Buying hay

 

When we bought our first 10 bison in December 2014, our plan was to allow them to graze on 22 acres of pasture we had fenced off and, when necessary, start buying them hay.  Having grown up in Wisconsin, which is frozen for a large part of the year, I figured we would likely have to start buying hay by the spring of 2015.  However, as spring rolled by and there was still plenty of grass (I even felt comfortable enough to burn half of the pasture) I began to realized that the grass in southern Virginia grows a heck of a lot more than it does in the northern US.  Over the following summer and fall the grass remained strong and fed the herd through the winter of 2015-16.  It was during that winter that we added a three year old bull and two bull calves to the herd.  Since then the grass on this 22 acre area has managed to continue feeding the herd until recently in early 2017 when the need for hay has become apparent.

In my opinion there are two causes for the recent shortage in grass.  First, last year during the late summer and fall we had very little rainfall and very high summer temperatures.  These conditions greatly reduced the growth of both warm and cool season grass species.  Second, the addition of three more bison about a year ago probably created too much grazing pressure.  With the recent availability of hay this grazing pressure should now be greatly reduced. 

Finding hay to purchase wasn't too difficult.  Craigslist had a wide assortment of different types of hay listed in my area and I soon found a source that fit my needs about 30 minutes away.  I started feeding hay last week with a single test bale.  This allowed me to confirm they liked the hay and also gauge their consumption rate.  They enjoyed it very much and consumed most of the bale within the week.

Today I hooked the trailer to the truck and bought eleven more big bales.  This should hold them for quite a while and allow the pastures to recover.