I got a couple of 3x3x8' second cut hay bales yesterday for my alpacas. Does that count? They will feed some beast, just not my inner beast 😂
Quote from: Spacebus on January 29, 2023, 08:49:52 AMI got a couple of 3x3x8' second cut hay bales yesterday for my alpacas. Does that count? They will feed some beast, just not my inner beast 😂What does "second cut" mean?
Quote from: Bayman on January 29, 2023, 09:11:03 AMQuote from: Spacebus on January 29, 2023, 08:49:52 AMI got a couple of 3x3x8' second cut hay bales yesterday for my alpacas. Does that count? They will feed some beast, just not my inner beast 😂What does "second cut" mean?First I'll have to explain the first cut bales, which are made from the first cutting of a hay field for the season (usually late spring/early summer depending on climate). In some places you can get a second, third, or maybe even a fourth cutting from the same field, but they would just all be called second cuts when selling. The first cut of hay will have the tops of the grasses and plants, which have the most seeds, stems, and stuff grazing animals don't really care for. The grass itself being more "mature" is also less palatable at this point, much like a squash that's been on the vine too long. Second cuts will usually be "leafier" young grasses and plants, and most grazers prefer these cuts, my alpacas among them. The bales I just bought were trucked to the most Northeastern corner of the US from Ohio. A local hay farmer imports hay because the prolonged multi-year drought has really killed the hay quality here. My alpacas waste a lot of the local stuff so it's actually a better deal to buy the more expensive imported hay. Even the imported first cuts are better than the local second cuts. I save the uneaten and unsoiled stems for nesting material for my chickens and bedding for the alpacas. The imported hay has also been through machine that crushes and/or chops the hay before baling making it even more palatable. Previously I was buying locally produced (same guy I buy the imported stuff from) large round bales for half the price for the same weight. Since I can't really parcel the round bales out, I have to leave a whole bale for the boys and they just drag it all over the place making a big mess and wasting a lot. Plus it's all stem which they don't like anyway. With the large "square" bales I can just peel off a "flake" every morning and that's good for the four boys all day along with their supplemental morning feed. For reference, the smaller square hay bales last my boys three or four days, but should theoretically last them for a whole week. The 3x3x8' bales should be equivalent to 20-ish of the small bales. Previously I was getting 3x3x6' bales which are about 15-ish small bales, and those lasted 6+ weeks each. Right in line with two small bales a week.
Down here they have 2 cuts per planting and 2 plantings per year. Altho, they do rotate crops. Mostly corn, peas and peanuts.
At long last I bought the. 22 wadcutter from NOE. NOW THE WAITING BEGINS. In truth, this time the waiting will not be so bad, I've waited more than a year before they became available.
Quote from: avator on January 29, 2023, 12:01:56 PMDown here they have 2 cuts per planting and 2 plantings per year. Altho, they do rotate crops. Mostly corn, peas and peanuts.A bit different than tending to hayfields. Usually a good hay field is cut right before it goes to seed, and then cut as many times as possible before the roughage stops growing. The fields are never tilled or anything, just fertilized at most.
Ordered 6,000 more wadcutters. Never fall short in the land of plenty
Quote from: bReTt on January 30, 2023, 04:03:05 AMOrdered 6,000 more wadcutters. Never fall short in the land of plentyWoW! the Motherload! lol I shoot some Crosman Wads through the 853C, but it also shot Daisy points well.
Quote from: Matchstickshooter on January 30, 2023, 08:03:37 AMQuote from: bReTt on January 30, 2023, 04:03:05 AMOrdered 6,000 more wadcutters. Never fall short in the land of plentyWoW! the Motherload! lol I shoot some Crosman Wads through the 853C, but it also shot Daisy points well.I have never shot these pellets before. It will be a trial run. I hope that they shoot well enough in something I have. https://vogelusa.com/vogel-practice-bulk-airgun-pellets.html