Worth doing hay?

[VroomVroom]

I think I could plow, seed 100 acres of hayfield. I have tractors I can use but no hay equipment. Is this worth doing? I’d love to do it. Even if it just paid for itself at least for a few years. To buy second hand baker, none really that close. And unless it’s mini round or old square baker pretty expensive. I’m not sure what the dept of agriculture helps with. But I do think they may help pay for some. Not sure under what conditions I’ll have to give them a call one day. What’s your thoughts? First thing if fo is check around to see if I’d have buyers. I’m thinking the large farm nearby wouldn’t hesitate. But I’d likely be doing smaller balers which is a pain for handling. What’s your thoughts? How many acres in your experiences make it worth while after 3 years

 

[chim]

There are diary farms around here that rent land to grow extra crops to feed their cows and have a place to get rid of the manure. I'd be tempted to look into something like that before spending a lot of equipment.

 

[Hay Dude]

I think I could plow, seed 100 acres of hayfield. I have tractors I can use but no hay equipment. Is this worth doing? I’d love to do it. Even if it just paid for itself at least for a few years. To buy second hand baker, none really that close. And unless it’s mini round or old square baker pretty expensive. I’m not sure what the dept of agriculture helps with. But I do think they may help pay for some. Not sure under what conditions I’ll have to give them a call one day. What’s your thoughts? First thing if fo is check around to see if I’d have buyers. I’m thinking the large farm nearby wouldn’t hesitate. But I’d likely be doing smaller balers which is a pain for handling. What’s your thoughts? How many acres in your experiences make it worth while after 3 years

Had all the same questions decades ago and most told me “no, it’s not worth it”. You may be more in love with the idea of making hay than the actual reality of what kind of sacrifices it takes to make 100 acres of hay.

I started off with about 75 acres and have grown to over 500. Taken a lot of crap from buyers and been sold a few pieces of junk for equipment.

After about 20 years, you’ll learn a lot. Even though the money wasn’t what I thought, I was able to make business contacts for other related farm work.

There’s a lot more to explain to you than could be typed in this post, but if you are going to do it, I would look at these 5 for starters

1: make sure your spouse knows what you are about to do. You are about to give up most of all your warm weather weekends and possibly several nights. Hay waits for no one. If your spouse doesn’t like the idea, weigh your marital issues of that against your hay-making dream.
2: get a list of local customers who will buy your hay. If you can’t come up with a reasonable list, then you need a way to dispose of hay that goes unsold.
3: The area you live in is damp & cool. Hay making days are fewer & further between than my area or warmer/sunnier climates. That will narrow your hay-making windows.
4: Tractors are important, buy I’d invest the most money in a great baler. It must work properly to make the bales. Just about any tractor will do.
5: Don’t quit your existing job. Plan on working “off-farm” to supplement your income. Figure on the first few years losing money.

Most guys that farm on TBN are helpful. A few that do not poke fun at hay farming, saying things like “it’s as easy as mowing your lawn” or, “you’re just bundling grass clippings”. To those idiots, I’d like to bring them along for a week during the height of the season and see how long they last.

 

[Rockbadchild]

You will never make your investment after 3 years, seeds and fertilizer is expensive never mind equipment. If you plow the first year you wont get anything, the second you will get a marginal harvest, the third you are in business. At least that's my climate situation.

I made hay myself because I didn't want to depends on others for the supply and quality, to simply sell I would've never done it.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I didn't do that scale of acres ... But I learned A LOT!

There so much more to haying than what I thought, which was ... "Grass grows, cut it, bale it a couple of days later ... "

Soil samples to start, you local ag extension guy can get you pointed in the right direction ... That will tell you what kind and how much of soil amendments you will need to get grass to grow, and what weeds won't like it ... Different grasses like different soil ... While technically alfalfa isn't a grass ... Others are ... Fescue grows naturally here in Missouri ... But there's Timothy, Orchard and others here, do you want some clover sprinkled in to help with nitrogen supplements?

Most importantly is who is gonna buy it? What do they want? I wanted "weed-free" hay ... But locals didn't want to pay for it, and were happy with 40%+ weeds, there cows would eat it, and didn't want to pay my premium, so in order to get rid of it, as I had no use for it, I had to drop my price to the local "weedy" hay price ...

If you're not doing it for yourself, you will need to find out what you can sell, before buying a baler ...

 

[VroomVroom]

Theres no doubt it be cheaper to rent it out. My father use to gay it in the 1970s-60s. My other issue umis I’m gone for three week rotations. So I’d be getting home to a three week period and be praying for good weather to mow it likely with a silkle bar. Not a mower I wouldn’t think. Likely a baker like the 1840 Massey probably. No doubt. I should make a few calls. To agriculture first to see what they offer. Then to buyers. That might tell me financially where I stand. Wish I could have hay’ed with them back then. But about the time I came up. Grandfather got sick and died and the family exploded. Cows shot, baking equipment left in the woods to rot. So it was before I was of age. They would gay one feild. It seems rough as the devil in the field. And it was 2 miles up the river to get there. I asked my uncle how the hrll they haul the bailer up there. He said a portion of the way up was a decent trail along the bank. And the portion up the side of the river didn’t seem as rough or rocky back then. But the did gave to cross the river pulling the square bailer. Not sure how it held up.

 

[Snobdds]

No it's not worth it. If you want any yield, it's a year round job.

We did a quick profit and loss on our property about 20 years ago. The breakeven point was something like 18 years. That was even on ground that was paid for. The amount of equipment needed for the variable tonnage price, is risky.

I don't mind risk either, but the potential to profit has to be there in 9/10 years. Most times in the haying business, profit only comes 4/10 years.


Now if your doing it to feed a heard, it does have more advantages.