First hay

[RPW]

Not pretty but after 3 years of acquiring machinery and starting fields from scratch that had only weeds and junipers (scrub cedars) these are my first bales. Not ever having made any hay before on a very tight budget I was able to start. This year was more of a shake down on all equipment so that next year I'll be ready. Weather was fair. Better than the last two years as we actually managed a more normal year for rain. Fields are now established (more or less) and next year will concentrate on improvements in weed control and fertilizer. Based on what I've read here I could expect to get 30+ bales per cutting next year. Would have got more this year but had equipment failure during first cutting so what I had cut was lost. In the end I'm not really looking to make a profit but want sustainability for may horses and It's relaxing for me to do it (go figure). Anyway just wanted to share.

My better half against my first bales.

 

[Tx Jim]

Not too bad for 1st bales made. Operating a rd baler is a learning process. What brand baler are you using?

 

[RPW]

Vermeer 605C. Pulling it with my JD5103 which seems to handle it just fine. Will have to wait until next year on fresher hay to see if I have any power issues. In doing the first bale (the very loose one) I was going to fast. Second one I slowed down as I ended up plugging the baler with too much hay. Picked up the Vermeer for $1k and put in about $200 - $300 in parts (belts mostly) so I think I'm off to a decent start.