# Throw in the towel ?



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Ever get to the point of saying the heck with it.Get the sprayer out and spray it with Roundup.Plant corn and beans and have the summers off.Don't have to deal with the weather,hay market,a few crappy customers and a bad account.

I backed off 100 acres this yr and if things don't change another 50-100 next yr.$10 beans and $4 corn look a lot easier to me.

On the other hand I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for the hay.sooooo????


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## mike p (Jun 11, 2010)

i been thinking the same but i dont know enough to help ,we can turn beans in to diesel,corn into nector(whiskey)
frustrated & awaighting someones ideas


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Same thoughts here all summer. Seriously considered liquidating the whole line of hay equipment and buying a new 12 row corn planter and just be lazy all summer. one week in the spring and 2 weeks in the fall and just be fat and lazy. Decided to back off to about half the acres of hay for next year (250 down to 120 of alfalfa), get rid of grass hay that was rented and sell the round baler to eliminate the custom work. May go all the way by next fall. Three years of headaches with the weather can cause you to develop a severe drinking problem.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Trying to get row crops in or out when the weather isn't co-operating isn't any more fun than trying to make hay in bad weather either.

16 row planter here, 30 foot Hiniker air seeder for soybeans, two 8 row combines, 3 four wheel drive tractors and a 200hp FWA still isn't enough to get it done if your working in mud.

Over the years regardless of the weather, I usually do better on hay than row crops. Equipment is generally cheaper for starters, ever compare the price of a new combine to the cost of a new baler? A new haybine to the cost of a new planter?

If the weather is bad, even with all of it in row crops, you'll still get boned.

Around here, the premium ground is either privately owned and farmed, or the seed corn, vegetable or mint guys have it and are willing to pay obscene rents for it. Most of my hay ground is non-irrigated sand that in most years is lucky to break 35 bushel beans or 120 bushel corn but usually yields very well with a orchard/alfalfa mix.

Besides, all you guys get out of the hay market and start planting corn/beans, then the price of that will tank


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## purplewg (Nov 4, 2009)

Being a small timer, I only bale enough for my cattle. I sell very little. I have seriously considered selling all the hay equipment and hiring custom balers to come in do mine. Then again, I have been involved in baling hay since my dad sat me on a tractor 45 years ago and said "straddle that row with the front tires and when you get to end I will come turn the wheel for you". Think I have hay in my blood.


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## IAhaymakr (Jun 4, 2008)

Can't stop here...love the smell. A shed full of dairy hay is like nothing else. Navigating the weather sucks, but if I quit it will surely quit raining and get hot and dry. We are using a wrapper to get it baled before being washed when necessary. SFSG.


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## maknhay (Jan 6, 2010)

Quitters..........LOL

I'm in it for the rest of my farming career. I love the smell of hay in the barn and while curing. I have to beleive this weather will change.....it allways does. I liquidated all my row crop equipment except for some tillage tools for seeding new stands. I sure as hell can't swing the funds to put that all back in the shed. Another reason......haul a load of corn, beans or other grain to town.........you basically get what they have on the board. If I have preimium of supreme quality hay in my barns, I can set my own price and not have the CBOT screw with the prices. It's alot more fun truckin' hay rather then setting in line at the elevator.......


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

It's alot more fun truckin' hay rather then setting in line at the elevator.......[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but sittin in line with a load of $5 corn aint so bad, never been able to get $5000 worth of hay on the semi yet.


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## maknhay (Jan 6, 2010)

Start addin' up what you have into that load of corn and you'll see why I'd rather have the load of hay. Not many row crops or small grains for that matter are low maintainance anymore. With the Round-up resistant weeds, triple stacked crap for insects and molds and funguses now attacking other crops I can see why alot of producers are using crop consultants. I got tired of spinning the big "job wheel" every morning as I went outside. I got tired of collecting up and/or chasing bulls out of the wrong/neighbors pasture when I should be doing other scheduled tasks. When I look back to my childhood years and later into highschool, I don't know how dad and grandpa got everything done throughout the year. I finally decided to pick one enterprise and specialize and do it well. I tell ya one thing, if I just concentrate on hay equipment at a major farm show......I can blow throught it like bad beef through and old woman. LOL


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## jhag (Dec 25, 2009)

It seems like it has been a bad year all over . This year in our area, Eastern Ontario, Our july wasn't too bad. Only rain maybe twice a week. For the last month, when we are trying to finish up it is almost impossible. For the last three to four weeks, there has been some form of precipitation in almost every 24hr. period.It may be only a light mist or a real downpour, but the result is the same - done for the day! Couple that with humidity and it is real tough to get anything decent. We took a chance on some 20-25% stuff with lots of acid the other day and I know that I will have to probably sort through it to see what is good and bad. However, Hay is still the best return for our area. It is relatively low input and if you have good product, it is always easy to sell. There is also the point that you set the price, not some market in Chicago. I'm just hoping that governments don't ever get involved in "helping" the hay producers. As it is now, it is one of the last areas of Ag where there isn't regulation in our country anyway. I 'm going to keep pounding my head against the wall for the immediate future and hope that good weather will return soon.

Jim


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

maknhay said:


> Start addin' up what you have into that load of corn and you'll see why I'd rather have the load of hay. Not many row crops or small grains for that matter are low maintainance anymore. With the Round-up resistant weeds, triple stacked crap for insects and molds and funguses now attacking other crops I can see why alot of producers are using crop consultants. LOL


I know exactly what I've got in a load of corn. $4 corn has the same return for me as $150/ton alfalfa, both with average yields. Problem the last 3 years, haven't been able to make a lot of $150/ton quality alfalfa. As far as high maintenance on corn, never been easier. Two shots of round-up, no weeds. Insect protection in the bag. Last time I checked, I am spraying alfalfa 4 times a year for leaf hoppers or weevils along with mowing, tedding, raking, baling, moving bales, hauling hay. Not giving up on alfalfa, but moving it only to ground not suited for high yielding corn (sand hills and reclaimed coal ground). The main fact is: right now the markets are all screwed up and the livestock industry is in peril if the prices do not increase to match grain prices or grain prices do not decrease. Higher grain prices will demand higher hay prices to maintain acres, livestock producers cannot afford either at current levels. We are seeing a tremendous reduction in livestock in this area. Things must moderate soon or lot a people will need to learn to be vegetarians.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Guess what I seen the other day?

Somebody on the way to TSC got a wild hair a few years ago and planted hay, then started buying equipment. This is the third year for the field, seen all their equipment sitting out by the road with For Sale signs on it. I found it humorous actually, right before they planted it we had several years in a row where good hay started at $180/ton, excellant hay was around $220 plus. Price is down and third year in a row with bad weather for haymaking.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

mlappin said:


> Guess what I seen the other day?
> 
> Somebody on the way to TSC got a wild hair a few years ago and planted hay, then started buying equipment. This is the third year for the field, seen all their equipment sitting out by the road with For Sale signs on it. I found it humorous actually, right before they planted it we had several years in a row where good hay started at $180/ton, excellant hay was around $220 plus. Price is down and third year in a row with bad weather for haymaking.


LOL.Par for the course.Every time hay gets to a decent price every farm magazine around here will say plant hay and make more $.By time they get up and going the price falls back.

One guy here sold his entire line of row crop eq and bought all hay eq for 600 acres.Direct seeded it all and ended up with a bunch of weeds the first yr.Tryed pawning off good hay as dairy hay.Try selling bales of mulch hay for grinding hay.

Anyway 4 yrs later quits the hay biz and back to row crops.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

That's why I will probably stay diversified. Been raising alfalfa as long as I have corn and have both lines of equipment. Just got to swing acres to where the money is flowing right now. Only takes a year to put the hay acres back if the economics change.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

It's been a tough year for everybody makin hay. Either it's too dry or too wet. When I see someone on the chat say they got another 3" of rain, I just cringe. I hate to see someone lose their crop. I just baled 9 bales on 130 acres of alfalfa after getting 7" of rain in 3 days. We don't normally get that in 6 months. This was on a field that produced 600 -6x5 bales last year. But it is all cyclical and evens out. I like beans as far as row crops. Plant em, spray em twice and harvest. Low input costs ( no N ). I still can't get away from the alfalfa. It's just something so beautiful about a large windrow of bright green alfalfa. Probably the hardest hay to make there is but that's the challenge. If there was not certain unknowns and challenges for us in farming, it would all be just a hoohum occupation and something that we would take for granted. We do feed the world be it hay or grain. HERE'S TO A GREAT 2011 FOR ALL> Best, Mike


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