A Real Friend

Andy Martin · Feb 23, 2018

I custom baled hay for years. Last several years I've been busy and only bale a few square bales to feed out of the barn. A guy down the road has been baling my 34 acre hay meadow for two thirds and I've been paying cash for delivery of my third to my place. Two weeks ago I got old hay fed out and started on 2017 hay. I still have some nice 2016 hay but wanted to feed the newer hay in the worst weather.

They won't eat it. Full of sticks, old hay (look like windrows mowed and left lay for a year), big weeds, etc. They will eat some if I roll it out but maybe half.

So I went to the hay from 2016 and they clean it up. Hay could not have been from my fields which get baled every year.

I called him and he was amazed there might be something wrong. I told him those fields had gotten so bad I was going to have to do something else for hay, just don't bother cutting it.

Then called his hand who delivers the hay. To make sure he didn't go bale it if they never talked about it. He said they had baled some stuff late in the year that was pretty rough. Then added he just did what the boss told him to do.

I just told him it won't happen again.

I cannot understand how stupid they think I must be. They know I feed my own hay every year.

Ken Macfarlane · Feb 23, 2018

I don?t exactly follow, you?re upset because your field has
become run down? Or you think hay from another place even
more run down was substituted? Or that it was just cut too
late?

dcarp · Feb 23, 2018

He probably sold the hay from your field and gave you the
junk from somewhere else. Some folks will do anything for
money.

Andy Martin · Feb 23, 2018

I guess I wan't clear. This is prairie hay. They cut it in early July and it should be better every year. I was being sarcastic saying the fields were run down. I went and walked them (25a and 7a) and there is nothing wrong. They substituted trash from a field they were trying to clean up and sold my portion of my hay to someone else. I erred in trusting people I have know for years. They proved themselves.

Bob Bancroft · Feb 23, 2018

Sorry to hear such things.
"Familiarity breeds contempt"

jeffcat · Feb 23, 2018

That is being used on multiple levels. When ever someone is doing you
a "favor", that is when a stake in the back is most assured.

tomturkey · Feb 23, 2018

Pull some of those bales from the barn, open them up on the lawn. Call the neighbor "real friend" down. Tell him, this hay is not from my fields!! When he says they accidentally pulled the wrong rack to your place, tell him "that will not happen again". Let him know you know and are watching. Otherwise send him packing, although that may not be possible due to the laws pertaining to leased/rented farmland. Be prepared to do your own baling again. gobble

Traditional Farmer · Feb 23, 2018

Not only crooked but stupid too,guess they go hand in hand.

Duane WI · Feb 23, 2018

Calling someone out and trying to hold them accountable is just about impossible and more aggravation than it is worth. They have already proven themselves as dishonest so just drop it and move on. I always say I am the person who is wrong but I am only wrong once. I don't give the other person the chance to prove that I am wrong again. Find another way to get the hay put up. Smile when you see this person again. Act like nothing has happened. Just never ever trust them again.

ArleninOr · Feb 23, 2018

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Had that happen when I had somebody bale some on shares when my baler broke. Never again.

ed will · Feb 23, 2018

Old adage: No good deed goes unpunished!
Ed Will Oliver BC

coshoo · Feb 23, 2018

Many years ago, Dad had a nice Hereford steer he was going to butcher- he and mom didn't need all the meat, so gave us half. He paid for everything, all I had to do was pick up our half cut and wrapped at the butchers. Did so, went to eat the first package, and it was a scrawny little Jersey of some kind (yellow fat, very small steaks, tough as shoe leather). He called and raved about his, I just thanked him kindly and donated the beef to the Salvation Army. If I had called out the butcher, he would have called Dad, and I didn't want his good intentions questioned. Sometimes you just have to let it go.

Turned out the butcher was a drunk, and managed to burn down his own shop a couple years later. May have just been a drunken mistake on his part, we'll never know.

NEKS · Feb 23, 2018

Was selling a dairy farmer about 4 semi loads of hay a year. Lost some hay ground because it sold. Went to another fellow that I knew for a long time that had hay for sale. Before I delivered it got to checking the load and most of the hay was moldy. Had to unload it and load some of my own. Went to another farmer I knew all my life. Sold that load and the dairy farmer called me back and said that load was moldy. Do most people put up hay to wet? I am felling sorry for their cows.

Mark in Upstate · Feb 23, 2018

I've put up smalls all my life. We started selling back in mid 1960's; always fed our hay that got wet and it NEVER went into the same mow as the saleable hay. I do some of the neighbor's fields. We have an agreement that I provide him with enough good hay to sell to pay taxes. He has come to me with a wad of money saying that it is my share, no sir that's all yours. he has always been very pleased. That's what makes good neighbors! No questions!

Andy Martin · Feb 23, 2018

(quoted from post at 10:38:55 02/23/18) Pull some of those bales from the barn, open them up on the lawn. Call the neighbor "real friend" down. Tell him, this hay is not from my fields!! When he says they accidentally pulled the wrong rack to your place, tell him "that will not happen again". Let him know you know and are watching. Otherwise send him packing, although that may not be possible due to the laws pertaining to leased/rented farmland. Be prepared to do your own baling again. gobble

These are round bales. I did invite him over to inspect the hay because he knows it should be prime clean prairie hay. He won't come, or if he does come, he'll try to throw his helper under the bus. I'd just as soon he doesn't come.

Since he can't be trusted he will never be hired to do anything else for me, and I sometimes hire him for off season work. He lost that.

Andy Martin · Feb 23, 2018

(quoted from post at 10:56:16 02/23/18) Calling someone out and trying to hold them accountable is just about impossible and more aggravation than it is worth. They have already proven themselves as dishonest so just drop it and move on. I always say I am the person who is wrong but I am only wrong once. I don't give the other person the chance to prove that I am wrong again. Find another way to get the hay put up. Smile when you see this person again. Act like nothing has happened. Just never ever trust them again.

This is exactly my tactic. That's why I did not accuse him of swapping hay, just told him I couldn't believe how bad "my" hay was this year. I want to be friendly enough with him that he'll ask to bale my hay again, and I'll politely tell him somebody else is doing it. If I catch him baling my field (several miles from home and I have no reason to go over there) I will call the sheriff however. I told him and his help and they have no excuse for"forgetting". They've probably baled it for ten years.

flying belgian · Feb 23, 2018

The short answer is, yes, most guys put hay up to wet.

Andy Martin · Feb 23, 2018

(quoted from post at 13:17:16 02/23/18) Was selling a dairy farmer about 4 semi loads of hay a year. Lost some hay ground because it sold. Went to another fellow that I knew for a long time that had hay for sale. Before I delivered it got to checking the load and most of the hay was moldy. Had to unload it and load some of my own. Went to another farmer I knew all my life. Sold that load and the dairy farmer called me back and said that load was moldy. Do most people put up hay to wet? I am felling sorry for their cows.

I originally just did custom baling. All the bad hay went into my barn: wet, weedy, johnson grass (horse people don't want), so by winter I'd have a barn full of bad hay. I bought cattle to market my marginal hay. Now I'm letting others bale hay and I can't seem to shed myself of the cow habit.

Greg1959 · Feb 23, 2018

Duane WI- I like your answer. Iv'e always called people out when they have shorted me, all it does is cause hard feelings. It does not fix anything. I'm going to try to live by your advice.

Thanks

Kickinbull · Feb 23, 2018

One year I bought some rolls of hay from someone in community. They looked fine, I paid for hay and hauled it home and started setting it out
for cattle. They didn?t like it ,it was moldy. Every bale. I called the guy, let him know what I found. I figured he could make it right if he wanted to.
Nope, he?d already spent the money(his words). Every time I saw him out and about I was very friendly. But he was always in a hurry to leave.
It was on him, not me.

1370pwr in ne · Feb 23, 2018

Hay put up on shares here is done for 50%. With the two thirds share do they pay for all the fertilizer? Just curious. Their is a lot of hay just wrapped up that should not have been due to not being dry. Seems odd that this guy would pull this stunt on you for the first time in ten years now. In my opinion you would be better off doing your own hay.

carvel minne farmer · Feb 23, 2018

unfortunately andy that seems to be the way some people do business, that fellow had a pretty good deal going, baling the fields, he gets to keep 2/3 and you pay him cash to deliver your 1/3, and he still has to scam you by keeping all the good hay off your field and hauling you garbage he baled off a country road allowance by the sounds of it. when you make an agreement with someone your word is your bond, that's how I was raised. like you said andy, he only gets one shot at you and you know now his word is good for nothing. how about you baling that field, hauling your needs home and selling the rest?

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