I got hay!!!

[skysthelimit]

Finally, a break through. I could not find what I wanted on CL, a lot of people wanted a 250 minimum for hay bales, so I decided to put a wanted ad out. Got second cutting grass hay for $8, no minimum. High for most of you, but cheaper than TSC, who no longer carries hay, and closer than TSC. I think I've solved the storage problem, going to keep it on top of the new dog crates I built in the barn, over the empty crate. It's made of cattle panels, so they won't be able to soil the hay. I will probably throw a sheet over it to keep the dust off.

Just a little something to make this a little easier.

 

[TerriG]

Yay!

 

[skysthelimit]

So this place has a serious spider problem. How do I keep spiders out of the hay?

 

[Bad Habit]

Woohoo! I know how much of a relief it can be to have the hay you need!

I'm so grateful for the contacts I've made at the farmer's market. I can get as many or as few bales as I'd like, for 4$ a bale. It's a 15 min drive from my house, and my mum will drive me out and help me load and unload it for simply the price of coffee. Plus I get to pet the sheeps and the cows and the cutest doggies ever while I'm out there!

(yes, I'm a city girl, lol)

No real suggestion for the spider problem... Would keeping the bales in a cold place cause the spiders to die, or do spiders hibernate? Are they poisonous spiders, or are you worried about the buns getting bit? I myself probably wouldn't worry about it. I think spiders are awesome, provided they're small and not jumping at me! They eat the bad bugs.

 

[Miss M]

Good show, Sky!! (And that's half what I've been paying for hay... hoping to do better out here!)

No real suggestions for the spiders... I don't know if they can get inside compressed bales, though. They're pretty tight.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

Spiders HATE moving air---

 

[skysthelimit]

(yes, I'm a city girl, lol)

No real suggestion for the spider problem... Would keeping the bales in a cold place cause the spiders to die, or do spiders hibernate? Are they poisonous spiders, or are you worried about the buns getting bit? I myself probably wouldn't worry about it. I think spiders are awesome, provided they're small and not jumping at me! They eat the bad bugs.

I can see the sky scrapers from downtown from my bedroom window.

Right now all of Ohio is cold, but in the summer time there is no such things as a cold place around here, nothing is air controlled except my little bedroom on occasions. I don't believe there are many poisonous spiders in this region, but I just don't want the bales covered by webs, and I don't want the little buggers getting a free place to nest. My spiders are free loaders, don't do anything to reduce the insect population here, about the size of a quarter, and hideously ugly. My city self does my best to reduce the insect population down to zero, spiders included.<br /><br />__________ Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:50 pm __________<br /><br />

Spiders HATE moving air---

the one place I am not going to get moving air is this barn.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

the one place I am not going to get moving air is this barn.

Are your rabbits in that barn of no moving air...

Congrats on the hay.

 

[mystang89]

Congrats on finally getting hay. Make sure to keep it nice and dry.

 

[Bad Habit]

(yes, I'm a city girl, lol)

I can see the sky scrapers from downtown from my bedroom window.

I meant it more as a state of mind, because I get excited to pet cows and sheep :lol: .

 

[skysthelimit]

the one place I am not going to get moving air is this barn.

Are your rabbits in that barn of no moving air...

Congrats on the hay.

The rabbits are on the other side, in another room with a separate door. That room has three windows on the west, east and south sides, with the door on the north. Even fans all summer on three walls did not deter the spiders from nesting. The dog crate are in the main room with the concrete floor. It has one west facing window, and a screen in one of the door windows, I would no wise consider that moving air.<br /><br />__________ Fri Dec 28, 2012 5:41 pm __________<br /><br />

(yes, I'm a city girl, lol)

I can see the sky scrapers from downtown from my bedroom window.

I meant it more as a state of mind, because I get excited to pet cows and sheep :lol: .

I meant the same thing, which I why I have a hard time figuring out how people are getting things where they live. If I can't get it at Walmart, I'm at a loss most of the time. If I hadn't started sheep herding with my shepherds, I would have never seen a chicken, pig, sheep or goat outside of a petting zoo.

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

Oh thank goodness. That is absolutely wonderful.

 

[skysthelimit]

Congrats on finally getting hay. Make sure to keep it nice and dry.

The barn is pretty much the driest place to keep it. As long as dogs don't scale the cage and pee on it.

 

[Bad Habit]

I meant the same thing, which I why I have a hard time figuring out how people are getting things where they live. If I can't get it at Walmart, I'm at a loss most of the time. If I hadn't started sheep herding with my shepherds, I would have never seen a chicken, pig, sheep or goat outside of a petting zoo.

Do you have a farmer's market? Go there and start talking to people! Well, in the spring. I get lamb bones for insanely cheap to make Chuck's dog food from the same woman I get hay from. She's also given me some freezer burnt meat for dog food as well. I get all my greens from market, usually for free as cast-offs - carrot tops by the grocery bag. I had so many I had to start hanging them to dry, as they were rotting before I could use them all. It's a great way to meet people, even the regular customers get to know the vendors and use them as a source of information.

 

[skysthelimit]

I meant the same thing, which I why I have a hard time figuring out how people are getting things where they live. If I can't get it at Walmart, I'm at a loss most of the time. If I hadn't started sheep herding with my shepherds, I would have never seen a chicken, pig, sheep or goat outside of a petting zoo.

Do you have a farmer's market? Go there and start talking to people! Well, in the spring. I get lamb bones for insanely cheap to make Chuck's dog food from the same woman I get hay from. She's also given me some freezer burnt meat for dog food as well. I get all my greens from market, usually for free as cast-offs - carrot tops by the grocery bag. I had so many I had to start hanging them to dry, as they were rotting before I could use them all. It's a great way to meet people, even the regular customers get to know the vendors and use them as a source of information.

We have what we call a Farmers Market, just like there is a supposed Feed Mill not to far from me, but it's really a pet store. Prices are the same as the stores, or even higher because the meat is supposedly fresher than grocery stores. I do not cut their own meat, or keep bone, fat scraps etc, I tried that route when I went looking for meat sources for the dogs. In this regard I am better growing my own ir getting veggies from Walmart. Can't beat the price on beets. Less than a dollar a pound.
The hay will be a 35-40 minute drive, the dog meat is farther.

__________ Fri Dec 28, 2012 6:17 pm __________

This was so much easier than calling an emailing people and waiting for a response. Now I have two people contacting me. I guess they want the money.

 

[Duckcomando]

There is a pesticide I use to spray my house inside and out called "Demon WP" You can buy it on Amazon and its not that much. It works great on every kind of bug. It even works on fire ants and spiders. My garage was bad about spiders at my house and the lady at my feed store told me about it. It took a few treatments but the spiders are gone. I'm not sure I would spray it all on the hay and then feed the hay to the rabbits. Maybe you could move your hay and spray and a day or so later put the hay back in storage? Needless to say now I'm the Orkin man at my house and I do my own pest maintenance using only "Demon WP"

 

[skysthelimit]

I will have to give that a try, as I am sure my insects here are probably immune to what I've been spraying for the last few years. Even the Neem Oil didn't work. Removing the hay is easy, removing the rabbits and dogs is a little harder. I have some time to figure it out.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Congratulations on getting the hay, Sky! I wish I could find hay- any kind of hay- for $8 a bale!

We bought 178 bales earlier this year, and I have only found two spiders on it... but it sounds like you have a lot of spiders in your barn, which we don't.

I don't use pesticides- I just squish any "nuisance spiders" (Black Widows, Daddy Long Legs) that I see, making sure to also get their egg sacs. Occasionally, the kids and I will go hunting for Black Widows at night when they are out in their webs, and squish every one we find. We were pretty intensive about it a couple of years ago, so there aren't many to be found now.

 

[rittert3]

I got a small square of brome a few month back for 6.50 thinking it would last a while I only got 1. I only had 7 rabbits at the time and only feed hay once a week. Now that I've jumped from 7 to 21 the hay is going alot quicker especially with all the nestbox use. He let me pick through and find a better bail but I think I'm going to have to call him back and get another one, lol.

 

[skysthelimit]

I think nestbox use was 50% of my hay use.<br /><br />__________ Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:59 pm __________<br /><br />I'd like to give that barn a good spray down, but I put the animals in before doing that first. I did not realize the extent of the problem-- the mailbox, the telephone box outside, pretty much every corner. It's not so much a big deal, I just hate spiders. it creeps me out that I might reach for a handful of hay and get a spider instead.