# Old field free lease



## Jimbob_walker (Dec 31, 2017)

Decent land is pretty hard to come by but the is a 20 acre field just down the road from me. The land owner bush hogs it once a year. It has alot of weed growth but the owner didn't want me to turn it up and replant. If I keep it cut and keep fertilizer on it, do you guys think it will make decent beef hay? Just trying to figure out if it's worth the time and money. The land itself is free.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Jimbob_walker said:


> Decent land is pretty hard to come by but the is a 20 acre field just down the road from me. The land owner bush hogs it once a year. It has alot of weed growth but the owner didn't want me to turn it up and replant. If I keep it cut and keep fertilizer on it, do you guys think it will make decent beef hay? Just trying to figure out if it's worth the time and money. The land itself is free.


I pretty much make a living doing just that.

I have found 10 different overgrown, weed ridden fields-sometimes they have 15' tall autumn olive saplings when I get there. I cut them low, clean them up and take average quality round bales off them within a year. At best, they're suitable for for beef hay. At worst, they are mushroom grade hay.

One technique I used that worked very well is after I cut real low, I would get as much of the "tree" material cleaned up as possible and throw it in my loader bucket. I then hooked-up my hay rake and raked the trash up into long windrows. Then I used tractor/loader to push the trash off the field into the woods.

Have to be careful with the rake since that's not really what its designed for, but it did a much better job than my 8' landscape rake, which would clog-up the tines after a few passes.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

Are you allowed to spray it to clean it up?


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## Jimbob_walker (Dec 31, 2017)

I may be able to spray it. I have to stop down and talk to him a bit more about it. He is in bad health and I've tried not to bother him much. He isn't the easiest guy to talk to either. I guess he's had some trouble with other guys leaving the field a mess. I was hoping if I take good care of it this year, maybe he'll let me plant it next year.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

If you can get it long term then you can put some effort into making it work. Clean it up the best you can right now and over seed with what you think might make good grass hay. I would not spend much effort unless I could get it in writing. If he is in bad health and passes on then you have done the work for naught.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I just finished cleaning-up the new 8 acre field. I'm borrowing a buddy's seeder Monday and seeding in 200 lbs of orchard/fescue.
Owner offered to pay for seed and I did brush clearing/tractor work and seed field.
There's another 4 acres of grass/weeds I can bale up already there. I didn't want to take on another small field, but it's mine now. Gonna make the best of it. The property is a hill top, so at least it should dry nicer than most of the foggy-bottom fields I have


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## bja105 (Jun 20, 2016)

Free land, close to home, is good stuff! I have permission to make hay on land owned by 4 neighbors, and two more have offered. I might eventually pasture all of my land, and exclusively make hay on the neighbors' land.

Two of the fields next to me were grown up in goldenrod. The first year, I mowed the bigger field, and I baled the other field, weeds and all. I fed that hay in a reclaimed strip mine, on some bare spots. The cows picked through it and ate what they liked, and bedded on the rest. The waste hay made a big difference to the soil and pasture in the immediate vicinity. I did get some goldenrod growing in the pasture, but mowing before it goes to seed deals with them.

The best part of these fields is that they are close. I can haul two round bales at a time with my tractor. Having three fields adjacent to my farm makes it feasible. If the fields were even two miles away, it wouldn't be practical without a bale trailer.


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## Monsenhay (Jan 13, 2018)

I love free fields. I have 3 fields total of 10.5 acres that are free located between my farm and my dad's. Farthest out of the way is 3/4 mile so all easy. Best way to control the first year is a little gas and a match. Then after that just take early and stay ahead of it. Good luck


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## Jimbob_walker (Dec 31, 2017)

He had it bush hogged last fall so all the weeds were knocked down. He had said he seeded it down 2 different times and nothing grew. I didnt ask what he had seeded it with. From what i can see, there is some sort of grass growing but i dont know what it is. We use to buy all of our hay in the past and im confident that ive probably feed worse.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

So I seeded mine today. 30lb/acre fescue & OG mix.
Still had a little "hand to hand combat" with some AO roots and I used a garden cart to clean up big trash from my bush hog.
Smiles at the end. Finished cleaning up the 6 new acres about 7pm. 
A small field retuned back from a mess to a productive hay field!


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

Looks good. What kinda drill?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

OhioHay said:


> Looks good. What kinda drill?


Esch


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## Jimbob_walker (Dec 31, 2017)

I think no til is the way I'm going to go. My neighbor has a no til and he said I can use it. I'll just take what I can off the field to keep it clean for the land owner and drill grass in August. If it ever stops raining here.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

After About 10 days, we have seedling action.


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

JD3430 said:


> Esch


I see green paint pulling that drill. Did you get a John Deere?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

OhioHay said:


> I see green paint pulling that drill. Did you get a John Deere?


Hale no!

I'm a hay farmer! :lol: I can only afford "Jap tractors" and other "off brands". Hahahaha

Borrowed it from a local farmer who owed me some money, so we traded the money he owed me for use of tractor and drill. I think it was a 6420?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey y'all a quick update:

My planting worked . I waited until now and cut the field. It was loaded with weeds and some of the grasses I planted, too 

I ended up with 38 bales off about 8 acres. We have rain and cooler temps in the forecast. I am hoping after the rain, the planted hay will come back and I will mow possibly one time with bush hog until next spring.

Not bad for a guy who"knows absolutely nothing about farming" ! :lol:


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

How well did that Esch Drill work with metering and germination?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

BWfarms said:


> How well did that Esch Drill work with metering and germination?


Some swaths came up really well, other areas did not. I don't think it was the drills fault, the metering seemed to be excellent. 
Right after I seeded, we had heavy rains and steep areas may have washed out some of the seed.


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

Interesting looking end-tow arrangement on that Esch drill.

Roger


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## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

I leased a lot of land when I was actively farming and most of it was "free" so that the neglecting land owner could keep it in Ad-Valorem "Ag." tax status.

Any time you put steel in the ground you turn up old seeds and weed seeds can lie dormant for centuries...well not quite.

I found that mowing, before the seed heads get established, will start to provide dividends the second year and by the third year you are in pretty good shape. Usually a field has good grass but it can't compete with weeds. Once you interrupt the annual weed production mechanism, the grass has a chance to perform and keeping at it, the weeds will give up and the grass will flourish.

Fertilizer certainly helps but put it on late in the spring, so that you don't feed the early sprouting seeds, while you still have rain to make it work. Bermuda grass responds very well to N and around here doing what I said will wake it up big time.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Texasmark said:


> I leased a lot of land when I was actively farming and most of it was "free" so that the neglecting land owner could keep it in Ad-Valorem "Ag." tax status.
> 
> Any time you put steel in the ground you turn up old seeds and weed seeds can lie dormant for centuries...well not quite.
> 
> ...


Thats kind of the same thoughts I have. I was going to fertilize with free delivered mushroom compost in the fall after a second mowing.

I did this on 3 other fields I reclaimed and I am really happy with the results.

I tuned a future wasteland of weeds and invasives back into productive fields.

Best thing is land owner is happy.

Win-win.


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