How to buy a hay field?

[Kingfisher]

The more I know..............I took a trip to Marble Falls today. Some pretty rough country but I know off the road some of it is the best! I saw at least 4 lil " pastures" on the 45 mile trip. Just lil honey holes of about 10 acres. Most of em close to run off or streams. I keep thinking " How am I going to find a piece of property here in the desert that I can grow some grass ?" ....... What happens to old " Hay " fields?" Do they degrade at some point? Can you " convert" them to make a good pasture ? There ain't much dirt around here that wouldn't need some dirt to grow grass I'm afraid. I need a sweet spot. I wonder if I can look for em with a topo map? What do you fellows think? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jim62]

I think you're looking in the wrong direction from Austin if you're thinking of growing something.

I never have understood the attraction of rock.............. :hide:

 

[1982vett]

I'm kinda thinking all the good hayfields proabaly have houses planted on them....

 

[agmantoo]

I sometimes lease land. Abandoned fields are mostly what is available if there is anything. When looking for land to put into production remember that if the property will not grow lots of trash it is unlikely it will produce a crop such as forage. Find a heavily weeded piece and convert it into production.

 

[shaz]

If you can find that sweet spot you really need to buy it. A small productive hayfield is better than a large one with one inch of top soil and chirt the rest of the way down. I have both those fields and I can tell what the production cost is. Huge difference

 

[Kingfisher]

If you can find that sweet spot you really need to buy it. A small productive hayfield is better than a large one with one inch of top soil and chirt the rest of the way down. I have both those fields and I can tell what the production cost is. Huge difference

Hello. I appreciate your reply. How big or small does a hay field need to be for production? I know that is a really open ended question but.......can you define " small?" Thank you again.

 

[dun]

If you can find that sweet spot you really need to buy it. A small productive hayfield is better than a large one with one inch of top soil and chirt the rest of the way down. I have both those fields and I can tell what the production cost is. Huge difference

Hello. I appreciate your reply. How big or small does a hay field need to be for production? I know that is a really open ended question but.......can you define " small?" Thank you again.

Small preobably depends on if you are going to hay it yourself or have someone do it for you. If you will do it it's whatever size you think is big enough to make it worth while. If someone else is goign to do it the size usually nereds to be bigger si they can get more done for each equipment move.

 

[Jogeephus]

You might check with the soil conservationist and see if he has any soil maps. These detail the soil by type so all you need to do is determine the type that is suitable for a hayfield and query these on a map overlay in the general area you are looking for. This information was compiled years ago so but the soil type hasn't changed but land use might. You could use google earth to see what the land use before you burn the fuel.

 

[dun]

You might check with the soil conservationist and see if he has any soil maps. These detail the soil by type so all you need to do is determine the type that is suitable for a hayfield and query these on a map overlay in the general area you are looking for. This information was compiled years ago so but the soil type hasn't changed but land use might. You could use google earth to see what the land use before you burn the fuel.

Your local NRCS office may also have soil surveys. I got one from ours 5 or so years ago that's on a CD

 

[shaz]

If you can find that sweet spot you really need to buy it. A small productive hayfield is better than a large one with one inch of top soil and chirt the rest of the way down. I have both those fields and I can tell what the production cost is. Huge difference

Hello. I appreciate your reply. How big or small does a hay field need to be for production? I know that is a really open ended question but.......can you define " small?" Thank you again.

I have one dedicated hayfield that's only 20 acres open and 25ac total. The rest of the farm is around 240 acres. I have 50 cows with calves and I usually carry some steers over to the one year or later mark.
I also have another 15 acre field which I cut once in the spring and let sit till I graze it in the winter.

So, "small" is relative to the size of your operation. My good hay ground is not 10% of the farm and I still manage ok.
But honestly, I couldn't see a 5 acre field 10 miles away as worthwhile. Does that help?

 

[kerley]

The more I know..............I took a trip to Marble Falls today. Some pretty rough country but I know off the road some of it is the best! I saw at least 4 lil " pastures" on the 45 mile trip. Just lil honey holes of about 10 acres. Most of em close to run off or streams. I keep thinking " How am I going to find a piece of property here in the desert that I can grow some grass ?" ....... What happens to old " Hay " fields?" Do they degrade at some point? Can you " convert" them to make a good pasture ? There ain't much dirt around here that wouldn't need some dirt to grow grass I'm afraid. I need a sweet spot. I wonder if I can look for em with a topo map? What do you fellows think? Thanks in advance.

I don't know much about the hay except It's expensive. Marble Falls is one nice little town.

 

[bigbull338]

we have close to 150acs hay ground that we bale.most times we can get enough hay the 1st cutting to go through the winter.plus we sale hay to a friend of ours.then we have 250acs of pasture.