How do you spell relief?
Well, if you have a barn with animals, it's spelled H-A-Y. Really and truly.
When we lived in a far more urban area, we gave zero thought to hay. The only time hay even entered our consciousness was when the cost of riding lessons went up due to the cost of hay. So I knew that hay could get more expensive, wished it wouldn't because of the increased cost of riding lessons, and never thought about it again.
Ever since January, when we brought Emmy home, I have spent a significant portion of my life thinking about and talking about hay. I also learned I'm not alone in this singular obsession. (For those of you with hay-eating animals, you can just go about your business. You know the story I'm going to tell all too well.) You see, it hasn't been good weather for hay.
First, the winter was cold... very, very cold. And horses need hay (and lots of it) to help keep them warm. This depleted people's hay supplies, which meant everyone heading into spring was already in low supply. Then, for Northern Illinois, a large hay barn burned. One that supplied hay to quite a few large horse operations, increasing the demand for hay. Then, our spring was wet and cold. So wet that horses couldn't be let into pastures and cold enough that the snow and ice covering them wasn't melted anyway. More hay was being eaten. Early summer came, and it was still very wet and cold. The hay fields were so wet that no one could cut hay because the fields were too soggy for the equipment and there was no time for the hay to dry before bailing. Here we are at the end of July, and people are just no finishing cutting and baling the first cutting of hay. It's not spectacular hay because it grew so long, but it is hay. Right at the beginning of the second cutting's growth, we have a heat wave with little rain. Under these circumstance, the hay will stop growing. My hay guy, who came today, was really wondering how much of a second cutting he was going to get and seriously doubted if a third cutting was going to happen. It's the perfect storm for a bad hay shortage in the coming winter.
This long explanation why this makes me breath deep sighs of happiness and relief:
What you see there is 280 bales of hay in my barn. (We stacked another 180 bales this afternoon.) That's enough for three horses to last through next spring. (We are actively searching for more horses that I can use to teach the younger people to ride.) Having spent the past seven months searching for little bits of hay here and little bits of hay there, this is what relief looks like.
When we lived in a far more urban area, we gave zero thought to hay. The only time hay even entered our consciousness was when the cost of riding lessons went up due to the cost of hay. So I knew that hay could get more expensive, wished it wouldn't because of the increased cost of riding lessons, and never thought about it again.
Ever since January, when we brought Emmy home, I have spent a significant portion of my life thinking about and talking about hay. I also learned I'm not alone in this singular obsession. (For those of you with hay-eating animals, you can just go about your business. You know the story I'm going to tell all too well.) You see, it hasn't been good weather for hay.
First, the winter was cold... very, very cold. And horses need hay (and lots of it) to help keep them warm. This depleted people's hay supplies, which meant everyone heading into spring was already in low supply. Then, for Northern Illinois, a large hay barn burned. One that supplied hay to quite a few large horse operations, increasing the demand for hay. Then, our spring was wet and cold. So wet that horses couldn't be let into pastures and cold enough that the snow and ice covering them wasn't melted anyway. More hay was being eaten. Early summer came, and it was still very wet and cold. The hay fields were so wet that no one could cut hay because the fields were too soggy for the equipment and there was no time for the hay to dry before bailing. Here we are at the end of July, and people are just no finishing cutting and baling the first cutting of hay. It's not spectacular hay because it grew so long, but it is hay. Right at the beginning of the second cutting's growth, we have a heat wave with little rain. Under these circumstance, the hay will stop growing. My hay guy, who came today, was really wondering how much of a second cutting he was going to get and seriously doubted if a third cutting was going to happen. It's the perfect storm for a bad hay shortage in the coming winter.
This long explanation why this makes me breath deep sighs of happiness and relief:
What you see there is 280 bales of hay in my barn. (We stacked another 180 bales this afternoon.) That's enough for three horses to last through next spring. (We are actively searching for more horses that I can use to teach the younger people to ride.) Having spent the past seven months searching for little bits of hay here and little bits of hay there, this is what relief looks like.
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