25 Acres worth buying hay equipment?

[herm0016]

i have about 25 acers in hay. my neighbor has the equipment and i run some on my tractor, usually I will rake and ted or flip the we bail my 3 on shares, 50/50. in good years he gets my overage from feeding my small flock. In bad ill take a few of his on credit to a good year. He also does quite a bit of off farm bailing. i would never consider all the equipment with that small of an operation.

 

[airbiscuit]

I am way out of the loop on large baling equipment and costs. I do know that I have a friend who does a lot of haying, and his large round baler broke right in the peak of haying season. The repair cost him $7,000. There are always breakdowns, you only have a small window of time when you can "make hay" , and costs are way higher than they used to be with a small square baler.

 

[Farmer495]

I am way out of the loop on large baling equipment and costs. I do know that I have a friend who does a lot of haying, and his large round baler broke right in the peak of haying season. The repair cost him $7,000. There are always breakdowns, you only have a small window of time when you can "make hay" , and costs are way higher than they used to be with a small square baler.

Very stressful running older gear. Never know what is going to fail. Usually at least 3-4 break downs a season, some can be dealt with in an hour, others end a season. Had two major breakdowns in the last few years; one ended up in having to have last of the hay custom baled ($$$ PLUS $$$ to repair) the other ended up with buying a new machine since I couldn't afford to wait for repair.

 

[Hay Dude]

Very stressful running older gear. Never know what is going to fail. Usually at least 3-4 break downs a season, some can be dealt with in an hour, others end a season. Had two major breakdowns in the last few years; one ended up in having to have last of the hay custom baled ($$$ PLUS $$$ to repair) the other ended up with buying a new machine since I couldn't afford to wait for repair.

Truth spoken.
Haying is no joke. It’s dead nuts serious if you are committing to supplying hay to buyers and expecting to make a living doing it. Major breakdowns are very costly-especially on larger equipment.
Every time I set out to square bale a field, I say a small prayer that I won’t suffer a costly breakdown

 

[Farmer495]

Truth spoken.
Haying is no joke. It’s dead nuts serious if you are committing to supplying hay to buyers and expecting to make a living doing it. Major breakdowns are very costly-especially on larger equipment.
Every time I set out to square bale a field, I say a small prayer that I won’t suffer a costly breakdown

Every time I open the gate to drop a bale it is a feeling of relief.

Older equipment first random idiotic breakdown last season, pickup mount broken off. Lost a couple hours welding it back together to bale.

 

[airbiscuit]

Agree. That $7,000 repair wasn't done on older equipment. and you really do have to make hay while the sun shines. Both the equipment and you have to be available to do the job.

 

[Hay Dude]

7 days per week.

 

[hosspuller]

Haying is a full time job when the hay AND Weather is ready. Too early and the yield is down. Too late and the hay is past its prime. Rain in the middle of the process ruins the product.

While you're in the oil field, you can't be on the hay field.

Consider getting a partner to do the hay. When you retire than get into making hay... I did and do.

 

[leonz]

Subscribe to hay and forage grower magazine before you waddle into
the haying ditch please.

Buying a rock picker, buying a three point mounted Brillion sure stand grass
drill with a fertilizer box and transport wheels.

If you invest in a northwest tiller with a packer wheel sized for your 9540
you could do custom tilling as its 15 inch tilling depth breaks up hardpan
and increases water penetration on the first pass and the soil is ready for
planting.

If the weather cooperates you could be blessed with 3 cuttings of alfalfa
a season and 3 cuttings of red and white clover.

Mowing to close to the ground ruins the hay quality and the hay will have
more dirt and ash in it and can make cows and horses sick.

You need to mow high enough to leave the entire field green after you
are done and off the field to allow it to regenerate in the same season and
after the last cutting.

Every 4th or 5th year plan on plowing under the hay ground and letting
it go fallow for one year or plant a green manure crop with your grass seeder.

The other thing is you have to have good drainage especially in the lowlands
and adding drainage tile will only help you with the timetable of haying.

Are you near Morgan City or Franklin?

 

[EddieWalker]

Subscribe to hay and forage grower magazine ...

I never heard of this before, so I looked up their website.

Hay and Forage Grower Magazine

Hay & Forage Grower magazine

hayandforage.com

I'm going to spend a little time seeing what they have to say. Thanks!!!

 

[two_bit_score]

There is also this.

The Stockman Grassfarmer's site

www.stockmangrassfarmer.digital

 

[two_bit_score]

The Tex. Ag Research Center in Overton, Texas used to hold these workshops every year but I could not find any scheduled now. They may have been discontinued. If so that is a loss because the workshops were very well attended and worthwhile. I went to one "a few years ago" and had intended to go again as a refresher.

tag based on what is being viewed. We filter the output of wp_title() a bit - see agriflex_filter_wp_title() in functions.php. --> <title> Why Attend the Pasture and Livestock Management Workshop? - Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Ext

overton.tamu.edu

 

[Texasmark]

A 4x5 or 5x4 round baler would be your best bet. Small enough for folks with smaller tractors to haul/feed, and can sit out in the weather being round. I have an older JD 375 5x4 that is twine wrap and does my small farm just fine. Its a '91 year model, no telling how many bales....not too many, and has been extremely reliable. Net wrap is usually on newer balers, and has its good and bad points. Some customers like this and some like that.

Square bales are very labor intensive and must be stored inside and where a roll can sit out if you get caught in an unsuspecting shower, squares hate to be rained on.

 

[Texasmark]

The Tex. Ag Research Center in Overton, Texas used to hold these workshops every year but I could not find any scheduled now. They may have been discontinued. If so that is a loss because the workshops were very well attended and worthwhile. I went to one "a few years ago" and had intended to go again as a refresher.

tag based on what is being viewed. We filter the output of wp_title() a bit - see agriflex_filter_wp_title() in functions.php. --> <title> Why Attend the Pasture and Livestock Management Workshop? - Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Ext

overton.tamu.edu

They also have a lot of ag. info. that they publish that is very helpful. Some of it is available on their www. The title of the facility might be TAMU Research Center if you have a problem with the title listed above.

 

[two_bit_score]

They also have a lot of ag. info. that they publish that is very helpful. Some of it is available on their www. The title of the facility might be TAMU Research Center if you have a problem with the title listed above.

Yep, it's been several years since i went to the live school in Overton. They don't do it live, in the field any more. A real shame since it was very helpful.

 

[zzvyb6]

The big money to be made is from losing it to buy stuff that your HAY BUSINESS needs. This take an accountant and a business name and stuff to depreciate. The goal is to get you into a lower tax bracket.
I had a decent haying tractor already, but bought a junk rake, junk baler, and a worn out stacker wagon. Parts from TSC, Rural king and a few dealer purchases were necessary. I didn't plant, fertilize or repalce any of the fields. I told horse owners that it's baled weeds. I run out every year. I do about 15 acres. That's plenty.

I should point out that I signed up to help a local dairy farmer first, so, without any previous experience, I learned how to run the equipment and to do it safely. My niece got me some stickers "This Machine Wants to Kill YOU" and I can't agree with it more.

 

[ericm979]

The big money to be made is from losing it to buy stuff that your HAY BUSINESS needs. This take an accountant and a business name and stuff to depreciate. The goal is to get you into a lower tax bracket.

My understanding of self employed taxes comes from being a consultant. Farms get different rules which are way more complex. I got the IRS's guide for farmers and even that simplified version made my brain hurt.

I'm trying to understand how haying 15 acres would get you into a lower tax bracket vs simply not farming at all. I'm assuming it's not the primary income, unless those baled weeds sell for a lot more than I think they would.

Can you depreciate against more income than the farm generated? Like for startup costs?

 

[zzvyb6]

My understanding of self employed taxes comes from being a consultant. Farms get different rules which are way more complex. I got the IRS's guide for farmers and even that simplified version made my brain hurt.

I'm trying to understand how haying 15 acres would get you into a lower tax bracket vs simply not farming at all. I'm assuming it's not the primary income, unless those baled weeds sell for a lot more than I think they would.

Can you depreciate against more income than the farm generated? Like for startup costs?

The problem I'm having now is that as a retiree over 75, my IRA is subject to the RMW rules. This plus the latest 'Social Security' raise (followed by an even larger Medicare cost has me on the tax bracket borderline. Yes, it's complex. That's why I employ a professional accountant and have a professional money management company handling all my SPIAs and investments.
BTW: I didn't use enough diesel fuel a year ago, so we upped it to stay within the right portions of farm guidelines. Horse hay (baled weeds) is selling for $8.00 per bale locally. Cash money to be made with delivery. New Tahoe needed for pulling delivery trailer. Gas, registration, license fees are deductible too. My IRA is earning more money per year than I made as a professional automotive engineer. I chose a cash payout instead of a pension and THAT is keeping me in the game. I set my SPIA payment goals to match my former income. When I was working, I lived below my means and still do.

 

[TigerFanatic1]

my feeling is that OP is looking for justification to jump into hay equipment & business. maybe the profit is secondary. that being the case, take the plunge. hopefully the operation can somewhat offset the greater monthly payments.
best of luck

Hey guys, haven't been on in a while as work has been getting in the way of life. I'm not really looking to get into hay, but profit which would be great is a secondary. My current situation is bushhogging it 3-5 times per year, which I estimate is 40-50 total hours and $600-$800 in diesel plus just normal wear and tear on my equipment. Ideally, I'd like to do something with it to keep it looking nice and cost me less or even make a profit (even if that profit was gaining equipment from the work put into it). In all honesty, if it would take me 200 hours per year to cut hay and make $1,000 then I would likely just lease it or have someone cut on shares as $5 per hour and 4 times the tractor hours wouldn't be worth it. But, if after write-offs and potential sales I thought it justified the time, then I would do that too. I don't have anything that I just want to do with it, just looking at several options and Mrs. TigerFanatic said tree farm is a no-go. I've never explored any tax advantages of any type of farming, so doing a lot of reading and thinking about it.

 

[EddieWalker]

Better to try and see how it goes then to never do it and wonder about it forever.

Worse case scenario is that you don't like making hay, and you sell everything you bought. Prices are holding on most things, so it's doubtful that you will lose very much money if you decide to sell off the haying equipment.