Talk to me about hay equipment

[kenny thomas]

It has not even been hooked up this year. Put it in the barn in June 2012 and have not opened the doors of the barn since. Had to think if I even knew where one of the rakes is. The hay trailer has 4 flat tires. It has not been used in 2 years. Darn I am getting lazy since I started grazing almost all winter.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Grazing all winter and no haying is probably a real blessing with what you've been going through.

 

[kenny thomas]

It is but I like it anyway. The cattle come through the winter real good and my cost is very cheap. I think I can make it all winter this year unless we get a lot of snow. I am feeding 40 calves though. They have grass but get about 3 lb of grain a day to help them out.

 

[kenny thomas]

Now hook since we have highjacked your thread why in the world would you need hay in a place there it never even frosts much less snows. How about I bring my cows south for the winter?

 

[Angus Cowman]

He77 I will sell him some good equipment for less than you 2 are wanting for your junk

Hook for 50 acres you are better off hiring it done because I will guarantee you will have more than $18 pr bale in it by buying older used equipment and doing it your self
My out of pocket cost to bale a bale of hay is $15 pr bale main thing is build a good relationship with the guy baling for you and communicate with him about the time frame you want your hay baled
if your dead set on buying I can set you up with the equipment and won't sell you junk like KT or wore out stuff like Denver

 

[Anonymous]

Now hook since we have highjacked your thread why in the world would you need hay in a place there it never even frosts much less snows. How about I bring my cows south for the winter?

:lol: you guys are some kind of funny. We had frost already last week. I even had ice on my windshield.

 

[fitz]

He77 I will sell him some good equipment for less than you 2 are wanting for your junk

Hook for 50 acres you are better off hiring it done because I will guarantee you will have more than $18 pr bale in it by buying older used equipment and doing it your self
My out of pocket cost to bale a bale of hay is $15 pr bale main thing is build a good relationship with the guy baling for you and communicate with him about the time frame you want your hay baled
if your dead set on buying I can set you up with the equipment and won't sell you junk like KT or wore out stuff like Denver

That's where I am also last couple years.

fitz

 

[Tim/South]

I remember one of the Extension spread sheets and it said that over the life of a baler, tractor and rake, a person had a little over $23 in a bale of hay. The study took into account used equipment/repairs and new equipment costs. They averaged out to about the same in the long run.
That $23 did not include your time (or stress).

 

[Cabo]

I remember one of the Extension spread sheets and it said that over the life of a baler, tractor and rake, a person had a little over $23 in a bale of hay. The study took into account used equipment/repairs and new equipment costs. They averaged out to about the same in the long run.
That $23 did not include your time (or stress).

Dang, if that is correct, I have been donating my labor and giving a $5 per bale discount.

 

[1982vett]

I remember one of the Extension spread sheets and it said that over the life of a baler, tractor and rake, a person had a little over $23 in a bale of hay. The study took into account used equipment/repairs and new equipment costs. They averaged out to about the same in the long run.
That $23 did not include your time (or stress).

Dang, if that is correct, I have been donating my labor and giving a $5 per bale discount.

More than a few on here have said $25 and $30 a roll hay doesn't add up.

 

[bigbull338]

this is the st year we went back to baling our own hay.an our total expenses including hiring it cut an raked an fuel to bale an haul it plus twine was less than $3000.so thats a cost of $15 a bale.now iof we wouldve hired it baled there wouldve been 300 4 by 6 bales or more at a cost of almost $8000.so we saved $5000 in 1yr.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I remember one of the Extension spread sheets and it said that over the life of a baler, tractor and rake, a person had a little over $23 in a bale of hay. The study took into account used equipment/repairs and new equipment costs. They averaged out to about the same in the long run.
That $23 did not include your time (or stress).

(or fertilizer value)

So would you loose money faster making hay and buying fertilizer, or by retaining heifers to graze it ?

 

[pdfangus]

well this thread was five pages long when I found it.....

confess I read pages 1 3 and 5.....

enough to gather that somone has already made my suggestion......

to hell with hay and hay equipment.....invest in some portable fencing and manage the grazing.....

the more often you can move them the better the return to the land but they do not have to be moved daily.....moving once a week is workable....the key is the rest period for the land and grass after grazing.....

there is no money easier to bank than the money that you don't spend.....

I bet you have a truck and a stock trailer....so moving a few cows to different places would also be easier than buying tractors and equipment and hauling them and hay up and down the road....

Hay making is the mental paradigm they we grew up in but it is not the most profitable way to raise cattle....there are people in the Dakotas who graze nearly year round.....surely it can be done in Florida....and probably with little or no inputs if you let the cows do the work....

 

[Anonymous]

PDF, I can't fence or put cows on either piece. One is in the middle of a condo association that never got built out all the way. The other is on airport land.

 

[pdfangus]

PDF, I can't fence or put cows on either piece. One is in the middle of a condo association that never got built out all the way. The other is on airport land.

understood.....

If you have some reliable guys which it sounds like you do....I would go with the custom guys.....
if you buy old equipment it will leave you when you need it most....
Murphys laws have not been repealed....
yeah anything can be repaired....but if it busts while you are working and rain is coming...the value of the hay just went kaput...
newer equipment just will not pay for itself unless you make scads of hay.....
the value of livestock is always in the factg that they take something we cannot eat and convert it into food we can eat....
doing it at the least cost is the most profitable....
yeah livestock prices are at an all time high....but so is fuel, fertilizer, equipment....etc....

 

[Stocker Steve]

I am trying to quit... but then I cut back the stocking rate just in time for the rains to come back.
So I made about 5 acres of small squares for the calves in June. Had problems with the tractor, the swather conditioner and the baler. Put new fuel filters on the tractor, junked out the conditioner, and borrowed another baler. A lot of running... This line of horse **** line of haying equipment cost 2400+1300+500+700+450= $5350. Should have spent about $12K. I think a middlin mechanic can get by with modest haying equipment but you really have to like doing it.
The cows pounded down some pretty tall stuff in July. This upset a couple of the neighbors, but one said he kind of liked the blue (chicory) flowers.
I had a custom guy make about 250 bales of cow hay and 100 bales of oats straw in August. Had a different custom guy chop and bales about 120 bales of corn stalks in November. Then I bought in the rest of the hay.
Grazed the sorghum sudan from late July to mid September. Upset another neighbor by not chopping "all that feed".
All this grazing gave me more time to work on the old swathers that I still use for clipping Canada thistle and cutting grain. This alone is a part time job in mid summer.
* A profit approach would be to graze everything at least once in the spring, make some small squares for sale after the June rains stop, and then start stockpiling grass for fall.*

 

[Anonymous]

One of the custom guys just cut one of the fields for me and it made 86 rolls of 4x5 Bermuda. There are some weeds in it but not bad.

 

[Kscattle]

I would think that with a lot of farmers selling cows and plowing up hayfields and pastures, there would be some deals out there on good used hay equipment.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I would think that with a lot of farmers selling cows and plowing up hayfields and pastures, there would be some deals out there on good used hay equipment.

There is. The price of tillage equipment went up and haying equipment went down a couple years ago.