# How long ‘til you had the knack?



## Big Blue Tractor (Nov 23, 2018)

Hello HayTalk land, after a very discouraging day, two days ago, where the grass was beautiful, but did not dry enough to bale after sitting for two days before the rain was about to show up ( cut Tuesday, raked Thursday) and then having the baler not tying right and the whole cutting ruined because time ran out and the rain came, I am wondering how long of a time frame before you all had the knack for making hay? How many seasons/ years?


----------



## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I think no matter how many yrs one has been baling catastrophes can rear their ugly head. Baling experience helps one cope with problems but problems still show up. I've been custom baling hay since '87 & still experience some difficulties. Just a few days ago very late in the afternoon I had a brg fail on my rd baler. I replaced the brg the next day & continued baling.


----------



## danwi (Mar 6, 2015)

100 3x3 laying in the field one day in June and 1 row to bale across the field when a pop up storm dumped 1 inch on us. Mother nature doesn't discriminate.


----------



## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

My first way to answer this question is I never stop learning.

But when I first started completely on my own, it was pretty rough. I'm 6 years in on my own, I think, and have it figured out pretty well now and things can continue to happen even if catastrophes happen along the way. I think it takes 4-6 years to get the knack. Fair warning: a lot of hard lessons must be learned in order to get that knack.


----------



## danwi (Mar 6, 2015)

With farming you will always have problems it just becomes a matter of how you learn to deal with them, if someone tells you they never have a problem they are not being honest to you. Just Look around the United States right now some have so much rain they won't have a crop and some are so dry the won;t have one either. A couple of years ago we had record rain 2 years in a row and we were making dry 1st crop in JUly and hopping it would be dry enough to keep. Right now we are getting to the point we could use a good shower but I know there are others worse off.


----------



## Ray 54 (Aug 2, 2014)

Any fool can farm,  just ask the New York politician Bloomberg was it. When your the "fool" that has to decide it's much tougher.

The older I get the dummer I get it seems to me. I grew up on the farm watching every little move, which is a big help. I have empathy to those of you trying to learn a bunch of stuff as adults. Learning things at a young age is a more "organic" thing. Thankfully if I can grow something 99% of the time we can get it harvested. Hay maker, cattle rancher from the Land of Fruits and Nuts..........an droughts California.

Weather guessing is a skill, voodoo, experience, or all luck. Some just don't have any luck. Good luck to you, a bumper stick I saw..........Luck wins over brains and ability every time.


----------



## MTB98 (Feb 13, 2021)

I’ve been making my own hay for a little while now, this is the fourth season. I’ve added to my equipment slowly as I found good deals. This site has been very helpful along with a couple other tractor forums. I also have a couple neighbors who do hay that have been mentors.
I’d say about 5 years to get a good feel for it. You only get a couple attempts at it each year and then you’re waiting again until next year to try something new or different.


----------



## HayMike (Mar 22, 2011)

I don't know this knack... I've been doing hay in some form since '67 when I was 15. I have learned more in the last 10 years than in the previous 40, thanks to this forum.


----------



## Ox76 (Oct 22, 2018)

When it comes to the weather....well, you know. We've all been bit by Ma Nature. It's part of working with the land. You have good and bad. It's how you handle the bad that sets us apart from the rest. You'll get that rained on hay dried back out and baled. At the very least you can sell it for goat hay. That's what I do. Cheaper hay always sells. Lots of folks just want to see it being eaten but don't care about quality.


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Almost 30 years and I've never mastered the weather gambling. Get lucky a few years and think you've got it all figured out, then you get your butt handed to you!


----------



## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

I think it takes 2-4 years to get the basics down. After that, as others have noted, you never stop learning. It's just that some of us have to get slapped around two or three times for the lesson to take hold, LOL.


----------



## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

slowzuki said:


> Almost 30 years and I've never mastered the weather gambling. Get lucky a few years and think you've got it all figured out, then you get your butt handed to you!


true words there


----------



## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

It's like Black-Jack how close do you get to 21 (perfect weather) The House (mother nature) always has the odds, so you must cope with your best bet, equipment, weather prediction etc


----------



## SwingOak (May 19, 2014)

I was always told you need four good days to make dry hay, and that was in the mid-Atlantic east coast back in the late 70’s and 80’s. Heard this from several hay farmers in several states, so I figured it was “the rule”. Lots of places with a dryer climate can make hay in a lot less time, but I don’t start mowing until the forecast looks right, and although I’ve made some great hay in 2 days that’s the exception here in Wisconsin.

Every cutting, every day, every season, I learn something new. And like many others have said, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing it - Mother Nature will always surprise you and usually not in a good way.


----------



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Big Blue Tractor said:


> Hello HayTalk land, after a very discouraging day, two days ago, where the grass was beautiful, but did not dry enough to bale after sitting for two days before the rain was about to show up ( cut Tuesday, raked Thursday) and then having the baler not tying right and the whole cutting ruined because time ran out and the rain came, I am wondering how long of a time frame before you all had the knack for making hay? How many seasons/ years?


Still working on it. Started out pretty rough, refining as I go. Every year, every cutting is a new learning experience.

I figure about the time I go "I got it!", God will say"Yes, you do!" and pull the plug. I figure that at my rate of learning, I will be very, very old before that happens.

Ralph


----------

