iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Hows the hay harvest in your area this year?

Started by Modat22, July 15, 2007, 01:30:31 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Modat22

its around 60 percent of what it was lat year in my area. A bale last year cost 3.00, this year a bale (if you can find anyone selling) is selling for 12.00 to 18.00. We could buy a round bale for 20.00 last year.

How is it elsewhere?


Time to buy stock in beef, me thinks its gonna go up.
remember man that thy are dust.

DanG

It's been miserable around here.  Many fields haven't had their first cut yet, due to the drought.  They should be on the third cut by now.  I have about 5 acres of decent grass, so I'm gonna offer it to my hay cutting buddy, who is hurting, big time.  I owe him so many favors, I'd never catch up anyway.  Besides, it'll save me having to mow it. ;)
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

redpowerd

i have heard bales in florida are selling off the truck for 15 bucks! square bales no less. if we had the weather it wouldnt be hard to cover the expence of a truck and trailer in a few loads.

up till three weeks ago we have had perfect hay weather and were actually ahead of schedule, but it was really dry, and of course we prayed for rain for the crops. now its been raining just about every other day. still have a couple hundred acres of hay to get in.
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Jeff

Pretty bad in the eastern U.P. right now to and its biggest crop is hay.  Farmer from Rudyard on the news the other night said if he dropped the little bit of change left in his pocket, he would have to use a shovel to get it out of the cracks in the hay field.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Tom

Here's justa  comment in passing.

When I was a little boy, my Granddad would buy red clover/crimson clover seed and put it out on a selected pasture for his whiteface to splurge in for a little while when it came up.  The stuff would grow better than knee deep and so thick you couldn't walk in it.  Florida weather is too hot for it to seed, or so I was told, and he had to buy it every year.  To him it was like giving his cattle a treat likened to giving a kid a Hershey bar.

I never hear of Red or Crimson clover being planted down here anymore. I do see it along side of the road in Georgia and it looks pretty healthy.  Why isn't it baled for hay?

I've also noticed that the hay is a premium down here too.  The farmers are keeping what they grow because there just isn't much.  An anomoly, though, is that the Bush sod farms are growing row crops for sileage now and the sod is only being harvested from the in-between-areas of the circular irrigation fields.  The sileage is healthy as can be and is being put up in long tunnels of plastic on the back side of the farm.  What I don't understand is that this sileage is being shipped to and sold to states in the midwest.    What a puzzle when Florida is hurting so for feed.   There must be more to this "growing feed" than I understand.

redpowerd

red clover is difficult to dry for haymaking, and is usually used for a slow reed canary grass establishment. it takes two years to get the top crop from red clover, and after that it usually dies off (anthracnose stem rot), lending the soil and providing nitrogen to more competive grasses. there are newer varieties with a bit more stem rot resistance, but it will only give you one or two more years. mabie in florida your grasses wont make a good companion for red clover?
its usually put in areas with slow drainage where its a bit too wet for alfalfa.
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Norm

Our first and second cutting has been pretty good this year. The third cutting that is yet to be done will be light as we had a very wet year up until the end of June and haven't had a drop since then.

One of the main reasons that clover isn't done here in addition to what rp said is marketing. Most of the better alfalfa hay is sold to the horse folks. They dictate that alfalfa is the best and will pay top dollar for the second and third cuttings. We also get a much better yield per acre with alfalfa for our environment.

TexasTimbers

We have had just enough rain this year. ::) We should have planted rice we have the pattys this year.

Man I have not heard of a single cut yet. You coudln't get halfway into a field right now before you'd bury it to the axles.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

stonebroke

redpowered

We NYers are in good shape compared to those texans. You just have to bale between the raindrops. Have you ever mowed into the rain? That is , if you know it is going to rain but just for a day You move just before it gets to you until it is actually pouring. Rain does not seem to effect dead green hay that much. Then when the sun comes out you ted it and you are ahead of the game.

Stonebroke

Frickman

I finally finished up the first crop yesterday. We got slowed up a little by rain in June, not alot at any one time, just timed right where you couldn't mow hay. Everything's still green, and we've had some good rains this past week, but the second crop won't amount to alot. The heavy rain came too late. We'll mow it off and bale it anyway and hope for a third cutting. If we don't get one, that's OK, I have enough hay for the winter already. Any more is just a bonus to sell sometime.
If you're not broke down once in a while, you're not working hard enough

I'm not a hillbilly. I'm an "Appalachian American"

Retired  Conventional hand-felling logging operation with cable skidder and forwarder, Frick 01 handset sawmill

Pretend farmer when I have the time

redpowerd

Quote from: stonebroke on July 15, 2007, 05:37:40 PM
redpowered

We NYers are in good shape compared to those texans. You just have to bale between the raindrops. Have you ever mowed into the rain? That is , if you know it is going to rain but just for a day You move just before it gets to you until it is actually pouring. Rain does not seem to effect dead green hay that much. Then when the sun comes out you ted it and you are ahead of the game.

Stonebroke

much less nutrient leaching than hay thats been partially dried and rewetted, ive done it but dont like to, and i cut my hay and lay it right out. i usually cut in the evening before the days energy moves into the roots for the night, and most times i can get the rake over it before noon.

i really dont like to cut with any rain in the forecast, and allthough we have a diskbine, getting a good cut from rain downed hay is difficult. ill just wait for a few consecutive days of beaming hot dry sun and cut till i pass out. i like my feilds mighty smooth and i can knock down alot of hay in a fairly short period of time. raking and baling are another story.
its just less stressfull to know a good majority of your total hay crop will be baled without worrying about rain.
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

thecfarm

I think the haying been OK.No more horses or goats so we don't follow it the way we did.We really don't get rain,like all day rain.We just get mostly showers through the sommer months,July and Aug mostly.It will rain hard for ½ an hour and than the sun will come back out.Some are getting second crops.Weather been cool here,gets down into the 60's every night.At the end of June we had a 38° degree night.That is real odd for Maine in June.Can't say I have ever seen not before in June.What happened to global warming?We have had a few days in a row above 80,but not many.It will warm up and stay that way for a month.I guess we are very lucky from what I've been reading .
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

CLL

All first cutting done, the hard frost late killed the first cutting of alfalfa and clover. Most hay is 2.50 to 4.00 small square, depending on type and size of bale.
Too much work-not enough pay.

Faron

Modat's 60% is probably about right for this area too.  The cool weather in April really slowed things down, and then it got pretty dry in May and early June.  We are pretty lucky, with what we carried over from last year, we should have enough.  Horse people who buy their hay are getting pretty spooked, I think.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.  Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote. - Ben Franklin

redpowerd

we just need the rain to cease, for a couple of days at least. im scared to go back and see the feild i opened up to cut close to three weeks ago, i bet the second growth in the headlands is taller than the first.

we must be around the 60% figure here also, got around 700 roundies made, need a thousand, but we only have 2500 squares made, need 8, sheesh.
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

pigman

 I will be rich and my barns will have plenty of room to store my equipment if it doesn't start raining soon. 8) A farmer just has to look at the bright side of things.   I only have enough hay for one half of my cows, therefore I can sell the other half. ;D

Bob
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

Tom

Make sure that you sell the half without the head, Bob.  It's the one that needs the hay. :P

GF

Here in Oklahoma with all the rain alot of alfalfa was ruined since it laid cut in the rain for so long.  Alot of the fields the alfalfa has died in due the amount of water on them.  I mentioned to one farmer about starting to pickle the alfalfa.   Last year we hardly had any due to the drought this year its the total opposite.

Gary

Haytrader

Haytrader

Woodcarver

First crop in this part of Wisconsin was mediocre witht he exception of some fields that were irrigated.

The crop may have been a little better in the southwestern corner of the state where the family farm my wife is a partner in is located.  The soil in that area isn't as drouthy as here and I think they have had a little more rain than we have had here.  There was some winter damage to the alfalfa there, though.  Her brother, who operates the farm, was talking about plowing up a couple of alfalfa fields and planting  corn. No surprise there. 
Just an old dog learning new tricks.......Woodcarver

Handy Andy

  My alfalfa first cutting was harvested by the frost that got our wheat, then the next cutting was full of weeds, then the last one was rained on for a week, although we really only got 1/4 inch, was just misty and damp all week, mostly brown when I baled it.  Some brome was ok, other got rained on and is musty, the native grass looks good, hope to get it up without getting wet.  Already a couple weeks late for cutting it. 
My name's Jim, I like wood.

Kcwoodbutcher

It's been perfect weather for hay this spring and summer. The yield is way up compared to last years. The drought last year sent square prices up to near $10 for not so good hay. This year the price is $3 to $4 for excellent hay (brome).
My job is to do everything nobody else felt like doing today

scsmith42

Around here our crops are mediocre.  We had a somewhat dry spring, so the yields were low, and no second cuttings yet due to a very dry late spring and early summer.

Scott
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

Roxie

We've been living in hay heaven this year.   :)  We've had enough rain for excellent growth, and enough sunshine to get it dried and baled.  We're just finishing third cut and the quality has the horse folks completely loading their barns. 
Say when

wesdor

Our neighbor has more than 300 acres of hay, a huge new barn to store it in, and a fancy aggregator which takes the small bales from the baler and stacks them. 

It looks to me like their first cutting was excellent and they are into the second cutting now.  From what I hear, they have sold most of it to Florida at some outrageous price.  That seems to fit with what you guys are saying.

It's raining again today, so I suppose the biggest problem is getting the hay baled without it getting ruined by the rain.

Thank You Sponsors!