sprigged hay for shares?

[centexguy]

I need to have some hay planted. I know a guy who had some land sprigged about 40 miles west of me. He worked out a deal on a 50ac hay patch to have it plowed sprigged sprayed bailed in exchange for 50% of the hay for 2 years. That sounds like a great deal for him considering the guy planting is taking most of the risk for: spriggs fertilizer equipment fuel. I want a deal like that. I know a place down the road from me that made 20+ bales per ac with no fertilizer. I only need 2-300 bales and I dont have storage room for much more. If I could plant 25ac get 25bales/ac@$5ea=$3125. If we get good rain maybe 2 cuttings. I think the first year might only provide 1 late cutting. What are some fair deals like this you have heard of. I have heard hay will probably sell for $5-6/bale out of the field this year vs $2-3 it has been for years.

[agmantoo]

I do not think you will be able to pull off such a good deal. In my area, the person cutting, raking and baling will want 2/3 for his share for doing round bales. It is nearly impossible to get anyone to put up small square bales. I just told my neighbor if he will apply lagoon waste he can have the hay off my hay fields. He was not enthusiastic even at this deal.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

What kind of hay are you wanting to sprig and where are you sprigging at?? Around here they sprig for $70.00 per acre.

If you are sprigging Coastal the yeild is much greater than 20 bales to the acre.

[uncle Will in In.]

Lots of luck with getting half the hay the first season. You may have a problem finding someone to "sprig" it and take all the hay the first year.
I never heard of SPRIGING hay. Please explain how this is done. Enquiring minds need to know.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by centexguy

He worked out a deal on a 50ac hay patch to have it plowed sprigged sprayed bailed

What is sprigging, and why do you want to spray hay? Hay can be no-tilled. The ground can be disced. The ground doesnt neccessarily have to be plowed.

planting hay is expensive. If you need hay regularly I think you are better off buying the cutting, and baling equipment, and hiring it planted

[Bearfootfarm]

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

What is sprigging, and why do you want to spray hay? Hay can be no-tilled. The ground can be disced. The ground doesnt neccessarily have to be plowed.

planting hay is expensive. If you need hay regularly I think you are better off buying the cutting, and baling equipment, and hiring it planted

"Sprigging" is transplanting pieces of living grass instead of plantiing seed. Most Bermuda grass is done this way And whether its "disked" or "plowed" you still need to start with a clean seedbed for good soil contact

[michiganfarmer]

very interesting. Ive never heard of sprigging. thanks for the info

[uncle Will in In.]

Max, I think we are on the wrong side of the Ole Miss River to follow this haying project! Just getting someone to make small squares and furnish the labor around here is a major effort.

[michiganfarmer]

Ya know I see small square bales sold around here, but I dont know anyone who owns a square baler.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

IF you are considering sprigging coastal you might want to investigate the new type of Forage bermuda on the market called Cheyeene and Cheyenne II which are available in the Ranchero Frio Mix from www.Seedland.com. It is planted from seed and is said to establish quicker than sprigging. I have 50 lbs of the seed awaiting planting now. The seed is expensive, but you are able to plant it for less, and all of your land doesn't have to be done at once.

IF I were sprigging I would only sprig one of the new varieties such as Tifton 85. It is much more productive and higher protein and nutrients than common coastal and the cost of sprigging either is the same for the labor.

[centexguy]

Thanks Yucca for the advice. I will look into seeding and the types you mentioned. I have a 25ac black clay pasture that is covered with thick dead grass and weeds that I would really like to plant hay in. I think I will need to disc around the perimeter then burn off the old grass and disc it in. An old farmer I know said it would need to be disked at least 3 times and he would charge $60/ac just to do this. How would the seed you mentioned be planted most successfully?

On spraying. Some people apply a weed killer before they plant new hay. Dont really know that much about it, just repeating what I was told. Maybe just a way to make some more money. My uncle, who raises a lot of cattle-hay said to be careful who you use for fertilizer... etc. It would be easy to cheat someone as green as I am on the subject.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Planting info is on the seedland.com site. You may have to look around for it.

When Planting coastal bermuda, I would disk the field and then cultipac it. Then either drill or broadcast the seed. My land is both hilly and rocky so I can't use a disc harrow on mine. I am going to use a drag harrow on mine and then broadcast the seed and then turn the drag harrow "teeth side up" and drag over the seed. This should give the 1/4 inch seed depth I need. Seeding rate is about 15 pounds per acre, and the cost was $406.00 for 50 pounds. You would need about 375 lbs of seed at a cost of approx $2700.00. Nice thing about the seed is that it doesn't all need to be done at once. Whether you disc and then spray with Round-Up to get rid of weeds is your choice. Bermuda usually takes over from all other plants over time. Spraying with Round-Up is done sometimes in the dormant season right over the Bermuda to get rid of weeds to ensure high quality horse hay. Done at the right time it doesn't affect the Bermuda at all.

As for yield - a good bermuda hayfield with rain needs to be cut approx. every 28 days to have good quality tender green hay. going longer than 28-34 days gives a hay crop made up of tougher strands of grass. Properly fertilized (ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate) it takes 4 inches of water to grow a hay crop. Unfertilized it takes approx 12-13 inches of water to grow the same haycrop. My conservative guess is the first year you will get in the neighborhood of 20 sq bales to the acre PER CUTTING, and depending on water will get 3-4 cuttings. Second year you should get upwards of a ton and a half per acre per cutting (thats about 50 sq bales to the acre per cutting). This is also dependent on the are a of Texas you are in. The further south the more cuttings. Once the hay field is established contact your local Feed/hay dealers and get them to cut it for a percentage.

Here are some of the comments on yield from the seedland site:

“I planted 20 acres of Cheyenne May 15,
2004, and it came up super thick. My first
cutting was 6 weeks after planting and it
yielded 43 round bales averaging
1500 lbs/bale. I will plant more because it
is dependable and furnishes at least if not
more forage than sprigged varieties.”

Mr. Charles Loggins - Peaster, TX

“I tried sprigging and never could get a stand.
With Cheyenne not only did I get a stand the
first time, I was able to graze it in 4 weeks. At
that time it was 4” to 6” tall. From June 1,
2004, to Sept 1, 2004, I continually grazed at
1AU/A. Two weeks after pulling the livestock
off, I harvested five 1500 lb. bales/acre.”

Mr. George Tuchings - Henderson, TX

“I renovated an 11 acre Bahia field with Cheyenne.
During the best year my Bahia field yielded 28 rolls
of hay/year and my first year with Cheyenne the
field yielded 57 rolls of hay. In fact the first cutting
yielded 15 rolls. I got three hay cuttings the first year
which is far more than you could get out of sprigs.
Planting Cheyenne reduced my establishment cost
by $75/A over sprigs. Within 2 weeks of germination
I had a solid stand of grass. I could do everything
myself and did not have to depend on anyone else
and that also saved me time and money.”

Dr. Darrell Meadows DVM - Kaufman, TX

“I planted Cheyenne April 15, 2004. It came up in 2
weeks and the first hay cutting was taken 3 weeks after
germination (26 square bales/acre 1560 lbs). Hay from
this field was second overall in Kaufman Co. hay show.
I’ll never sprig again. If you plant Cheyenne properly it
will perform quicker and more vigorous than sprigs. It
went through the heat of summer very well and the
stand looks healthy.”

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by centexguy

On spraying. Some people apply a weed killer before they plant new hay. Dont really know that much about it, just repeating what I was told. Maybe just a way to make some more money. My uncle, who raises a lot of cattle-hay said to be careful who you use for fertilizer... etc. It would be easy to cheat someone as green as I am on the subject.

ok, Ive seen farmers roundup the existing grases before they plow. I wasnt sure what you meant originally. I thought you were talking about spraying the hay. I gotcha now.