Haying changes next year ?

[mo1]

Only changes I can think of is less fertilizer and focus on lime. Darn prices on everything.

Everybody else must be doing that too, as both of the local places that do liming are booked out until forever from now due to not having enough lime trucks to get through the backlog of customers.

 

[Hay Dude]

I feel very fortunate to be able to survive without chemical fertilizers.

 

[mo1]

I feel very fortunate to be able to survive without chemical fertilizers.

I take it that you are spreading manure then?

I used to see a lot of people spreading manure as a kid, and my family certainly did too, but that was when many people still had both livestock (beef cattle, dairy cattle, and hogs, sometimes chickens) and crops. The people back in the day were just as much getting rid of a waste product as they were applying fertilizer to their fields when they spread manure. But then many farmers went to either just row crops and no livestock, or just beef cattle and no row crops or other livestock. There are still a few hanging-on dairy operations around these parts, so there are still people spreading manure, but it's not many. That's pretty sad considering this state was the #1 dairy state in the whole nation 120 years ago.

I am pretty much stuck with "outside" fertilizer as I hay fields that livestock never go in to supplement and winter feed livestock in a pasture. It is a whole lot harder to collect scattered manure out of a pasture to spread it on a different field than it is to muck out a dairy barn, hog barn, or poultry house and spread it somewhere else. That and I sell hay too, and those nutrients just disappear.

 

[Hay Dude]

I take it that you are spreading manure then?

I used to see a lot of people spreading manure as a kid, and my family certainly did too, but that was when many people still had both livestock (beef cattle, dairy cattle, and hogs, sometimes chickens) and crops. The people back in the day were just as much getting rid of a waste product as they were applying fertilizer to their fields when they spread manure. But then many farmers went to either just row crops and no livestock, or just beef cattle and no row crops or other livestock. There are still a few hanging-on dairy operations around these parts, so there are still people spreading manure, but it's not many. That's pretty sad considering this state was the #1 dairy state in the whole nation 120 years ago.

I am pretty much stuck with "outside" fertilizer as I hay fields that livestock never go in to supplement and winter feed livestock in a pasture. It is a whole lot harder to collect scattered manure out of a pasture to spread it on a different field than it is to muck out a dairy barn, hog barn, or poultry house and spread it somewhere else. That and I sell hay too, and those nutrients just disappear.

I am fortunate in that we have a huge concentration of mushroom farmers in my area. They give away spent mushroom compost. They even deliver it free. I only have to spread it. Makes a fantastic source of free fertilizer. I would not be farming if we didn’t have it.
I also apply lime fairly frequently, which surprisingly has remained pretty stable in price. We have a local Mennonite owned company that has not decided to price gouge just because they can.

Do you have any poultry houses in your area? That can be a reasonably priced alternative. I have been getting inundated with offers to spread this stuff too, but I think it’s got human waste in it. No way I’m doing that.

I always thought if I had no mushroom soil available, I would buy a large sturdy manure spreader like the one I used to own. Then drive it to your local livestock and horse farms with a truck or tractor pulling it, they load it with their manure, you take it back to your fields and spread it. They are usually would be more than happy to get rid of it.