Boondocks: how many cows do you run, how much land is grazing and how much is in hay fields? How much hay do you normally use? Since there is a "hay guy"and he obviously has a big clientele that he did not get to you, maybe there is room for another "hay guy" in your area. Are there any other farmers right close to you in the same boat, waiting on this guy? And I understand that there is only so much one can cut down and then reasonably expect to get back up in a certain time period so not trying to put him in a bad light.....but..... maybe one or two of you can get together and find some used equipment that you can share and help each other to get your own plots made up.
That's how we started many years ago, got some really old equipment, and made ours and the next door neighbors, then as we got better at it, and more people called us, got better equipment. Yes, we have alot of equipment, and a fair amount of debt right now, but at least we can get our stuff done when we need it pretty much. Every farmer around here has their own equipment if they have more than 20 cows or 15 or more acres of hay to do, because there just aren't enough hours for a custom guy to get to all the small places. We just had someone beg us to do their field first cutting for all the hay and are willing to pay us to make their second cutting. We finally agreed even though we don't really want to or have the time to do it. And although we have a window for the next 3 days, it will be next week at the earliest before we get to it because there are other things on the agenda this week. We lost 1 30 + acre place of just hay making, and don't miss it or the time to haul all the equipment there; and are rotating the cows on another 20 plus acres that I just bush hogged as high as I could, to get at the thistles and weeds before they could go to seed, to not have to make the hay there. Have two more fields that will get bush hogged sometime and will not get cows put on them until dec because we don't need the hay and weather hasn't been good enough to allow us to do it right.
Since there has been so much rain there it probably will be hard to find the hay, but if you can rotate the cows I think that I would do it on some and hope that he can get you a combination 1st, 2nd, 3rd cutting off some of your hay fields. It won't be as terrible as it seems. We often have a combination 1st & 2nd cutting off a few fields when the weather doesn't cooperate and the cows seem to eat most of it just fine when the weather is cold. You are feeding beef cattle not high producing dairy cattle, and besides cattle are designed BY NATURE to produce on ROUGHAGE. They will take hay and other roughage and make the most of it.
Sure I believe in trying to provide good decent feed and hay; but there are times when we maybe try a little too hard and should let the animal do a little more of "rustling their own grub" and making do with what they get. Also, we had some 3 year old stuff that was not made right, and when it got put in some gullys & low spots and on some rocky areas to just get them to break it down, they ate it up like candy. Some was rye, some was some really crappy slimy looking sorghum/sudan that we just had to get made and off the field and it never got wrapped. They devoured it. So, don't sweat the hay and hope the guy can get to it when he can. There will be more bulk, and the cows will eat alot more than you think. You may have to supplement some protein; grain or some tubs or something, but they will do okay.
