This is a bale of hay:
This is me, going through this bale:
Here, I'll zoom in:
.JPG)
Thoroughly tangled amongst the grass blades is a leaf fragment of Solanum carolinense, known as Carolina horse nettle. I cannot think of a nastier plant, and I know a fair few plants. Every bit of it is spiny and toxic and just plain awful.
This bale being deconstructed in minute detail is the last of the 2022 second cut, from my June delivery. When I saw the horse nettle I called my hay man and put this bale aside for an exchange upon delivery of the next 50-bale load.
But there has been no "next load," because there has been no typical second cutting of hay in my area. Some farmers never even got a first cutting because of the rains. Some couldn't get into their fields because of the mud. You've got to have a series of dry days to make hay. We have not had that series of dry days.
Every time the phone rings, I hope aloud that there's hay. Somewhere.
Meanwhile this bale with it's horrible horse nettle component is the last bale in my shed, and I'm trying to make it safe for the goats to have a mouthful, along with a daily serving of a bagged moist alfalfa product from Texas, and a daily serving of a pre-soaked pelleted blend of alfalfa and timothy. Every morning and evening I separate reluctant goats into groups, collar and tie every (still reluctant) goat, and carry a pan of feed to each. Then give them their little handfuls of actual hay. Then turn them loose and wash the pans for next time. And spend a little more time picking through that bale.
To be honest, the past few weeks have been challenging in Goat World. In addition to the extra measures to try to keep hooves healthy in wet conditions, there have been two injuries; happily, Mallow seems fully recovered and Tansy nearly so. There are three goats coughing, possibly because even the best hay money could buy this Spring was sometimes dusty. Acer has been "not right" since the start of August and is requiring close attention and extra care every day. I think he is beginning to feel a bit more himself, at least on days when there is sun and he can get out and bask in the same spot that was a favorite with his mama, LeShodu.
It rained last night. It will rain today.
But it's not raining right now!
And on we go.
~~~~~
That's just such a sad state of affairs for everybody, human and goats alike. I imagine farmers will have to drastically cull their herds if there's no available feed for them....very scary. There's nothing to be done to stop rain though and it seems to be either feast or famine everywhere this year. I'm so sorry you're having to go through this.
ReplyDeleteIt's a grim outlook.
DeleteOh, that is terrible. I hadn't considered what the rain is doing for the haying. Ugh. After the drought last year, who would have guessed we'd be praying for drier weather.
ReplyDeleteActually, last year was another terrible hay year due to lack of the right temperatures and dryness to cut, dry, and bale. I am confident that my main supplier sends me the best of his hay, but even so, a lot of it was so dusty I was embarrassed to feed it this Spring. Between that and the endlessly muddy conditions, I am forced to question the rightness of keeping goats on this property. It's truly awful.
DeleteOh my. That's a lot of work. The interconnectedness of things certainly becomes apparent when dealing with animals and the land, but unless directly affected, you wouldn't really think about the multitude of problems that can be caused by too much rain. With wildfires in so many places, that rain sure could do some good elsewhere. Hope you are able to get everything sorted out. Take care.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it's impossible for me not to see the interconnectedness of such things, but it's been part of my life for decades. For many people, it's just not part of their worldview. I have to remind myself of that when trying to understand the thought process behind a lot of policy decisions.
DeleteNo hay! That is really scary. What will you do? Picking through a whole bale has got to be incredibly time consuming. Second cutting here will be skimpy i think, as was the first. I sure feel for the farmers. And for you.
ReplyDeleteI bought a few bales of first cut and it was nice and clean but it was also like dental floss. The goats didn't even recognize it as food, and to be fair, it didn't have much food value. Is your local hay situation because of rain as well?
DeleteWe've been there as well. Not with the nettles but with the hay shortage. We only get one cutting up here in South Dakota so much of our hay is shipped in from Nebraska or Montana. Hope your hay guy comes through for you soon!
ReplyDeleteThank you! After a tough year, hay farmers here sometimes ship in hay from other states and sell it on to their regular customers so they can hold onto those customers. I think at this point everyone is still hoping for a decent - if late - harvest.
DeleteOh, boy, that is grim. It's hard to believe that it is STILL raining in your neck of the woods (except for the moment you were posting for us). No hay, wet hooves, injured and ailing goats - I'm not even going to think about the garden. Please take care of yourself as you struggle with the weather and its fallout. As in "put your own oxygen mask on first".
ReplyDeleteChris from Boise
PS And I thought the saying was "NEEDLES in haystacks"...
It's not constant rain, but it's rain at some point almost every day. The ground is so saturated that even a brief rain shower means standing water. The ground in my paddocks has not fully dried out in months.
DeleteThose spines are rather like needles, and they break off easily, especially the ones on the leaves, and get everywhere. It's an awful plant.
I hate that stuff - horse nettle. We have it everywhere and I especially hate it when it ends up in hay we've purchased. Usually the unsprayed stuff, and there's the conundrum - buy hay sprayed with herbicides or buy it with horse nettle.
ReplyDeleteA hay shortage is worrisome, as is incessant rain. We're still okay with hay here, but my concern is that the price keeps going up (as does the price of feed). If people stop keeping livestock because it's too expensive, then there's no incentive to grow hay.
Leigh, have your goats eaten it without harm? I am so worried about the reported toxicity, it would be a great relief to know that it's not going to make them sick if they get some of it. I'd never seen or even heard of this plant until it appeared in hay I bought a few years ago from a different farmer, and it was mature plants full of fruits (and their millions of seeds). I wrapped about $200 worth of hay in tarps and am still letting it rot because I couldn't think of any way to more safely dispose of that seed base.
DeleteAnd I know what you mean about hay farmers. My main supplier is from a 10th-generation family farm, and I don't think he has ever delivered a (very expensive) load here without telling me that he dreams of never growing hay again.