Hey, all.
New to the forum. New to haying, in fact, and I'm going to stay that way at least until next year. My wife and I bought the 20-acre farm portion of an old farm in western Massachusetts this year (local fellah picked up the 80 acres of sugarbush though, sad to say) and there's about 10 acres of hay.
The place has been abandoned for a few years and a local dairy man has been haying as a favor to the estate and to keep it from all going to brush. Certainly appreciate that he's been doing it, of course, or else it would be a mess today. My family decided to just let the arrangement stand for this year, and I figure he's probably gotten used to the income from the hay for a while--I don't want to take that away first year I live there, you know?
But I have a few questions:
1) In terms of amounts is it true that an acre should give you about 200-250 small square bales first cutting, 150-175 second cutting, and 75-125 third cutting (weather permitting)? And does spreading lime and manure make a big difference?
2) Are any of you in arrangements where you cut the hay for someone and take a share? What's the most common percentage?
3) And this is the one that I'm most interested in: Do any of you operate a stationary square baler? For a couple of reasons, I'd be better off collecting the hay and then feeding it into a hopper of some kind. I've done some reading around the Web, and it seems like that used to be the old-fashioned way. Is anyone still doing it that way? Can a pull-behind be converted into a stationary baler you think?
Any and all opinions and suggestions appreciated!
New to the forum. New to haying, in fact, and I'm going to stay that way at least until next year. My wife and I bought the 20-acre farm portion of an old farm in western Massachusetts this year (local fellah picked up the 80 acres of sugarbush though, sad to say) and there's about 10 acres of hay.
The place has been abandoned for a few years and a local dairy man has been haying as a favor to the estate and to keep it from all going to brush. Certainly appreciate that he's been doing it, of course, or else it would be a mess today. My family decided to just let the arrangement stand for this year, and I figure he's probably gotten used to the income from the hay for a while--I don't want to take that away first year I live there, you know?
But I have a few questions:
1) In terms of amounts is it true that an acre should give you about 200-250 small square bales first cutting, 150-175 second cutting, and 75-125 third cutting (weather permitting)? And does spreading lime and manure make a big difference?
2) Are any of you in arrangements where you cut the hay for someone and take a share? What's the most common percentage?
3) And this is the one that I'm most interested in: Do any of you operate a stationary square baler? For a couple of reasons, I'd be better off collecting the hay and then feeding it into a hopper of some kind. I've done some reading around the Web, and it seems like that used to be the old-fashioned way. Is anyone still doing it that way? Can a pull-behind be converted into a stationary baler you think?
Any and all opinions and suggestions appreciated!