Hay For Sale!
| Premium Horse Hay for Sale It costs the same to ship in high quality hay as it does to ship in junk. We have selected the finest quality hay to sell to you. We have found an award winning hay supplier! See testimonial from one of our customers below. These are actual photo's of his hay storage facility. Click photo to enlarge. He stores it green and within a week it turns a little blond colored on the outside. It is still green right below the surface. These are 50 pound bales of the highest quality horse hay we can find. |
| High Quality Bermuda Grass This is an actual photo of our hay. Click photo to enlarge. Each hay bale consists of a combination of Coastal Bermuda, Tifton 78 (see info below, center) and Tifton 44. All hay is fertilized. Please call us and let us know your hay requirements and we can look into special orders. |
M-Bar-K Farms
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Customer Service 469-386-4712
| Premium Horse Hay for Sale Two locations to choose from: Aubrey (1 hr N. of Dallas) Cedar Hill (20 min S. of Dallas) or Delivered Anywhere by Semi! Call now and reserve your hay. We will be bringing in at least 15 to 50 tons per week from the Eastern United States. We will be using the same suppliers that our agents have thoroughly inspected and trust. We are not just buying one semi load to sell every now and then. We will be bringing in regular shipments every week. Large or Small orders are welcome. |
| Don't Let This Happen to You A good friend of mine called a guy on Craigslist that was bringing in a load of hay from another state by semi truck. When he got to her ranch he showed her several beautiful bales. She purchased 400 bales and paid him in cash and he unloaded the shipment and left. The next day when she went to feed her horses she discovered that the hay was full of trash! It had been baled off the side of the freeway! She had to throw it all away. Of course she could not find that guy and she was out all that money. *************** Aug. 8, 2011- I just had a woman from Copperas Cove, Texas call me and she said the last semi truck load of hay she bought out of Louisiana was in standing water when the truck went to pick it up. She had to take it since it was paid for in advance. It was so moldy by the time it got to her farm she could not feed any of it to her horses. **************** Aug 9, 2011- I just finished talking to a man in San Angelo, Texas that owns a trucking company. He sent two semi trucks 320 miles(one way) to Amarillo to buy some hay that was promised to be high quality. When his drivers got there they said it was so bad that they could not get it. They came back empty. He said he was glad he was only out the diesel. What will you do if you get stuck with one bad load of hay? Or hay your horses refuse to eat this winter? This is why I am doing this. I used to be a 4-H leader and I majored in Agricultural Business in College. I first noticed all the want ads for hay, then I found out both of my suppliers were out and could not guarantee that they could supply any more. Then I read fly by night ads on craigslist stating "I am driving through town and I have an extra 350 bales on my semi if you want to buy it cheap!" I remembered my friend getting ripped off with freeway trash hay and I thought maybe I could network to find top quality suppliers and low cost shippers and get high quality hay here at a minimal cost with minimal risk to people. The reason that I choose to only ship in Prime or Grade 1 Premium hay is that if I have to pay to ship in a pound of hay, I want my animals to be able to digest that entire pound. With cheap hay they may only be able to digest half of that pound. So you might as well throw half your load off of the truck when it gets to you. Not very cost effective. Also, because I am not marking my hay up very high, because I do not have a "brick and mortar" store or a fleet of truckers to support, most of my cost can go into hay quality. If you find an $11.00 65 pound bale at the feed store, take off a $5 mark up for overhead and profit, $4 to get it shipped here, which leaves you with a $2 bale of hay. If premium hay in the same area it came from goes for $6.50 per bale then what quality of hay are you buying if $2 is the most that farmer could sell his hay for? We are well known in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, have excellent references and have carefully selected our suppliers and have had them checked out by the local governing agencies. We are selling only premium quality hay that you can trust to give to your horses, your client's horses or your customer's horses. This is the same hay that we are feeding our own horses. - Kasey Aldridge M-Bar-K Farms REFERENCES: Dr. Wes Williams, DVM, M.S. of Lone Star Park Equine Hospital in Grand Prairie, TX 972-869-4210 We have known Wes for 11 years. Dr. Mark Crabill, DVM, ACVS, ABVP of Haslet Veterinary Clinic in Haslet, TX 817-439-4776 We have known Mark for 11 years. Mr. Mark Arnold the Ellis County Agricultural and Natural Resources Extension Agent in Waxahachie, TX 972-825-5175. See video of him taking a hay sample below. We just met Mr. Arnold, who was nice enough to come out and test a sample of our hay, and can testify to the level of quality that we are shipping in. You will be Satisfied with the Quality of our Hay! Call today or keep our info in case you can't find hay later this year. Customer Service 469-386-4712 |
| TIFTON 78 BERMUDAGRASS For much of the South, Tifton 78 is the best bermudagrass hybrid release from the forage grass breeding program at Tifton. It is the best of a number of F1 hybrids between Tifton 44 and Callie bermudagrasses made in 1975. It is sterile and must be propagated vegetatively. Compared with Coastal, it is taller, has similar rhizomes, spreads much faster by above ground stolons, establishes easier and starts growth earlier in the spring. In a 3-year replicated clipping trial planted in 1978, Tifton 78 produced 25% more dry matter and was 7.4% higher in digestibility (IVDMD) than Coastal. When compared with Coastal bermudagrass in a 4-year grazing trial, 1982-1985, conducted by animal scientists Gary M. Hill and Philip R. Utley, Tifton 78 produced 27% more steer days, 36% more liveweight gain and 13.5% better average daily gains than Coastal. In 1984 when fertilized with 150 lb of N per acre plus adequate P and K, Tifton 78 produced 1024 lb of liveweight gain per acre. Steers on Tifton 78 averaged 1.7 lb/day from April 10 to October 3. In 1984, well established Tifton 78 burned in late February and fertilized with 100 lbs/A of N plus adequate P and K on March 15 produced 2 tons per acre of hay when cut on May 7. The northern limit for Tifton 78 is yet to be established. In 2-year old clipped plots, it survived the severe 1983-84 winter at Crossville, Alabama; Overton, Texas; and Bryan, Texas. Tifton 78 in 2-year old grazed pastures survived 0 degrees F at Tifton in 1984-85 without loss of stand. Because Callie lacks winterhardiness and half of the genes in Tifton 78 are from Callie, Tifton 78 should not be as winterhardy as Tifton 44 and will not replace it in the northern part of the bermudagrass belt. Burton, Glen W. Bermuda Varieties for Top Quality and Yield. University of Florida IFAS Extension, 2009. Web. 8 Aug 2011. <http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ds081>. |
| Coastal Hay Coastal, released in 1943, is the first hybrid forage bermudagrass from Dr. Burton’s work at the CPES. It is an F1 hybrid between an introduction from South Africa and a prolific bermudagrass found in a south Georgia cotton patch. Named for the experiment station where it was bred, Coastal is among the most successful forage variety releases in the past century as it makes up some 15 million acres of the hay and pasture land in the southern United States. It is the standard against which other varieties are measured. Coastal is a tall- growing, intermediate, coarse-stemmed type, has both rhizomes and stolons, produces few viable seed, and has excellent drought tolerance. Coastal establishes well from both sprigs and clippings (tops). In Georgia, Coastal is best adapted to the Coastal Plain and lower Piedmont areas. It is not as cold tolerant as Tifton 44 or Russell and could winter-kill in the mountains. Coastal produces twice as much forage as common bermudagrass, and its forage quality is superior to common Alicia and a few other varieties when properly managed. Hancock, Dennis W. "Selecting a Forage Bermudagrass Variety." U of G College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences. University of Georgia, 10 09 2010. Web. 8 Aug 2011. <http://www.caes.uga. edu/Publications/pubDetail.cfm? pk_id=7734&pg=np&ct=alicia&kt=&kid=&pid=>. |
| What to Look for When Buying Hay Gary Fredricks, Dairy and Livestock Extension Agent, Clark and Cowlitz Counties 207 4th Avenue North, Kelso, WA 98626-4124, (360) 577-3014, garyf@wsu.edu Assessing Forage Quality How can you tell if you're buying good hay? There are several things that you can visibly look for when inspecting the hay that relate to quality, including: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Color The first thing to notice when inspecting the hay is its color. Good quality hay will have a nice green color that is neither yellow nor brown. Good hay color tends to be associated with higher vitamin, protein, and mineral levels. An overall brown color indicates more mature hay and a corresponding lower quality. Maturity Before examining the hay bale for maturity, it is necessary to first understand what plant maturity means in terms of forage quality. Grass and legume plants are cut to make hay, and plants are made up of leaves and stems. The leaf contains most of the plant protein and the highly digestible fiber that is easily converted to energy. The young leaf is soft and flexible, and is low in cellulose. Cellulose is part of the cell well and provides rigidity to the cell structure. The stem is mostly composed of cellulose because it needs to be more rigid to allow the plant to grow upright. Cellulose is low in energy and is not broken down easily in the animal’s digestive system. After a plant emerges and begins to grow, the weight of the leaf as a percentage of the total plant is high, while the percentage of stem is low. As the plant matures, the percentage of leaves decreases while the percentage of stems increases. Thus, the more mature the plant, the lower the percentage of leaves and the lower the protein and energy contained in the whole plant. Number of Leaves vs. Stems When you evaluate the hay for maturity, look for the number of leaves versus stems. As explained above, you want to see more leaves than stems. As the number of stems increases, the desirability of the hay goes down. Also note that the longer the leaf length, the more mature the hay and the lower its quality. In addition, the presence of seed heads in the bale indicates a very mature hay with lower energy and protein values. Number of Weeds or Foreign Material Be sure to look for weeds in the hay. You would hope that the hay would not contain any weeds and you should not see any present. Weeds have very little nutritive value and are low in energy and protein content. The more weeds that are in the hay, the lower the quality of the hay. Some weeds are poisonous and can present a health danger to the animal consuming the hay. Toxicity depends on the type of weed, amount present in the hay, and how much is eaten over what period of time. Moisture Content Moisture content is always a concern when looking at baled hay. If hay is baled when it is still wet, you may not see the problem on the outside of the bale. However, inside the bale, the moisture and darkness will enable mold to grow, and mold raises three concerns. First, as mold grows it feeds on the hay’s nutrients, lowering the protein and energy content of the hay. Second, as mold grows it can release toxins (poisons) into the hay. These toxins can cause some digestive problems in your animals when they eat the hay, and can cause pregnant does to abort. Thus, moldy hay has a lower feed value and can cause health problems. The third problem is that moldy hay generates heat and can become combustible. Unfortunately, the only way to find out if hay is moldy is to break into a bale. Palatability Palatability describes the animal’s desire to eat the hay and it is like describing the difference between spinach and pizza for a teenager. The spinach has more nutritional value, but the pizza gets eaten first. Good feed quality doesn’t mean much when your animals won’t eat the hay. Younger, leafier hays which are higher in protein and energy do tend to be much more palatable. Goats are browsers and eat all types of hay. They will certainly prefer younger, more leafy hay rather than old and more mature. Measuring Forage Quality To measure hay quality, have a sample analyzed at a commercial laboratory. Ask the laboratory to analyze the % dry matter, CP (Crude Protein), ADF (Acid Detergent Fiber), NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber), and mineral content. Percent dry matter tells you how much water is in the hay. Good quality hay should be more than 90% dry matter, which means that moisture should be less than 10%. If dry matter is less than 90%, expect problems with forage quality and long-term storage as the hay will likely mold in a few months. CP is an estimate of the amount of protein in the hay and should match the animal’s dietary needs. Extra protein is not easily converted to energy; it is not stored by the animal, and is lost in the urine. Thus if your animal needs 12% CP and your hay is 20% CP, the excess protein is helping the grass to grow instead of your animal. NDF is a measure of plant fiber content and is closely associated with feed intake. ADF is a measure of cell wall content, which is mostly cellulose, and is related to feed digestibility (how much of the feed is broken down within the animal). As the plant matures, NDF and ADF values increase as the amount of cellulose content in the plant increases, indicating poorer quality hay. A good hay quality will have an NDF value of 50% or lower and an ADF value of 40% or lower. Summary The bottom line regarding hay quality is that you can tell a lot about the hay by looking at it. Buying poor quality hay is not a good bargain. Saving a couple of dollars when you buy hay means you will need to feed more grain to compensate for the poor feed quality of the hay, and feeding grain is more expensive than feeding hay. Feeding high quality hay saves you money in the long run and is worth the investment. By learning how to visually assess good quality hay, you can help your animals to be healthier and more fit, and you will save your farm money. |
| Our shipper can only guarantee semi quotes for 24 hours. So we can only guarantee quotes for 24 hours. |
| Hay Shortage Hits Texas by: Erica Larson, News Editor • August 05 2011 • Article # 18643 As the state of Texas battles extreme drought conditions, horse owners are struggling to get their hands on enough hay to feed their animals. "The drought is quite widespread and covers nearly the entire state," said Dennis H. Sigler, PhD, a professor in the department of animal science at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and the TAMU Extension Horse Specialist. "Although some areas are much worse than others, all but just a couple of counties out of 254 are under a severe drought, with little relief in sight." Added Travis Miller, professor and associated head of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at TAMU and Extension Program Leader, "We are experiencing the most severe one- year drought in Texas history. June 2011 was the warmest June and the fifth warmest month is our history of recorded weather. July 2011 set the record for the warmest month in recorded Texas history. While we made some good hay in 2010, our hay barns were empty from a very severe drought in 2009. We have been feeding livestock since October, and 2010 hays supplies are gone." For area horse owners, this means having to make tough decisions, dig deep into resources to find hay to purchase and deep in their pockets to pay for the forage they've found. Sigler reported. "In the last couple of weeks I have heard of Bermuda grass hay square bales quoted at $7.50 to $9.00 from hay producers and up to $10 to $11 from feed stores, when (and if) available. Alfalfa hay (all shipped in from out of state) is priced at $10 to $14 a bale. Last year at this time grass hay was in the $5.00 to $6.50 range." "Our only hope at this point is for tropical weather to bring large amounts of rain," Miller concluded. "We cannot predict when this drought will break." |
| Absolutely No Checks! Credit Cards are accepted for Semi purchases only. |
| A good way to compare hay is to find out what it's Relative Feed Value (RFV) is (see chart below). Bottom line is that the higher the RFV number is on the hay you purchase, the less hay AND GRAIN you will need to feed your horses. Saving you more money in the long run. So pound for pound it is more cost effective to ship in the higher levels of hay since less goes much further. (Kind of like the difference between feeding a baby whole milk and skim milk. Same volume, weight and color, but one has way more fat, calories and nutrients then the other.) |
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| It should be noted that "Protein" or "Crude Protein" is not used in the calculation of R.F.V. Also, physical factors such as color, stem fineness, or leafiness are not used in the calculation of R.F.V. Consequently, it is possible for hay to be "pretty" and have a low R.F.V. High protein hay may sometimes have a low R.F.V. However, in general, hay that is high in protein also has high R.F.V. and usually looks good. |
| Warning: Be careful of drop trailers that come from out of state. We considered using a drop trailer. No need to unload, can be locked up, protected from the weather, etc. Sounds great. But when I asked our shipper about it he pointed out that unless you continue to get more hay from the supplier you are responsible for getting the empty trailer back to them when you are done with it. This can easily cost $1,000 to $1,500.00!! Ouch!! |
| Anatomy of a Hay Bale "There is no such thing as cheap hay" Let's start with a 65 pound bale of local hay for $8.00 per bale or .12 cents a pound. It has 10 percent weeds. Horses can't digest weeds so even if they eat it, you will just have to shovel it out of your stall. Prime/Premium hay has no weeds. So that drops your weight down to 58.5 pounds of useful hay. It has 15% stems. Horses don't like to eat the stems, and if they do eat it it is harder to digest, so again you may be cleaning it out of the stall bottom. Prime/Premium hay has no stems. So that drops your weight down to 49 pounds of useful hay. It is not fertilized, so the grass is not going to have the proper nutrients in it that your horses need so that cuts 5% of the usefulness out of it. Prime/Premium hay is always soil tested and commercially fertilized. So that makes it 46 pounds of useful hay. It is not irrigated. This will also cut about 5% of the nutrition unless the farmer has received abundant rain. Prime/Premium hay is always watered appropriately or it is down graded. 43 pounds of useful hay. The grass is not a high quality seed, so it is not going to have the higher relative feed value as a better seed, so that cuts another 5%. Prime/Premium hay is always grown out of the highest quality seed that has been university tested for decades. Now you have 40 pounds of useful hay. The farmer decides to cut the hay a week or two later then he should. This lowers the fat, calories and nutrients in the hay, but gives the farmer a 15% higher yield then someone who cuts their hay at exactly 4 weeks which is recommended. Prime/Premium hay is always cut at exactly the right hour and day or it is down graded. So that makes 37 pounds of useful hay. Did the farmer dry and cure his hay properly? If not some of the weight could be nothing but moisture. Prime/Premium hay is moisture tested at 10 % or it is down graded. 34 pounds of useful hay. And, if you are not dealing with a reputable farmer you risk hay not being stored correctly, which can cause, dust and mold. Which can cause respiratory problems for your horse or worse (Vet Bill!!!). Not to mention you could be purchasing last years hay which is going to have much lower levels of nourishment for your horse. Our suppliers come highly recommended by local state agencies. So now you have 31 pounds of useful hay. It is baled to tight, which chokes out the nutrients and does not preserve the tender leaves as well, which carry most of the fat and calories your horse needs. Prime/Premium hay is baled loose so that it has a more spongy consistency to a bale preserving it's fine qualities and keeping them fresher in storage. So now you have 29 pounds of useful hay. 29 pounds of useful hay at $8.00 per bale is .28 cents per pound. So for every 65 pounds of hay you can utilize in that load is really costing you a whopping $18.20 per 65 pounds of what you can use!! And remember, with the cheaper hay you also have to feed 20 to 50 percent more hay and grain then a higher quality bale in order to attempt to achieve the same results. More shipping costs, more storage room. So imagine when you go to buy that 65 pound bale, chopping off up to 36 pounds of it and throwing it in the trash! And what's bad is a lot of feed stores and farms are selling these typical 65 pound bales for much more then $8.00 right now. At that cost you could spend UP TO $14.00 per bale (.28 cents x 50 pounds) for premium or prime hay to equal what that cheap bale is costing you. (Don't worry, our hay does not cost that much) You are able to utilize the ENTIRE 50 pounds, have less weight to ship in, less room to store it, you can feed much less hay AND GRAIN and have less waste to clean out of your stalls. You will have hay your horses will love, is easy to eat and digest and will look great on. It will provide all the weight gain, energy, fat and caloric needs your horses have with minimal waste. So did you really find hay for less? Call us today for a price quote at 469-386-4712 or email us to find out how economical this hay can be to you. |
| See our visit below from Mark Arnold, the Ellis County Agricultural Agent. |
| Some Great Ideas from Our Customers (Feel free to let us know your ideas) 1. If you know someone going to Dallas with a regular truck or trailer, see if they can bring some hay back for you on the way back. 2. If you do not have a truck or trailer, look into renting a Uhaul trailer for the day. They are usually very inexpensive for short local use. 3. If you do not have a lot of storage, look into renting a storage unit for a little while. Some units offer up to 3 free months of rent. Some units are cheaper if they are in a higher risk area like south Dallas or Fort Worth. Since you aren't storing jewels it may be worth the substantial discount for winter hay storage. BE SURE THE HAY YOU ARE BUYING IS NOT OVER 10% MOISTURE CONTENT IF YOU DO THIS. IF IT IS NOT IT COULD MOLD OR OVERHEAT IN A STORAGE LOCKER. |
| October 4, 2011 Click above photo to enlarge. Please remember to bookmark this page in case you can't find hay in the future. |
| M-Bar-Farms Hay Update Emails |
| We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service. |
| Credit Cards are accepted for Semi purchases only. |
| Beware: Of hay suppliers telling you that it only costs $1.00 per bale to ship your hay to you. They are trying to make you believe you are getting high quality hay when you are not. They will take a $2 bale of hay, add $5.00 profit and $5.00 to ship it. And tell you they have an $11.00 bale of hay and shipping is only $1.00 per bale to ship it to you! I would not trust anyone that does that to care about the hay they are bringing to you! |
| Be Careful: Putting want ads up and hiring individual truckers directly off of Craigslist to haul your hay for you. There are scam artists on there that pretend like they are truckers or are dishonest truckers and either steal your money or your load of hay. You also run the risk of a trucker backing out of a haul after you already paid for the load to be picked up and the supplier has to hire help to load your hay and with a no show you get stuck with the bill and an angry supplier. Dealing with individual truck drivers can expose you to break downs, load violations, non compliance with various state laws, no liability insurance in case something happens to your load and the list can go on and on. |
M-Bar-K Farms Distributing LLC
| Hay Supplier #1's First Testimonial! Testimonial for M-Bar-K Farms: My horses would rather eat the hay bought from M-Bar-K Farms than fight over their grain. Before we bought this hay, our four horses would fight if someone finished his grain first... now they finish the grain and go straight to the hay, no matter who is still eating. This hay is like dessert for our horses and I feel bad feeding them the other bad hay that we have and so we give them the old hay two days in a row and then they get the treat of the M-Bar-K Farms hay. They usually eat for an hour on the old hay and they can finish the same amount in about thirty minutes with the good M-Bar-K hay. These are rescue horses and we feel so blessed to be able to feed them good quality hay that will help nourish and impact their overall health. Sharon Baker, Mansfield, Texas 8-27-2011 |
