Hay on shares problem with questions

Thanks for all the replies. I think the wet year here has definitely tamped down desire on the part of cutters. Last year, round bales went for $35-50. This year, $20 is the high end. I sold the portion of my share I was not using for $15 and was glad to get it. These are the "small" round bales, 4x5 and about 900+ pounds. Had I had it cut on a fee basis, I would have actually paid $1 more than I sold it for! There is a hay glut. I have a barn full of bales from spring 08 yet.

Agman, I've been farming this place for 20 years now. Back when I ran a cow-calf operation I did do rotational grazing. Set up my first paddocks in '90, when everyone around here told me I was nuts. I am in Zone 7. There is always a need here for hay in January and February, regardless. Unless I wanted some mighty skinny looking animals, which I didn't. I used hay as a supplemental fuel source to keep them warm more than anything else. Pasture kept the nutrition going. The hay was ruminant bulk, which warms them up and keeps them in flesh. This is also how I run the goats at present. It's a low-cost system.

For the past 5 years, it has been a goat operation, which dramatically increases fence costs. I can't just string a hot wire and keep them in like with cows. As the cattle cycle is winding down, I plan to add in cows again with an eye to going back to cow-calf eventually. Then I can rotate again.

Going back to cows and away from the "outlier" goat operation will also bring me back into the mainstream fold with farmers here, who tend to look at people like me who are not raising cattle as ignorant. (I got out of cattle at 33 cent calves in the last cyclical downturn in the late '90s and expanded my goats at $1.25 kids, so there was a reason. Auction prices between the two are roughly at parity now, though, so getting back to cows can pencil out.)

I have a couple guys I want to talk to about partnering on wintering bulls. That is something I did in the past. They bring me a young bull, I keep him over winter. I get the service, they get the weight gain, and they can sell him as a sire and show his calves on my place if someone wants to see them. It also sets me up for fall calving and a tight calving season, which is where I was and where I want to be when going into it again. Anyway, if I partner with a guy who also cuts hay, we can maybe work it out.

What I am caught up in really is the transition of an ag area into a rural housing area. Eventually, if this trend continues, I won't be growing hay on my land. I'll be growing houses. But for now, I have to get something working.

As far as buying equipment, that does not pencil out for me. Besides tying up capital and the overhead costs, the labor in cutting and baling is a killer. All I do now is take up my bales. Someone else does the rest. It's just a matter of how much I get charged for that. Rosewood, it is definitely a business arrangemernt and not a favor.

Thanks again, and I'll check back for any more comments.

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Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

Jim S.
I too am in zone seven. I feed no hay. I do not have a need for hay in January and February. I stockpile surplus grass as Winter approaches. My dairy farmer neighbor that has been critical of my methods will sell his herd come Dec. 11. I do not care what the community thinks of my operation. You said the cattle market is down. It is. I sold calves Monday and I did get less for some of the heifers and a few steers. I did get $1.08 for the best steers. Here is the main kicker however. I am the low cost producer and as long as feeder calves bring more than the discounted price of a can soft drink I expect to remain profitable. RosewoodfarmVA has visited my place and can vouch for the approach I take. Provided you wanted to, I can help you to do the same.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

In my part of the country, the hay of choice is brome grass. We get one cutting per year. It is always baled anywhere from the middle of June to the first part of July. Buying hay cut during the time period (here) will not result in weeds and such because none of the weeds have gone to seed by then. Not only that but most of the farmers in this area take care of their hay fields and pastures.

I will also say that sometimes, it is difficult to deal with the smaller farms. If a farmer has a choice to cut 100 acres or 10 acres, I know where he's going.

I used to buy about 200 big round bales per year and bale some of my own. But, I bale all of it now. The farmers in this part of the country use swathers and balers. Very seldom do they ever have to rake.

Some of the people in this part of the country go 50/50 and some as high as 3/5. He gets 3 out of every 5.

If it was me, I would buy a sickle mower and pull behind rake and have someone bale it for you. We have one big round baler and two square balers. The last square baler was in almost new condition and was bought for $1700 at the farm auction. Sickle mowers and rakes can be bought for nearly nothing here.

Good luck.

We're of the same mind -- Allan Nation's! Like I said earlier, I rotationally grazd when I had cows before. I will do it again when I have cows again. The only thing that separates us is a few bales of hay in deep winter, a practice I will not likely abandon with lactating cows (or pregnant goats). I sell all the rest of my share.

You are lucky at 1.08. The 500-600 pound steer range right now is 72-83 nationally.

__________________
Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates