First Timer - when to do 'third cutting'?

[Hay Dude]

and the issues is here I can buy horse hay round bales for $40 anytime, 25 much of the time, cow/goat hay is cheaper yet. So that's what, 800lb bales, so $100/ton?

Squares are getting harder to find, but feeding horses in stalls it's really the only way to go. We're getting it for about $4/bale, 35-40lb bales, so $200/ton. DOUBLE the price.

And some (at the race track in particular) are getting, 6, 7 even $8 per bale (race track prices for $8).

Wanna DOUBLE or TRIPLE your income? Do squares.

You can get self loading wagons, with bigger tractors you can get accumulators and loader grippers.
Kuhns Mfg Small Square Bale Handling System Overview - YouTube

Youll never have to convince me that small squares pay a lot more than round bales. I cant afford to build the barns required to store them and I cant stand most of the people who buy them. They're annoying, impossible to please, want saturday and sunday delivery and also have stiffed me out of money. Its a vicious circle. Small squares dont pay this small timer enough to buy the equipment and barns to store them properly.
I get $100-$110 for delivering one 800lb round bale and it's so easy to do. I show up with a bale on the loader or back of the truck, flip the Hay Hut on it's side, drop the bale and leave. Thats $250/ton for round bales delivered. Now if you buy multiple a trailer load, I sell them for $180-$200/ton. I barely have to touch anything by hand and I dont need any special equipment.

 

[Threepoint]

Prof fate, thanks for letting us ride along on your well-told adventure!

Will you and your wife do it again next year?

I'm fortunate to have a reliable supplier of 45-lb bales of good-quality orchard grass, treated with propionic acid to deter mold. Only $5/bale delivered and stacked. From time to time I've thought about talking with a neighbor about haying his fallow fields. Then I lie down until the feeling passes. :laughing:

 

[5030]

Interesting. I keep a 55 gallon drum of 'Greensaver' in the shop and have the applicator on the square and round baler but I never use either. It's there just in case.

 

[prof fate]

Prof fate, thanks for letting us ride along on your well-told adventure!

Will you and your wife do it again next year?

I'm fortunate to have a reliable supplier of 45-lb bales of good-quality orchard grass, treated with propionic acid to deter mold. Only $5/bale delivered and stacked. From time to time I've thought about talking with a neighbor about haying his fallow fields. Then I lie down until the feeling passes. :laughing:

So far we plan to do it again. Will get a hay wagon, would like a tedder so we'll see about that. Figure on building a hoop house for storage of the hay.

 

[Hay Dude]

Check out the "EZ Trail" bale baskets.
I used them successfully for years.
Nice if you have to make small squares alone

 

[Hay Dude]

15K bales a year? Your no hobby farmer

No sir.

I use my hay business to put food on the table, but I also have to cut fields, plow snow and do other large property maintenance tasks to provide additional income