I haven’t found this to be the case in my part of MO ( 1.5 hours West of you). I find that service providers tend to hang on to clients who are dependable to keep appointments, pay on time , buy regularly and have animals that are a pleasure to work on.
I think once you find a hay supplier/ vet / farrier and get a good client relationship established you will find it much easier having them at home. Hay yields are so low for many in MO that everyone looking is scrambling.
Same. But also might be more of that rural Midwest feel vs closer to STL. I made the jump from boarding to at home well over a decade ago and I’m not sure I could ever go back lol.
But yes, times like now I wish sourcing hay was someone else’s headache! I’m picking up the last of mine this weekend 
I’ve had them at home going on 4 years. I’ve used this same hay guy 3 out of 4 but dropped the ball on my end in reaching out to him in time this year. While we are close to STL, many farriers wouldn’t travel this way for just 2 and I have had all of the vets I’ve used for nearly or over a decade tell me they won’t travel to us anymore as the clinics are switching to trailer in only for small clients (still keeping barn visits but only for boarding barns where they can get a ton of horses done in one spot). I’ve found care providers, but it was certainly more difficult for me to find them vs the boarding barns 5-10 min from me. That’s with exceptionally well behaved (older so no baby non sense) horses (MU would love to keep my TB as she is so good to practice on they say), paying immediately often with a tip, ensuring all providers have a clean and well lit place to work out of the elements (fan in summer, heater in winter), snacks and drinks available and being incredibly flexible on scheduling thanks to working from home. I try my best to make my barn the easiest/ best on their schedule but understand that from a business perspective it’s better for them to only deal with big barns.
I think the easiest way to “stretch” hay is to buy wrapped and compressed bales from Tractor Supply to supplement whatever other hay sources you (g) have. Costly but convenient. YMMV
Well that is too bad. Hopefully your hay guy will have more cuttings with all this rain we are finally getting and can eventually get you what you need?
I had a beloved farrier that I used for 10+ years ( he lived 17 miles from me) suddenly drop his rural clients because he could make so much more driving into show barns in STL. I hated to lose him but I could understand.
Oooo…I like that hay scale! Now I know what I want for Christmas!
Were you able to source some? Another friend messaged me today in a panic and it reminded me of this thread 
at least we’ve gotten a smidgen of rain, my pasture is at least starting to recover and look more greenish instead of just crunchy and brown.
We did manage to get some round bales delivered. It was a whole nightmare with the guy getting stuck and having to unload on our narrow, steep driveway, but we have some hay now. I’m still working on squares - I was able to find some from someone who will deliver, but don’t want them to get stuck too so haven’t had them out yet. We will probably end up doing several small loads to circumvent that.
Glad you found some rounds and hopefully some squares
we went thru a bad hay shortage 3 yrs ago - i went with a 2 prong approach - minimise waste and supplement. I did go to hand feeding - I have horses with shoes so not keen on the nets and I did refence to have a scrub pasture for winter pawing to keep them entertained (I know you said grazing not an option) and I figure I saved about a 1/3 in hay from wastage and boredom eating bellied up to a round bale. I bought hay cubes and beet pulp (in bulk totes to help with the price) and used them for a meal when they first came in at at night to slow them down on their hay ration over night. I do find most hay locally is quite good quality and what they need to meet their nutritional needs is less than what they will eat if they are standing around bored - hence the entertainment pawing during the day, good for fiber and mental health though not much for calories
You can always get hay pellets or cubes from tractor supply or chewy. Yes it is more expensive but there’s not much more you can do with limited storage. Buy a 12 by 12 shed to increase storage?
I feed small squares for most of the year and rounds during cold/snowy/nasty weather in winter. I weigh and use slow feed nets (once you do it for a while, you learn the “feel” of the amount you need; after the first few weeks I only weigh sporadically to check myself) and I also purchased a round bale net from Hay Chix in 2021. That net counts as one of the best purchases I’ve made for my boys in 15 years. Seriously.
I went from a round lasting 7 days during the winter and always having some waste even in a hay ring, to lasting 10 days with no waste, which saves a full round per month. My guys are currently barefoot, but even when shod it’s been okay because I still use the hay ring even with the net, and they’re both in their teens and not crazy.
During a few lean times I’ve supplemented with soaked pellets and cubes, and I’m not above stringing a temp line (they respect electric) around areas of my yard to give them a few hours each day of extra grazing. I always thought it was silly to pay for gasoline to mow the yard AND pay for hay to feed the horses when I could just feed them the grass.
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