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In my area, there are lots of small plots that could be cut for hay that never get cut or even pastured. I have brush hogged a few for friends, usually repaying old favors when they helped me out in years gone by. I am guessing that at least some of these plots could be hayed for free, since the owners are not doing anything with the ground, and it looks much better if the vegetation is cut down. The real farmers around the area don't want to be bothered messing with 4 or 5 acre fields. If I was going to try to do this kind of haying, I would have a written contract signed beforehand. And I would carefully walk the field to see if there was anything to worry about hitting when I brought my machinery in to cut the hay. If I was going to make any improvements to the field, like planting alfalfa or fertilizing, I would want the contract to be multi-year. If it already was nice hay, I might even be willing to pay some per acre. My area used to be reasonable sized farms, but over the last 30 years, most of the farms have been subdivided into much smaller acreages. Most people who have 10 acres figure out pretty fast that it wouldn't pay to have a bunch of money invested in equipment, so their land just sits there going to weeds. If your area is this way, you might want to talk to neighbors that are not having their ground hayed or otherwise cultivated. You might find that some of them would let you hay for next to nothing. Good luck!
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