Consider that he will need someplace to store the hay after baling. Might need to put up a pole barn, which can also house hay equipment. Needs a larger tractor with live hydraulics to power the mower and baler. So a 40-50HP machine.
Sometimes you can sell it out of the field for a slightly less cost, because you have only handled it once, stacking. Everytime you handle it, you SHOULD charge more for labor. Is there a nearby hay auction he could sell at? That can help move hay on. Labor is the killer, finding someone to stack on wagons, in the barn. Then choosing small or big bales. Selling “horse or (goats, llamas, alpacas, sheep) pet” hay, means small bales. Most folks just can’t handle big bales, will pay better for small bales. Most places sell hay by the ton, but Michigan sells most hay by the bale so it can cost more. Not sure about your area.
Then what kind of hay to grow? Grass sells well here to horse folks. Alfalfa sells too, but may be too rich for horses. Cattle folks don’t always want to pay the good money for 2nd or 3rd cut. Cattle folks do like big bales though. Learn your market, then produce what they want.
Good hay ground needs to be fertilized often so it contains needed minerals. Every cutting removes minerals from the land that need to be put back. You need to do soil tests at least every 2 years to know what your ground needs in fertilizers to produce a good product. Testing the hay is an added expense, but handy for sharing the information with buyers. You can charge more with test results in your hand! Each cutting and field can test differently, so each of the hays would need it’s own test.
On the labor part, there are now Accumulators and Grapples. Big game changers! Accumulators seem so work with springs and gravity, not powered tools. Accumulators collect the small bales off baler in bundles. Then you drive out with grapples, pick up the whole bundle all at once, stack them on the wagons, unload the bundles into the barn. Skidsteer seems to be choice for using with grapples, but smaller bundle grapples can be used on tractor loaders. Might need a weight box behind on the tractor with the grapple. You might check Utube videos to see them in action. We are very small, so need smaller versions than most of what is shown. But gracious! What a time saver!!
We hired 5 kids for loading and stacking this year. 2 guys were worthless. One lasted an hour and done. The other did not follow directions well, had to do some parts twice. The girl was excellent!! Experienced with hay, just a good worker ALL DAY. Stacked on the wagon, in the barn, no whining. Gave her a tip plus her $16 an hour pay. Other 2 guys did not know about hay, but willingly followed directions, stacked well on the wagons and in the barn, glad we found them. We can’t get anyone for only $10hr, that is minimum wage here. Easier work at other places.
On about 8 acres we got 750 bales first cutting. Then no rain. 2nd cutting got about 120 bales. Same as others around us. We should have cut earlier. That might have produced a better, early 3rd cutting, but we are learning about hay cutting ourselves. I mowed the short 3rd cutting, not able to harvest with heavy dew, short drying time (like a 4 hour window to cut or dry) before evening dew. Experts figure about 100 bales to the acre in my location. Much depends on rain and heat of the sun. As we saw, heat does nothing to grow hay without rain water. Next year I will be mowing on July 4th, whether hay is tall or short, so there is a chance of an early 3rd cutting! Ha ha. We still had to buy about 400 bales for winter. But what hay we put up, about halfway paid for the needed hay equipment. Should have it paid back in saving on purchased hay by next year. With very high hay cost last year, I figured buying hay was all cash gone forever. We can put up our own, low cost (strings, fuel, hired stackers) hay until we are worn out. Then when I sell the hay equipment, I will have my cash back.
I found a 4-bale accumulator at an auction. Looking for a 8-bale grapple to go with it. That should finish us on purchasing hay equipment. Hoping to save on finding people to work stacking wagons. Just will need them for putting hay in the barn above grapple height and filling the small barn, a few hours work .
We paid cash for our older hay equipment, buying out a retiring farmer. We had been putting aside money for a year when we saw how hay prices kept rising in 2018 and 2019, decided to go into the hay business for ourselves. We knew he took great care of his equipment, and indeed we had no issues with any of it getting the hay in. Hoping for the same next year!
Figure a year at least, to get any land in good shape, brush gone, fertilized and seeded, mowed a couple times before any harvesting, to develop good plant roots. Kind of like mowing pastures, tall and often. For me, I think mowing often makes stronger plants, before it is productive to crop the hay. Seed labels say not to cut for hay the first year. We have very heavy clay, plant turf and roots help prevent getting stuck. Not sure “real farmers” think that way! Ha ha Our land still needs some work to direct water accumulation off the fields. BUT no hay equipment or tractors, fertilizer wagons got stuck this year! I am spraying right now to reduce volunteer clover, get it back to grass. Mostly, it has been a very good year with the hay land. Just took 3yrs to get there.