Getting started in hay making... Basic set-up

[Beltzington]

A good movie, dinner and a nice bottled wine has proven reliable...

Limited research leads me to believe getting into the Hay business is akin to developing a new computer operating system, but I am a glass half-full type person. Seriously, best of luck.

HayTalk - Hay & Forage Community

Hay Reports | Agricultural Marketing Service

 

[flusher]

Hello,

I'm interested in getting started in square bale production. Small square bales around 50 lbs.

Currently I have a Kubota L3830 with loader. Also have a 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee.

Basically I need advice on picking good quality used equipment. Cost for this project is a big factor. I want best quality as well. So over the last 50 years which balers, cutting bars, etc were the best.

I will need a mower. Should it be a sickle or disc type? What brand is best?

I will need a rake... I'm familiar with the trail type New Hollands. Any other suggestions?

Baler.... Need one of those too.... I've heard New Holland and John Deere are the best for square balers. Which models are the best?

Bale collector... I really want to automate process of picking up and stacking bales. Anyone using collectors?

Thank you for any advise.

My neighbor and his partner have a sweet setup for haying his 8 acres.

He prepares the field with his Kubota L4630 and an 8-ft wide tandem disc.
Seeding (forage mix) is done with his 10-ft wide grain drill.
Mowing is done with his partner's Hesston windrower.



He bales with a New Holland 3-twine baler (100 lb bales) that has an on-board engine so he doesn't need to run the baler with the Kubota's pto.



He rounds up the bales (generally 400-430 bales) using a self-propelled New Holland bale stacker that belongs to one of his high school buddies.





He loads the bale stacks using a bale squeeze that another buddy owns.




Last season he sold his crop to one buyer at $14/bale.

It helps a lot if you have friends and neighbors who are in the haying business and
are willing to lend a hand. Haying with the right equipment is a pleasure. Otherwise it's a PITA.

Good luck

 

[flusher]

Hello,

I'm interested in getting started in square bale production. Small square bales around 50 lbs.

Currently I have a Kubota L3830 with loader. Also have a 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee.

Basically I need advice on picking good quality used equipment. Cost for this project is a big factor. I want best quality as well. So over the last 50 years which balers, cutting bars, etc were the best.

I will need a mower. Should it be a sickle or disc type? What brand is best?

I will need a rake... I'm familiar with the trail type New Hollands. Any other suggestions?

Baler.... Need one of those too.... I've heard New Holland and John Deere are the best for square balers. Which models are the best?

Bale collector... I really want to automate process of picking up and stacking bales. Anyone using collectors?

Thank you for any advise.

My neighbor and his partner have a sweet setup for haying his 8 acres.

He prepares the field with his Kubota L4630 and an 8-ft wide tandem disc.
Seeding (forage mix) is done with his 10-ft wide grain drill.
Mowing is done with his partner's Hesston windrower.

View attachment 454082

He bales with a New Holland 3-twine baler (100 lb bales) that has an on-board engine so he doesn't need to run the baler with the Kubota's pto.

View attachment 454083

He rounds up the bales (generally 400-430 bales) using a self-propelled New Holland bale stacker that belongs to one of his high school buddies.

View attachment 454084
View attachment 454085
View attachment 454086

He loads the bale stacks using a bale squeeze that another buddy owns.

View attachment 454087
View attachment 454088

Last season he sold his crop to one buyer at $14/bale.

It helps a lot if you have friends and neighbors who are in the haying business and
are willing to lend a hand. Haying with the right equipment is a pleasure. Otherwise it's a PITA.

Good luck

 

[ProjectKing]

My neighbor and his partner have a sweet setup for haying his 8 acres. He prepares the field with his Kubota L4630 and an 8-ft wide tandem disc. Seeding (forage mix) is done with his 10-ft wide grain drill. Mowing is done with his partner's Hesston windrower. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=454082"/> He bales with a New Holland 3-twine baler (100 lb bales) that has an on-board engine so he doesn't need to run the baler with the Kubota's pto. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=454083"/> He rounds up the bales (generally 400-430 bales) using a self-propelled New Holland bale stacker that belongs to one of his high school buddies. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=454084"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=454085"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=454086"/> He loads the bale stacks using a bale squeeze that another buddy owns. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=454087"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=454088"/> Last season he sold his crop to one buyer at $14/bale. It helps a lot if you have friends and neighbors who are in the haying business and are willing to lend a hand. Haying with the right equipment is a pleasure. Otherwise it's a PITA. Good luck

Wow thanks for sharing! That's an awesome set-up! And impressive price per bale! $$$

 

[CDennyRun]

If you really want to do this, get a rock solid JD or NH baler with kicker if you don't have help, a couple bale wagons, and make sure to have a market for they hay you offer. Without a reliable baler, you're stuck in the mud. Without help you might not get your hay up at night. And without a market you could completely waste your time. If it's something you really want to do, I hope you do great! Cheers!

Chris

 

[ProjectKing]

If you really want to do this, get a rock solid JD or NH baler with kicker if you don't have help, a couple bale wagons, and make sure to have a market for they hay you offer. Without a reliable baler, you're stuck in the mud. Without help you might not get your hay up at night. And without a market you could completely waste your time. If it's something you really want to do, I hope you do great! Cheers! Chris

After bales are in wagon what is your suggestion on unloading them? My goal is complete mechanization. Or have customer unload! (0: I like the idea of pulling bale wagon to customer and letting them unload as time allows. I would give discount for this!

Thanks for the tips on the balers. That seems to be rule of thumb on the brands. Plenty of them available too.

 

[roadhunter]

My neighbor and his partner have a sweet setup for haying his 8 acres.

He prepares the field with his Kubota L4630 and an 8-ft wide tandem disc.
Seeding (forage mix) is done with his 10-ft wide grain drill.
Mowing is done with his partner's Hesston windrower.

View attachment 454082

He bales with a New Holland 3-twine baler (100 lb bales) that has an on-board engine so he doesn't need to run the baler with the Kubota's pto.

View attachment 454083

He rounds up the bales (generally 400-430 bales) using a self-propelled New Holland bale stacker that belongs to one of his high school buddies.

View attachment 454084
View attachment 454085
View attachment 454086

He loads the bale stacks using a bale squeeze that another buddy owns.

View attachment 454087
View attachment 454088

Last season he sold his crop to one buyer at $14/bale.

It helps a lot if you have friends and neighbors who are in the haying business and
are willing to lend a hand. Haying with the right equipment is a pleasure. Otherwise it's a PITA.

Good luck

When you take into account the investment for all that equipment along with the insurance, maintenance, fuel, seed, fertilizer, and operators time I doubt that even with 400 bales @ $14 he made much if any. $5,600 can go real quick when you involve that much work.

You certainly want way more than 8 acres to hay if you are going to make any money at it IMO. A couple of years ago was the time to be in the hay business. Alfalfa was over $200 a ton. Around here it's bringing less than $100 a ton now.

 

[roadhunter]

My neighbor and his partner have a sweet setup for haying his 8 acres.

He prepares the field with his Kubota L4630 and an 8-ft wide tandem disc.
Seeding (forage mix) is done with his 10-ft wide grain drill.
Mowing is done with his partner's Hesston windrower.

View attachment 454082

He bales with a New Holland 3-twine baler (100 lb bales) that has an on-board engine so he doesn't need to run the baler with the Kubota's pto.

View attachment 454083

He rounds up the bales (generally 400-430 bales) using a self-propelled New Holland bale stacker that belongs to one of his high school buddies.

View attachment 454084
View attachment 454085
View attachment 454086

He loads the bale stacks using a bale squeeze that another buddy owns.

View attachment 454087
View attachment 454088

Last season he sold his crop to one buyer at $14/bale.

It helps a lot if you have friends and neighbors who are in the haying business and
are willing to lend a hand. Haying with the right equipment is a pleasure. Otherwise it's a PITA.

Good luck

When you take into account the investment for all that equipment along with the insurance, maintenance, fuel, seed, fertilizer, and operators time I doubt that even with 400 bales @ $14 he made much if any. $5,600 can go real quick when you involve that much work.

You certainly want way more than 8 acres to hay if you are going to make any money at it IMO. A couple of years ago was the time to be in the hay business. Alfalfa was over $200 a ton. Around here it's bringing less than $100 a ton now.

 

[flusher]

When you take into account the investment for all that equipment along with the insurance, maintenance, fuel, seed, fertilizer, and operators time I doubt that even with 400 bales @ $14 he made much if any. $5,600 can go real quick when you involve that much work.

.

Sure he did. His expenses were seed and diesel and a light application of fertilizer. Cost less than $1K. And the expensive equipment (stacker, squeeze) belong to his friends who charged for the diesel. He supplied the beer and burgers. As I said, it helps a lot to have friends in the business. That's why cooperatives exist.

 

[flusher]

When you take into account the investment for all that equipment along with the insurance, maintenance, fuel, seed, fertilizer, and operators time I doubt that even with 400 bales @ $14 he made much if any. $5,600 can go real quick when you involve that much work.

.

Sure he did. His expenses were seed and diesel and a light application of fertilizer. Cost less than $1K. And the expensive equipment (stacker, squeeze) belong to his friends who charged for the diesel. He supplied the beer and burgers. As I said, it helps a lot to have friends in the business. That's why cooperatives exist.

 

[roadhunter]

Sure he did. His expenses were seed and diesel and a light application of fertilizer. Cost less than $1K. And the expensive equipment (stacker, squeeze) belong to his friends who charged for the diesel. He supplied the beer and burgers. As I said, it helps a lot to have friends in the business. That's why cooperatives exist.

I guess it just depends what accounting method you use. If equipment was free, no insurance required, operators were also free, and all you had to pay was diesel, burgers, and beer it looks great on paper. In the real world all that stuff costs money and has to be accounted for.

Truck, trailer, tractor, disc, drill, windrower, baler, bale stacker, bale squeeze all need to be purchased, insured, fuel, maintenance, and an operator. Then you have other costs like having to share the yield with landowners or paying them for use of the land. Seed, Fertilizer, etc for planting. Twine for the bales, mobilization of equipment, etc... It costs a whole lot more than $1,0000 to put up 400 bales. Plug in $50 an hour for each hour that each piece of equipment is running to complete the job and $25 and hour for each hour of time and operator requires and you might be getting close to what it actually costs.

For someone getting into the hay business it's going to be really difficult to go out and buy 5-8 pieces of equipment and make money at it.

 

[MMagis]

I guess it just depends what accounting method you use. If equipment was free, no insurance required, operators were also free, and all you had to pay was diesel, burgers, and beer it looks great on paper. In the real world all that stuff costs money and has to be accounted for.
.

X2. Not many people have friends willing to supply $100k+ in machinery, plus operating time.
If you don’t already have the land and equipment for your own hay, find another plan. Spending money on equipment in order to sell hay is a one way ticket to the poorhouse.

 

[MMagis]

I guess it just depends what accounting method you use. If equipment was free, no insurance required, operators were also free, and all you had to pay was diesel, burgers, and beer it looks great on paper. In the real world all that stuff costs money and has to be accounted for.
.

X2. Not many people have friends willing to supply $100k+ in machinery, plus operating time.
If you don't already have the land and equipment for your own hay, find another plan. Spending money on equipment in order to sell hay is a one way ticket to the poorhouse.

 

[powerscol]

I have a small operation and got a hay grapple form these folks. Kuhns Mfg LLC | Innovation in small square bale handling. (You can search my user name for pictures, etc)
I use it to pick up the bales and load on my goose neck, then use the tractor to haul the goose neck around. I can unload and stack in the barn, and then pull off the stack and load folks up. The accumulators they have also make quick work if you get a matching set up. (on my future wish list) A lot cheaper than a bale wagon in my opinion.

Bottom line make sure you have enough tractor, and invest wisely in equipment, especially if used. Most folks don't sell equipment unless it is giving them trouble, or they are trading up or getting out of the business. I learned the hard way when I bought my sickle mower.

 

[LukeD]

I started out with a ford 501 sickle mower, a john Deere side delivery rake, a NH 311 baler, and a JD 3020. I got rid of the sickle mower and side delivery rake as quickly as I could. That's just way too slow of an operation. I now have upgraded to a vicon CM 216 disc mower and a 10 wheel rake. I'm currently having a grappler and accumulator built at a local shop, to help cut down on labor expense