Hay Delivery Day!!!

   / Hay Delivery Day!!! #31  
Krone multi baler will do this. It is an amazing machine. I like the bale barons, too.


 
   / Hay Delivery Day!!! #33  
Krone multi baler will do this. It is an amazing machine. I like the bale barons, too.


Now that would be a great compromise. That bundle should weigh in around 450 pounds. I can handle that with my current tractor and then it breaks down into small bales. Nice set up. Farmer can just handle it like a large square and do it all mechanically.
 
   / Hay Delivery Day!!! #34  
I wonder - will cut hay mold - - just lying there in the field. I HAVE NEVER seen so much cloudy, rainy, drizzly weather as we are experiencing right now. Might as well be west of the Cascades.
 
   / Hay Delivery Day!!! #35  
Depends entirely on the height of the cut, the moisture content of the ground underneath and the crop itself as well as the attention the farmer gives to it.

If you cut it and let it lay there untouched, yes, it can grow mold. I don't. I'll cut it and then stand it up and let it breathe (air movement through it) and if there is a rain event, soon as it passes, I rake it again and stand it up as the rain will flatten it down and compact it.

Grass hay is is much less touchy than say alfalfa. Grass hay is more tolerant to mold growth. Alfalfa because it's more dense, molds easier but all of it depends entirely on how the cut crop is managed by the farmer. Kind of a mix between predicting the weather and staying with the program.
 
   / Hay Delivery Day!!! #36  
I wonder - will cut hay mold - - just lying there in the field. I HAVE NEVER seen so much cloudy, rainy, drizzly weather as we are experiencing right now. Might as well be west of the Cascades.
You betcha. And that's perfect weather for it to rot and/or catch fire as well.

I used to grow alfalfa hay for hamster pellets, in an area that had rain often. Getting the hay done was all, and I mean all, about finding five days in a row with no rain. No rain meant #1 top dollar hay. If it rained the day after cutting, you were probably ok, just had to turn it another time or two, but the day after that was mold inducing, (#2) hay and any more rain, you were just baling the hay to get it off the field to not kill the alfalfa under it.

Even when we had good hay going into the barn, we tried to leave new hay on the wagons for a day or two just in case any of them heated up. It is much easier to drive a wagon of steaming/smoking hay out than tossing the bales. Not everyone runs a small enough operation to have that luxury...

All the best,

Peter
 
   / Hay Delivery Day!!! #37  
The issue especially with alfalfa is leaf loss from raking. Don't take much more than one additional raking to wind up with no leaves and all stems. Stuff is very touchy, why all I have is mixed forage.
 
   / Hay Delivery Day!!! #38  
Eddie,
Do you have enough room for a hay pasture. Then you would only be out the cost of planting, cutting, raking and baling? Or rent it out and get paid your percentage in hay.
hugs, Brandi
 
   / Hay Delivery Day!!!
  • Thread Starter
#39  
My long term goal is to have 4 separate pastures for my livestock so I can rotate them. Each pasture will be about 12 acres. I hope to have half of each cleared of trees for hay. Eventually, maybe more. Super long term goal would be to hay each of those pastures and not have to rely on buying it.

My math is pretty basic, but if I can get 2 bales per acre, I'm at 48 bales per cutting. If I get two cuttings, I'll have extra hay that I could sell.

The guy I'm getting my 4x6 bales from just raised his price per bale $5 to $90 each. It will be $100 pretty soon, with no limit on what it might end up if things continue like they are.
 
   / Hay Delivery Day!!! #40  
he guy I'm getting my 4x6 bales from just raised his price per bale $5 to $90 each. It will be $100 pretty soon, with no limit on what it might end up if things continue like they are.
Nothing new there. I raised my per bale cost factoring in the increase in fuel and fertilizer costs. My big customer has no issue with it as he's getting hit with inflationary increases elsewhere as well.

The cost of doing business in any arena is going up and up.

I think we all know who to thank for it and I'll leave that unsaid.
 

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