>>> They are about 80#, compressed, maybe more as I found them very heavy. The local fescue bales were about 30#, $4.25 each and filled with briars, leaves and twigs.
You must be buying your hay from the feed store, not from the farmers directly. Oh, wait - you weren't here last year in hay-cutting season, were you? I don't think I've ever paid over $3 per bale for fescue, with the bales weighing about 40-45 pounds probably. If you have a truck and are not opposed to working, you may be able to go pick it up in the field. Most farmers charge a lot less for hay if they don't have to stack it in the barn, and store it. I've paid as little as $1.50 per bale in the field - maybe $2 the last time I bought any in the field. It's hard, hot work, but you can see the quality you're getting and you can save some money. It is possible to find good, clean fescue, but you need to know the farmer - and the farmer needs to know that you need "horse quality hay". Fescue can be very good hay - but some farmers bale weeds and call it fescue. Those same farmers may not be careful to ensure that the hay doesn't mold. We pay about $3.50 per bale for our beautiful, clean Bermuda, with the bales probably weighing about 50 pounds each I think, maybe a little more. For that, the farmer delivers it and puts it in the barn loft for us. Oh course, we have to buy a full truckload to get that price - his truck holds about 205 bales. (No problem since we have 25 horses - last year, I think we bought four truckloads.) We've been buying from the same guy for about 15 years. In that time, I don't think we've ever thrown away a full bale - there's never any trash in it either, so they eat every morsel. You need to find a good local farmer to buy your hay from - and be good to him! Our guy sells all the hay he can bale, but we've stayed on his list. Farmers tend to give their steady customers first pick, and everyone else gets any that's leftover. Karen Thomas, NC
