Hay Yields

barrybro · Jun 20, 2008

I just baled my hay field for the very first time. My Wife and I just bought our farm last fall. Neither one of us have grown up on a farm or had any experience what to speak of.

With that in mind I did not fertilize my hay field in case i couldn't get a bale to come out of the back end of my New Holland 269 hayliner.

Well I managed to get bales to come out, but my first cutting is at a rate of 10 bales per acre (6 acres total). How much will fertilizing (according to the soils analysis done) increase my yield. I was told by the previous owners my field was old and tired, maybe I just need to start over?

Any feedback is appreciated.

Barry

WTA · Jun 20, 2008

In my 7 acre bermuda field, without fertilizer I am lucky to get 50 bales in 28 days. With 60 pounds per acre nitrogen, at least 4 inches of rain and daily irrigation I can get 500 bales. We've only gotten there once. Usually I get 400 or so.

My first cutting of alfalfa this year was very disappointing. I got 5 good bales off of 2 acres because I couldn't afford the fertilizer back in April. Normally we can get a little over 300 bales off that 2 acres. I fertilized it now and it's growing like crazy!

barrybro · Jun 20, 2008

Thank you - that is encouraging!

It was quite a letdown to have so little success the first time. I had hired two young guys to help, my wife had food and pop - we felt like we were all set for the big time.

We had fun and we are learning which is the goal this year.

zzvyb6 · Jun 20, 2008

We're gonna need some pictures...

6 bales per acre ought to weigh a LOT.

What are you mowing with? Is there a lot of grass still out there?

BTW: Pop is bad for post haying refreshment (as is beer). Its very dehydrating. I found out the hard way. Stick to water or Gatorade or equivalent.....

WTA · Jun 20, 2008

I'm still learning too. I've only been at it for 3 years now on my own. I recently retired from the military where I was working on steam engines and guns for a bunch of years. It's a big change.

When I was a kid we spent our summers on the great grandparrents farm where everything was done with horse power. Literally. Planting corn, cultivating, harvesting, haying, everything was always done with a horse team. That was 120 acres too. I was too young to do much thankfully but I learned a little.

With these fuel prices now we are going more and more to working the horses. My son's thoroughbred is in for a rude awakening when I cut hay at the end of this month. The harvest is looking pretty good right now and she will be pulling the hay wagon. Right now I have a single horse hitch on it. She can handle it. I'll rig it for 2 or 4 horses later on as I can afford the harnesses. I have a fat quarterhorse that is learning the harness work right now. She's next in line.

The learning just never stops! You have to constantly adapt to everything in the hay business.

Did you know that a horse can go farther on a bale of hay than the most efficient car in the world can on a gallon of gas????? Just not as quickly I guess.

I agree about the pop and beer. It will cramp you up out in the sun with all the lifting. I put a 35 gallon water tank on the weight bracket of my tractor with a hose attached to drink from and hose ourselves down with. It works a lot better than beer. I don't even allow beer on our property anymore. If you compare the one fence line that I got help from friends with, that were drinking heavily, to all the other fence lines that I did myself sober you will understand why.

barrybro · Jun 20, 2008

I will send pictures tonite (I am at my day job now). My equipment is part of the problem. My Ford 501 Sickle mower died on me 20 yards into the field. Had to finish with a brush hog (raised the back end up so it wouldn't chop the hay). Yes there is still a lot of grass in the field (uneven cutting, not low enough, etc...) but I can't imagine that it would have tripled my yield.

barrybro · Jun 20, 2008

No the bales were not that big, I didn't weigh them but I don't think they were more than 50#'s.

Mickey_Fx · Jun 20, 2008

Ouch! 10 bales/A. Sounds pretty bad but then I don't know anything about growing conditions in your area. Using a rotary mower explains a lot but at today's costs, it hardly was cost effective for ~60 bales.

When I was haying I had a small custom haying service (this was yrs ago) so was doing others fields. Don't know if they used Fertilizer or not. Seemed to recall typ yield for 1st cutting was ~ 4tons/A.

Replanting the pasture and getting soil nutrients up to where they need to be is likely going to help a lot.

mark.r · Jun 20, 2008

I've got to think using the rotary had ALOT to do with it. I have heard of people cutting hay with a modified rotary mower. They remove portions of the sides which from what I understand allow the grass to escape and prevent it from being "chopped" into so many fine little pieces. By using the rotary in its "normal" setup even raised, the grass just got chopped into pieces that the baler couldn't pick up.

On the other hand I may not have any idea to what the **** I am talking about. It's just what I have heard but it makes some sense to me.