Anyone hittin their stride with hay?

[Hay Dude]

I just got started, then we got thundershowers for 3 days. With no help today I teddered, raked and baled 75 4x5s today. Nothing to brag about, but I知 hoping the next 2 days to get another 150 made and then pull up stakes and head to the next fields.

1500 to go....gonna be a longgggg summer.

 

[LouNY]

Corn is all planted except for what may get put on a couple of pieces after the rye is baled off.
Just a small amount of hay baled so maybe 10 acres, going to try and hit it this coming week, most of that will be haylage
going in an ag bag.

 

[hawkeye08]

We grew 100+ acres of alfalfa in the 60s and 70s.. we hit our stride when Pa, my brother and myself were all 3 baling. We only had one swather and one balewagon (harobed that picked up 63 bales per load, 8 bales on a layer, 8 high, 1 bale lost on tie layer), but 3 balers. That meant that Pa did not have to bale anymore at night. We baled 100lb small 2 wire rectangular bales and the moisture had to be just right. If too dry, the leaves shattered, if too wet, the hay molded... Our yield was 10-12 tons per acre, depending if we could get a 4th cutting or not. We had 200 head of cattle so had no problem using the tops and bottoms from the haystack to feed our own cattle. We sold most of our hay to the dairies on the west side of the state.

Best wishes on a safe and productive season.

 

[Rightsaidfred]

No haying until July where I am. One cut only here in the North country.

 

[LouNY]

We got a good start yesterday, about 200 tons of haylage put up.
We had done a bit here and there and few round bales put up, but yesterday was a full day.
a link to a thread with a couple of videos of my over 8 hour day.
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/118658-todays-seat-time-563.html#post5757193

 

[mjw357]

Baled ours June 7 and 8. On 12 acres we got 640 squares and 38 rounds. Good for the next year. May get a second cut on part of it.

 

[bazman82]

I got about 8 and half acres left to cut out and normally I'm only just starting right now..and I plan to do that 8 acres next week if the weather holds. Right now I'm at 813 small squares and 68 4x4.5 rounds off the 20 acres i already cut. Its not as heavy as usual but thats because i cut early this year. Hopefully our second cutting will grow nicely..

 

[Hay Dude]

I just hit the 600 mark on 4x5 RBs
I got asked to bush hog about 20 acres of the thickest grass/weed mix Ive ever seen. It was the first time in 5 years my Kubota M-126x CX-15 bogged down :ashamed: so it musta been super heavy. I could have made 120-150 more bales.....:thumbdown: :grumpy: :hissyfit:

Have 3 more fields down and drying. Just hoping the rain holds off. :yuck:

 

[Peter 315]

I just hit the 600 mark on 4x5 RBs
I got asked to bush hog about 20 acres of the thickest grass/weed mix Ive ever seen. It was the first time my Kubota M-126x CX-15 bogged down :grumpy::hissyfit:
Could have made 120-150 more bales.....:thumbdown:

Have 3 more fields down and drying. Just hoping the rain holds off. :yuck:

You baling leaves and sticks again.....:laughing:

 

[Hay Dude]

You baling leaves and sticks again.....:laughing:

Ahahahahahahaha:confused3:
Great mushroom hay. $50/bale! If they see any sticks or leaves, you get a real angry phone call from them unch:unch::fiery:
~150x$50 is decent money....
Might be able to afford a horse. :reading::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::wave:

 

[5030]

A horse is like a boat. A hole you pour money into.

 

[dragoneggs]

A horse is like a boat. A hole you pour money into.

I still want a boat though. I can go farther and do more things than with a horse.

 

[Hay Dude]

A horse is like a boat. A hole you pour money into.

Yes! Makes a Harley or a boat look cheap. When horse people cry about money to me I just laugh at them. :talktothehand:

 

[5030]

Don't sell to horsey owner anymore. Don't miss them either. I got tired of the picky-ninny attitude and the having to chase my payment or bounced checks. Haven't did that crap for 5 years now. Don't miss it either.

 

[Hay Dude]

Don't sell to horsey owner anymore. Don't miss them either. I got tired of the picky-ninny attitude and the having to chase my payment or bounced checks. Haven't did that crap for 5 years now. Don't miss it either.

Ive had 3 good horse hay customers now for years and they have been good so far. The trick for me was to tell them up front my hay is NOT: replanted every year, sprayed with broad leaf herbicide, or otherwise any kind of award winning hay. I tell them it’s pretty much naturally growing hay. That way if they see a weed or a tree leaf, they were told UP FRONT to expect that. I do take extra care to make sure the hay is lower than 14% moisture and store bales inside. I also pride myself on timely deliveries and customer communication.
Also, I do not sell to any fancy pants horse operations and I do not charge fancy hay prices, either. That has eliminated all the overly high expectations.
I have found that so far, this has lowered the hassles tremendously with horse people.
I have a few cattle customers, too. They tend to buy a lot more quantity and are a little less worried about quality.

 

[5030]

All I run is cattle hay now, well rodeo hay. Have one customer buys it all and he raises bucking bulls and puts on Rodeo's. Mine does get sprayed and fertilized. This year we will spray with 2-4-D (B). Got some broadleaf going on. 2-4-D (b) won't harm mature alfalfa whereas 2-4-D will kill it. No second cut, not enough precip so 2 cuts only. I'll make another in mid to late august.

 

[mred2]

I am one of the horse guys. My hay guy bales 3 types of hay. 3 prices. Ground cover, cow hay and horse hay. All is good hay. If any get wet before it is put in the barn, it goes to ground cover. He sales a lot of it to road companies. They keep enclosed trailers at his place and he fills, they pay and they pick up as needed. Horse hay is the better hay. He spot sprays everything and fertilizes everything. He also has 6 chicken houses. He requests cash only for payment, no checks. If you don't like it, don't buy it. He only bails round bales for me and one other customer. Every thing else is square. Has equipment to handle the squares and never touch them by hand. He gets 3 or 4 cuttings a year. The first cut is rye grass. The others will be coastal. Never leaves hay in the field. Is always sold out before the end of the year. The best part is, he is only 2 miles away. This will not be a great year due to too much rain.

 

[riptides]

There are horse people and there are horse people.

The reality is some people are just difficult. And they can be buyer, seller and/or the farmer.

 

[5030]

I pride myself on being hard to deal with actually. Just ask my wife, she knows.

I never worry about hay. It's 100% sold before I make a bale.

 

[Hay Dude]

There are horse people and there are horse people.

The reality is some people are just difficult. And they can be buyer, seller and/or the farmer.

Yeah....maybe... I find horse people to be real difficult most of the time.
The realistic ones that understand horses can eat an occasional weed without dying, I値l tolerate a little teeny bit of whining from and they benefit from my lower prices.