Hay Delivery

A neighbor called a couple of weeks ago and said that he wanted to buy some hay.  I have a large hoop building that I store my hay in, and it works great, but I when I load the hay I enter on the east side and load it west to east. Then I sell the hay from east to west with my last cutting going out first until I reach my first cutting which is the last cutting to go out the door.  For those with experience in inventory/production, I follow the last in first out (LIFO) method, not because of any financial inventory valuation planning, but rather when you are filling a tube from one side and have to empty the tube from the same side, it just ends up that way.  The reason I say all of that is because when my neighbor called for hay I was into a cutting that was put up with a little too much moisture and it was dusty and could have mold spots in it.  Since he has bred cows and I've heard that cows can abort from hay mold, I suggested he wait until the following week when I had moved into hay that I know would have no mold dust in it.   He said no problem so I delivered him hay this week.  He said he'd take all of the hay that I had which was great!  I cut him a good deal and he would be getting some of my best hay at a really good price.  I weighed up the first load and delivered it and went for the second.  The second load was mostly third cutting and a couple of the first.  When I got down to his place to have him unload, I warned him that the bales on the top of the load were really heavy, and wouldn't you know that his tractor wouldn't pick them off.  Those bales are all my Bobcat can handle so I know that they are up near a ton per bale.  So back down the road I went to put the top bales back into the hoop building.  After getting my truck and trailer stuck in the snow on our farm and pulling it out with the tractor, I finished up the delivery.  I have about 20 bales of hay left to sell.  They should be super high protein and very leafy.  The last load of hay should be a good seller, but the buyer will need to be careful to have a large tractor/loader or a big skidloader to be able to move them around.

The Blizzard Took Its Toll

Sara lost a buck goat that she was renting to breed her milk goats during the recent blizzard.  Sara had become very attached to this little buck and since Sara is definitely the kid who is most into animals, she takes the brunt of the loss when one is lost.  We had a blizzard last week and the goats had gone into one of the huts that is in their pen to get out of the wind and snow.  The wind was blowing 40+mph and the temperature was in the single digits.  We could barely see 20yrds and the weather was brutal.  When Sara went out for late-afternoon chores she noticed that the buck didn't get up when she looked in on them.  She and George brought the buck into the house and started the process of drying him out.  He was a young Nubian buck goat.  Compared to Sara's mature Nubian female, the buck was more like a kid.  Its fur was soft and it was half the size of the female.  All this is to say that it was probably much more susceptible to the weather due to its age.  Sara and George used a hair dryer and towels to dry the buck which took quite a long time.  As a side note, if you've ever been around a buck goat you know that they smell ghastly.  This buck was no exception and as the wet hair was warmed and dried that ghastly smell filled the house.  By drying him out and keeping him warm in the house he really came around and by morning looked great, but he wouldn't get on his feet.  When Sara tried to get him to his feet his status totally collapsed.  It was like the act of moving him threw his body into shock and he expired within minutes.  It was another tough learning experience for George and Sara.  To add to the pain of the loss, Sara had to call the owner of the goat and explain what happened and discuss fulfilling the contract that was agreed to regarding the loss of the goat that she was renting.  Tears were shed but Sara did a great job, both dealing with the animal emergency and the responsibility that comes with informing someone of a broken contract.