Re: Am I being wise, or stupid???

Posted by Billy NY on November 18, 2006 at 09:17:05 from (205.188.117.14):

In Reply to: Am I being wise, or stupid??? posted by Luke S on November 18, 2006 at 07:34:25:

Sounds like a plan. Think about it, small enough where you're not into a major operation where you have to keep lots of late model equipment field ready, also have the extra paid help. I think it's reasonable to assume that if you have decent equipment and like many of us, doing maintenance and repairs for something at this scale is at least managable, and not cost prohibitive or takes too much time. With that in mind you probably could maintain the size of what you are doing now, keep those fields taken care of, with the right weather, you do stand a chance of making some nice quality hay. And although many people hate handling small squares, myself included, I still enjoy it to some degree, ( as long as I'm not stuck in a hot sticky loft or mow LOL ! ) you get a good work out and know what hard work is, especially to put up a few thousand.

I can understand that size operation, as I grew up on our horse farm, and we never bought hay, except in the beginning. We painstakingly baled what we needed which was a few thousand a year, and I did my share of stacking when I got old enough. I always enjoyed the work, but sometimes that equipment baler or mower conditioner could be a pain to keep running, but it goes with the turf. We were fortunate in that we also were a Ford Tractor & Equipment dealer for many years, helped with keeping our equipment going, but even with the best equipment no matter who made it, that weather was always on you, threatening, so many times getting it done just under the wire. We had 2 giant barns, could take a lot of hay, more than we ever baled to fill them both, but I'll tell you having that space was really nice, one was a drive through, could park 4 wagons in that area alone.

Dear old dad & stepmom still maintain a fair amount of horses, as many as 40, on another 50 or so acres and I do haul hay to them from here about 30 miles away, from our long time farmer friend and neighbor who still puts up quite a bit, even though the cows are now gone. They use a few thousand bales every year and lately it's just the worst darn hay I ever recall seeing, weather just won't cooperate, you need to get it down and dry fast, if you can't do that, you don't get the dry time, rain, rain, rain, never ends lately, but I'd rather deal with it then a drought.

That seems reasonable for a size shed like that, if it's put up by others, possibly you are putting it up ? With what you are doing, you need it, there is no doubt, get past equipment, weather and help, you got good hay to get inside. If you borrowed, and got it done, you just have to make good on your plan, pay it off with the income from both your jobs and the hay.

Now if you want to be creative, use your imagination a bit, ask for advice from people, and see if there are any 2nd hand buildings available, materials available, I see things I could re-use all the time around here and having spent a solid 16 years in the construction industry, it helps as you see things that are valuable materials, going for waste, there is a lot of waste in this country. Depending on what you may find, what kind of taste for buildings you have and how hard you want to work to save some $$ you may find something out there that will help you immensely, but if you are going to be serious and know up front you will be doing this hay operation, and will depend on the $$ from the sales, you may just want to get it done, and deal with the numbers. Sounds like you are doing well and at your age you ought to be commended for these accomplishments, takes a focused person to be successful, especially at a young age. Sticking to a plan sometimes ain't easy, but when you push yourself through, getting it over sometimes is the best course in my opinion, next season you could be ready with a building, in the interim, see what else you could do to also build up those extra funds for that young one headed your way, I'll bet you could make it work, working hard, longer hours for extra dough, for a certain amount of time, may seem like an eternity, but when said and done, it's a nice accomplishment.

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