I made hay today !

[oldmanriver]

:banana02:The cost of hay has drove me to the point of making my own . I have about 30 acres to cut not real good hay but I can work on that this fall . went and bought a used round bailer for 1500.00 and a rake for 600.00 . Today i got 6 big round bales of hay off of about a forth of the field . Lets see that come to 350 dollars a bail so far LOL. I also planted 3 acres of corn but don;t know yet how I will get it picked . It was Hickory King from seed I saved last year . My leave shedder will grind the corn tryed it out last week on some left over from last year ground cobs and all . Now all I need is a good cheap source of protein to add to the feed and a way to mix it . any ideas . Well just had to tell someone . God bless

[whiterabbit454]

sounds good wish i had a way of doing my own hay we have been letting a guy that we know cut the hay for himself he would bail it in the big round bails this next cutting (if there is a next cutting) i want my hay done in small bails for me i have 12 acres not much but its mine everything is going sky high i hope you get alot of hay

[mtman]

we did a lot of work on our 6 acre hay feild we get 24 roung bails from the first cutting

[oldmanriver]

Today, 07:09 PM
mtman Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: AR
Posts: 2,105

we did a lot of work on our 6 acre hay feild we get 24 roung bails from the first cutting
__________________
Don't complain, just do it

Wow that was great please do tell how you did it .. I bet that cost a lot per acre ,,

[DaleK]

We got our last 50 acres baled last weekend, started raining just as I finished the field. Now everytime they get almost dry enough to think about hauling them in it rains another inch. 240 4x5 bales out there now.

And from the looks of it the other 55 acres will be ready for second cut in 10 days or so.

[edcopp]

Originally Posted by oldmanriver

:banana02:The cost of hay has drove me to the point of making my own . I have about 30 acres to cut not real good hay but I can work on that this fall . went and bought a used round bailer for 1500.00 and a rake for 600.00 . Today i got 6 big round bales of hay off of about a forth of the field . Lets see that come to 350 dollars a bail so far LOL. I also planted 3 acres of corn but don;t know yet how I will get it picked . It was Hickory King from seed I saved last year . My leave shedder will grind the corn tryed it out last week on some left over from last year ground cobs and all . Now all I need is a good cheap source of protein to add to the feed and a way to mix it . any ideas . Well just had to tell someone . God bless

Don't forget to figure in the cost of fuel, which went up 6 cents a gallon this morning.

[Scrounger]

Well - we FINALLY got some dry days with no rain in the forcast, so we cut a 3 acre field this afternoon. Took about a gallon of fuel, to mow, and it will cost another gallon and a half to rake/bale. I will get about 150 bales from this, so I figure, even if I double it, it's gonna cost less the 20¢ a bale.

[Junkman]

No hay down here yet! I am getting anxious. I think we need to change West Virginia from Wild Wonderful West Virginia to Wild WET Wonderful WV. Think it should let up by Tuesday. Thinking about cutting back on cows and just selling my hay. This is the first year we did not get any calves! And we know Buddy is doing his job. Talked with some other farmers and they did not get the calves they expected. We don't understand!

[shagerman]

baled hay 3 days last week came out with 850 small square bales about 60 pounds each and 15 round bales had a friend come over to do round bales our baler broke and broke the front on one of the hay wagons. but i have 40 acres to go, different kinds of hay also clover&grass alfalfa&grass and just grass

[CowgirlGloria]

You could hand pick 3 acres of corn - hard work, but cheaper than getting someone in with a combine, I expect.

Congrats on the hay.

Depending on your climate, you can also rotationally graze hay fields. Stock will dig through snow to get to the grass, so it depends in part on how much snow you get. But in some areas you can dramatically reduce your need for hay if you work at stockpiling grazing for the winter.

[texican]

What cowgirl gloria said... We've hand picked ten acres before... not fun... but doable.

Last Monday my aunt called and told me to come get fifty bales of coastal hay out of the field... It's nice and cozy in the barn already... then my GF's coworker said she could have 15 bales... Get a dozen or so round bales and we'll be set for the winter...

[TSYORK]

I gave $277.00 for a guy to come and cut, rake, and bale mine. I ended up with about 195 large square bales in the barn for this winter. I suppose $1.42 per bale isn't too bad, I don't guess.