How much garbage and weeds in hay is too much?

[Orangetrout]

Hi all,

I recently started feeding round bales for the first time. The bales that I got (from a supplier recommended by a friend) have been rather disappointing to me, but I’m not sure whether my expectations are unrealistic (I previously lived in a different state and had a very trusted supplier who sold us beautiful hay). In the three round bales we’ve fed so far, there has been a fair amount of garbage (multiple food wrappers, little pieces of soft plastic) and lots of weeds (big, stiff, thick leafy stalks). Is this expected in round bales? At what point would you complain and/or switch suppliers?

The horses are ok eating the bales when i first put them out, but by the end of the week, they start eating less. We have been having issues keeping the bales dry in the pasture, though, so that could be contributing (it’s a work in progress).

Thanks a lot!

[tazycat]

Nope rounds I buy have no garbage in them. No weed either. I’d be looking for a different supplier. When loads get delivered if hay looks weedy or junky load is sent back.

[Simkie]

Sounds like he’s baling highway or roadside shoulders. Not acceptable–I’d be complaining and finding someone new. You can do better :yes:

[cutter99]

In my opinion, no garbage is acceptable. That is coming from someone who makes hay!

ETA we have always walked our fields on a regular basis to keep them clean of trash. Depending on location, sometimes this is easier in some fields than others, BUT we had a long stretch of road frontage on a major road that we made sure we kept on top of cleaning. We take pride in what we produce and it does not take much to walk a field to make sure there is no trash in it.

[Orangetrout]

Oh, this is what I thought. Too bad I still have 10 bales since the first one I got from my referring friend seemed nice.

[PlanB]

Depends what your options are.

Garbage like food wrappers can be carried along by the wind great distances. While NO garbage would be ideal, I wouldn’t fault the farmer for a couple of pieces of garbage.

As far as the weeds, that’a bit tougher. Sometimes a bale or two might have more weeds if they were cut close to the edge of the field or something like that.

What it really comes down to, though, is: do you have other options for buying hay?

[mmeqcenter]

Garbage? I’ve never once had garbage in a round bale. I’d be very mad about that.
Weeds and such are a bit harder, a small amount is okay occasionally, as long as the bale is priced appropriately. None would be best.
I would not buy from this supplier again.

[EquineJunky]

If you had some that were decent, have you tried calling and explaining and asking if you could swap out? Can you see any of these thick weeds from the outside? Go to supplier’s location and hand pick if they will let you swap?

[candyappy]

@Orangetrout

Oh, this is what I thought. Too bad I still have 10 bales since the first one I got from my referring friend seemed nice.

The others you have might be better because they may have been baled in an actual hay field.

A neighbor used to bale the median between the highways. The first time he did that he was telling me of all the things that were in the bales when he fed the cows. Sounds like the hay you got was from something not baled before. The trash and plastic is a huge concern .

I would call them and either request that they either:

A. Replace with a better quality bale.

B. Pick up remaining for a full refund.

OR

C. feed what you have now and pick up a better hay for colder months.

We do our own and last year my son cut some places at the edge of the fields that my husband does not normally cut. I had several bales with tree branches, huge weeds etc… The goats thoroughly enjoyed the extras but the horses just left them and ate around it.

[csaper58]

Bales with trash in them may also be contaminated with dead animals. And salmonella is a real danger.

[trubandloki]

Rounds bales are just hay. Not some special hay. So if you do not want it in your small squares then you probably do not want it in your round bales.

Have you had multiple bad bales or just one bad bale and the rest have been fine?

I would guess the lack of eating at the end has more to do with the moisture than the horses being offended by a bit of trash.

I am pretty easy going about a little bit of trash and a weedy spot. Wind can put things in weird places. My dog can put things in weird places*. Sometimes you miss a wrapper or small garbage bag that blew into the filed as you are cutting and baling.

*We have a bale in our barn somewhere that has a neon orange rubber ball in it. Playing fetch with the dog one day and the ball bounced weird and ended up just inside the uncut grass of the hay field. We looked, the dog looked, no one could find it. We were sure the ball would show up when we were processing the hay. Nope. No sign of the ball. (Though we admit that we forgot about it and neither of us went digging in the hay while it was down.) So either some random ball liking piece of wildlife came along and stole the ball or it is in a bale of hay.

[walktrot]

Hay with weeds and garbage in it is the same junk whether it is squares or rounds. What kind of squares does this supplier sell? My gelding has been out 24/7 since 2001 on round bales, and the only issue I see from time to time is how stemmy are they, usually in indication of what kind of year it is weather-wise. Lots of weeds can be an indication that the field being cut is past its prime. But garbage and trash are something else. The only material amount of plastic I ever saw in a round bale was the remains of the BO’s father’s cell phone, years ago. He dropped it while baling.

[hosspuller]

My baler lost an aluminum feed finger. (Pointed one end About 12 inches long 3/4 inch in diameter) Found it in a stall. For a week didn’t know what it was or where it came from… Then looked at the baler and saw the empty feed finger holder. Must have been in a hay flake. Glad we found it rather than a hay customer. That finger was a pricey part. Worth more than 1/2 dozen bales of hay. Stuff happens…

[Second_Star_To_The_R]

I’ve used my hay guy for years. Never had issues. This year I found a plastic Walmart bag in a bale. Likely it blew in while they were bailing or someone just missed it. If your friend has gotten good hay from him on a regular basis, there is a good chance he cut someone’s field for the first time this year and will probably want to know you’re not happy with the hay.

I was was at a barn with a guy that talked one family into buying his hay. 90% of the hay we get up here is fescue and orchard with a little clover and Timothy. Fescue can be decent hay I’d you know when and how to cut it, as in before the fescue really has a lot of seed head. This guy told these people his fescue had tested at 14% protein! They bought it. It became affectionately know as the Blair Witch Project hay because of the strange little sticks all over the stall floor every morning. Analysis showed it had a very low protein count and was really just not even good cow hay. Turns out, all he was doing was offering to bush hog peoples pastures in exchange for being able to bale whatever was in them.

I’m not sure where you are located, but here cutting someone’s less than well tended field can mean, wild cherry stems and leaves which are deadly, red maple saplings or branches which dry and become deadly, ragwort which is deadly and alsike clover and the list goes on and on. If you u can’t ID the weeds, avoid feeding anymore.

Any hay can get a contaminant. But if it’s multiple bales that’s just a bad field.