Haylage

We decided this winter that we would keep our cow one more summer to fatten him up a little bit more before butchering so that put us in a bit of a pinch to find hay close to home and that didn't cost an arm and a leg as we had nearly exhausted the stockpile that we had.

I made some phone calls up and down the island to find that most of the cheaper bales of hay had been sold or were just to far to justify taking the truck and trailer so I thought I'd try my luck and call a nearby farmer that I know just by name on the off chance that he might have a few spare bales. Success!! He had a handful of the giant haylage bales that he could sell to me and at a really great price :)



I wasted no time rounding up the kids and getting them all plus Hubby into the truck. The kids had so much fun watching the tractor spear the ball and then watching it dangle and swing lower into the back of our truck box and then sink down nice and low :)

There are approximately 10 bales of hay in each roll of haylage plus some and a good sized bale weighs around 80 pounds so I'm estimating that one of these rounds weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 800-900 pounds, maybe more.

So with that in mind getting one of these guys out of the truck is interesting *grin*.

My dad is a rebel at heart so he likes to tie one end of a rope around the haylage and the other end around the tree, then gun the truck and rip off as the rope snaps tight and the ball stays behind LOL.

My husband on the other hand took a more gentler approach and thought that rolling it out with foot power would do the trick :)

Going, going....

Gone :)

Who knew these babies actually bounce? But they do! Try it sometime it's quite amusing *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina