Hay Farmers getting out of farming

[sree251]

Sorry brother. I hate reading that. I hope you can find a way….
I found a way to make more non-farm income, until I could get tonnage up a lot.

Great suggestion. What kind of non-farm income?

 

[Texasmark]

I can envision the difficulty to make a profit in hay business with the high cost of repair parts,fuel,fertilizer not to mention the high price of farm tractors/equipment. Then throw in the lack of & low prospects of rain where I reside. If I had 2 functioning brain cells I'd sell every head of cattle I own but NO I'll wait until the price of live cattle bottoms out.

I hear you and you ought to know. Its been dry up here for 2 months now and you watch, this spring, when it's time to get your hay up it will be a Monsoon, as has been the case up here the last 2 years.

 

[Hay Dude]

Great suggestion. What kind of non-farm income?

Heres what I did. Im not saying itll work for you. Knowing I had to sustain with the equipment I had invested into, I put it to use doing a LOT of field and pasture mowing. Went to local land conservancies and accumulated contracts over one winter about 15 years ago. Once I got my first couple contracts, took out a small loan to buy (2) 15’ mowers. A good decision as those mowers made me extra income cutting their fallow farmlands they dont want crops on or in between hay mowings.
I also offered them snow plowing of their access roads, which again used a tractor to plow them, then switched to a truck for a number of years.
I was born into a construction family and had a knack for masonry and carpentry. I still do some of that, but would like to exit that business for good soon.
You are going to have a tough time making a living unless you are a good size operation, without another source of off farm income.

 

[Hay Dude]

It doesn’t HAVE to utilize your equipment, but thats the way I went.
How about getting your CDL and try some part time truck driving? Pay is pretty good. I did some of that, too.

 

[sree251]

Heres what I did. Im not saying itll work for you. Knowing I had to sustain with the equipment I had invested into, I put it to use doing a LOT of field and pasture mowing. Went to local land conservancies and accumulated contracts over one winter about 15 years ago. Once I got my first couple contracts, took out a small loan to buy (2) 15’ mowers. A good decision as those mowers made me extra income cutting their fallow farmlands they dont want crops on or in between hay mowings.
I also offered them snow plowing of their access roads, which again used a tractor to plow them, then switched to a truck for a number of years.
I was born into a construction family and had a knack for masonry and carpentry. I still do some of that, but would like to exit that business for good soon.
You are going to have a tough time making a living unless you are a good size operation, without another source of off farm income.

Good Lord! You are one hell of a survivor. You are impressive.

 

[Hay Dude]

Good Lord! You are one hell of a survivor. You are impressive.

I did what I had to do to thrive.

 

[bmaverick]

It doesn’t HAVE to utilize your equipment, but thats the way I went.
How about getting your CDL and try some part time truck driving? Pay is pretty good. I did some of that, too.

Even a CDL Class-B at times can pay more than Class-A across country. Just got to find the niche to drive for the right firm. Much of the time Class-B drivers work close to home anyways.

 

[Hay Dude]

Even a CDL Class-B at times can pay more than Class-A across country. Just got to find the niche to drive for the right firm. Much of the time Class-B drivers work close to home anyways.

Yeah! I drove a tri for years on weekends and filled in for guys when they wanted vacation. Even worked as a doorman at bars lol

 

[ultrarunner]

I hear you and you ought to know. Its been dry up here for 2 months now and you watch, this spring, when it's time to get your hay up it will be a Monsoon, as has been the case up here the last 2 years.

A couple years ago I was in WA state passed by a hay broker and saw tractor trailer after tractor trailer with TX plate loaded with hay...

 

[bmaverick]

A couple years ago I was in WA state passed by a hay broker and saw tractor trailer after tractor trailer with TX plate loaded with hay...

After the raging fires out west in 2016 and 2017, semis would load up with those huge square bales in KY and TN, then drive them westward where the fires took out so much pasture and hay fields. The livestock had nothing to eat. Well, in TN now had very little for it's livestock.

In reality of it all, it's just going to get worse.

 

[sree251]

Yeah! I drove a tri for years on weekends and filled in for guys when they wanted vacation. Even worked as a doorman at bars lol

I am surprised you are not a billionaire by now. No kidding. You've got what it takes, in my opinion.

 

[MossRoad]

Heres what I did. Im not saying itll work for you. Knowing I had to sustain with the equipment I had invested into, I put it to use doing a LOT of field and pasture mowing. Went to local land conservancies and accumulated contracts over one winter about 15 years ago. Once I got my first couple contracts, took out a small loan to buy (2) 15’ mowers. A good decision as those mowers made me extra income cutting their fallow farmlands they dont want crops on or in between hay mowings.
I also offered them snow plowing of their access roads, which again used a tractor to plow them, then switched to a truck for a number of years.
I was born into a construction family and had a knack for masonry and carpentry. I still do some of that, but would like to exit that business for good soon.
You are going to have a tough time making a living unless you are a good size operation, without another source of off farm income.

Very impressive!

My wife and I did similar with both of us having full-time jobs plus multiple part-time jobs when we were dating and for a few years after we got married, but before we had kids. That allowed us to get a big grub stake early.

My wife has a good friend who's husband is involved with a 10,000 acre family farm (grain and 8000 hogs). He was a fireman for about 30 years and farming on the off days.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

A couple years ago I was in WA state passed by a hay broker and saw tractor trailer after tractor trailer with TX plate loaded with hay...

We just moved this year to Tonasket from western WA. We got here too late to make connections for local hay so I made 5 trips over the mountains for our winter hay from our regular supplier, 3 tons at a time. The price was approximate $300 a ton then for horse hay. The owner said they had been shipping it by the semi load to Montana. We might have to do it again next year, but hoping to make connections here and save a little gas.

 

[DieselBound]

In my area most hay seems to go to horses. Unlike cattle folks, horse folks rarely have horses as a business concern (not a great income model, IMHO). Shrinking disposable income is leading the way... (picture is worth a thousand words: Share of Total Net Worth Held by the 50th to 90th Wealth Percentiles)

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

In my area most hay seems to go to horses. Unlike cattle folks, horse folks rarely have horses as a business concern (not a great income model, IMHO). Shrinking disposable income is leading the way... (picture is worth a thousand words: Share of Total Net Worth Held by the 50th to 90th Wealth Percentiles)

I got our hay from Andrews Hay between the freeway and Arlington. Their 3x3x8' bales are as big as my little Ford can handle and we much prefer machine handling. I'm 70 my brother is 75 and blind, stacking 15 tons of hay in a loft didn't appeal to either of us.

 

[DieselBound]

Andrews is branching out. They're now selling beef and pork. Fairly recent, might have been just after you relocated?

If I were dealing with a lot of bales I'd want something like a telehandler (most awesome machine is Merlo's TurboFarmer; some even have rear PTO, so pretty much the best of everything). I could only do grass finishing here (mid-to-late summer when the ground is firm enough) and I'm a bit late in the game to start that now (I'd wanted to, but things didn't work out). My wife always wanted pigs but I told her that she'd be chasing after them if they got out when I was not at home!

 

[lman]

My wife and I stack about 400 bales(one cutting) by hand for our horses. It comes from the field that I have. The farmer down the road makes it and he gets the rest and sells it to Amish in the area. He uses a collector so he doesn't have to handle too much. I'm 63 and I do notice it gets less appealing handling the hay in the humid summers we have around here, but my barn would not work for large bales.
I remember when I was about 14, I was helping my grandfather stack hay at his house because he wasn't feeling well. He was 69 and died a month later.

 

[MossRoad]

Very impressive!

My wife and I did similar with both of us having full-time jobs plus multiple part-time jobs when we were dating and for a few years after we got married, but before we had kids. That allowed us to get a big grub stake early.

My wife has a good friend who's husband is involved with a 10,000 acre family farm (grain and 8000 hogs). He was a fireman for about 30 years and farming on the off days.

On that note, I've known a lot of firemen over the years, and I cannot remember one of them that didn't have a 2nd job.

 

[RolandW]

I have about 15 acres of grass and can't find anybody reliable to cut and bale it, not even when I tell them they can take the hay for free. I literally can't give it away.

 

[Blue hood]

The hay used to be exported to Asia and middle east, are they still buying it after the pandemic ?