Do you make or buy your hay?

[Ridgefarmer63]

I love making hay, look forward to it all year long.

I love it too. Love it more since I went to all wrapped rounds. Less worrying about the weather. You become a weather expert. Maying good hay/haylage is a science. You learn as you go. Are you square, round, dry, wet ? Do it all?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

99% dry round bales when possible. Have a wrapper but it's hard to get volume done as a one man show.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

All our 1st cutting is baleage - 1st week in June. In May, the dairy farmers do green chop for the super high protein. You would play heck trying to put 3-4 days of sunshine together to dry hay until July.
Then, when we do 2nd cutting, we have them put up 2 wagons of squares and the rest in big dry rounds. We graze at least 30 acres for 3rd cutting. If we are super low on hay, we can fence in the 50 acres in small paddocks with temp fencing. We got 32 days on the 30 acres for 35 head of Jan/Feb calvers.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

2nd cutting? What's that. Lol

Chopping in May? Our snow is still melting.

 

[cowman82]

2nd cutting? What's that. Lol

Chopping in May? Our snow is still melting.

I get 5 on some fields.

 

[Ridgefarmer63]

I get 5 on some fields.

You're outta control

 

[Ridgefarmer63]

2nd cutting? What's that. Lol

Chopping in May? Our snow is still melting.

You guys still get snow? I'm in south central NH (at 1000 ft elevation, which is high for this area) and our winters are a joke lately..

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Snow on the ground right now here. Our last frost was mid-may and first frost was in mid-august this year.

 

[Ridgefarmer63]

Snow on the ground right now here. Our last frost was mid-may this year and first frost was in mid-august this year.

We poured a slab in the corral today. We were all in t-shirts. Unbelievable...

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I had a t-shirt on today as well. But I had 3 layers on top of it. 30 degrees with a 30mph wind straight off the lake from Canada.

 

[Ridgefarmer63]

I had a t-shirt on today as well. But I had 3 layers on top of it. 30 degrees with a 30mph wind straight off the lake from Canada.

I'm pretty sure that's headin' our way but they are saying mid 60's next week. The UP was always a snowmobiling mecca, but back in the day we could ride from dec to march. Those days are gone. I think it has to do with the track of the storms. If they hug the coast, we get hammered, if they go up the saint Laurence, west of here , we are on the warm side and get rain.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

The is the home of lake effect snow/rain. When the wind and air is right the moisture comes off the lake and drops here (my farms are between 1/2 and 6 miles from the shoreline). Doesn't even need to be a front or storm passing thru just need a little wind.

 

[Ridgefarmer63]

The is the home of lake effect snow/rain. When the wind and air is right the moisture comes off the lake and drops here (my farms are between 1/2 and 6 miles from the shoreline). Doesn't even need to be a front or storm passing thru just need a little wind.

Do you ever think of just saying **** it and moving to Kansas ?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Not a chance in you know what.

I'll plow snow all day everyday before I deal with tornados that wipe you off the map, or droughts that force you to sell everything, or land prices thru the roof, etc.

 

[Ridgefarmer63]

Not a chance in you know what.

I'll plow snow all day everyday before I deal with tornados that wipe you off the map, or droughts that force you to sell everything, or land prices thru the roof, etc.

I hear ya. I am entrenched in NH too. Although, after haying 4 acre irregular shaped fields in NH and doing a cross country trip and seeing those fields in Kansas and Missouri I do feel a twinge of jealousy. Besides, for tornadoes, the rule of thumb I's this... If you see a tornado, go the opposite direction...

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

The is the home of lake effect snow/rain. When the wind and air is right the moisture comes off the lake and drops here (my farms are between 1/2 and 6 miles from the shoreline). Doesn't even need to be a front or storm passing thru just need a little wind.

You get your "lake effect snow" off the Great Lakes and you are on the West side. I get "lake effect snow" off the Great Lakes and we are on the East side. It can be a blizzard out but if you look up, you can SEE the sun above the haze/clouds. Lake effect - no storm. Syracuse is 30 miles North of us and they get much more effect than I do.

 

[gman4691]

We keep about 20 acres for hay. Those pastures are managed pretty closely in terms of fertilize (chicken litter) and weed/army worm control. Hay pastures are pretty much all Coastal Bermuda with very minor amounts of Bahia. I have someone cut and bale it as it would not be feasible to purchase and maintain the equipment for such a small amount. We generally get two cuttings on an average year which produces more than we need. Excess hay is usually sold. Winters are fairly mild here so on an average year, there's always some excess to sale. If you get on top of the weeds and undesirable vegetation, it's fairly easy to stay on top of it. Then, the biggest worries are drought and/or army worms. At my place, it's been somewhat expensive trying to get the weeds under some type of control over the last few years but we've managed to get on top of it…it's always easier to keep up than it is to catch up.

I think what we make selling to excess and what we save on winter feeding costs makes up for what we spend on managing the hay pastures and having it baled. I probably have a total of about 50-60 dollars in each bale (chemicals/fertilize/baling). The hay I had to buy last year due to drought conditions here cost me $75/bale + delivery fee and it was smaller bales and much lower quality than what I can grow here given decent weather.