Internet Hay Exchange

Re:Internet Hay Exchange by reaperducer on Saturday October 30, 2021 @02:01PM (#29050900)

If you're looking for a non-conventional way to sell your hay bales, think about seasonal decoration.

There are plenty of city slickers who will pay more than farmers for hay bales to put on their front porches in September and October. My wife spent a week searching a six-county area trying to find one for her annual hay bale + cornstalk + indian corn + pumpkin + scarecrow display.

I've occasionally seen mini hay bales for sale in supermarkets. They're about the size of a MacBook and go for around $10.

My guess is that what would be most cost-efficient for you is to find a garden center or regional big box hardware store that sells seasonal decorations, so that you can make one large delivery to where the people are.

If any of your neighboring farms have pumpkin patches, maybe they'd be interested in selling hay bales to the public. We went to three pumpkin patches this year, and while all had hay bales for their own use, none had any for sale to the public.

Just a thought from someone who's not a farmer, but has always had an interest in farms.

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Re:Internet Hay Exchange by mstratman on Saturday October 30, 2021 @03:11PM (#29051489)

Those are usually straw bales from what I've seen.

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Re:Internet Hay Exchange by reaperducer on Saturday October 30, 2021 @08:16PM (#29053384)

As a non-farmer, I honestly don't know the difference between hay and straw.

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Re:Internet Hay Exchange by dec0dedab0de on Saturday October 30, 2021 @09:19PM (#29053678)

Also not a farmer, but hay has seeds. I think straw is technically any dead plant stems.

You can cover your new grass seed with straw to protect it from birds. If you try that with hay you'll plant hay.

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Re:Internet Hay Exchange by BenjiWiebe on Sunday October 31, 2021 @01:08AM (#29054646)

Son of a farmer, living in a farmer community. Alfalfa hay doesn't have seeds unless you harvested it waaay too late, and then it's probably worthless.

I've only ever heard of straw referring to wheat straw - the wheat stems (and grainless heads) left in the field after harvesting.

Hay, on the other hand, is the whole plant (well, not the roots) of alfalfa (a legume), or brome (a grass) or prairie hay (mix of native grasses).

This may be slightly different in other areas, but the above is how it is in Kansas.

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Re:Internet Hay Exchange by jccooper on Sunday October 31, 2021 @12:36AM (#29054529)

Hay is for eating (it's stored grass), straw is for other uses.

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