[RichZ]

If you've never hayed before, you may be moving a little too fast in taking an order that big. Haying is EXTREMELY time consuming, and is much more complicated than it appears. When you cut, you need to be sure that you have a 3 day window to rake and bale, not to mention to ted the hay if it needs it. You also need to know at what point of growth to cut the hay, which varies as to what kind of hay you're dealing with. Plus, you'll find out just how mechanical you are when you deal with a baler. I'm no mechanic, but I can do simple stuff. But adjusting the knotter and tension adjustemnts on a baler and kicker is NOT for the fainthearted.

I'm a livestock farmer, and I thought that I could save money by baling my own hay. I struck a deal with a neighboring farm, he provided the hay fields, I provided the equipment, and we shared the work. My neighbor quickly realized that it was more work than he wanted to do, and hiring more farm help than I already have, made the venture lose it's cost effectiveness.

So, my advice is to go into haying slowly. Also, around here in upstate New York, you can usually pick up decent wooden haywagons for reasonable prices.