25 Acres worth buying hay equipment?

[Hay Dude]

Looks like you live in the high rent district.

Yeah, but they need some deplorables around to handle the property maintenance.

 

[Hay Dude]

This is interesting. I have depleted my hay fields because of high clay content and high magnesium content. last year i bushogged half of 2 fields instead of taking a last cut. I’m watching now to see if there is any difference.

You‘ll notice a little improvement, but if your fields are real sparse, it takes a few years of top dressing and hopefully no droughts to bounce back.
Get some organic material and lime on there.

 

[Hay Dude]

I think you are taking my comment the wrong way. Just so you know I am a small dairy farmer and go through up to 125 bales a year. Nothing wrong with hay and I know just as much as anyone that it is essential for raising ruminants. I have no disrespect for hay farmers.

Hay farming is just like any other profession. There are hay farmers that do nothing for soil amendments and some who spray too much chemicals. I try to avoid chemicals altogether or as a last resort. Instead, I use mushroom soil. It’s not perfect, but its a great organic replacement for the grass taken away by me.

Sounds like you are on the right track by putting compost on your fields, more than I can say about most the farmers around here. Also, I think you hay a lot of lease land don't you? That is different than owned land. If people are happy to have there land hayed and hauled off and don't think twice about it well so be it.

So far it seems to be a good working relationship. People have really changed. Many of my landowners know less about the status of the far reaches of their property than I do.
I am clearing fallen branches & trees from over the winter and many are surprised to find out they have fallen trees since they don’t even bother to walk or drive their own land perimeter.

 

[big bubba]

Hay Dude: sounds like you are well into the hay bidness. I have only 20ac hay fields, & have dabbled in selling, leasing hay, etc. but not investing in equip in my 47 yr tenure of my place.
but i have invested heavily in landscape improvement over the years. In terms of climate turmoil, my trees have suffered heavily esp w/polar vortex, etc. i have irrigation tho
climate extremes certainly have taken their toll. glad i don't make my living in agri. I would be interested to hear how your bidness has survived given those extremes & how you see your future in hay bidness with our uncertain climate, regards,

 

[Hersheyfarm]

The ability to sell “compost” hay to mushroom growers is probably extremely stress free and lucrative in terms of making hay.

 

[redman135]

Re post 95, another possible market for wet hay is for hydroseeding on roadworks cuttings and subdivisions.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hay Dude: sounds like you are well into the hay bidness. I have only 20ac hay fields, & have dabbled in selling, leasing hay, etc. but not investing in equip in my 47 yr tenure of my place.
but i have invested heavily in landscape improvement over the years. In terms of climate turmoil, my trees have suffered heavily esp w/polar vortex, etc. i have irrigation tho
climate extremes certainly have taken their toll. glad i don't make my living in agri. I would be interested to hear how your bidness has survived given those extremes & how you see your future in hay bidness with our uncertain climate, regards,

Spent about 1995-2010 dabbling in hay, then went in blinders on and flamesuit zipped about 15 years ago into “hay for a living”.
In all honesty, there’s not much climate difference here. Maybe in other places there’s issues, but on the PA/DE border. Life’s pretty much the same as it was 50 years ago.
The one difference I see is in flooding. The flood waters are higher and more destructive. It has nothing to do with “climate change”. It’s because thousands of homes were built about 20 miles upstream from my little town and the rooftop runoff is like a tidal wave. I only have 1-2 large fields that flood.

Tough tough bidnitz. Feed hay Clowns all weekend and mushroom hay prices dictated by the mushroom hay buyers. Breakdowns galore. Fuel, parts, service and insurance doubled in last 5 years

Future looks ok. I am adding on average another 50 acres each year and saying goodbye to small fields. Name of the game is efficiency and giving thanks to the Lord for not having more than 20 grand each year in repairs….

 

[Hay Dude]

The ability to sell “compost” hay to mushroom growers is probably extremely stress free and lucrative in terms of making hay.

You’d think, but no, it’s not.
Lucrative? LOL
The mushroom hay buyers probe bales for moisture and some even do core samples. They are more picky than feed hay buyers about moisture. Anything over 18-20% gets docked for excess moisture. So if you’re only getting $120/ton, that prices drops if you bring them 22% hay.

What‘s good about mushroom hay is it allows for rejected feed hay to be sold for about 1/2 price. For me, it allows me to get rid of rained on hay, or hay that’s not good enough for feed, rather than try to peddle it off as feed hay. You don’t have to feel bad or ruin your reputation trying to pass of junk as feed hay.

I’ll make close to 1,500 tons per year, but only sell 200-300 as organic feed hay.
I don’t like selling hay sprayed with herbies or insecticides, but have no issue with those that do. I serve a small amount of beef cattlemen who want organic hay.

 

[Hersheyfarm]

So mushroom hay can be a field of weeds, or can be hay that had 2“ rain wile down as long as its dry?

 

[Hay Dude]

Re post 95, another possible market for wet hay is for hydroseeding on roadworks cuttings and subdivisions.

Yes, but Primarily for small bales. Wet rounds or large squares are a problem.