Hobby haying how did you do last year??

Didnt make any money, but boy did I learn alot about haying and..... .rain.

Seeing as I put any income from my haying back into my haying. I was able to pick up 2 more tractors that year. My pride and Joy farmall 400 and my soon to be running for the 2nd year in a row. farmall 300. That pretty much took care of the haying money from 2003. ahhh plus some.

For the start of 2004 I was still doing the plus some money spending on my haying. ( dont tell the wife)
I purchased a old NH 469 haybine ( lesson from 2003) Cuts at least a day off the drying. Saved me from many a rain in 2004.
Also purchased 25 acre hay field about 30 mi n of me.
I upped my production 3 times from 2003, Garnered 7 steady customers with pre orders for 2005.Also have people calling me to do their hay.

I also learned about old equipment breaking down at the exact wrong time. Lost one customer because of this. dang nice hay too.
Learned about baling more hay 30 mile from shelter and no way to get it home before the rain.
Learned how mad the wife can get when you are haying every weekend and not camping like you said.
Learned about the help not showing like they said they would.
Learned about spending all winter in the shop and not finnishing the basement in the winter Like I said I would.
All in all 2004 was GREAT!!!

This summer I am going to be one tired Dude when its over. For this year I picked up my Farmall 460 for less road tripping tractors. just going to leave them around at stratigic locations.
5 hay racks ready to go 3 of them newley built.
Learned about planting a hay field, Fert a hayfield.
Added a couple more custom jobs and a couple do what you want to with the hay jobs.( I like those)

Also have met a few really really nice people around me. Melvin accross the rd is a retired man who worked in the cities for many years. Then just said the heck with it I am going to Farm. And thats what he did. I get along real good with him as I guess he knows how I feel. He helps me as much as he can.
Some of the other farmers in the area are starting to talk to me some. Giving me leads on small fields to do ect.
At 1st it was kind of funny. I would just get funny looks from them as I was dragging a old junker baler in the yard. " What the heck is that guy trying to do?"
Then they would see me hauling it down the rd all fixed up getting at some hay.
I have also noticed as they have seen me haul out more than a few loads of sold hay. They want to know. Who you selling that too? I try to give them a couple of selling tips as to how to find where your customer itches, then just scratch that itch.
Now they are willing to answer my dumb questions like, how to?what to? When to? why to? I have lots of them.

Dont know why I am sharing this other than I am all hyped up to get at the hay!!!!
Lets GET ER DONE!!!

I got an old Vicon round baler and thought that I was in tall cotton (or fescue, in this case). That closed-throat, soft center baler was worse than the old Case square baler. Somehow, I resisted burning it in the field and finally bought a Hesston that works pretty good. I got a bale elevator for the square bales to help load in the field, a NH 451 sickle and got rid of the Ford 501 mower, a Case 485 tractor replaced the MF 250 for baling.

Me and a buddy agreed to bale a fellow's place about 5 miles from the house - he gave us the bermuda hay on about 90 acres. We'd bale at my place and his place, then haul all the equipment including his 2 JD 4020's, disc mower, rakes, etc. over there. We fertilized, had horse people lined up to pick up the squares out of the field, and then it would rain on our windrows when it wasn't raining in 5 miles either direction.

I had by first cutting of 2005 last weekend - real pretty fescue. These days, I bale three small hay fields at my house and about 40 acres next door that my neighbor lets me have. I have a disc mower, a 2-basket tedder, a NH 3-pt rake, a NH pull type rake for the Super M, a 20' boom sprayer, the Hesston 4x5 round baler, and a 24' gooseneck to haul with. I have two barns here to store it in - no more tarped stacks for me. This was my first chance to cut and bale with my new NH TN75 cab tractor with loader. I thought that I would enjoy the air conditioning, but this past week, I was using a little heat in this blackberry winter we were having. I spray and rake some with a NH TC-40 tractor. My old JD 40 has missed out on the last couple of hay seasons - I will have to try to give him a job this year.

I guess that even if you baled for 50 years, you would never be completely free from the aggravations of equipment breaking and weather not cooperating. But, the smell of that hay after it's baled up and the challenge of making good hay keeps me interested. My 4 year old boy and 3 year old girl like to ride in the new cab with me, too. I guess that I will have to get another square baler in a few years so that my boy can get the experience that every boy needs loading square bales when it's 95 degrees in the shade.

I agree with the fellow who says that people like me have a tendency to sell hay too low. I don't anymore - every 1000 lb bale I sold last year went for $30 and I sold out on Jan. 1 of 2005. With fuel at over $2/gal, fertilizer over $300/ton, and the land we're growing on selling for $12 - 15000/acre, hay has got to go up.

In 2002 we planted another 10 acres here at home and continued with the 12 acres custom. We added two hay racks and got by.

In 2003 we didn"t make many changes to the operation, but we lost our haybine to a blown gearbox.

In 2004 we lost the 12 acres of custom work, but added 20 acres of our own for a total of 34 acres here at the home place. We chose to have our hay cut by a neighbor. We added 3 additional hay racks and an AC WD.

For the 2005 season we have added a NH 495 haybine and an oliver 1800. We should be completely self-sufficient, except for labor.

We have been fortunate enought to have an empty barn each year so we have had no carry over, except for a few bales for out horses. We have expanded our sales effort to include a website adn several print advertisements. I would love to gain enough business so that I could do the hay full time, but that will take some time.

Jim

I added another M two years ago, but sold it when I bought my 3020 diesel last year. At least I sold it to the neighbor, who says I've got first shot at it if he sells it.

This year I bought a Case IH 8330 MoCo, got a good deal on it. It belonged to one of my neighbors, he sold it to a friend, that guy sold it to me. At least I know it's history, and I can always bug the neighbor with any questions. I've also resurrected a 300 gal. sprayer this year. I told the wife it would take maybe $100 to fix up, so far I'm at $250. Oops!

My biggest setback is lack of storage. I can only store about 600 bales in my barn, and about half of that is for my 3 horses. Also, my pastures were in pretty poor shape, so I wasn't real wild about selling hay that wasn't top quality, got to start with a good reputation.

We're putting up a 30x60 barn this year, starting on that this weekend, so I should be able to store alot more this year. I have my horses taking up 7 acres of grass hay, and I just planted a 4 acre pasture in an orchard/alfalfa mix. Next year I'll be planting another pasture, around 23 acres. I'm still not sure what to plant that one in. I'm trying to get some input from the "horse people" in my area, as they'll make up my customer base.

In the mean time I'm just going to be making a few more hay wagons, and take on some small custom jobs. Of course I'm keeping my eyes open for a spare baler, much to my wife's annoyance! She still doesn't get it.
Greg

Don't try to expand into "The BIG TIME" too quick. He borrowed a mower conditioner/baler/rake from me in year one. (He already had a couple nice tractors.)

Year 2 saw him get a BUNCH of business. He sold all the hay he was able to bale. (Most was gone by Christmas.

Year 3 was the critical point.... Would business continue to go as year 2? Tony didn't wait to see. He went to the bank, and walked out with a check... He bought a 2 year old baler, a new disc mower, 2 (better) rakes, a New Holland Bale Wagon, another tractor (with loader). Looks like he was ready to rock and roll....

Year 3 was last year.... It rained, then it rained some more, after that, it rained even more.... It was early August before haying conditions got to be halfway normal. By then most of the good hay was ruined for the year. The bulk of his "custom baling" customers had given up for the year. He did less work than year one.... All along with a BIG ol' payment due at the bank.

Last fall, I ended up buying his disc mower and the baler. His brother bought the newer tractor. Tony is out of the business.....

Moral of the story? Don't buy bigger, newer equipment until you're way past the point of needing it. Don't expand in anticipation of a dream coming true.

There's money to be made, and you can't beat "the office" when farming (of any description) Just use your head, and don't get ahead of the schedule....

Good luck! Looks like you're "one of us" now....

So, you are proving yourself, worth talking to about the farm issues. :) Nothing wrong with the other 6 folks either, just kinda know they won't have much to offer back in the conversation.

You have something to offer now. The dream wears off, & reality sets in, and you're still there. The 2 (dream & reality) combine into a workable deal.

Always enjoy your posts.

--->Paul

This"ll be year #1 for me (and Joe, my partner in this endeavor), "dabbling" in hay. We figure that as long as we can put up enough hay for our purposes, without paying for the hay (maintenance, fuel, twine, etc. is another story, of course), we"ll STILL be coming out ahead. Any that we sell will be "gravy".

We picked up a MF124 baler and an AC88 rake last fall and I"m trying to get 1 working JD#5 out of 4 "heaps" (I think I"m pretty close). We"ll be running (for this year, anyway) with a 1950 Ford 8N (mine) and a 1955 MF TO-35 (Joe"s).

Wish us luck?

:-)

Steve

When the weather is good haying is easy. Throw in some more typical summers fighting rain clouds some get second thoughts and quit.

Only issue I have with the guys who do it for fun. Is when they sell their hay so darn CHEAP because they don't have storage. Or they don't really care too much how much profit they make(if any) as its a hobby not their main source of income.

Some times you get the odd customer that comments well so and so is selling it for less. Especailly in the straw bale market for me it seems.

I simply say go buy from them cause I can't afford to give it away for free and stay farming full time. AS thats what some sell if for when you factor in labor, equipment and fuel etc.

With the straw bales in the fall I'm so busy with haying and harvest square baling straw takes up too much time to sell it for nothing.

So far so good for straw sales I stick firm to my price and it all goes every fall. Key is location and making good firm quality bales not puff balls.

Oh the joys of making and selling square bales~!

Steve

I've got a couple of friends, as well, that have little (4, 5, 6 acres or so) fields that they're brush hogging, now, that're in decent grass. They'll GIVE me the hay, just to get the grass cut...

I don't want to horn in on yours (or anybody elses) livelyhood... I just can't see paying $4-$6/bale (x350-400 bales/year) when I've got all this grass around here being mowed and left to rot.

Then, of course, working on this equipment and my tractor is what keeps me sane. My current "paying" occupation is about as far from my farming roots as you can get. I find it relaxing to get out and put around on the tractor, or bust my knuckles, trying to get an old mower apart (for example)....

Steve

I have no problem with hobby guys making their own hay or selling it. Just I find it annoying when they sell it below the cost of producing it.

Typically here hay sells for $4 for top quality stuff delivered and goes down from there depending on quality. It may change if fuel costs keep on rising.

Most of my equipment is old stuff too from the 70's. Two NH 278's and NH320 for square balers. A NH Super 1049 for picking and stacking bales.

I have a CIH 3309 disc mower but that is a 1990 model I think.

I was out baling this week already! Stuff that got snowed on last fall and was left over winter. Raked it and baled it up, didn't look too hot but had to be done.

Boy life's great.

Bobg

JD 14T baler 425
IH 100 sickle mower 150
JD Rake 300

Probably another 100 in bearings and chains on the rake and baler, maybe 30 in redoing the cutter bar on the sickle.

Right around $1000 in equipment, plus fuel and twine.

We got over 400 bales in one cutting off of one field( once I finally had the equipment working right, mostly ) and with hay going for $2.50 a bale around here last winter, I figure we broke even. Not counting labor costs of course, but who can count that, haha.

I used all 400 and had to buy a few round bales to finish the winter off for my horses and cattle, so I am hoping to put up double that this year right away and then see if we can get some to sell.

Grass is already up over a foot tall in a lot of fields, I am itching to go baling ( and then be itching throwing and stacking bales, haha ).