By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

MORROW, Ohio — Morrow, Ohio in the southwest part of the state is at the heart of horse country. And the Wee Bairn Farm, of Mike and Nancy Bairnsfather is at the epicenter of it all.

With roughly 8,000 horses, Warren County has the fourth highest population of horses of the 88 counties in Ohio. And the Bairnsfathers say there’s no better place to be.

“This is a big horse area,” Nancy said, “but we also sell to a lot of alpaca, goat, rabbit and llama owners.”

The couple farm 300 acres and 71 of those are in hay. Mike has been tending to hay the past 10 years, though he’s been around farming for 60 years. They specialize in alfalfa, timothy, clover and brome grass. They even do a little manure removal business on the side.

“Good quality hay is the best ingredient in the daily diet of healthy horses,” Mike said.

“And there are many factors to consider when selecting good hay for your animals. Hay should be clean, green and fragrant, free of dust and mold.”

Nancy does the mowing, raking and teddering. Mike does the baling. Together, they produce 30,000 bales of hay each year.
“And we’re not even big-time hay dealers,” Mike added.
According to Mike, the nutritional value of hay can vary wildly depending on how it was harvested and baled.

“We begin with lush fields of timothy, orchard grass, clover and brome grass,” Mike said. “After the hay is cut, it is teddered. This fluffs up the hay, allowing it to dry quickly and uniformly. We then rake the hay into windrows, then bale it into small bales weighing about 50 pounds. We check the bales for moisture content. If the moisture content is too high we stop baling and wait until the hay is properly cured.

“If you pick up several bales of hay and they’re extremely heavy they may have been baled before the crop was thoroughly cured.
They can heat up and become moldy. If they’re too lightweight they may have been baled too loosely, which means they’re older and drier and you won’t be getting your money’s worth.”

According to Mike, legume hays such as alfalfa and red clover are higher in protein at 15 to 20 percent than most grass hays. Timothy, he says, provides seven to 11 percent protein and are excellent for mature animals. Brome grass yields over 12 percent protein.

“The brome produces wide leaves, which horses find quite palatable,” Mike said.

Of them all, the Bairnsfarmers prefer mixed hays for their own animals.

“Mixed hays are often the best,” Mike said. “Feeding a brome/orchard grass mix, for example, will yield an overall higher protein level than orchard grass alone, while safely providing enough bulk in the animal’s diet to satisfy their need to chew.”
Any downside to the hay business? A few, Mike says.

“Lately we’ve been struggling,” he said. “With soybeans you can sell anytime of the year, but with the hay you can’t. There are times in October we might have 20,000 bales of hay yet to one is interested. In years past people would buy a lot of bales and keep them stockpiled. Now they buy it as they need it. It’s just the economy.

“In addition, with hay you’re weather dependent. Hay has to be harvested at ideal conditions.”

After the animals have enjoyed Wee Bairn Farm hay they will inevitably produce one of agriculture’s most amazing substances – manure. The Bairnsfathers retrieve the manure, let it deteriorate, mix it with lime and apply it to their own fields.

“Many farms do not have the equipment, facilities or desire to compost this little treasure, so we go to that farm, load the manure and haul it away,” Mike said.

To learn more about hay or manure removal contact Wee Bairn Farm at 513-490-2136.