I wonder if the NPK levels in cattle manure vary by location? What the cattle eat/graze/feed lot, has to make a difference. Same thinking would apply to horse manure value as fertilizer.
An animal can’t excrete what they do not get in feeds.
Our BM gets the manure taken away by a company that sells it as compost so…?
So…make sure that the pass through class of herbicides isn’t in your hay. Or simply make sure that you (or the BO) can account for what herbicides were on applied to the hay. In my case, had we not caught it in time, I could have potentially screwed my customer’s certificate as an organic farm in addition to killing off all of their dahlias. If the manure is going off the property, you need to know whether any pass through products might be present because a farmer may need to know.
Now, in my experience asking that question of hay producers is likely to get you hung up on. Which also pisses me off. It is an agricultural product, everybody else in ag can come up with the chemical sheets, hay producers should as well.
I’m as libertarian as they come, until it comes around to pesticide and herbicide labels!
Supposedly you cannot sell hay that has Grazon applied to it - you can only use it for in farm use. I guess the feed store did not read that law or chose to ignore it. I don’t know how widely it is used on hay crops and if the big producers use it or not. It is more expensive than 2,4D and those types of herbicides. It kills tomato plants and other susceptible plants for years if it gets in your soil and I could see it wiping out farmer’s plants, organic or not. It killed my tomatoes for 2 or 3 years and then raised its ugly head again after I had stopped putting compost on my garden. I usually ask when I buy hay from the producer but I also buy hay from resellers that may not know. I wish it was labeled too on hay crops.
I am pretty good with soil nitrogen, according to my soil tests. As mentioned previously, I do not apply much nitrogen, more minerals in the mix. So changing the hayfield to mostly grass instead of clover in one part, should not reduce my food value in the hay. Clover has taken over in that area, was all grass 2 years ago. The clover is a problem with reducing the amount we can bale, takes a day longer to get dried for safe baling. Brown look is certainly not enticing to a buyer if we sold any hay. I have seen 3yr old hay that looks nicer! Ha ha Horses do like it, but certainly not appealing in appearance.
I am organic with spreading horse manure, but it does not give me the benefits that I get by fertilizing with chemical fertilizers and minerals. The horse manure helps build food to provide for the micro organisms in the soil. Bedding/manure is just is not enough to produce enough grass in pasture or as hay that I need. But soil is better soil for the yearly amounts, organic volume added in the manure applications. No empty carbs going into the horses here!
I just use basic 12-12-12 or triple 19, but places like southern states and rural king havent changed their prices at all.
Perhaps you are buying old stock fertilizer, still at the old prices.
Have you ever done a soil test on your land? Adding the same quantity (13-13-13 or 19-19-19) of the various minerals could be wasting money by putting “too much of a good thing” on the land not needing those minerals. Along with that, you could be spreading fertilizer too thin or thickly on the land, using “generic” recommendations. The excess fertilizer minerals will just wash away, unbalancing steams, lakes and river water.
I do the soil test to let me apply exactly what my land needs, no extra per acre, and nothing lacking to produce the hay and pasture our horses need.
My newest farm magazine just arrived, saying we will be lucky if fertilizer cost is only double last year’s cost. Might be even higher, if we can get it. Along with rising cost of seed, fuel, machinery parts.
Best to start putting hay money aside now so you have enough for next winters supply. You might find cheaper hay if your farmer does not fertilize yearly. Many do not, but it does change hay’s nutritional value.
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I have an order for hay already haha. I am lucky in that regard since my pony will be muzzled come May thru Oct and has to lose some lbs. Seniors time is coming though :(. I only have about an acre fenced off so I usually go the big box fertilizer, some lime and I like to overseed in spring and fall because well… I like “playing outside” as my hubs calls it hehehe.
I see where you are coming from and if I had large acreage I would do all that for sure. Where I am in east TN I know my soils need lime, I am in an area that has a very low ph, the farmers in the area, co op and this government ag website I looked at when we bought the place that shows which areas of the state have the higher and lower ph levels just by nature all said I am on high ph land. I probably should do a soil test , but about 200 a yr for everything and making myself walk spread and hand spray keeps me busy and makes me feel productive 
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Well lime spreading is almost never harmful. But it has been “drilled” into me not to overdose the land with the other fertilizers because they " don’t stay at home" on the fields. They leave and start trouble.
I can see you enjoy “playing outside” and I bet it looks nice! Hand work on a small field does make you feel good! Glad you have your hay already lined up, that has to be comforting. We put up most of our own, not quite productive enough to raise the entire amount yet. We are on a learning curve getting the hayfield back into really good shape with plantings. Still have to buy a couple hundred bales to add for our total winter supply.
I am pretty happy with pasture production, bur I have been caring for that land a lot longer, so it is in better condition than the hayfield. We think being able to graze the horses is better physically and mentally, than feeding much hay in summer. No overweight ones or any health problems, so they all get about 12-14 hours turnout a day. Coming in half a day prevent being too fat because they are easy keepers.
I also enjoy working in the fields with my little tractor, keeping things up. Rewarding to see my results in green pstures, hay in the barn and using our shiny, slick horses!
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Uugggg! We just bought ours yesterday. $2700 for two one ton bags of 18-18-18-3S. This is half our “normal” amount. And costs more than 4 bags used to. Fertilizer, electricity for the irrigation pumps, diesel for the tractors, the cost of machinery parts and repairs (DH does most of the repairs and servicing himself, grudgingly)- all going UP. Sometimes doubling. DH arguing about how much we should put our prices up… he doesn’t think that people can afford to buy our hay if we put the cost up “too much”, and he doesn’t want to be the “bad guy” who puts the prices up. I point out that 50 years ago, we were paying 50 cents a bale for small squares, which a few years later were going for $1.00 a bale. And we paid that. Then $2.00 a bale. Etc. As always, if horse owners can’t afford to buy feed, then sell the horses. And yet, we often don’t, do we? But I’m really glad that I don’t have to buy hay any more. Our hay operation is small, only 40 acres of alfalfa/grass in round bales, and 5 acres of meadow hay in small squares. And we only sell the excess… our horses eat first. Self sufficiency was the goal when we moved here 14 years ago. Very, very glad that we did this.
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