Haying

[TomP]

Hello to all--

I need some help fast. My brother was killed in an accident on his small Colorado farm(around 36 acres of alfalfa/rhone grass) two weeks ago.

I'll be moving back in 3 weeks, but the grass needs cutting now. Here's the help I need:

1st, where do most of you go to find someone willing to bring a swather and square bailer to a small parcel. 2 years ago the first cut yielded about 800 bales--probably closer to 1,000 now.

2nd, what is the going rate, and is it by the bail or by the hour.

3rd, Does anyone have experience with haying using compact tractors. He has a JD 4400, and I have a B2710. I was looking at a mini round baler(anyone used one of these) or should I stick with the old square bailer, which the tractors can pull, but cutting the grass seems to present more of a problem, given the size of the tractors....sickle or disc??? Finally, I guess I'd need to use a hay rake--never have before, and would welcome any tips.

It used to be that you could coop implements/services with others, but we've been having difficulties. We've also looked to pay for services, but it seems that most people are more interested in larger parcels/jobs.

The first 2 questions are the most pressing, as the grass is already 2 weeks late in cutting, and we need to cut now if we want a chance for a second--bails were up to $8 last winter.

The last questions--obtaining suitable implements, can be answered before mid-August.

Thanks to all for your help.

PS-Stay safe in and OFF the tractor--he got caught by the wind while holding a 32' aluminum pipe and touched the 30' high voltage line. The pipe was being picked up to be sold as scrap, and to be replaced by Poly pipe sitting in the barn.

 

[Harv]

I'm afraid I know nothing of haying, Tom, but I wanted to tell you how terribly sorry I am about your brother. Sounds like something that could have happened to any of us, and you just never know when it's going to happen. That is truly tragic, and my heart goes out to you and the rest of your family.

 

[jdkid]

Hi ya Tom
sorry to hear about ya brother .even tho i'm in NZ i hope some of what i say helps .baleing is norm charged per bale mowing/raking norm per hour but sometimes people will cost a job all in mow/rake/bale per bale..mini round baler there is a guy in NZ with one and he dose alot of small blocks he has also got a mini wraper for making baled silage and gets heaps of work but in saying that if you already have a brick baler you will still be ok with that (even 2nd hand small baler would be cheep) mowers ..disc is best will cut sticky(gluey)crops but needs higher Hp ,sickle are ok in good standing crops ,keep sharp!! ...hayrakes only tip i would give is don't rake alfalfa too dry as the leafs fall off and thats the bit ya want to keep at night or a dewy morring is the best time .what about people next door with hay gear to come and do the job for money or for you to help them do some thing ?? years ago my grandfather got run over by a tractor with in a day the guy next door had been a baled his hay and a sporting group carted it in for him .I'm sure something will work out .only other thing i could think of is if you did not need the hay (ie ya were going to sell it )what about selling it standing ?that way you would have abit more time to work things out
catch ya
JD Kid

 

[jdkid]

Hi ya Tom
heres a link that may help

http://members.home.net/18james/rural/haying.html

hope it helps
catch ya
JD Kid

 

[Woodbeef]

Sorry to hear about your brother.

First thing to do is post around at local dealers,sale barns,ag-papers etc... that you are looking for someone to come in and cut and bale your hay.

If that fails,check with local dealers for rental tractors and equipment. If the grass gets too thick you'll need more hp to cut it,wether with a sickle or disc mower conditioner.

 

[cowboydoc]

Tom,
First I'd like to say that I'm sorry about you losing your brother. I lost one of my best friends in high school the same way. He picked up a sprinkler line hunting for ground squirrels and it touched an overhead wire. Tough way to go.

On haying before I got my mower conditioner I would cut my hay using a sickle mower. You just have to go slow and keep it from binding. As far as raking goes the same thing. You want to go just fast enough to roll the hay over on the opposite side. Too slow it will bunch up and too fast you'll spread it all over creation. With the sickle mower you're going to have a bigger area of hay cut than with the conditioner or swather so you're going to have to find your groove there. It will take awhile to get the rake just right to lay it into row. You will probably have to lay two sides together. What I mean by that is your row will probably be about 6' wide if you sickle mow it. The best way is to lay the two sides together in one row.

Now when you're bailing make sure that you keep the rpm's up on that baler or she's going to plug. Also take it slow or it will plug as well. Make sure that your hay is dry enough when you bale though. I've seen more than my share of fires due to hay being put up wet and then self-combusted not to mention that it will mold. If you have to get it up and it is still a little wet sprinkle rock salt over the top of the bale and this will help draw out the moisture and keep it from molding or combusting.

If you're really in a bind and just want someone to do it go down to the local feedstore or coffee shop in the morning where the farmers hang out. Just go in and say your brother passed away and you're looking for someone who either wants to hire out to cut his hay or will do it on shares. Usually on shares it is about half and half. I'm sure you will get more than enough offers to do it for you. I know if you went down to the feedstore it would already be done by the time I wrote this post.

Good luck and let me know if there's anything else I can help with.

 

[cowboydoc]

BTW,
Around here it's usually done by the bale if they don't do it on shares. Here for full job it's $1.25 per bale for square bales and $6 a bale for round bales. Like I said in the other post shares is 50/50.

 

[DVerbarg]

TomP,

Sorry to hear about your brother.

I second all Richard's suggestions. I would also add that if your brother was a member of a church that you might want to check there. Other members might be willing to "chip-in" and get the job done, especially considering the circumstances. The prices that Richard mentioned are right in line with what we pay here in Illinois and the share percentage is exactly the same.

The JD4400 would handle the square baler but would probably have a struggle if you were to pull a hay wagon at the same time (unless the ground is extremely flat and the wagon fairly small). I would be concerned about handling a round baler, even a small one, but you could check with a dealer for verification.

I like mower/conditioners as opposed to sickle as the drying time is faster. This can make all the difference when trying to get a cutting in before another storm approaches and also keeps the price per bale up. Rained on bales can lose a significant portion of their nutrient value if subjected to a heavy rain. The price per bale then drops from around $4.00 per bale to around $2.00. Yikes! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif A couple cuttings that miss a storm sure do provide a good ROI for a conditioner (new toy) /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif!

DaveV

 

[GrantMO]

Tom,

Sorry to hear about your brother. It's always such a shock when it's out of the blue like that.

All of the advice above is good. Around here you pay more the smaller the custom baling job is. Neighbors paid about 1 dollar per square bail for mowing, raking and bailing about 300 bales. I'm sure this price varies quite a bit based on region. If you can find someone to do it I'd recommend having it custom baled the first year and you can watch and see how they do it. They'll have good advice on timing for your area. Good luck to you.

 

[TomP]

Thanks, all, for your replies, condolences, and tips.

I have used both square and big round balers before, but never had to "farm it out" entirely before--we always just traded services.

Long story short, we found a local guy to do it for an hourly rate, which,surprisingly, turned out to be cheaper than we had offered by the bale. He did a fine job, and with the wonderful and kind help of several people, including 3 total strangers(it's nice to see the good in communities still exists), they got 700 out of 1100 bales up before the rain came, so it'll take her through winter, which was the first concern.

Your replies helped our resolve that we were thinking along the right lines, so thanks again to all.

Sincerely,

Tom