To Hay, or not to Hay

The rain stopped abruptly a few weeks ago. When the rain goes away and temperatures are consistently in the 90's, we have to watch the pastures carefully. It's easy to get into a situation where the grass dries up and the pasture is insufficient for the animals to thrive. Intuitively, you would think hay feeding is only for the winter, but it can be necessary in a hot, dry summer. How do we tell if it's necessary? The easiest way to know is to put a good bale of hay out for the animals and see if they eat it. They'll happily tell you if they need it. I put this one out for the lambs several days ago. They have nibbled a little, but evidently, the pasture is still good enough to keep them pretty happy. If nothing else, it provided a great opportunity to play king of the bale.