Hay Making for Idiots or How Stupid is This Idea

We have a small acreage (15) mostly fenced in pasture for horses. Bought about 1000 bales of hay last year.

My neighbor is retireing from the horse business and has ~45 acres of pasture he is not using for anything. Two days ago he offered it to me free for hay. His only request is that I give him 50 bales for some sheep he keeps. He has even offered the use of one his barns for storage. This would be great if I could find somebody to hay it for me. So far everybody I have talked to has commitments for the season and does not want to take on that much work.

Here is the stupid idea. I have been thinking about buying some hay equipment and trying to do this myself. I brought an IH 504 gas tractor home about 2 months ago for general loader/mower/utility work. So I already have a tractor to use for this exercise although it might be a touch small for this use.

Pros: At anywhere from $3.50 to $5.00 a bale for purchased hay I could probably purchase second hand equipment and come out about even this year and start getting ahead next year. Conceivably could end up with surplus hay for sale also improving bottom line.

Biggest plus is that this would give me a lot of tractor time. My wife is convinced I missed my true calling by not being a farmer. This time of year I look really enviously at everybody turning dirt around us. This is the biggest reason I am considering this seriously.

Cons: It is going to be a lot of work

Equipment...Tractor is too new (to me) to know for sure if it is reliable. If tractor or equipment goes down I lose hay and still have to purchase next year.

I am looking for other thoughts and considerations from your collective wisdom. Also looking for publications or web sites regarding hay making. Something similar to "Making Hay for Dummies"

Thanks in Advance,

Kirk

Since you live in the Gettysburg area you may want to check out the Lancaster Farming. It is a newspaper with all ag related materials. It is also on-line @ lancasterfarming.com. I am in the Shrewsbury area, so if I can be of any help let me know.

Matt

You guys are all just adding fuel to my fire. My wife is probably going to kill me if I go ahead with this, but now it seems like an even better idea than it did yesterday after all these responses in favor of the idea.

FWIW I live in South Central PA (near Gettysburg) for those of you who have commented on drying climate.

My biggest problem is going to be finding equipment in short order. I am thinking I need to be mowing about the 2nd week of June so I am down to just a few weeks to gather this together. I was already considering gathering bales in a pickup for those who suggested that strategy.

Right now I am looking for a haybine, rake, tedder and baler. Might change my mind depending what I find locally. Given my tractor is almost 50 HP (IH 504) are there any limits I need to watch out for as far as mower/haybine? I don't see raking and baling as being too power intensive at the scale I am talking about. The topography of these pastures is relatively flat.

Also, if anybody is in my area and knows somebody who might want to work this this year I am certainly open to that yet. Most of what is holding me back from just jumping in with both feet is my ignorance of haying leading to the fear that I will spend a lot of time and a little money and still be buying hay next year.

Thanks Again,

Kirk

Just make sure this is really how you want to spend your spare time. You aren't going to make money on this and quite frankly I doubt if you will be able to get all this together by the second week of June to make a cutting at all.

Thanks for the insite and dissenting opinion,

Kirk

I have baled as high as 35,000 bales per year for many years, that is my experience. Now here is my advise, until you bale more than 5,000 bales per year keep it simple. Mower, rake and baler only. Three guys with a 24 of beer and a pickup can have a picnic gathering up 1000 bales per day. Just dole the beer out gradually, so they have 12 for the end of the day.

If you are in a climate where drying time is crucial, go for the mower conditioner, rather than mower. I would favour NH haying equipment followed by JD and IH. Don't ever buy a IH 45 baler though. Surprisingly they have not all been cut up for scrap.

I like the part about plowing and reseeding. I could be turning dirt like a real farmer.

Kirk

I fed my hay for the most part to a herd of holsteins. I did have a few horse hay customers. They would pick up off the ground with their pickups what they could store and start the winter with. By late winter they were back needing more to finish the season. It was a great little sideline.

You should make it clear to your landlord that you need a commitment of several years. It will take that long for good production. As I said before, land that has been in pasture, is not going to magically turn into good hay. It will be worth cutting, and if you reseed 15 to 25 percent each year you will have a good rotation started.

I to share some concern that you will be able to find suitable equipment in time for this year. Try for the mower and rake first, probably quite easy to find a custom baler. Then you never know you could get lucky on all the equipment. Good luck and keep us posted on how your doing.

If you approach this from a hobby standpoint, then what's the problem?

If you can enjoy the hobby and maybe turn a few bucks in the end then do it for sure.

The worst that can happen is you will have to pay to operate your equipment, which is what the rest of us in the hobby do.

Good luck and be safe.

Dan

The most important thing is a good baler with knotters that WORK, JD and NH had simplest knotters. IH 430 all twine were good.

My 2 cents
JB

Mark Hill
Dearborn,MO

Now, please don't take offense at this, because it is meant in all sincerity & in good faith.

I don't know about your area, but here the outer edge urban sprawl of the horsey people is growing by leaps and bounds & like wildfire.

It is driving up real estate prices to ridiculous levels and everything associated in this game that goes with it. Everyone and his darned bride wants to be a cowboy and want to have the longest 5th wheel trailer with the most hay piled on top.

You could sell that extra hay to these types at the over inflated prices just as you have been forced to pay in the past.

Believe me, they will pay it. They don't care; they just gotta feed old Snort.

Just an idea,

Allan

Kirk

I am really not planning on selling any, but anything that does sell is a bonus at this point.

Thanks,

Kirk

There are several different ways to approach this! It sounds like you have a great neighbor! Since you can not find a contractor, the first thing to consider is the purchasing of equipment. I started out doing the same in 1995 with a JD 60,Farmall H, New Holland 66 baler w/ no ejector, New Holland 469 Haybine, IH side deliver rake on steel(from the '40s),Kuhn 440 Tedder(a must have if you are in a rainy climate)and two flatbed wagons. One of my grandfathers freinds gave me the baler and rake and I purchased the haybine and tedder for about $2000 total. My first year I spent more time working on the baler and haybine then in the field, but I learned a tremendous amount. Alot depends on the amount of time you have. You may want to approach it by only cutting portions of the 45 acres. My guess is that if it was used for pasture that there will be alot of weeds, so you my want to mow it to stop the weeds from going to seed. It will be alot of work and you will need labor if you are going to drop bale. But there is nothing more satisfing then looking back at a freshly mowed or baled hay field. Good luck! Matt

That must be some neighbor!!! Wish he lived next to me; I think he is handing you the perfect opportunity.

Hay ground here rents for 50% of the crop.

Go do it, 'cause it's gonna make you happy. Even in the bad times.

And, don't forget the first rule of farming: You really should go into debt until your ears bleed, then all will be normal. )grin(

Allan