Making your own hay not profitable

sweettractors · Jun 25, 2004

<font color="blue"> The Charolais cross works for getting bigger cattle but you don't get more meat as a general rule.
</font>

If I had my druthers, I would rather eat Angus beef (I do when I have a choice) and sell Charolais or Charolais crossed animals--Best of both worlds /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment LLC *Email [email="sweet@scrtc.com"]sweet@scrtc.com[/email] for list of Used Cultipackers*

HayDR · Jun 25, 2004

Same here I'll buy a $800 Charolais cow for $400-500 every time and make it work if its a deal.

Woodbeef · Jun 27, 2004

Hey Rich,

One problem though with buying all of your hay. You don't know what's inside the bale till you get into it. Even with doing my own hay,I'm suprised by the amount of weeds I find,even a bit of mold here and there when 99% of the rest is fine on the outside of the bales.

RichZ · Jun 27, 2004

Woodbeef, in this case I have that covered. I buy the hay from a buddy of mine, who I occasionally help while he's haying. I see all of his hayfields frequently, and I know where the hay is coming from.

But in 99% of cases, you're right!!

TwinWillows · Jun 2, 2005

Ken - Sorry for the reply to such an old post but we just bought a place in West KY. We had our first cutting this year & ended up w/over 1100 square bales (my share is about 400 bales) of nice orchard grass. Now comes the marketing/selling. The prices around here run about $3 a bale. I wonder if it would be worthwhile marketing it to the Central KY/Lexington area to get a better price.. Do you have any advice?

Thanks in advance: Tom

Cabinholler · Jun 5, 2005

TwinWillows

I live in Central Kentucky 30 miles Southwest of Lexington KY, and I don't think you will get more than $3.00 a bale for mixed grass hay in this area of Central Kentucky. A couple of weeks ago I had 70 rolls of mixed round hay bales that I sold in the field, after it was baled for $10.00 bale. The going price in this area for mixed grass round hay bales are $10.00 to $12.00 a bale, and if the hay is real good, you might be lucky and get $15.00 a roll. Although, I know square bales compared to pounds to roll bales will sell for more. The reason that hay is selling so cheap in Central Kentucky is that this area has had a lot of rain this spring.

Cabinholler

The water will never clear up, until you get the hogs out of the pond. (You got to find what the trouble is, and eliminate it).

Cabinholler · Jun 5, 2005

TwinWillows

By the way, I forgot to mention in my other post, I see that your location is near Bardwell KY. Do you know, or have you done any business with Rollison Equipment Co. Inc. that is near Bardwell? They are a business that is the timber, and farm implement business. A few months ago, I bought a tractor and loader from them.

Cabinholler

The water will never clear up, until you get the hogs out of the pond. (You got to find what the trouble is, and eliminate it).

TwinWillows · Jun 6, 2005

Rollison Equipment is about 6 Miles from our farm. Did you buy a Zettor from them? They had a Zettor 47hp w/loader w/ 20 hrs that I looked @ in the spring. They told me it was selling for $16,000 but I decided the timing & machine just were not right. - On hay - it was wet this spring but has turned very dry here. I think we're going to keep the hay in the barn till later in the year & try to get top $ for it. Hopefully we'll get a 2nd cut also.