Hay Question

Making hay in the arid SW is terribly different thsn making hay in the north or east. When we have 80% humidity in a typical summer week, trying to dry out that hay may take multiple rakings over a week....

So, trying to tell folks how it needs to be done when you are in a different region is not going to help.

Sounds like the farmer is viewing all this as a sideline, small potatoes, not important deal, while it is very important to the homesteader.

Might be time for a change.

See things both ways, hard to judge if the landowner is being a nervious nelly or if the farmer is not treating this hay field as a real crop. But it sounds like it might be a time for a change and see if things go better.

--->Paul

I would start lining someone else up to cut, rake and bale your hay next year. I experienced a similar situation with a guy who was going to cut my hay last year. He showed up on Monday, cussing that he had tractor problems and could I drive him home to get a part. He cut for about an hour on Monday then left, came back Tuesday, cut for another 2 hours then left, came back on Wednesday and finally finished cutting. (NO, we do not have a huge hay field....roughly 8 acres) Didn't show up on Thursday or Friday, or Saturday, and Sunday it poured down rain....I called him every day to see if anything was wrong or if he was still having tractor trouble..never returned my call. On Monday I called another neighbor who came and raked and rounded baled my ruined horse hay so I could at least give it to the cows. I found a new guy this year that is just fabulous...

Be careful with casting aspersions about farmers in your community, you could develop a reputation for being difficult to work with.

There are people in our community that I refuse to work for or with, life is too short to deal with difficult people. Don't get yourself into this situation.

Judging a hay farmer by this year's first cutting is not fair, especially if you have clover in your hay.

I will say that it sounds like you have already made your opinion of this farmer. I suggest you terminate your lease with him NOW, do it before September 1 for sure, then find someone else to help you with your farm.

Some people just love to argue and put other folks down. Strife makes them happy? I think some of them would have a disparaging comment and argument if you said the sky was blue.

To the op, how did he ruin your first cutting?

Definitely look for someone new. September is the time to make any lease arrangements for next year, that's usually the custom, if not the law in your area. You still have the option to recall him, but set your terms.....There should be someone else around who does a better job than that. If he has to re-rake clover--grass in a dry month, then he isn't using the right equipment, or he doesn't know what he is doing, or he doesn't care.

My opinion.

geo

This is very true, in many areas the farm families are related, if not they know who's doing what and why. If you are hard to work with, the only one who will work with you is the guy you don't want!

When you get right to the brass tacks the only sure method of getting your hay up properly is to invest the money and time into doing it yourself.

Otherwise you just have to figure some losses.

In many areas of the country, a farmer isn't going to waste his time on just 14 acres. Not only that, many of them don't even want to work with city converted hobby farmers. It's usually a pain in the behind. You answered your own questions.
If you were badgering him about getting it baled, he probably decided to just bale the stuff up and get you off his back. If that is true, then it wasn't his fault the hay was moldy. Sometimes in some areas, if the hay is thick enough, yes, it will need to be raked a couple times to dry, especially if it was swathed into windrows. They don't dry as quickly as a sickle mower, even though they have a conditioner. In our area, the summers can be so humid that good grass hay may take 3 or 4 days to dry and have to be raked a couple times.

I grew up with a lot of acres. We knew how to drive a tractor by the age of 10 and 12. By the time we were 14 or 16, we could do just about anything with a tractor and equipment that a grown man could do. Obviously, you don't understand the old farm ways.

If he sprayed weed killer on your fields, how did you have any clover? Most weed killers are broadleaf killers and will kill clover.

I think you need to back off and let him or the boys do their job or find someone else. However, if you find someone else, it will be the last person that you will be able to get. After that, word will already have spread that you are impossible to work for and no one else will do the job or you will have to pay out the nose for it.

You should also realize that since you have such a small hay field, yours will always be late in getting cut and baled which will translate into poor quality hay. The only other option is to buy the equipment and do it yourself.

A small field or oddly shaped field may be hard to use today's large equipment in. Our kids could drive all the equipment by the time they were 12 or so, the size of the field and shape may be more of a problem than the age of the driver.

You are lucky if you have a choice of people to hire to make your hay, neither my DH or the other good hay farmers in our area will do it on that small an acreage unless it is a really great hay field. Here it will cost you 2/3 to 3/4 of the crop or some serious money. The cost of making hay has gone up dramatically in the last few years.

Wow, lots of responses. As far as the overspray of weedkiller, I know I wasn't clear, with the arrangement with my farmer, the farmer farms my other 75 acres of tillable property in soybeans. He was spraying his soybeans and got it in my yard. No weed killer in my hay fields, thus all the clover. I didn't think I was being a nuisance, I didn't bug him and call him with the 1st cutting, I assumed he knew what he was doing. Didn't bother him with 2nd cutting other than to ask an estimated time to have my help here (like estimated within a day or 2) he showed up with nobody to help put hay on the wagon, so I went out and stacked the hay for him on the wagon and then unloaded it. We knew there wouldn't be enough to share so I paid him to do my hay even though I stacked it on the wagon and unloaded it so he wouldn't have to, which the agreement was he would put it up for me since I was paying him, but I felt bad for him, so I still paid him full price. I also always make sure the farmers and his workers have an abundant supply of sweet tea, gatorade and snacks when they are out here. Didn't think that made me hard to get along with. But I guess maybe so. I must have given the wrong impression about myself. I am panicking a little bit. I have 8 horses that are all rescues and I run a non-profit using the horses with abused kids. Money is tight and trying to get the most hay I can without having to buy. I was really just trying to learn more about the hay process. I used to do hay with my neighbors years ago, can operate a tractor, rake, etc. but its been about 20 years and I knew lots of things have changed and couldn't remember the exact process. Didn't realize what sharp reactions I would get. Thanks for all the replies. His hay equipment has been sitting in my field now for 2 days and no sign of him. Have a blessed day.

You should have given us more details in your opening post. If what you now say is true, then you should have tried to find someone to do your second cutting. If he baled the first cutting when it was wet enough to mold, that would have been it with me... provided he wasn't nagged into doing it too soon.

If you have a 3 year agreement with him, and if it isn't on paper, tell him you'll find someone else to do it next year. If you have that 14 acres plus the 75 acres of beans, how does he do with the beans? The 14 acres of hay may not be enough of a hassle to risk losing him on the 75 acres if he is making you money there. If he is, and if it was a normal year or if you have hay in your area, you can take your bean money and buy hay. The other thing is to confront him. Tell him that you weren't happy with the molded hay and ask him what he plans to do to make right on it. You can always take it out of his share of the beans. If he's a pain in the behind about it, in some states, you can file a lien against his share of the bean crop until it's settled and give a copy of the lien to the elevator where he takes his crops to sell.

You are the landowner. You are the landlord. You have the right to protect your interests and if he isn't doing right by you, then exercise your rights. If you have 14 acres hay and 75 acres good tillable land, you won't have trouble replacing him.

When we have rented out pasture, we make sure they realize it is from season to season and renewable as we see fit. In this day and age with pastures hard to come by (not just in the drought), we have been able to do as we wish with the terms. However, with the drought, we are only renting out 40 acres. The rest we are keeping to ourselves.

So, you should keep in mind that if he is the renter, HE WORKS FOR YOU.

This is a bad year. We have ten acres and will barely make it through the winter.

__________________
Moms don't look at things like normal people.
-----DD