183 round bales from 60ac

[bigbull338]

they finished baling the hay yesterday.ended up with 183 5 by 6 bales from 60acs.thats just a hair over 3 bales to the ac.in my eyes thats great hay production.an theres 25acs that we didnt cut.an we sold 40acs of standing hay that should make 2 to 2.5 5 by 6 bales an ac.so thats another 80 to 100 rolls.

 

[bandit80]

Sounds like a good yield to me. Our smooth bromegrass is doing about that this year as well. A change for the better from last year. Still working to get it all baled, almost there.

 

[bigbull338]

to me its a great yeld for all organic hay.we will have 150 to go through the winter with.but usually only feed 90 bales in winter.

 

[dcara]

Was it just native grasses? How much fertilizer did you put out, how much rain did you get, and have you figured your cost/roll yet?

 

[JRM]

BigBull that sounds really good, up in my neck of woods most people are making 1 to 2 bales an acre ( that been on first cutting, not done any second cuts yet). Look at 60 acres last weekend that someone wanted me to cut, would not made 30 bales, needless to say I turned it down. This year we have not had the hay everyone thought we were going to have.
What type of hay was it? How many cuttings do you usually get, here we get 3 though a few years I have gotten 4 cuttings, but those years are few and far between.

 

[bigbull338]

the cost pre bale is $20.the 40acs is pure coastal. 20acs is rye an clover an coastal..the hay is organic meaning no chemicals or fertilizer on it at all.last year it made 172 bales on 80acs.an we couldnt get it baled till aug because it rain all the time.if i sell 50 bales my cost will be $15.48 a bale.when we had the dairy we would cut the coastal 3 times a year.an cut the 40acs that we sell standing twice a year with the dairy.an end up with 500 rolls a year or more.but now we just cut the coastal once a year since we just have the beef cows.

 

[dcara]

Thats great! I knew organic meant no chemicals but couldn't remember about the fert restricitions. How are you manageing your weed control? Is the coastal just crowding it out?

 

[bigbull338]

the coastal is crowding the weeds out.the last 2yrs with all the rain weve gotten has really thickened that field back up.there was 1 2wk period where we had 7in of rain.we havent seen a normal year in 8yrs.hiring custom balers means the hay grows till they can cut it.an thats why it was cut so late this year.