Putting up own hay vs contracting out

[aczlan]

One thing that might be worth looking into is to getting a rake, tedder and baler yourself and letting them cut it. If they know that they only have to cut the hay, it might fit into their schedule better.

With us, we only cut one field at a time for the first cutting as otherwise we have too much hay to handle, they may not have the ability to handle your fields at the same time as they cut their "good fields" which they get 100% of the crop from.

Aaron Z

 

[dhawken]

What is the problem with first cut hay? We feed it to all of our animals (horses, llamas, goats and a cow) and they will take it over grazing most of the time. Do they prefer our second cut (lots of alfalfa and clover)? Yes, but variations in the weather and when it is cut can make first cut better than the later cuts.
On the other hand, I have had people come out who couldn't tell our first cut from other people's second cut.
If the horses are working (racing, pulling farm equipment, etc) I can see needing second cutting, but otherwise, first cutting should be fine for them.
We baled around 700 bales of good first cut this year and will probably get 200-300 bales of ok second cut as July was too dry and the grass didn't grow very much.

I've had this debate with my wife a bit about what's up with the first cutting. I think she's had a few horses founder on it, but of course that coulda been the horse or the hay that year or anything really. I have more experience with cattle, so I usually sit around just baffled at not being able to feed them anything I want to and wondering why people keep such creatures.

As for doing it yourself, we have ~35 acres with 3 hayfields on parts of it (perhaps 15 acres of hayfields) and we do all our own hay. We have a 9' NH mower conditioner, a 18' tedder, a rollbar rake, a baler and 2 haywagons. We need to add a wagon or two so give us some more storage space, but that works well for us.


Aaron Z

You seem to have lots of tractor for that equipment - i may not be in the same boat if I got into it!

 

[dhawken]

Sounds like my old dilemma exactly. Here they cut on half, or now even a third(they keep 2/3). My fields can be cut 4 times in most years. For many years I struggled to get guys to come cut it and before we moved here I was giving it all away just to keep it mowed and still had trouble. The problem is that most farmers are cutting for cows, not horses. Cows eat just about anything, so they don't care if it's weedy, stalky seeded out etc. So for them the longer they let it go, the less work for them.

Well two years ago I had enough of watching my pastures go to weed & seed, so my neighbor and I went in the "hay business". We did some things right and some things wrong and here are my observations.

Your ok buying a used tedder and rake(not much big that can go wrong with it/easy to fix if it does break). We bought a brand new drum cutter($3500) and it is a pure pleasure to use, 6 blades cost $1.75 ea, are reversible and take 10 min to change out....a fantastic piece of machinery. Then came the baler, bought a used(20 years new) Hesston 530 4x4 baler for $2500. First year the pick-up shaft failed...$600 and 3 weeks waiting for parts, then 3 days crawling around under the baler in July...NOT FUN. Then this year it was an ongoing problem of bales halfway rolled, stopping in process, then us having to dump unroll and try again. I spent a few weeks reading researching the possible problem, but never figured it out, then the drive chain broke and we parked the dang thing. So for the rest of this season I found a local farmer to cut our hay.

The moral of the story is that if you buy used worn out junk your going to have high blood pressure and a short Irish temper very soon. I like doing my own hay, and there is a market if and ony if you have a place to store it out of the weather...no one wants hay that has sat out in the rain a few times. Next year I am going to bite the bullet and buy a brand new baler. I know I will never get my money out of it, but it will work for me instead of me having to work on it.

Amen to that on the used equipment front - spent enough time as a kid doing all that stuff to prefer to not given the choice. Of course, then the money thing becomes much more of an issue. Perhaps hearing stories like this is exactly what I need to get me off the doing-it-myself bandwagon. Did you run your cutter and baler with the Kioti?

 

[aczlan]

You seem to have lots of tractor for that equipment - i may not be in the same boat if I got into it!

We use the L3830 for most everything and it is just big enough to pull the mower conditioner or the baler with a wagon behind. The B7500 gets used for raking as needed (such as merging windrows while we are baling with the L3830.

Aaron Z

 

[dhawken]

We use the L3830 for most everything and it is just big enough to pull the mower conditioner or the baler with a wagon behind. The B7500 gets used for raking as needed (such as merging windrows while we are baling with the L3830.

Aaron Z

The L3830 is about 33HP at the PTO or something probably? That does a mower and a baler?

 

[aczlan]

The L3830 is about 33HP at the PTO or something probably? That does a mower and a baler?

Yes, it runs a New Holland '9 sickle type mower conditioner and a New Holland Hayliner 273 baler (with a belt kicker and a wagon in tow). It would use a few hundred more pounds in the front (a loader would help) but it has just enough power.

Aaron Z

 

[dhawken]

Yes, it runs a New Holland '9 sickle type mower conditioner and a New Holland Hayliner 273 baler (with a belt kicker and a wagon in tow). It would use a few hundred more pounds in the front (a loader would help) but it has just enough power.

Aaron Z

That's pretty interesting to know. I've read that a full wagon can take a bit to haul around, especially if you have any hills. I guess the flywheel on the baler retains enough to keep things going like they should?

 

[aczlan]

That's pretty interesting to know. I've read that a full wagon can take a bit to haul around, especially if you have any hills. I guess the flywheel on the baler retains enough to keep things going like they should?

As long as I am not trying to cram a 3' high x 3' wide windrow into the baler at 10MPH, it handles pretty well HP wise
As for a full wagon, a full wagon/baler combo will tend to "push" the tractor a little on downhill turns, but I am always going slow on the ends, so it isn't a big deal.
2-300# on the front bumper would probably take care of it, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Aaron Z

 

[DJ54]

Nothing wrong with first cutting hay, but they seem to waste a lot of it. They (horses) pick through and get the fine stuff, and tramp the courser hay down. At least a lot of them. I have a mare, and Donkey,and they eat whatever they pull out of the rack. My gelding, and filly a different story. But then a different story this year because of the drought, and little pasture. Guess it beats gnawing on fence posts...

If I remember right, first cutting is more nutritious, but again most horse folks prefer nice tender 2nd & 3rd cutting. And less wasted hay to clean up, and deal with later.

 

[MotorSeven]

Did you run your cutter and baler with the Kioti?

Yes, an if my pastures were not mostly bumpy I can cut in high range...that's about 10mph. Re-think the sickle bar cutter, I know they are cheap to buy and are tried and true. But, they require way more maintenance then a Drum or Disc. If you happen to hit steel(fence or post) or rock the sickle takes much longer to break down and repair.

I have about the same PTO hp as you - 32.5 and had no problems with the 4x4 baler. What I am going to buy is a Krone KR125 soft core 4x4 baler and it's pto requirements are even less than that of the old Hesston. I am also kicking around the mini baler idea since no one is doing it in my area I may have a reasonable niche market.