Planting a hay field

I'm kind of investigating this and trying to figure up costs/profit from it and figure out what I'd need. I have about a 14 acre field currently rented out to a farmer who plants soybeans and the occasional corn crop every year.

Wife has a couple of horses and I'd like to make small square bales for them and sell the surplus. She wants grass hay but isn't sure what I should plant/how.

The field it's self is totally flat ground. We live in WI sort of near St Paul, MN. We get decent rainfall but the soil here is very sandy and tends to dry out quick/not hold water well. The farmer never seemed to have trouble with his corn/beans but my lawn doesn't grow very fast in hot summer months and I have to water my garden constantly so I'm a little worried there.

The ground is already broke from the beans so I don't expect to need to do a lot of tilling but I'm not sure what grasses I ought to plant or how to do it.

I vaguely remember my dad planting a mix of grasses with a grail drill when I was younger but I was pretty young then and don't remember a lot. He used to just fence off the cow pasture with an electric fence and mow with a 20' brush hog type mower and do round bales that way... not applicable here I think.

Any ideas on grasses/planting method? I've got a 30hp ferguson tractor... might upgrade if I have to but I'd rather just use what I've got.

if you have to buy the equipment you're better off keeping the renter on it...

(quoted from post at 18:38:48 02/05/12) if you have to buy the equipment you're better off keeping the renter on it...

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I was hoping I could just borrow/rent what I needed for seeding and do it once and be done... or do every few years.

Based on what I've been seeing from looking at local for sale ads, I can probably pick up a sickle mower, baler, and rake for $2500 or less if I shop around for older used equipment appropriate for the older/smaller tractor.

So if the cost to seed.. and that's what I'm trying to figure out here... isn't too high it still seems like a decent deal to me.

You may be entirely right but I'll never be satisfied in my own mind until I've looked at it from end to end and looked at the costs and estimated stuff out..

What the heck go for it. Hauling that hay will keep you young, or make you old, but you never can tell till you try. Look at some of the ads on this sight, I have bought some real nice equipment here.

I'm envisioning a setup like this with me and my wife switching off between driving and stacking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjyJKx4U4vE

Seed cost, based on the price list I just got would put you in at 1.89 a pound for timothy or 18.90 per acre. By far and a away seed will be your lowest overall cost. Look at it hard, right now Im pushing numbers around all over the paper and whats staring back at me as I can buy hay in season, barn store it, and resell it in the winter for less than I can do it myself. Fertilizer is the elephant in the room that most people just plain miss. A good grass hay crop is going to remove 30 pounds of nitrogen, 15 pounds of phosphate, and 60 pounds of potassium per ton of hay. Thats 60 dollars a ton in nutrients at todays prices and thats before we look at diesel fuel, parts, interest, or labor.

If you've got a tractor, you're one step ahead. Talk to your local farm spply about seed and fertilizer. Soil test and lime to get started, SOON! If it had beans in it, your fertility may not be too bad. Talk to your local machinery dealer about a drill. Many have a lease unit for guys who want to lease a machine for smaller acreages without the purchase cost; make sure it has a small seed box. Or find someone who can custom plant it for you. The ground, having been in beans should be smooth enough to no-til to avoid plowing. Don't expect too much this year, but once the hay gets established should provide several years of great hay, and will last many years if maintained properly.

Have you talked this over with your renter? Depending on your arrangement with him, he may have the legal right to rent this land for 2012. Also, he may have already purchased his crop inputs for this year. Wayne

(quoted from post at 11:39:38 02/06/12) Have you talked this over with your renter? Depending on your arrangement with him, he may have the legal right to rent this land for 2012. Also, he may have already purchased his crop inputs for this year. Wayne

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Oh, he'll still be there this year. I'm thinking ahead to 2013. I'll make sure to let him know well in advance. I'm thinking way ahead so I've got time to do stuff like testing, machinery buying, pricing, etc, etc.

I've suddenly remembered that I may have a source of free horse manure about 5 miles up the road, I'd just have to go get it. At least that was the deal for my garden last year. Not sure how much, but they have a lot of horses and I vaguely remember they pay to have it hauled off.

Not sure if that will work well for a grass fertilizer but the price is right!

i think the most overlooked hay tool is the manure
spreader, I think they are ten times more handy
for hay then a tedder. I guess for your situation
I would seed Timothy maybe with an alfalfa mixture
but keep it light maybe something like 80/20. Id
apply as much of that manure as I could get in the
winter and late fall, try to total it to 8-10 ton
per acre per year and forget about the commercial
fertilizer. I can say that where Im from you dont
see much commercial fertilizer going on fields
unless its a last chance maintenance application
of p&k in the fall to sorta replenish the last 7
years of "mining". You'll get good results after
the first "new" cutting, its not brain surgery.