Rotary cutting pics

[Farmwithjunk]

When you get up to the 15' wide rotary cutters I have to ask: Why?

It looks like you are cutting a LOT of acreage that way. What is the land use? Are you maintaining low growth for livestock? If not, why not hay the area?

Just curious...not trying to ruffle feathers.

I do ~5 acres with my 6' cutter right now. 1 of those acres will be pasture within the next year or 2 for my goats so I don't want it over growing, but I haven't gotten around to fencing it. The other 5 are areas with trees that I just don't want turning into brambles and low growth woods. Not sure "why" but I just like it better this way.

If I had 10-20 acres or more that needed a 15' mower, I would be looking at hay.
ac

Well then....You'd be asking why-why-why-why-why-why-why if you were hangin' 'round with me.... As of this morning, there's now 7 bat wings in action with my crews.

I do commercial mowing. Quite a bit of it is road right-of-way mowing, but the majority of our work is acreage in CRP, land owned by banks and tied up in foreclosure, property owned by real estate developers, and a good bit controlled by legal conservators which is owned by folks incapable (by age, mental or physical impairment) of taking care of it themselves.

Some of the properties would yield a good bit of hay, but for a litany of reasons, we are instructed to mow it. One place we cut has about 40 acres of some of the finest looking alfalfa I've ever seen....and we bush hog it flat. (Breaks my heart to see it wasted)

In average years, there's more than enough hay crop here, so it isn't missed. But when I hear of the hay shortages down Texas way, I'm sure they'd have a fit to see us mowing down a good stand. In years when hay is lean here, I've been known to cut and bale a few properties where owners don't mind.

One reason why a landowner might not want a hay crop removed from their property is, they might not have a use for it. Removing hay also removes soil nutrients. Strip enough hay from ground and you eventually deplete the soil unless you apply fertilizers as needed. Mow it and let it mineralize back into the soil and you don't strip nutrients.

 

[avc8130]

Thanks for being patient. It was shear curiousity. I love seeing the pics, I was just wondering the logic.

I WISH I could hay what I have so I didn't have to buy any for my goats through winter. I just don't have enough acres to make it feasible to buy all of the equipment or to pay anyone to come in and do it.

ac

 

[TripleR]

Thanks for being patient. It was shear curiousity. I love seeing the pics, I was just wondering the logic.

I WISH I could hay what I have so I didn't have to buy any for my goats through winter. I just don't have enough acres to make it feasible to buy all of the equipment or to pay anyone to come in and do it.

ac

If you have more than a few acres, someone may be willing to cut it for shares. We have three acres along our frontage we don't farm and a guy stopped by last year wanting to cut it as lives close by. We still have a few guys using old square balers who cut small acreage for their own use.

 

[avc8130]

If you have more than a few acres, someone may be willing to cut it for shares. We have three acres along our frontage we don't farm and a guy stopped by last year wanting to cut it as lives close by. We still have a few guys using old square balers who cut small acreage for their own use.

I threw an ad up on Craigslist...got no takers. Not really sure how else to go about it. Thought about maybe dropping fliers in mail boxes of hayers local to me.

In the future I plan to just fence the acreage in and let the goats have at it. Hopefully they can handle it.

ac

 

[foreman Etexas]

I threw an ad up on Craigslist...got no takers. Not really sure how else to go about it. Thought about maybe dropping fliers in mail boxes of hayers local to me.

In the future I plan to just fence the acreage in and let the goats have at it. Hopefully they can handle it.

ac

If you got it fenced you could let goats in on it now then if you have another pasture to put goats in pull them off and broadcast some winter RYE out then turn them back in after a month or so instead of feeding them hay all winter.

 

[TripleR]

I threw an ad up on Craigslist...got no takers. Not really sure how else to go about it. Thought about maybe dropping fliers in mail boxes of hayers local to me.

In the future I plan to just fence the acreage in and let the goats have at it. Hopefully they can handle it.

ac

I am surprised, people have just come up to our house asking.

We had horses on ours and they kept ours "mowed".

 

[avc8130]

I am surprised, people have just come up to our house asking.

We had horses on ours and they kept ours "mowed".

I live on a flag lot with 1/4 mile driveway. No one could see my plight
ac

 

[avc8130]

If you got it fenced you could let goats in on it now then if you have another pasture to put goats in pull them off and broadcast some winter RYE out then turn them back in after a month or so instead of feeding them hay all winter.

I currently have 1 active pasture now that the goats have been "working on" this summer.

I have another area of similar size that is just about ready for them to "mow" that I need to setup my woven wire fence around.

Then I have another area about the size of the 2 above together that I want to turn into a 3rd fenced area. I need to research this "winter rye". I do live where it snows, so once that happens I am on hay no matter what...right?

Much to learn. This place is AWESOME for learning.
ac

 

[foreman Etexas]

I currently have 1 active pasture now that the goats have been "working on" this summer.

I have another area of similar size that is just about ready for them to "mow" that I need to setup my woven wire fence around.

Then I have another area about the size of the 2 above together that I want to turn into a 3rd fenced area. I need to research this "winter rye". I do live where it snows, so once that happens I am on hay no matter what...right?

Much to learn. This place is AWESOME for learning.
ac

Heck I didnt even think about all the snow yall got we mite get cple inches gone in few days.Sry brain fart!!!! I guess another option would be plant it in a grass that has a high yield,then mite be able to get someone to bale.We even have a hard time around here getting someone to come out and bale 30acres,since it only makes 60rolls(in normal conditions"31 this year").

 

[avc8130]

Heck I didnt even think about all the snow yall got we mite get cple inches gone in few days.Sry brain fart!!!! I guess another option would be plant it in a grass that has a high yield,then mite be able to get someone to bale.We even have a hard time around here getting someone to come out and bale 30acres,since it only makes 60rolls(in normal conditions"31 this year").

Yeah, I think what I have on pasture right now will cover my herd until the first snow...at which time they won't be able to get to it any more.

I have been watching out for my own hay equipment, but so far the ROI is just too far out.
ac