Having Your Hay Delivered is Money Well Spent
Normal people think of the seasons of the year as spring, summer, fall, and winter. We horse people think differently. We have mud-season, vet-check season, the beginning of riding season, and then the big one: hay season.
I don’t have hay fields, but I remember helping friends and family with haying. It’s hard work! When I was a teenager, we would pick up the hay in the field. My job at first was to help lift and toss the bales onto the flatbed trailer while a cousin stacked them high. They were small, lightweight bales, 2-string, easy to lift waist-high for me, but I struggled to lift them any higher. Later, I was assigned to drive the farm truck. That’s where I really learned about farm trucks and their compound-low gear, just right for creeping slowly through a hay field.
When my husband and I moved to Spokane, we picked up our yearly hay from the field. Later, we chose to load hay from the stack instead of the field, which took multiple trips with the truck and horse trailer to fill the barn. Finally, I got smart and started buying my hay delivered, and paying extra for stacking. My husband was almost as giddy about that decision as he was about the time I hired a plumber to fix several leaks in the house. Neither my husband nor I enjoy stacking hay or plumbing. Though given the choice, I pick hay.
There is a comfort to getting a year’s worth of hay in the barn. It relieves the stress of finding the hay, making the call, crossing my fingers that the hay is good, and writing the big check. If I like the hay I purchase, I try to use the same farm and hay guy the following year. This year, my hay guy called me. They must have needed room in their barn, which was great because I was in procrastination mode about getting my hay and wouldn’t have called them for several more weeks.
I pay top dollar to get hay delivered and stacked and it’s worth every penny to me. I’m thankful that I can afford it, I can support my local hay farmers, and I can save my back. I can barely lift the bales these days, even though they are two-string bales. (I definitely can’t lift 3-string bales.) My son is allergic to hay, and in a pinch my husband can unload a pickup truck load, but not the six truckloads that I would need for the year.
I enjoy getting ready for the new hay; the process of cleaning out the old loose hay on my barn floor with my pitchfork and wheelbarrow, then sweeping up the final small bits. After cleaning, I usually have a couple days where I can actually see the cement floor of my hay storage area, such an accomplishment! Then we get the hay. I have a small barn, with just enough hay storage for two easy-keeper horses. And I mean barely enough room. When the barn is full, I must squeeze in sideways to get to my tack room. When I had three horses, we had an overflow area under a lean-to. Sometimes we had to put more overflow hay on pallets and under tarps, but we almost always ended up with some moldy hay that way.
My horses love the day the hay is delivered too. The hay trailer gets backed right in front of the stall doors. It’s like a giant dinner plate has been served up, just within reach of the horses. It’s always a good sign when they like the hay that is being delivered.
Even though I purchase my hay in mid-summer, it makes me know I’m ready for winter. It’s a comfort to have the hay in so I can focus on the rest of my summer riding escapades. I feel carefree and my heart is lighter, just like my bank account.
See this article in the December 2024 Online Digital Edition:
December 2024
Michelle Eames’ first book, Riding Lessons: Things I Learned While Horsing Around, is a mostly humorous memoir that tells the story of Michelle’s journey with horses, and the numerous lessons the horses taught her. She describes her horsemanship adventures, mistakes, and mishaps with humor, humility, and even a bit of poetry.
Michelle lives on a hobby farm near Spokane, Washington. The farm includes two horses, two barn cats who want to be house cats, a few chickens, and a husband. When she isn’t writing, riding, or shoveling manure, Michelle spends her time gardening and repairing vintage sewing machines to keep them out of landfills.
Michelle writes about a broad range of topics, from biology to horsemanship to wildfires. Visit her blog and learn more about her writing at MichelleEames.com.