Making hay

I might have asked this before but here it goes I've been kinda thinking about trying to make a little hay as something to do on the side I only wanna do a few maybe 10 acres right to see how it goes but I'll still have to get equipment ive got plenty of tractors but need a rake a baker and the others and I'd have to rent the hay ground and eventually a place to store the equipment and maybe put the hay up as I am running out room where I am at. Would this be enough to make a little money once the equipment is paid for is this something worthwhile? What's your guys input? All input and feedback is appreciated thank you.

Also I'm located in north central Ohio.

I've been doing it for 45 years here in So. Mn. Some years you can make some money, others not. Some years there is such demand that the people practically grab them right out of the baler and other years there is such huge supply that you can't even give it away. There is usually demand for high quality hay but if you were able to get yours up in excellent shape, so was everyone else and there goes the market.

All depends on how much your equipment is gonna cost. Around here a good size bale of first cutting will bring 2-3 dollars. Not kicker bales. Also depends what is in the bale. Here horse people pay the most, but are the pickiest. We had some real nice second cutting a few years ago and had a customer who would pay 6 dollars a bale because it was the going rate. Lots of different factors. If you have so so hay you will get a so so price. A lot has to do also with the year and supply in your area. If you are just trying to make some extra money and aren't already making hay you may have a hard time at first making any profit.

Hay is kinda feast or famine. Some years great, few losers, and most are pay the bills and a little beer money.

It's hard to get rich on 10 acres. But it's big enough to start.

Having some storage for your hay crop probably pays the best. Being able to store the hay when it's easy to make, and be able to sell it when folks are wanting hay badly to buy, is how you make something.

It's good to have people skills, and you will be dealing with horse owners..... They pay the best, but seem to be a little different, they kno the best of everything and you don't know anything, kinda funny.

Paul

I'm in Geauga County. The wife and I bale about 24 acres and started doing it ourselves because having someone on shares got to be a real pain. Father-in-law's equipment was still there and useable. Easier now that I'm retired. I make a little money and I like doing it but my costs are just gas, twine and a few parts now and then. I do my own repairs. I never figured up my time so I can't say what the hourly wage would be. I get $4.50 for first cutting. Not quite top dollar but I want to sell it all. A lot will depend on the demand in your area. Lots of horse people around with two or three stall barns and they can't store enough for all winter. The big guys are out this time of year and it's when I sell most of it.

It will be hard to make it work on 10 acres. The equipment cost is the same for 50 acres as for 10. If your plan is to learn and grow and make an investment in knowledge and equipment for the future, it might work. The biggest problem on rented ground is reliable storage facilities. In my area "outside" rolled hay has very little value. Inside stored square bales, have the most value. You will also need to invest in the land,.... seed, fertilizer and spraying for weeds, that is a long term investment, more return next year than this year, so you need long term commitments from the property owners.

Probably wouldn't be a big money maker. I would probably buy a mower rake and maybe a tedder and try to find someone to bale for you. That would help a little with the upfront cost and a good baler makes all the difference in the world and you can throw a lot of time and money into a baler with poor performance. You can always sell the mower and rake if it doesn't work out

I started out very small and cheap with a partner. It is a gamble, but you don't need to have a lot of money in equipment. I paid $25.00 for the baler that I used for the first four years, but by then I was up to about forty acres. Ten acres is about double what I started with. A lot depends on having regular customers, who you supply to year after year so that you don't have feast and famine like others have mentioned. You take care of them and for the most part they take care of you. Last year I got $5.50 off the ground and I put only one bale of hay in my barn. I used to deliver a lot, but that was just drop the full wagon and take back an empty. Don't pay significant money for rent, unless the landowner is buying the lime and paying you to spread it. Your rent should not be over 10% of what you will gross on the crop. If the field costs much, move on. You can make some good money at it but you have to be kind of hard nosed. And once you are making some money you can trade up to better equipment. I put two kids through college on hay money.

Properly limed and fertilized and you can make at least 100 - 50 lb bales per acre, so 1000 bales per year is possible. Multiply that times your selling price, less your expenses and you have your projected profit.

First thing to flesh out the above is a business plan. Are you going to file a schedule F farming tax form? Collect sales taxes? Reason I ask is that from the get go, we have conducted our hay business - as a business, which it is and a for profit business, not a hobby deal. We live to the letter of the tax law and use it to our advantage too, i.e. depreciating equipment, exempt from sales tax for some things we use, We have an accountant and most important, when one of our crackpot neighbors turns us in for running an under the table business (which most everyone around us is doing), we can show the IRS we are legit. Is is kind of a pain, but we ain't looking over our shoulder.

Horse customers have the deepest pockets, but also the shallowest too. Most have high standards for their horse's diet, but once they see the hay price, they are content to feed their "thoroughbred" trash hay - go figure. When we started, we had (and still have) a New Holland 68 baler, MF sickle mower and JD rake. Hauled the hay in with a utility trailer. Our hay was weedy, had some autum olive and multiflora rose bits in it. We sold it cheap for goat hay and the stuff sold FAST!!! I marketed it as "goat" hay and was spared the horse crowd. Old, inexpensive hay equipment and tractor equaled very low overhead. It also guaranteed breakdowns and to reliably get into the higher dollar horse market, we've been upgrading and adding to our equipment, i.e. tractor, newer baler, more storage area, sprayer, wagons, etc. We also have expanded our acreage to achieve more economies of scale. Probably the biggest challenge is developing your market. Every horse customer has a supplier when you get a tarted as well as access via craigslist to $2-$3 "horse" hay.

Inspite of the challenges, it's been a great odyssey for us. I was looking over one of my Timothy fields today and it's looking like a weed free carpet. Took some time to get there, but if the weather and equipment cooperates, we'll have some top dollar hay this June.

Good luck,
Bill

We are using a BIG chunk of our hay money for my kids college tuition. We call it a full ride scholorship. You ride on the wagon stacking bales
and you're college is paid....

Have a friend that has 10 acres. The first year he put it up in squares and sold it and made some money. The next year turned it over to his high school son to make money. My son let him store it in his barn. A horse person call and they hauled them a load of hay. They said they would take all they had. Well they never bought any more. Spring come and they were still setting on it. High school son lost interest real fast in the hay business.

Yea - we have ZERO faith in the promise of most of our horse customer's promise. A few others are reliable as the day is long. I'll hold hay for them and take a check. I've got one guy that takes hay and pays me later. The deal with him is, if you take it off the wagon, your barn is my storage space. All I ask is he pays before the end of the year so I can realize the revenue in the current year. He has never let me down.

Everyone else is - I'll believe you are coming when I see you pull into the driveway. I offer them generous payment terms too - net 30-45. They have 30-45 seconds to pay us CASH immediately after the hay is loaded, else we start unloading.....

Horse people! Had that very thing happen. People promised to take it all if we discounted $0.50 per bale, which we did. Well, spring came and, guess what? They left us with a fourth of the barn full and nowhere to go with it. Lesson learned! Now it is strictly "cash on the barrel-head." No discounts until it is paid for and removed. No holding hay unless it is paid for--even at that, some producers have had problems with them not removing the hay.

Nick, a lot of good suggestions and ideas here. Been doing this for 40 plus years. have made every mistake that can be made and still make them. Wife makes all of the sales and she is tuff on people. Pay up front or no load. We get $7.00 per bale out of the barn and $5.00 behind the baler. Do not lack for customers. Some have been with us for most of the time. We do custom work also. $3.00 per bale on the ground. Everybody says that we are the highest priced for custom work but we are also the busiest of anybody. My part time turned into a full time job. Not getting rich but we are comfortable with what we do. Do it right and just don't get carried away buying new equipment. That is what makes most people not make any money. Have seen guys do that and then their equipment is either up for sale or has been repossed because they don't make enough money to cover the payments. Takes a good customer base as BillVa says. Make good hay and have no problems. Cash only even if they are the best of buds. This keeps them good friends. One complaint can lose you a lot of business. Same price for everybody. No exceptions. You can make it work. Lots of good help here so listen and ask questions. Most everybody here will help if you ask. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Thanks guys this is really good insight just what I was looking for

I've also been doing hay for years, squares and rounds, and sell both. I am hesitant to tell you it's a good idea in your situation unless you can locate a real good field that is located close to where your equipment is. By close I mean in same neighborhood. Besides the equipment, it costs a lot to establish a high quality hay field and usually takes at least a couple years. Squares for horses requires much purer crops species than rounds for cows. It is not a short term money maker, you may lose big first couple years. Do research on how to establish hay fields. Penn State and Va Tech have some good resources.