Yeah, I'm not proposing anyone raise hay as a cash crop, but if you are already mowing tall grass as a business, there might, and I emphasize might, be a way to optimize profits by making hay. You can't plan your business for years of extreems, but around here I'd imagine you'd have a hard time if your plan was to raise wheat or beans and buy hay for cattle. Besides the fact that your cash crop did not likely yield much if anything, the cost of hay is rediculous, and that's only when you can actually find anyone willing to sell it. But certainly there are more economical ways to use land than for hay. We try to practice sustainable aggriculture, which means we want to be able to provide for all of our animals with the yeilds from our own land. That's not a "business" decision. We could optimize profits by stacking more cattle on the land and buying feed. That's more of a principle decision of the way we want to do things. I have no problems going the feed lot rout, there's money in it, this is just how we want to do it with our own lands. We'll lease more land when we need it.
