Hay equipment

• STS Lawn Care

For $4000 a person could get an IHC 300 tractor, with live pto, hydraulics, and a little more weight, little more power. Or other tractors. Hope people keep their options open.

How do you pick up your bales? Do you have someone on a hayrack, or come by later with a wagon/pickup? I would think the 8N is a little light to pull the baler & a 100 bale hayrack?

--->Paul

• james haying FAQ

The trouble with not owning (controlling) your own harvesting equipment is that you can miss what turn out to be weather windows.

If you were good with machinery and careful with what you bought, a passable minimum outfit might start at about $2,500. It goes up from there, which is an understatement. Your projected harvest rate times about $2 per bale then divided into that should give you the minimal payback time. You'll notice that neither Perot nor Gates went into hay farming.

Put a few dry years together & hay goes for 3.50 a bale, but you won't have any either....

If you want to store it looking for better prices, you'll need a building.

But we all have hobbies, and if you are looking for one, spend $2000 on hay equipment (you probably spent that on the computer you are typing on), you wanted the tractor for other things anyhow right, and have some fun. :) Beats paying money to join the health club & a nature trail pass.... :) :) :)

--->Paul

Way I see it, you need to look at what you could expect to pay for hay throughout the year rather than what you would likely get just after you put it up, during the make vs buy decision. Granted, the price does vary, depending on where you are, what kind of year and so on.

For that amount of land it would be probably better to have somebody come in and get your hay seeded, if that's what it takes to get going.

In my experience it's better to own your own harvesting equipment because there's a tendency for other folks to be busy when the crop is ready and the weather is right. Your local Deere or New Holland dealer can fill you in on equipment details. There are other makes out there, but I would bet you will wind up wishing you went to one of those places, if you don't start out there.

For that amount of stumpage, you almost certainly are discussing decent used equipment. Be sure to get owners and parts manuals. If you are really new to this get somebody to start you out with whatever you end up with.

If you have any doubts about maintaining and operating mowers, rakes, or balers then, like others have said, buying a few hundred bales of hay every year is going to be easier and cheaper than trying to grow back part or parts of yourself. It will likely be a lot less time consuming in the middle of summer as well.

I have another 4 acres in grass pasture that I run 3 horses on from late April till late October. I still have to feed SOME hay when I put them up in the evenings (about 1/2 bale to 3 horses), 'cuz 3 horses is too much for 4 acres and I still have to feed them all winter too (a full bale per day, split between 3 horses). Because I can't harvest every year, I buy about 300 square bales per year. Believe me, even at up to $2/bale, there's a lot less work in buying it than baling it!

As for equipment, I agree with whoever said you need tie a 50hp tractor in front of a baler. I had an IH square baler (can't remember the #) and pulled it with my 60hp 560.

I sold that baler to a neighbor. He stores it inside, maintains it, and uses it to bale a couple acres of prairie grass and 4 acres of alfalfa with. When I need it, I contract him, or just go over there and borrow it. BTW, it's his prairie hay that I buy every year.

I also use an old New Holland swather to cut and condition when I do harvest my CRP. Bought it for $200 at a farm auction. It's cantankerous, but it's all I need for 17 acres. I picked up and old MM side delivery rake at an acution for $15, replace some teeth and a rear wheel, and it works just fine when I need to turn my hay. I contract the baling of the CRP grass to another neighbor that has a round baler, and sell it a another who feeds it to cattle.

Point is, for what few critters you have, you may do better investing in some large round bale handling equipment, and contract the harvesting. Even if you have to buy hay, it's alot cheaper by the ton for large rounds...about $28 where 30-40 square bales (depending on weight) will cost you over twice that.

I just don't see where you have the acres to invest the time, money, and headache into a full line of haying equipment. It takes just as much equipment to do 7 acres as it does to do 70. So your return on investment from purchasing equipment is going to be lousy compared to contracting you harvest or even buying your hay. And remember too, you need to keep that equipment INSIDE, or it will go to pot on you in a hurry.

Didn't start out to write a novel, but there's my thoughts on it...Free advise is usually worth what you pay for it. :-) Gadget

• STS Lawn Care

Buy the book "Salad Bar Beef" by Joel Salatin. He does this for his beef cattle. It has great pictures and examples.

Good Luck and remeber to think outside the box.

I like yer idea about using a bushhog to cut grass hay. Never thought o' that. I have a Graham-Howe and I'm thinkin' maybe cut the left side outa it and use it to mow the CRP when and if I get a chance to harvest it. Seems its always a few years between opportunities to do so, and in that time, I gets alot of piss elms and wild cedars spinging up in it. They sure play hell with with a sicyle bar!

Just wonder though, it's straight sided, so if I cut the side out, how hard it might be to do it with a chop saw right on the edge and then weld a piece of angle iron back onto the piece I cut out and fix it sose I can take it on and off as needed?

A Bush Hog may work OK for grass hay, but would not be a good idea for alfalfa or clover. The blade would remove most of the leaves which is where all the food value is located. I also would hate to think of doing a whole hay field with a 5 1/2 to 6 foot cut!

It sounds like what you've got there is a discbine with one big disc unstead of a lot of little ones. It seems to be pretty efficient and you've made one tool do 2 jobs. -BUT- What about the safety factor? Bushhogs sometimes kill people with all the guards on. Aren't you concerned about sending projectiles in a much more lethal manner than the machine was designed for? Just some food for thought.

--->Paul