Dilemma...What would you do????

Fields are Timothy, Orchard and Fescue. Origionally, thought halves would be fair. Then, dropped it to third(1/3)for me and 2/3 for the them....still. no takers. All the locals wanted it for free. I told the first local that came to me, originally, that he could have it for free. I thought that it at least be cut and baled and my fields cleared. He didn't show up for over a year. Because the first local did not respond, a second local showed up wanting the hay for free.

Well, after 6 months of a no show from the second local, and my fields getting beyond better quality. In the meantime, I had reuilt my tractor and told the two that I would just bush hog the fields. Wound up two of the them almost came to blows and dissolved their friendship.

Why would people do this?

So, this is what I do to the fields now.

Buy a mower and rake, and have someone bale it for you. Then sell the bales in February.

Since it's now primarily grass hay a haybine or conditioner isn't an absolute necessity, dependinng on where you live. If you look you can find a decent sickle mower and side delivery rake quite reasonable. Then find someone reliable to roll it up for you and sell it over the winter yourself. There's probably hay broker you could sell some to if you don't want to mess with it, but he'll get some of the profit. It will all pay better than what you have now.

I'd keep it mowed myself. Screw the locals. I have a guy that takes the hay off my 8 acres every year for free. Decent hay and yield and I have my field managed. If it wasn't done for free I would just hog it twice a year. Had one guy stop here once and offer to take the hay off for $2 per bale. Didn't seem like a bad deal until he said I would pay him $2 a bale to remove the hay.
I asked him if thought he could get to his truck faster than I could call the dogs out.

I am about in the same situation as you as I sold my cattle last year. Had a neighbor ask about cutting hay from my pasture land this past spring. I told him we could probably work out something, but the land would have to be fertilized according to soil tests as a start. Thats the last I have heard from him.

It seems they tend to think they are doing you a favor for mining your soil fertility. Got out the batwing last week and bush hogged all 40 acres down.

Letting someone cut hay off land without fertilizing it, is like allowing them free access to your bank account. Joe

Easy, if you have the tractor then buy a sickle mower and a rake for $1000 for the two and hire a guy to come in and just bale it for 1/4 the hay and you just became a hay farmer. Thats what I do. If you have a car or stock trailer use that to haul it, you don"t need any "hay wagons". By the time you bushhog 2 times you could have mowed and raked. I hate to see ground bushhogged though, I have some cows and to me tall grass is the same as cash. Thats exactly how I got into hay in a somewhat similiar situation. I literally have $2000 in my hay equipment and I made that back on the first cutting of the first year.

Maybe or maybe not I get all the hay land to cut for free and even have been paid to cut small pieces.The reason?Folks want $50/hr to bush hog it off and the landowner gets a real estate tax break if a farmer cuts it for hay.

Where are you located? If you were close enough I would jump on that this week.

If you were closer i would be all over the 40 acres and put on all the fertilizer you wanted and spray for weeds, around here no one has pasture any more all plowed under, so putting fertilizer on for the hay is more than a fair deal

Too many folks take and put nothing back in. My folks let my BIL farm our place for 18 years. He fertilized one year. The year my mother signed over the farm to me I kicked him off.

Rick

There is something wrong with your field. It looks level. That is your problem. If it was a steep hill, I would bale it, but I don't know how to operate a tractor on the flat ground. I just don't feel right unless I'm leaning in teh seat until my face is up against the cab glass.

You do have a terrible problem. I'm so sorry to see this. If only it were steep, I could bale it and pay you for the hay. I just don't know how to farm on flat ground.



Ever consider planting some wheat or oats or corn? more tractor seat time!

I would put me some calves on it and raise my own beef,but thats me. As for your other question,hay is sort of like women,its worth more if its scarce. What you experience is nothing new,it happens all the time and most guys i know of who do the same as you wind up in the exact same situation. Its not that they dont want your hay,its simply that there is really no such thing as FREE hay. If they can get all they need closer, or easier, or better,you simply get pushed to the back burner. Heres what ive done in the past in the same situation,simply tell them they have to get it done right up front by a certain time or youll go elsewhere. If they dont hold up their end ,do it! Next time they come around needing hay just say no. Doing what you say and expecting the same from others is what should happen,but unfortunatly it doesnt most of the time anymore. There is a solution, simply rent it to them ,dont give it to them. Put whatever conditions you want on the lease and hold to it. Its funny,they lease it they bale it,you give it to them and they dont,its odd but its human nature. Theres a old saying that says people dislike the most the ones they owe the most. Make them pay and they dont owe you,give it to them and and most folks feel they owe you. Maybe its dumb, but if you watch folks around you,thats the way it works out. Ive seen the same deal go the same way in about 99% of the cases,once the guy baling it gets his lot full you can forget it,you can give odds he wont show up. But for some strange reason they get mad if someone else does,just like your two neighbors. Now if the second neighbor had slipped the first one some cash, who do you think would be mad? My advice keep your buisness ,buisness. Everyone knows where they stand then.

A little rambling and grunting from the other side of the fence.

That looks like something I would jump on at 1/3-2/3, but only with a long term contract. I don't know how your land compares to other land in the area, either in quality, size, or ease of access. Is there a surplus of hay land available in your area?

I am using neighbors land on several different arrangements. Some of it is free, some is small rent, and one actually pays me, because there is as much rough ground to bush hog as there is good hay ground.

I lost my good 1/3-2/3 split ground to PR and politics after the floods last fall. This was a third of my acreage, and I will be scraping up a lot of marginal hay on marginal or worse land to replace it.

Size and location makes a big difference in what it is worth to me. I need enough acreage in one place to make a days work baling, or close enough to another place that I can work them both at once. Real good ground I can make some accommodation for, worn out pasture gets no consideration at all.

I have refused hay ground that was too small, to rough, too far away, or needed a lot of work, with no guarantee of continued use after the work was done.

All of the land I work gets soil tests and fertilizer as well as I can, but not as much as is actually needed. I have been pretty religious about lime. It makes no sense to me to not to take care of it as well as I can. If I have to cover the ground anyway, there might as well be some crop there to pay for it. The long term agreements get better treatment than the uncertain ones. Dealing with some landowners is a real pain, others are too easy.

So if you want to load up that field and bring it to Vermont, we can deal on it, otherwise you are on tour own.

and right here in a nutshell, is the veiw from the other side of the fence!LOL

I am a part time farmer (still have the day job) and I specialize in small fields. Most of my clients let me take all the hay. A few do it on shares because they need the hay for their own animals. I take what I need for my livestock and sell the rest.

Many of my clients had bigger farmers cutting but it was always hit or miss and they were very frustrated.

I prefer small fields that I can run out and work it for an hour or two. In 3 days I have 8-10 rounds for very little effort. I would jump at a field like yours. If I have a client that lets me have all the hay, I go back with my brushhog and tidy up the field. Most look very nice when done. They like that extra touch and usually confirm with me that I will cut their fields the next year.

John

Around here many landowners say no chemicals ie no herbicide, no liquid fertilizer etc, no manure and no contract on their fields that haven't been producing in 20 years.

So I get offered the low quality hay that is full of weeds, makes about 25 bales per acre at 2$ a bale on rocky fields, and they want it cut early when my best hay is being cut. First off it needs about 100$ of lime per acre (trucking cost here). Next needs about 20$ an acre of fertilizer bare minimum. Needs about 1-5 hour per acre popping big rocks. Lastly it needs plowed, rockpicked and reseeded to have any hope with the weeds without spray, thats what 100$ an acre plus damage from the rocks?

So after all this, in a few years the stand would produce 120 bales an acre worth about 3$ a bale. With no contract for how long I can take hay, can be kicked off at any time, hay given to a family member etc.

I can't risk that, so I pop rocks for 5-10 hours a year for them. I bushhog the edges and clean up fallen trees or brush. Fix up the owners roads so they can get to the fields for hunting.

.... and that right there folks is the 'real' hay business. At least around here. And most of the 'land owners' want big rent to boot.
I got a call not that long ago from a guy with a good chunk of land that more or less meets that description... I doubt i'm going to hear back from him because I told him what it was 'worth'...

Rod

I was offered 20 acres last week of "good hay ground" for free. I went to take a look at it, it hasn't been even bushhogged in years, I couldn't see much hay through the weeds, and to top it off, most of it is pitched too steep to walk on. Talked to someone who hayed it before, he warned me to stay off it when there is dew, don't try to get sideways on it, and don't let a bale go on the hill because it all aims down to the road and the owners yard.

I'm thinking I'll give a price for bushhogging it.

I got a call a while ago from a guy with probably 120 acres. That part is interesting.... I've been told by other sources that there's a lot of rock there in places. Nothing plowed in a long time. Present guy is only cutting mabey half and leaving the rest...
Owner wants money.... but we really didn't get into the details of what other terms there might be... but my gut tells me up front it's not really worth anything as is. It might be intriguing... or might be a case to run like hell depending on how the rest shakes out.
There needs to be more oppertunity there than hay because there isn't a market locally to absorb that amount of fescue and browntop.

Rod