Hay Farmers getting out of farming

[Fuddy1952]

Young people today have no clue how hard our parents, grandparents worked, and how the women cooked all from scratch.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Seen that video a bunch of times. She’s cute, but I’d rather do that than stack bales in a 105* barn.

I've seen that too...barefoot, cute and strong!

 

[Bearsixty7]

Seen that video a bunch of times. She’s cute, but I’d rather do that than stack bales in a 105* barn.

105*!, you must have had some air conditioned barns!
I remember a few customers barns that had zero air flow up in the loft once we got the first row or two of hay stacked to the roof and it had to be 120* or more. I still remember a few with less than 6' of height except in the very center of the loft and I was over 6' as a teenager as was my younger brother, then there were the roofing nails sticking through as well, those sucked!
Dad used to rinse out clorox gallon jugs and we would fill half way with water and put in the deep freezer, grab them in the morning and top off with drinking water and away we went to the hayfields. They would sit nicely in the corner by the seat on the old IH 464's and 574 in a burlap sack or in the floorboard of the pickup.

 

[ultrarunner]

Maybe each generation feels the pace of change is too fast…?

With all that’s going on the boarding barns still seem at capacity…

 

[Hay Dude]

Young people today have no clue how hard our parents, grandparents worked, and how the women cooked all from scratch.

Kind of makes you see how so many of todays utes are overweight & out of shape. Kids 50 years ago were so skinny!

 

[Sberry]

I am not dating girls with their own hay equipment.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I am not dating girls with their own hay equipment.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I have worked that out to the best of my abilities. Typically, my round bales last about 15-18 days for 2 horses working a hay hut.
I replenish the bale (remember, you charge $ for that its value added). I typically charge $125/bale delivered locally.
I’d rather do that than sell the bale for $75 out of the barn on a Sunday when I should be enjoying family/friends.
This took a while, it did not happen overnight. You have to talk your customer into it and its NOT for everyone.

The only delivery we are leaning towards is bringing a trailer to the customer for them to unload (And not on their w/e schedule). Do not want to be delivering ones and twos of rounds either. We are gonna try and convince a couple of our older small customers to get more storage and buy a seasons worth at a time. Small versatube type carports are not very expensive.

 

[ddbackhoe]

From the outside looking in the cost of hay sure varies around the country.

When I posted $28 bale it is the current price here at the feed store cash and carry and yes the feed store is closed Sundays.

The difference between 4.50 and 28 is quite a spread...

Absolutely, regional markets and availability affect almost everything.

 

[Hay Dude]

The only delivery we are leaning towards is bringing a trailer to the customer for them to unload (And not on their w/e schedule). Do not want to be delivering ones and twos of rounds either. We are gonna try and convince a couple of our older small customers to get more storage and buy a seasons worth at a time. Small versatube type carports are not very expensive.

That could be a tough sell, depending on the amount of disposable $ they have for one. Typically, small customers = small money, but it’s worth a shot.
If you have enough wagons, you could leave them a wagon with a tarp over it, but again, you should be paid extra. You are saving them from having to build hay storage.
If you have a pickup truck and someone wants 1-2 round bales, just charge them accordingly. They know small deliveries dont make economic sense and they should pay for that.
If you refuse them, some other guy may get their business.

 

[MossRoad]

Have same set up in one of the barns I work out of. The blower and the belts are still there. Powered by a Farmall.

Many would enjoy seeing pictures of that if you get the time.

I think it was Egon that posted quite a few pictures of hay harvest in the past.

 

[OzarkChris]

Please let me apologize to y'all for my part in having this thread hijacked. I try my best most times to not get sucked in.

 

[ultrarunner]

Young people today have no clue how hard our parents, grandparents worked, and how the women cooked all from scratch.

Quite blessed to be able to catch s glimpse of the old ways spending a summer with my Grandparents at age 4...

By my next visit at age 10 and then again at 17 the old ways were no more.

Being only 4 but really 4.5 years at the time the memories and experiences remain vivid...

I think the contrast coming from California city life to the small dairy farm with cows, chickens, pigs, tractors, hay fields, forest and a meandering brook couldn't have been more profound...

My younger brother knows he was there but really no memories...

Everyone had chores and I was eager... helped grandma collect eggs, helped grandfather feed the pigs, picked buckets of berries for grandma's preserves but nothing compares to seat time on the tractor idling up and down the windrows....

Being Green and Self Sufficient when it was really just part of everyday farmlife.

Mom's godparents had a small water powered mill where everyone went and it was fascinating to watch and almost all wood construction...

On my last visit in 2015 I asked where are all the kids... off to University with younger ones more interested in video games...

Many of the hayfields tended for generations are now planted with trees to keep AG exemptions and a few kids have a horse or two in the old milk barn...

Many make a living selling off land a homesite at a time... what took generations to build can be gone in one...

 

[Steppenwolfe]

When I was 13 we moved from Colorado to NE PA. Right in the middle of very rural dairy country. I had never seen a farm before, let alone farming. Back then, early 70's, every kid I knew lived or worked on a farm. Boy, the first time I was asked to bale hay I jumped on it, $1 an hour in the hot sun... I thought I had become a man that day. I also remember wrestling in HS; you always knew when you got hold of a farm kid.

 

[ddbackhoe]

That could be a tough sell, depending on the amount of disposable $ they have for one. Typically, small customers = small money, but it’s worth a shot.
If you have enough wagons, you could leave them a wagon with a tarp over it, but again, you should be paid extra. You are saving them from having to build hay storage.
If you have a pickup truck and someone wants 1-2 round bales, just charge them accordingly. They know small deliveries dont make economic sense and they should pay for that.
If you refuse them, some other guy may get their business.

Maybe, they can afford LQ trailers and new trucks so maybe not. I let a customer take a hay trailer once, it was returned damaged (tongue twisted) that was lesson enough.

 

[Hay Dude]

Maybe, they can afford LQ trailers and new trucks so maybe not. I let a customer take a hay trailer once, it was returned damaged (tongue twisted) that was lesson enough.

All the more reason to charge a rental for it.

 

[JESSE1]

I'm officially out of the hay business now. I've only baled my own hay for the last twenty five years but I've decided I'm done with it. I have a good source for hay and I've been buying hay for next year. Between last year's below zero freeze that killed off most of my coastal bermuda and the cost for fertilizer it's time to give it up.

 

[Hay Dude]

I'm officially out of the hay business now. I've only baled my own hay for the last twenty five years but I've decided I'm done with it. I have a good source for hay and I've been buying hay for next year. Between last year's below zero freeze that killed off most of my coastal bermuda and the cost for fertilizer it's time to give it up.

Sorry to hear this JESSE1.
Cost for fertilizer is a stone cold killer for most hay farmers.
UP 300% and who knows when itll stop.
I paid $3.59 for dyed fuel last week. OTR is $4.00 almost everywhere

 

[ultrarunner]

On the dairy farm fertilizer produced on-site as it has for hundreds of years…

They really didn’t buy much… staples like sugar and coffee… diesel for the crank tractor and fabric to make clothes…

 

[oosik]

I'm seeing a slightly different angle on this situation. My neighbor has taken on custom cutting/baling. Many local hay farmers are either too old, don't like the high investment costs or can not find folks willing to buy and take up hay farming.

His business seem to be expanding more each year into this arena.