Just got my hands on some gorgeous alfalfa

[Ferguson K]

Y' all in that general area ought to get together and see if you can get a good deal on a 1/2 trailer or a full trailer. He could unload it directly onto your trailers etc and not have to stack it in his storage barn. Less handling... We buy our alfalfa from a neighbor and good friend, usually 3rd cutting. We tow the hay wagons home with 100-150 bales per wagon and unload them in the barn then take the wagon back. They weigh in the 45-50 lb range, paid 6 or $7 a bale this year. Usually pretty nice stuff. We tell him we want 4 wagons and they can sit there in his big pole barn storage shed until we need it and then just go get it. But it helps when you are fellow farmers and can trade help back and forth if need be. With all the hay ground we have you would think we would grow it; but it needs to be cut really regular and there are times we just don't have the ability to get to it on time. So, we just grow real nice orchard grass on the places we know we will have for awhile, and cut the native pasture grass that is there on places that we are on a year to year basis. We have toyed with trying to grow about 5 acres of it; maybe once I get retired and can have the flexibility to be able to get it done when it needs to be...or maybe not until we no longer have a source....

MAYBE if @Baymule and @Devonviolet and @frustratedearthmother ....isnt there two more of us close? .... want some in the near future we can store some extra.

Hesays his price is usually $110. So I'll happily stock up.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Isn't @animalmom kinda close too? Add @Latestarter (<- you're getting goats soon right? Thought I read that on your thread?) to the mix too, if he has a trailer bring some up to @goatgurl (if getting goats from her) and by that point you'd be all set

 

[Ferguson K]

See! I need to borrow a dually so we can bring the 40ft. We're only taking the 16ft.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Well, that might be good if you aren't able to use the tractor LOL

 

[Ferguson K]

LOL the tractor is stuck in the hay pasture. It's not ours but we pay him to come over. He needs 2-3 weeks notice this time of year due to deer season.

 

[Latestarter]

@animalmom is 4 hours from me to the W/SW. I won't be getting my/any goats from her till after weaning in about the May time frame. I have no idea where @goatgurl is even located as I haven't made/set a date to go visit her yet. I have absolutely no idea what the outcome of that visit will be. I only have a small utility trailer with 4' wooden sides and front and a drop gate on the back. Enough to carry my Harley or lawn/garden tractor or such. I could prob slide one large bale in there and one in the bed of the truck. I hope to get a 20-22' trailer when I get my tractor. And I don't own a dually either, so tow weight now is limited to ~8600#. So I'd only be able to carry some for me... Bay is 80-90 miles S/SW of me and closer to K than I am, but she has a neighbor that stores her hay and delivers it to her whenever she needs it... That's a hard deal to top. I am going to need to source hay though, and relatively soon... month or two.

 

[Mini Horses]

@Mini Horses I've seen pictures of your beautiful/lush pasture(s)!? Why do you need to buy hay? Can't you harvest your own right there? Grats @Ferguson K on a tremendous "score"! That is some really good looking alfalfa, and at that price with those specs, wow!

Trust me, it kills me not to be ABLE to get anyone to cut/bale for me. They don't want to tie up equipment, don't want to hire out, don't want to deal with fenced pastures, don't, don't don't. I keep looking for a smallish side cutter...

The cost of equipment just makes it not possible for me to cut, rake, bale. Heck, even the walk behind, small round balers are over 8K. That's a lot of hay!

 

[farmerjan]

I can sympathize with you on not being able to find anyone to make hay, yet I can see it from the farmers side of the fence. That said, we make hay on alot of small pain in the *** fields dealing with fences etc. The thing about it is that if you make alot of hay like we do, these type places are time consuming and don't return enough for our time and equipment tie up. The other problem being, as we make more and more hay, in the neighborhood of 300 plus acres, most 2x cutting, a few real good fields we do 3x, we have had to get bigger equipment in order to get it down quicker, and then up quicker.
These smaller places we can barely get the disc bine through the gates, then the fields are small and tight and the turn radius and all makes them a real pain. If you use a smaller width machine then you make more passes and that equates to more time and more fuel. My son is VERY good with manuvering (sp?) equipment in tight spaces. So then once it is down, it can be tedded out with any of the tractors we pull the tedder with, but then the raking is another story. We have a big "wheel rake" that can really get some hay raked quick. It does not work good in small fields where there isn't much turning room at the end. So, these small fields I use the OLD TRUSTY FARMALL H with the side delivery rake. I love the H and do alot of raking with it. But it is not efficient as far as time goes as it only can rake one windrow at a time. Therefore you are traveling around the field ALOT of trips. Now the H is pretty fuel efficient , but it is the time that is the issue. It does turn sharp and is ideal for the little cut up fields, and it can get around and close to things, but again that takes time.
All that said, we still do alot of small places; one place is about 20 acres cut up in 5 fields, and they don't have any two sides that are even. The fences make it hard and we are hoping that when the new owner (has been there about 5 years) comes there to live full time, that he will be making his own or at least pasturing the 3 smaller ones and only making hay on the 2 bigger ones.
A straight sickle bar that was the way everyone used to use to make hay works real good EXCEPT that is doesn't stem crush the hay so it takes longer to dry. And hay nowadays is planted thicker and varieties produce more per acre than ever. That is also a big thing when you have maybe a 4 day window looking at you. No one I know uses a sickle to make hay with anymore. It will not cut through the real thick stuff or stuff that is laying over. We used a haybine for years but went to a discbine as it will pickup the real thick and tangled stuff and will do it at a speed nearly twice as fast as the haybine. Again, getting it down quicker, to be able to take advantage of more drying time.
Sickles are great to clean up a pasture with, and can reach out to the side over a creek bank that the other machines can't since they don't have a wheel on the end of them like the other machines do.
Because we both are still working full time, Mike has to get it down so that I will have time during the day when I am home to get it tedded out to dry or just raked up so that he can do the baling when he gets off work in the evenings. The splitting up of the jobs works good, but time is a factor.

 

[animalmom]

Unfortunately I am too far from @Ferguson K to cash in on her bonanza... by the time I added up gas it would bring the cost per bale pretty much to what it is here... drat it.

 

[Ferguson K]

Just scheduled my pick up for Sunday morning. Booyeah!