Winter...

1/23/2021

It's been a while since I've posted a blog entry, but this morning I am cozied-up to a wood stove while the cold temperatures rule, the freezing wind blows and so I thought I'd write.

We had a great year haying over the summer and made some of the best hay ever to come off the Jamison Family Farm. The forage test results were excellent, the color, texture and bale shape - all were great. The rain we had, along with a successful fertilizer program yielded record hay volume. We are anxious to see what 2021 may bring.

All of our horse quality hay is forage tested by Equi-Analytical. We take core samples and send them in for testing and each gets it's own test vs. lumping all of the hay into one test. Hay can vary from field to field and from timing of cut. The hay in our barn is segregated per these tests for customer choice,

The pic below is a bag of hay clippings ready to be sent out.

If you have a horse with metabolic issues, our First Quality Hay tests low in sugar (ESC+Starch). Perhaps our hay is something that would be of interest. On the other hand, if you just want good clean, well managed hay - we have that too! Email FirstQualityHay@icloud.com for more info.

While we have a moved to a bale kicker and wagons to receive the square bales - literally on the fly...

We still handle all of our bales from wagon unloading to stacking. This affords us an opportunity to inspect every bale for shape and quality. Bales that don't measure-up are set aside and sold for cow or goat hay. Bottom bales, unless exceptional in quality, are set aside too.

Some folks will buy this lower quality hay for bedding.

May the Hay Dog does not prefer bedding, but a couch...

May thinks straw and hay bedding are for the "little animals"....

However, she will share the couch with others when necessary...

Even a chair...

We were fortunate to have a second cutting of hay this past year. Typically timothy goes dormant in our July and August temperatures - along with very dry weather. However, this past summer, we had rain and lower temperatures and it yielded a wonderful second cutting of hay.

We filled the center section of our barn with this second cutting.

Customers often ask, can you hold hay for me? Unfortunately, the answer is generally no - even if pre-paid. The reason is - space is limited and were it not for selling out of first cut hay in the center section of the barn, it would have been difficult to stack and store this second cutting of hay. We also like the extra room to store filled wagons to unload another day.

I have moved my office from the old barn to this new barn. May the Hay Dog visits whenever she can...

I like to take a break and ponder things in the barn with my feet propped-up...

The boots in the picture above belonged to by Dad. He passed last February after a long life. I'm sure he did a lot of pondering on this farm too. Often he and I would go to Paint Bank and have a breakfast at the Swinging Bridge Restaurant.

We had an election. Some are happy - some are mad as a match. The most troubling part to me is banjo players tuning on one and anther...

Speaking of banjos - 2021 marks 41 years on the 5-string banjo for me. My banjo of some 38 years is in the shop for a refinish and some other work. Stay tuned for a blog entry on it later this year. Here is a tease pic of the refurb/refinish going on...

Enough rambling.

If you need hay in 2021, we'd appreciate your consideration and business. We should begin cutting and baling around Memorial Day. For more info, please email FirstQualityHay@icloud.com. Follow us at our Facebook page at First Quality Hay for more frequent updates.

Below are a series of farm pictures I took over late Summer, Fall and into Winter 2021.