A Hay Shortage

This time of year, I begin to notice how the wood and hay we stored up over the summer starts to dwindle.

The amount of wood we used so far seemed right to me, but the amount of hay made me nervous. It seemed like less than in the past this time of year.   When we got the hay we had less sheep, and I am guilty of sometimes giving the animals more than they need.

So I figured out how long a bale lasts and calculated that we had about 90 days of hay in the barn.  That would get us to the middle of April and grass usually doesn’t start coming up till sometime in May.

I’m not sure what happened, we’ve never been caught short of hay before.

Jon got right on the phone and called Sandy, who we get our hay from.  She always has extra, but not this year.  It rained so much in the spring the first cutting was later than usual and so they harvested less.  And she didn’t know anyone else who had hay either.

When Jon called around to some of the other hay and sheep farmers he knows, they all said the same.

No one had hay.

We knew if it was hard to find hay now it would be even more difficult and more expensive if we tried in the early spring.  So I put a message up on the Front Porch Forum, a local online email exchange where people can sell or give things away or ask for help finding what they need or inform others of a service they offer.

But Jon was quicker.

Getting on the phone, calling around, and getting information is something he’s a natural at.  I guess it goes back to his reporter day. Following a lead.

If it was me, I’d have been discouraged after the first call.  I’m not good with rejection.  But for Jon, it becomes a challenge.   He just keeps at it.

By the time I got back from feeding the animals, he got us 30 bales of hay to be delivered tomorrow.    As we expected it cost more than we usually pay, and that’s fine.

We’re just glad to have it.