Buy or Bale My Own?

[Ledgemere Farm]

A small farmer looks at pros and cons of owning your own equipment. Why I’ve decifed to sell my haying
outfit and buy in my hay going forward.

 

[Tinhack]

Wish I lived closer. I'd buy your hay equipment. I'd make hay for my cows. It gets expensive feeding them bird seed. Just kidding. These got out and found my feeder area. Looks like they're eating the corn I put out for the deer.

It was so bad a few years ago, I had a cattle man down the road come to my place and took most of the cactus I had. He came with a tractor, trailer and 4-6 helpers. They'd torch the spines off and take nearly the whole plant--Roots and all. They must have taken 8-10 large trailer loads. And I mean BIG loads. He fed it to his cattle due to the lack of grass that year.

Or maybe he sold it a restaurant for nopalitos. I don't care. I got rid of cactus.

 

[Farmer495]

A small farmer looks at pros and cons of owning your own equipment. Why I’ve decifed to sell my haying
outfit and buy in my hay going forward.

Pros and cons for sure. Own land, own equipment and full control of inputs and operations....just can't control the weather!

I've had to buy hay before, was nice to have it show up and no breakdowns, no weather stressing and no effort....just pain of paying for it. Lack of self sufficiency is not nice when prices go through the roof and no supply as people found out locally last winter. Hay doubled or tripled in price if you could even get it.

 

[Jchonline]

We have 250 acres, 50 head of cattle and still don’t do our own hay anymore. We got tired of the timing (canceled vacation, school functions), at cutting/bailing time. Also we were always messing with the bailers…. Now we let someone else do that and we keep 1/2 of it..more than enough for our cattle.

Just broke in a new squeeze chute setup last weekend…now that was fun!

 

[Hay Dude]

“Hay don’t pay”
that’s all you need to know, but if that doesn’t convince you, if you want to make a million in hay…..start with 2 million.
I have hayed a field and had a breakdown so costly, the entire field of bales wouldn’t cover the cost of the repair.
But as they say “THATS FARMIN!”

 

[Tx Jim]

One major advantage is depending on weather hay can be cut/baled when or before it needs to be cut not 2 or 3 weeks later. Depending on weather hay quality/proteins will probably be better if not waiting on a custom baler.

If one can't make(save) $$$$$$ harvesting hay I wonder how I managed to keep my custom hay baling operation going since 1987!!! I've rd baled over 150,000 rd bales & unknown # of sq bales since '87

 

[Fixastuff]

“Hay don’t pay”
that’s all you need to know, but if that doesn’t convince you, if you want to make a million in hay…..start with 2 million.
I have hayed a field and had a breakdown so costly, the entire field of bales wouldn’t cover the cost of the repair.
But as they say “THATS FARMIN!”

I'm sorry, but even if you love doing it seems dumb to keep doing something so unprofitable as a business?

 

[Hay Dude]

I'm sorry, but even if you love doing it seems dumb to keep doing something so unprofitable as a business?

No, it’s not “dumb”. but next time you shove a forkful of food in your mouth, you might want to think about the sacrifices some (not all) farmers make for us to have such abundant, affordable food. For example, compare it to post Covid it to lumber & steel prices. Farmers are not getting rich or being overly opportunistic post Covid.
Whats our choice? Farmers quit farming because it doesn’t pay much, within one week, there’s civil unrest like BLM and antifa could never imagine. Lol
Anyway, Farming gets in your blood like no other vocation.
Although I make inferences & jokes that it doesn’t pay much money (and it doesn’t), it makes enough to keep going. You have to spend some time walking a mile in a farmers shoes to appreciate the time & effort for the relatively low pay.
Also, we do north of 100k in mowing per year and probably another 1/4-1/2 mil in construction and property maintenance, so it all goes in 1 pile of gross income.
I had to diversify to stay in it. I’m glad I did because it is a very interesting and satisfying way to make a living.

 

[Fixastuff]

No, it’s not “dumb”. but next time you shove a forkful of food in your mouth, you might want to think about the sacrifices some (not all) farmers make for us to have such abundant, affordable food. For example, compare it to post Covid it to lumber & steel prices. Farmers are not getting rich or being overly opportunistic post Covid.
Whats our choice? Farmers quit farming because it doesn’t pay much, within one week, there’s civil unrest like BLM and antifa could never imagine. Lol
Anyway, Farming gets in your blood like no other vocation.
Although I make inferences & jokes that it doesn’t pay much money (and it doesn’t), it makes enough to keep going. You have to spend some time walking a mile in a farmers shoes to appreciate the time & effort for the relatively low pay.
Also, we do north of 100k in mowing per year and probably another 1/4-1/2 mil in construction and property maintenance, so it all goes in 1 pile of gross income.
I had to diversify to stay in it. I’m glad I did because it is a very interesting and satisfying way to make a living.

I have a family farm and I rent out the fields.(pays the taxes on land with about 10-12k left over most years)
We are on a rotation of soybean, corn, cotton and peanuts. After the peanuts are harvested that gets bailed, sometimes they plant wheat as an cover crop. I just like to garden and am decent at that. I understand where food comes from, just questioning your business model where you claim to lose money all the time. One day I might take over farming the place but probably not. I still have my great granddad's tiny tobacco tractor. I know what the farmers around me make and see the stuff they buy/vacations they go on...sometimes I get sick of the cries of poverty!

 

[Hay Dude]

I have a family farm and I rent out the fields.(pays the taxes on land with about 10-12k left over most years)
We are on a rotation of soybean, corn, cotton and peanuts. After the peanuts are harvested that gets bailed, sometimes they plant wheat as an cover crop. I just like to garden and am decent at that. I understand where food comes from, just questioning your business model where you claim to lose money all the time. One day I might take over farming the place but probably not. I still have my great granddad's tiny tobacco tractor. I know what the farmers around me make and see the stuff they buy/vacations they go on...sometimes I get sick of the cries of poverty!

Never said “I lose money all the time”
Nice try
Also, just to educate you a bit on farming, row crop farmers (soybeans, corn, etc) ARE eligible for government subsidies. Hay farmers (like me) are NOT.
So while you may see your row crop farmers buying “nice stuff” (as if they don’t deserve nice stuff, only non-farmers deserve nice stuff), hay farmers live off what they sell their hay for, no govt checks in the mail.
And note: I don’t disparage ANY row crop farmer for taking full advantage of any/all government farm assistance programs.

 

[Fixastuff]

A picture from month of so ago. Now harvested with soybean plants a few inches high.

 

[Fixastuff]

Never said “I lose money all the time”
Nice try

Ok, you win.

 

[MoKelly]

Here are my soybeans.

To be honest, I don’t farm. A neighbor farms my place plus a few others so he has about 300 acres to farm all at once. Economies of scale help.

He does ok. He has raised 2 kids thru college and does not starve. But - he works very hard and earns every penny. He also has some cattle and does hay to feed the cattle. I must admit haying is an amazing process. The bailer is simple yet amazingly complex. Unfortunately, it tends to break a lot. But, he can usually fix pretty quickly.

MoKelly

 

[TheMan419]

Ok, you win.

cant argue with someone that changes the story all the time.....

 

[lman]

I think the only time my dad made any substantial money on the farm was when he sold it.

 

[MoKelly]

I think the only time my dad made any substantial money on the farm was when he sold it.

I think you are very correct.

Didn’t the term “land rich and cash poor” come from a farmer?

MoKelly

 

[BleedingOrange]

Every farmer I have ever know, always cries hard times, but the majority, end up with a ton of cash, when they finally decide to move on from farming. From what I have noticed from my friends that are farmers, they live well, and kinda enjoy crying poor, and tough times, to anyone that will listen.

 

[MoKelly]

Every farmer I have ever know, always cries hard times, but the majority, end up with a ton of cash, when they finally decide to move on from farming. From what I have noticed from my friends that are farmers, they live well, and kinda enjoy crying poor, and tough times, to anyone that will listen.

Kind of harsh huh?

I know only a handful of farmers. They own many acres that, when sold, (God willing) should make them good money so they can retire.

But, in the meantime, they work very very hard to make a manageable life. Every farmer I know, if you take their income by the hours they work, makes wages no one would consider excessive.

Plus - their whole lives - they face risk from weather, markets, insects, pests, and equipment breaking. They have only themselves to rely upon. No employer, boss or other who they can say “let them worry about that problem”.

Farmers are not unlike any self employed business owner. They work very hard and long hours, build the business into a success then sell for a nice profit. That is their pension and 401k. They earned every cent.

But - and this is a huge but - to get their pension/reward they must sell their home and the place they lived and raised a family. No other business owner or employee has to suffer that sacrifice. It’s not easy.

I completely admire farmers.

MoKelly

 

[Fixastuff]

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database put the issue on the map and is driving reform. Just ten percent of America's largest and richest farms collect almost three-fourths of federal farm subsidies; cash payments that often harm the environment.

farm.ewg.org

Check this out, it may surprise you. I know farmers around here get mad if you bring this up when they're telling you how poor they are.

 

[Hay Dude]

Kind of harsh huh?

I know only a handful of farmers. They own many acres that, when sold, (God willing) should make them good money so they can retire.

But, in the meantime, they work very very hard to make a manageable life. Every farmer I know, if you take their income by the hours they work, makes wages no one would consider excessive.

Plus - their whole lives - they face risk from weather, markets, insects, pests, and equipment breaking. They have only themselves to rely upon. No employer, boss or other who they can say “let them worry about that problem”.

Farmers are not unlike any self employed business owner. They work very hard and long hours, build the business into a success then sell for a nice profit. That is their pension and 401k. They earned every cent.

But - and this is a huge but - to get their pension/reward they must sell their home and the place they lived and raised a family. No other business owner or employee has to suffer that sacrifice. It’s not easy.

I completely admire farmers.

MoKelly

Yep, people with no knowledge generally make stupid, I’ll-advised comments about farming and farmers in general derived from ignorance.
Then they cry like little babies when you throw rocks at what they do for a living.
But thanks MoKelly. You have always been gracious.
Good looking farm property! Keep it going!