Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

[TSO]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

Ok, so I'm back to considering Hay again! I'm actually going to a friend's grandpa's farm later this week to bend his ear on the matter - sounds like he's pretty excited to take on a new pupil in his old age.

Ed mentioned "Red Clover" before and commented on the fact that I have grass already existing below the weeds in those photos. As soon as the ground firms up, I plan to mow down everything in that field. If I spread the Red Clover, should I expect it to grow to anything substantial this year? Is that something worthy of harvesting compared to other variety's of hay? Is that just a temporary "stop-gap" that will transition me to planting some other strain there next year? Or, is Red Clover a good thing to stick with?

Also, that above field is around 3+ acres (which will turn to 4+ by the end of the year as I take down another tree line)... my OTHER field is also 3 open acres of grass. Not sure what kind, probably fescue or something similar. I typically just mow it weekly. What do I do with that field? Do I let it grow as is and treat it as hay? Or, do I plant clover there as well? The only weeds that seem to pop up in that field are dandelions (mostly) and a few of the small picker things.

Thanks again for all the advice. I'm now running 35 PTO HP, so I should be able to handle a small baler now for this operation if I decide to do it.

 

[TSO]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

Ok, so I'm back to considering Hay again! I'm actually going to a friend's grandpa's farm later this week to bend his ear on the matter - sounds like he's pretty excited to take on a new pupil in his old age.

Ed mentioned "Red Clover" before and commented on the fact that I have grass already existing below the weeds in those photos. As soon as the ground firms up, I plan to mow down everything in that field. If I spread the Red Clover, should I expect it to grow to anything substantial this year? Is that something worthy of harvesting compared to other variety's of hay? Is that just a temporary "stop-gap" that will transition me to planting some other strain there next year? Or, is Red Clover a good thing to stick with?

Also, that above field is around 3+ acres (which will turn to 4+ by the end of the year as I take down another tree line)... my OTHER field is also 3 open acres of grass. Not sure what kind, probably fescue or something similar. I typically just mow it weekly. What do I do with that field? Do I let it grow as is and treat it as hay? Or, do I plant clover there as well? The only weeds that seem to pop up in that field are dandelions (mostly) and a few of the small picker things.

Thanks again for all the advice. I'm now running 35 PTO HP, so I should be able to handle a small baler now for this operation if I decide to do it.

 

[catskinner]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

So how is the decision going now? This has been real learning experience.

 

[TSO]

So how is the decision going now? This has been real learning experience.

Well, I decided against hay. So far this year I got about an acre of jack-o-lantern pumpkins (Connecticut field) in the ground. Still working on other stuff, but have so much to do it's been tough to keep up.

 

[DT86]

We raised pumpkins a few years, not that many though. How are you planning to sell them?

 

[TSO]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

We raised pumpkins a few years, not that many though. How are you planning to sell them?

Still working on that part LOL... who knows if any of them will actually grow.

Actually, I have a few small retail outlets that may split profits with me to sell them. Won't make me rich, but might make a few bucks.

 

[DFB]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

Well, I decided against hay. So far this year I got about an acre of jack-o-lantern pumpkins (Connecticut field) in the ground. Still working on other stuff, but have so much to do it's been tough to keep up.

View attachment 320097



View attachment 320099

:thumbsup:

 

[catskinner]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

I went with trying to make a go with hay on 5 acre plot, this learning curve will be a corkscrew.

 

[TSO]

I went with trying to make a go with hay on 5 acre plot, this learning curve will be a corkscrew.

Best of luck to you man, I hope that it works out well. For me, I decided that the upfront cost, even with buying all used equipment would be too costly for this small of an operation. A family friend does about 160 acres of hay and does pretty well... But he also steered me away from it on my property because I have such a few acres to do it with.

I'm hoping to get some fruit trees and some berries planted before fall, along with A to be determined amount of Christmas trees.

I'm excited to see what happens with the pumpkins that I planted. I planted the seed with a few different methods to see which one would work best for me. Hopefully I get a reasonable result

 

[TSO]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

Okay... here they are!

So far have 26 pumpkin seedlings sprouting up (out of the 300 or so seeds I put in the ground)... every day I have a few more coming. I'm not expecting too much, but this is a fun test to see what'll happen.:dance1:

 

[DFB]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

Okay... here they are!

So far have 26 pumpkin seedlings sprouting up (out of the 300 or so seeds I put in the ground)... every day I have a few more coming. I'm not expecting too much, but this is a fun test to see what'll happen.:dance1:

View attachment 321200

:thumbsup:

Those were open pollinated Connecticut Field pumpkins right?

 

[TSO]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

:thumbsup:

Those were open pollinated Connecticut Field pumpkins right?

Yes sir! At least, that's what I paid for LOL, they might end up being turnips. Apparently, these are some fancy heirloom CFP strain from the 1700's. We'll see :confused3:

 

[DFB]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

Yes sir! At least, that's what I paid for LOL, they might end up being turnips. Apparently, these are some fancy heirloom CFP strain from the 1700's. We'll see :confused3:

Check it out we won first prize last year! :laughing:






I'm glad your having fun with it. Pumpkins are probably one of the greatest crops to grow...I've grown plenty. Look at a Rupp's catalog for pumpkins seed sometime. They must have 50 varieties not counting the specialty ones

 

[Thowle]

Re: Looking to start growing & harvesting Hay - with a Compact Tractor. Advice please

Did you end up haying ... Or ... Do the pumpkin, christmas trees proposal?

 

[TSO]

Did you end up haying ... Or ... Do the pumpkin, christmas trees proposal?

No, I ended up sticking with the pumpkins (they're easy) and started a landscaping company instead ... one day if we get more property and more animals, I'll look into it again.

I appreciate all the help from this thread tho