Thanks for pointing that out, I forgot about the fertilizer/specialized seeds. Guess I’ll just start fencing everything in case we need to go to a mostly grass diet.
Oils might be a good thing to stock pile a bit. Coconut oils, etc. something to beef up available feed with a long shelf life.
There are still areas in the country where people grow and bale mixed meadow grasses with minimal management.
It is possible to feed hay without depending on foreign imports.
That’s the case for most hay growers here.
There are a lot who lease fields & split proceeds with owner of the acreage.
AFAIK, none of these lessors bother to fertilize or seed the fields they cut.
Yup, this was us in the same region you’re mentioning. If it was driveable distance on the tractor and 2 acres or more, we would bale it.
We’re still doing alfalfa here.
Our fertilizer cost was up about 20 percent this year. We bought 3 bags instead of 4. And we are not going to cut our small field (10 acre), or irrigate it either. We will graze it in the fall instead. This is the DH’s plan, not mine. We also have an irrigation gun repair happening, fusing a hose on a hose reel… because attempting to put in a coupler last summer was a failure. So we will only cut the big field (30 acre), and the little feral grass fields probably, 4 of them at about an acre each, which I small square. Those fields don’t get fertilized, unless we have some left over.
We have quite a bit of hay left in the barn unsold, our nice alfalfa/grass stuff, round baled. Well, not a lot, because we are only small, but quite a bit FOR US. More than usual I think. I can not imagine what is coming for livestock owners who are not self sufficient. Very scary… well, scary for everyone.
Good luck!!!
There is lots of “local” hay here in my area: native and seeded grass pastures/fields that are baled. However, the weather here in SW WA means the grass is overly mature by the time it can be made into hay. It’s high in sugar on average and many horses just kind of eat it which leads to waste. Yes, there is great unmanaged hay produced but it’s very hard to find. All things considered, I’ll stick to buying farmed hay from central Oregon knowing my horses will eat it all, get fewer weeds and less sugar risk.
I don’t think there is any right or wrong; you have to do what’s best for your region and your situation. In some areas of the country, the native grasses just aren’t great for hay-making. For example, in TN, most horses found the unmanaged local grass hay to be downright unpalatable. Choosing to feed it was a waste of money in the best cases and putting your horse at risk of health problems in the worst case scenarios. Yet when I lived in PA, some of the best hay around was baled in abandoned fields and overgrown yards.
Hay practices are so variable depending on where you live.
Agreed-- and some horses do just fine on our local hay. I just can’t justify the loss of money with the wasted hay. It is really hard to get hay made here before it’s old, yellow, tough and full of mature seed heads. It’s so damp, cool and rainy in May and June that making hay is impossible.
Susan’s Rule - “The most expensive hay you will buy is hay your horses will not eat”. I have bought too much of that and I have some here now. Looks OK, smells OK, they hate it. Probably has fescue in it. I will stick to western timothy. Farther drive but about the same cost per pound. Lesson learned.
Local hay is bahia and bermuda. Not feeding either if an alternative is available.
that’s a good rule.
I split the difference and DO feed bermuda/bahia (off round bales), but with a side of somewhat pricey alfalfa that is trucked over from Colorado. However… I have mostly easy keepers with unrefined palates, who can be subjected to the “if you’re hungry enough, you’ll eat it” method and it allows me to keep something in front of them 24/7. It’s decent quality, my hay guy does a nice job and it’s clean and green - it’s just not rocket fuel. I did recently see a dealer nearby that has a load of western Timothy… to the tune of $35/bale. Hoo.
The real danger is that my native pastures are nearly all perennial rye this time of year, which is so high in sugars. Grazing it might save me some dollars on the hay bill but it’d surely be made up in vet bills later! However… if worst came to worst and there was no hay to be found, I could probably figure out a way to manage them on it with muzzles, somewhat safely.
I don’t have to source or buy my own hay (the BO where I board does all that), so take this with a grain of salt, but…
NPR did a short story a few weeks ago right after the tariff business started that featured an expert saying most alfalfa grown in the US is exported and because all of the big tariffs they were predicting that more alfalfa would be available here instead, and the prices would be driven down by all the previously-exported hay flooding the US market.
Fingers crossed that this prediction comes true. If it does, I might buy up a bunch for my two old ladies and find someplace to store it.
I am lucky to live in an area with a lot of local grass hay and have no problem getting it delivered and stacked. I used to have a hay guy that I contracted with who would store my round bales all winter and I could also pay as I picked them up (unfortunately he lost the lease on the farm he rented that had all the storage space and it wasn’t an option any more 
)
One thing I think that a lot of horse owners can do but don’t is learn to do things themselves. Yes, I know this will have pearl clutchers but learn to do your own trims, learn to do your own vaccines, do your own saddle fitting, basic massage techniques, turn your horses out so they don’t need bedding, look into self-care. Are all of these options for everyone? Of course not. But if push comes to shove,…
A note on the do-your-own-vaccines thing. Many horse people do, but the vet practice I use will fire a client for doing this. If you want to take advantage of their superior emergency care services and diagnostics you must use them for vaccines and general health visits.
I would find another vet clinic asap- I don’t take being bullied well.
Doing some or all of your own vaccines doesn’t mean that the vet doesn’t still come out for an annual wellness visit. There’s a popular narrative here that those doing their own vaccines never see the vet but expect emergency services, and it’s awfully tiresome. I’m sure there are some people out there like that, but painting everyone with that brush is ridiculous. It is entirely possible to maintain a relationship but not have the vet out for every single vaccine.
Signed, just had the vet out for rabies but gives the rest myself.
If it truly gets bad, my “freeloaders” will be euthanized. The horse with a fused fetlock and the ECVM gelding will be put down on a nice day. They’re my harder keepers and also depend on daily meds. Honestly, they’re probably heading to that point anyways.
I buy every bale of alfalfa my hay guy makes. I’ve already paid him for the first cutting and he delivers to him, so we’re okay on hay for a while.
If it drags on longer than a year, I don’t know if we would breed our mares back or let them stay empty. It’s tough to leave them empty because we legitimately earn money from them - but if no one is able to spent the money to get them to the races, then no $$ will come in.
We’ve recently made some big purchases with tariffs in mind - a new zero turn was first on the list.
This.
The vet does rabies on all my horses and flu/rhino on the horses that will be traveling, they do coggins and dentals on all of them as well. Plus all of the other vet stuff and I buy all of my meds from their online service. I love that I have a great relationship with my vet clinic. The other night I had an emergency colic- vet called me and talked me through what she wanted me to do on the phone and we were able to resolve it without them coming out- didn’t charge me anything
I will not being doing my own vaccines because my vet clinic has CLEARLY stated that if you don’t use them for basic services they WILL remove you as a client. They are the only vet clinic in my area with superior emergency services. There are very few vet clinics in my area with enough associates to have emergency services. I don’t consider this bullying and I will not be changing veterinary services.
lol I have 7 horses, my vets get plenty of money from me for basic services even without doing all of my vaccines
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