Small farm hay project?!

[CH4Ohio]

I've been mowing that field for the last 2-3 years just to slow/stop the weeds from taking over and seeding more. It was lumpy/bumpy and filled with milkweed years back, was probably corn for decades before, but native grass was getting stronger with mowing and taking out weeds. I've disced or tilled it 5 times now and it's fluffy and smooth... another reason to do it right there.

I totally understand the desire to make hay for yourself and not waste this forage just by mowing it. But the main problem I see with this plan is trying to collect loose hay. If you're going to bite the bullet, I'd suggest that you reconsider and, at a minimum, figure out some way to get it baled so you can pick it up and stack it in the barn. If you buy a decent old reliable baler, at a decent price, you'll always be able to sell it and recoup your money. The space you save in the barn (from the piles of loose hay) will be adequate to keep your baler under cover and dry.

As far as getting started, you could probably get someone local with smaller equipment to mow it for you. As long as you can assure them there's no rocks or hazards, a smaller disc mower or haybine could get it knocked down for you. Then you could move forward with your experiment and see how it works out.


Good luck with it.

 

[EddieWalker]

I do not believe you can cut grass with a rotary mower, and store it for hay. You need to cut the grass at the base and not damage any of the stalk. Once the stalk is damaged, it loses all it's ability to retain any nutritious value for livestock.

Think how it used to be done with a sickle by hand. Minimum damage to the stalk to retain the most nutrition for the animals eating it.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I do not believe you can cut grass with a rotary mower, and store it for hay. You need to cut the grass at the base and not damage any of the stalk. Once the stalk is damaged, it loses all it's ability to retain any nutritious value for livestock.

Think how it used to be done with a sickle by hand. Minimum damage to the stalk to retain the most nutrition for the animals eating it.

My concern with cutting it with a bush-hog, etc. would be trying to gather it loose. It would be hard enough to rake and bale, but gathering up chopped up grass would be painful.

 

[paulsharvey]

My concern with cutting it with a bush-hog, etc. would be trying to gather it loose. It would be hard enough to rake and bale, but gathering up chopped up grass would be painful.

If he's bound and determined; I could see a used cutter (disc mower, haybine, or sicklebar) and a cheap rake, and than a fabricobbled large volume bucket-basket, scoping the windrows. Won't be efficient, and I'm unsure about storing loose hay, but the cutter and rake are pretty cheap is you have a used market. I wouldn't cut, rake, gather and feed, don't think long term storage will be an option.

 

[KTGR]

If I use an old/cheap rotary mower and grind off one side it shoots it out rather quick and doesn't keep it inside that many rotations at all. I've heard and seen people do it successfully. I've never done it so maybe we'll see for real one day lol. Three reasons I like this. It's cheap, they don't break and I can use it for other stuff if I just put some chains off the open side or hinge the side back on.

I have a large bucket and tines for my bucket already that should scoop a row fairly well into a trailer after raked into a row?

Regarding storing, you just need to think and remember how it was years back. People used to store hay outside with no cover and it would be fine all winter by hand just under the surface. If I, in 2024 with a $100,000 in tractors and stuff can't figure out how to store it under a partially covered tarp or in one of my open barns on pallets or some such where the cats can keep an eye on it, what are we even doing right lol

If it all grows well I'd be more willing to buy more equipment later. But for now I'm thinking I'd like to keep it cheap if I see it's not worth doing I can just walk away and know I have a much better field to manage weed outs of it. Half of that is probably because I've never used any of the old or new hay equipment and fixing it or buying the right used stuff seems like a workload I'm not interested in right now. I make my schedule but it is jam packed and while I can build, farming is still rather new to me, only been doing it a few years as I build it out and by day I'm a portfolio manager lol.

 

[kneedeep]

2 acres isn't big enough to justify the cost or the effort to bale.
Plant it in a big garden, pasture or food plot.
Plant different things till you find what works for you.
Buy hay as needed.
I used to cut and bale 25 ac to feed cows. Spent way more on equipment than hay cost to buy.