There are ups and downs to having someone else do it. The up is time off from work and equipment. The down is that it might not get done when you want it done. Some contract farmers have no vested interest in your crop. Since the guy that now does ours in exchange for part of the crop is a neighboring farmer that has to feed the hay to his own cows he still has a vested interest in doing it right. He doesn’t want crappy hay either.
We hay about 80 acres and get about 12-15,000 bales from large 1st and 2nd cuts of gorgeous grassy mix hay. We usually do 2-3 fields with a 3rd cutting, but it’s hard to get it dry enough when the days get short.
Haying is a HELL of a lot of work, more than I even thought I was capable of doing. But I’m strong and I’ve surprised myself at how much I can get done. Plus, there is NOTHING that pleases me more than going into winter with a huge supply of really first-quality hay for my horses! :yes:
Mary, I couldn’t agree more. Hay baling is hellish work but when facing winter, there’s nothing better than a jam-packed hay loft :).
Plus, there is no gym membership fee required LOL:lol:!
We bale our own. The main reason being so we have enough hay. Squares are harder and harder to come by around here because they’re so labor intensive. We would have have been so screwed in that drought year a few years back if we didn’t have our own- we baled stuff we normally bush hog- it wasn’t the greatest hay for sure, but they ate it and at least they had roughage.
The baler is an oldie but goodie, and DH knows how to keep it running since he grew up on a dairy farm. We’ve been gradually upgrading equipment, got a disc mower a few years ago when the old haybine was beyond repair. Our original investment in equipment was around $6000, not including the tractor.
We also use a lot of round bales. We cut and rake, and pay a neighbor $8/roll (cheap!!!) to bale- all he does is custom round bale hay in the summer. Normally we call him before we cut a field to see if he’ll be available to bale, but he’s even come on really short notice (like an hour or two) when it’s threatening rain to roll hay that we intended to square bale. I can’t justify the cost of a round baler for 80-100 round bales/year.
Honestly, if I didn’t have to bale hay, I wouldn’t. I want to win the lottery so I can just have all the hay delivered and stacked and never worry about the cost or having enough.
[QUOTE=drewsbadboy;5574963]
Does anyone know anything about either baling your own hay or having a farmer do it for you?[/QUOTE]
We are able to have our 15 acres cut and baled by a neighbor until our barn gets done. We planted it 3 years ago and it is ready to go again this year. He charges me $2/bale, which is a little high, but beats buying form anyone else! I have been very happy with it and our horses love it!
Making a small fortune in hay.
Here’s how to make a small fortune in the hay business …
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Start with a large fortune…
I have 10 acres in hay. State Ag helped with a cost share grant to convert crop land. Planting Orchard grass with lime cost $2300 last September. This year, fertilizer $500, weed killer $150, diesel $50, Baler twine $70 Plus a weekend of mechanical work on the $6500 of hay equipment bought last year. (not including tractor)
I worried about the weather, moisture content, hay heating and labor to get it out of the field.
Yield so far : Another year of ag land use tax on the farm plus 70 bales of prime Orchard grass hay cut in the boot stage. So fragrant, I could eat it myself. Likely a second cut if weather cooperates. Total cost…
If it weren’t for the tax break, I’d still be buying hay.
Haying is tricky business if you don’t know what you are doing and if you’re not the type that’s mechanically inclined. Seems like the equipment doesn’t work 1/2 the time and needs a lot of tinkering.
We have a 34-acre farm and have worked out a deal with the local cow farm guy down the road. We get 3 cuttings. The 1st cut we give to him and he usually sells it. The 2nd & 3rd, we slip them a few bucks, plenty of beer and give them any sections we don’t want for the horses. Works well for us. Try bartering with the locals!
Tips on adjusting your machine to packaging high-quality bales.
Adjusting a baler to produce high-quality bales is relatively straightforward. Of course, by starting with windrows that are uniform in width and in the amount of hay they contain, producers help ensure bales are consistent in shape and density. Also, windrows that are as large as possible to meet the baler capacity help minimize the amount of loss during the baling process when hay is at its driest and most subject to leaf loss from handling. If want more information,please contact me: luodi@thintlgroup.com
You’re going to get banned for soliciting. Read the forum rules.
We have 15 acres baled by a neighbor. He rounds 10 acres and squares 5. I did ask for some of the 10 acres to be squared last cutting to finish filling the barn. Gorgeous bermuda hay, very clean. We fertilize and spray (or at least buy the chemicals and he sprays). Had to spray a few times last year for army worms. We split the hay with him getting the rounds and us getting squares.
Cost wise with fertilizer and spraying it ended up about $4 a bale, which saves me $3 per bale if I purchase outright. We are running a bit low right now so may have to buy some before 1st cutting. Had to feed hay early due to drought.
We make our own hay.
We have a much longer hay season than you do. We can bale summer and winter, we just don’t get as much in winter but in winter we do get more of a lucerne bale without the grass.
We do not have the lucerne beetle or whatever it is you have over there that is poisonous to horses. You call lulcerne alfalfa.
We can bale every 3 weeks during the hay season. Of course that doesn’t happen as you need the sun to shine and no rain.
I have my own tractor. Hubby has his. I did it for 10 years with the mowing, raking and baling. He does the picking up. Now that I am working he has done the mowing and we both rake and we now have a round baler, so he can bale by himself and do the picking up.
With the small square baler we usually do it together so as I bale and he picks up.
Once you have started raking, you have to rake every day. In summer when the days are long enough I can go back down and rake the same day as cutting, normally I rake the next day and it can be left the next day to the first day of raking but no longer.
It is ready to bale when you go down at 2pm and pick out some lucerne from the middle or bottom of the biggest pile and rip it back and forth, it has to rip in 3.
That night you can not start baling until you squeeze the lucerne and it does not pulverise in your hand.
With grass when you go down at 2pm you pick out the biggest bit of grass from the middle or bottom of the biggest pile and cut the nodule You cannot see any green to be able to bale. You can bale grass during the day as there is no leaf to pulverize.
On the cusp of Seven years after my post #26 on this thread. My thoughts still stand. Haying is a matter of Weather, timing and inputs. One does not make much … No scratch that… there is no profit on less than hundreds of acres. The economies of scale elude the small producer. The only advantages I get are land use property taxes, income tax reduction, and knowing what hay my horses are going to eat over the Winter. There is great satisfaction beholding a barn full of fresh, fragrant hay.
