Hugh First let me say I'm sorry for up setting You !! Next would like to say and have always thought we are compairing Apples and Oranges. West is dry, at some times of the year. Humidity is are limity facter here in the east. If I plant a Aflafla Timothy mix field and feed it to get about 3 tons first cutting it is too thick to dry right, to sell for horse hay here. Just too picky and they don't know hay. If the bales are much over 40 lbs. They think they are moldy, and they maybe right. SO I average right around 110-115 bales to acre, 35-40lbs./bales. Second cut is 80 bales/acre aver. 3rd cut 60-70 bales/acre , never do much 4th and by than the deer are eating it. IF we get it is late in oct and harder to make. 50-60 bales/acre. You can add about 20 % to these numbers if you feed it more. (( I like wild life, and the they way things are going in PA are deer herd is in trouble and the PA Game Commision cares less. SO For now most of my help come from deer hunters so it is a give and take. I feed a few deer and get help, we do have a few acres of food plots on some sour ground to help off set this.)) Average big field here is 5 acres, some maybe bigger some are smaller on a 5% - 10% grade. Get out in to Oh or up north 30 miles and you can have as large as you would like, 20, 30, 50 acres maybe larger, alot more flat ground. We normaly don't get humidty below 80 % aver. in the summer. Our drying time is from 10:00 -12:00 AM to 5:00 -7:00 PM , It takes me with the Haybine set to crimp not smash , I see allot of smashed hay. Hard on the equipment and like feeding it throw a ringer. Takes about 10-12 hours for the hay to dry at some 60-80 humidity. that is tedded and turned once maybe twice, not just raked has to be turned. If we get a dry spell maybe 8 hours. Then theres the aflafla then it too dry and you loose the leaves and with a heavy dew too wet to bale . So you have an about a 1 - 2 hour window in the morning and late in the day. I bale mostly grass for this reason , if I make it right I average 80- 120 somettimes 140 a ton for grass 2nd and 3rd cut, yes I have seen 4.00 for pure grass bales 50-60 Lbs. , but I average 2.00 off field and 3.25 winter for 40lbs. . Average is 25-40 bales to acre and I cut every 25-35 days, boy last year was not good at all for our later cuttings. People here are not dump they know they can feed oats and grains to off set high hay prices so that keeps the prices down too. Oats 2.00-2.75, corn 5.00-6.50 hundred. SO why pay much more than 3.00 bale for hay. Weekly hay auctions here handle allot of hay Roger's 5000 per week, New Willington 50-75, maybe 100 loads 2500 - 5000 bales. So there are alot of place to go weekly and get hay, there are more but those are the one I go to 25-30 miles away. That is another reason hay is at it prices around here. Yes AS you can see I get around , and know alot of people . Sleep in Chester WV , farm in Back of Beaver, work in Beaver. On a Livestock Com., on the board for Brighton twp. History Soc. and etc. I like to talk to people and love to talk to old timers. I would say the average farm around here does some 3000-5000 bales a year. He and he wife also work on the side or should I say farm on the side. Most of the younger dairy man I know have a wife working for health insurance and he works the farm. Aver is around 50 head milking , but that is not common here the closest dairy to the farm is now 10 miles away, 2 years ago 2 miles . 10 years ago with in 10 miles, there were 7-10. The dairy people do far more than than 3000-5000, but this is in silo , round raped bales etc. By the way this Die hard is on of the last in our twp. there are about 5 left farmers. We are a dieing breed here in the east. And as many as I see try it that about how many stop, you can not go by the book here it will get you every time!! They go and buy the best used equipment and try to do too much and have not got the customers and try to sale it at auction and loss there shirts after a year or two. I love the farming life stle. ANd like to talk the older the wiser. That is Why I stop in here during the winter months. Not that they are all old but look around , most are older and we are not getting the younger people in to farming, first there just is not the money there!! And for this reason and this reason only I posted what I did. There no doubt that haying is diffent in diffent parts. I try or learn an other way to skin that cat every year, do it better or woose. But I feel like you were leading people to think that it is a normal day of haying to make 3500 bales. For the average farmer or hobby farmer you would call him, 1000 bales is more than he should maybe should try for one day. That is why I got into this, I see this as a great place to learn and can see some young person looking at these number and say Hey I can make some money and maybe a living, hey they did it. They look in the books and see 7, 8 9 tons of hay to acre and see that they can have some 50 acres of hay and at 40 lbs. to the bales 2.00 a bale hey I can make 700.00 per acre on the low side , I can make it, Well I'm here to tell you God Bless!! because it doesn't work that way that often. You have to live and learn, I do it every day or try to. God Bless !! Have A Great DAy !! Theodore Moldovan Jr.
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