in corn for grain would have cost about $175 to plant and harvest and at 120bu/a and $3.50/bu would gross $420/a and net $245/a. Corn for silage would be even better at 100tons/a and $30/T, but with somewhat higher harvest and storage costs. Corn silage, if it is available, is by far the cheapest source of energy and forage, but it must be fed fresh daily and can have a lot of wastage. 
There is an advantage with hay in that if you have a draught year, you also do not have harvest expense; whereas with corn, your (now $200/a) planting expenses are up-front. 

* See landscape industry above. We have too #$%^& many people that are moving out to have farmettes that they need a #$%^& 25 hp zero-turn mower to mow their $%^& one acre lawn which takes up farmland that used to grow hay and drive their #$%^& SUV 15 miles to their #$%^& job in town. What we need to do is get the home-owners ordinances changed to allow us to sell our biological lawn mowers to these....
 
Have a WONDERFUL day
Neal
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Linda 
  To: Boxalls ; jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 10:03 PM
  Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Hay woes


  HUH?  I shouldn't raise sheep because I need to buy hay? And because hay is a bit scarce this year I should quit?  

  A few years back I wrote an article for our regional newsletter about the adaptability of Jacobs.  I know of healthy flocks raised an acre or less. I know of healthy flocks left to fend for themselves with no human intervention for years.  Jacobs seem to adapt to all levels of management, which I think is an indication of just how primitive they are.  Adaptability, IMHO, is a primitive trait.

  Glad I'm not raising reptiles :-), although we sure have plenty of crickets here (I can send you some, if you'd like)

  Linda





   
  www.patchworkfibers.com
  Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn


  > Is it possible that realistically some areas just aren't suitable
  > for keeping sheep? And therefore if one chooses to raise sheep in
  > those unsuitable places, one is effectively keeping "an exotic" and
  > should therefore accept outrageous cost of feed? To give an
  > example, I keep tropical reptiles as pets, and I expect to have to
  > provide electric heat for them, and to have to purchase live
  > crickets at exhorbitant costs from pet stores. I do this out of
  > choice after all. When it comes to my sheep, I am obliged to
  > provide good shelter for them in Winter in the form of a well-
  > insulatted barn, and I have an electric heater to stop their water
  > from freezing. As we have snow on the ground from November to
  > April, making pastures unusable, I expect to have to buy in hay to
  > feed them during the Winter months. It would be much easier/cheaper
  > if I had 12 months of good pasture, but in order to do that I'd
  > have to move to Spain.
  >
  > But to answer your question, no I would not ration the hay. I make
  > it #1 priority, because no matter what it costs me, it's cheaper
  > than anything else available to me in Winter. I feed only hay, and
  > they make plenty of milk on it.
  >
  > Melanie
  >
  > Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus.
  >> ----- Original Message -----
  >> From: Linda
  >> To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
  >> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 5:45 PM
  >> Subject: [Jacob-list] Hay woes
  >>
  >>
  >> It's that time of year again, when we all start to get nervous
  >> about hay.  My part of the SE has been in drought conditions for
  >> about 6 of the last 8 years.  Last year hay was impossible to
  >> find by February.  Usually we can just suck it up and buy hay at
  >> an exorbitant price at the feed stores, but this year it just
  >> wasn't there for any price.  We were fortunate to be able to get
  >> hay from a neighbor that had sold her horses.  The first cutting
  >> of hay this year was greatly reduced and some growers were
  >> worried about a second cutting.  We got some rain and the second
  >> cutting was good.  VERY expensive, but good.  I've good luck
  >> finding and using round bales for our sheep at the top of the
  >> hill.  I use alfalfa pellets every year to supplement the hay.  
  >> Neal Grose mentioned at AGM that pregnant ewes need energy most
  >> and that corn is a good substitute for some of the hay ration.
  >>
  >> Two questions:
  >>
  >> Does anyone limit the hay available to their sheep?  I was
  >> reading at: http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/articles/highhay.html
  >> and on another site whose name escapes me about limiting the hay.
  >> I've got some ewes now that are on grass hay only free choice and
  >> they are fat little pigs.
  >>
  >> What do you use to substitute for part of the hay ration if
  >> needed?
  >>
  >> Thanks
  >> Linda
  >>
  >>
  >> www.patchworkfibers.com
  >> Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn
  >>
  >>
  >> _______________________________________________
  >> Jacob-list mailing list, sponsored by Swallow Lane Farm &
  >> Fiberworks Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
  >> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/jacob-list


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