# Intro - Small Farm in North Texas



## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)

Hey all,

Just found the forum and am hoping that it really takes off. I've been wanting a good online spot to swap info on haying ever since I got into it a couple of years ago.

My place: I live in North Texas, south of Ft. Worth in a town called Venus. I hay 14 acres of Coastal Bermuda, with last year being my first year. So I'm 5 cuts into it, and really enjoying it, but still basically don't know what I"m doing.









My equipment:
JD 4520
Mid-70s NH 256 Rolabar Rake (renovated this spring)
Frontier SB1107 sickle-bar mower
Nieghbor does the baling with a ~10 year old case in-line baler

My business: I do square bales and sell mostly to local horse owners. We did 1900 bales last year (a very wet year for the area, so I imagine that is my "high end" yield).

My goals are pretty much to have a good time and keep my Ag property tax exemption. I've enjoyed the haying quite a bit more than I thought I would, so it is now my primary hobby (especially in the summer). I'm enjoying it enough that I've decided to go ahead and buy the baler this winter.

I'll attach some pictures of our 1st and 2nd cuttings this year, just for entertainment value.

Chet.


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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)




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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)




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## hahay (Jun 18, 2008)

hey chet, nice to meet you. i'm new here as well, looks like a cool place.

hope to see you around.


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## ZB (Apr 1, 2008)

Hey Chet, nice to meet you.

Looks like your images aren't showing up.

You should try to attach them to the thread and it should work better. Or you can use our Photo Gallery (click GALLERY up in the tabs).

Anyway, like hahay said, hope to see you around.


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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)

Huh... I'll be darn. The pictures were there for a while, and now they are gone. They are actually posted on the photo section of tractorbynet.com... maybe they moved them. I'll upload some to the haytalk photo section and relink them.

Chet.


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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)

We'll try again on a few pictures around the place...


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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)

A few more...


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2008)

Not sure I like the snake bale.







The snakes in Indiana that get in the bale look a little less dangerous. We get a garter snake once in a while.

Just baled my best hay of the season today







. Second cutting. We were able to bale until 9:30PM without getting tough. That is so rare in Indiana. 
I still have 12 acres of first cutting to do tomorrow. I willl try to post some pics.

HHH


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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)

Ha! Yeah, my kids thought the snake in the bale was a pretty cool deal. I figured I would throw that picture in. The snake itself was just a Rat Snake, so no big deal. Not that it wasn't deader than a doorknob once it had been compressed in the bale chamber.

Congrats on the first cutting. Wow, it's late in the year for first cutting even for ya'll, right? Now that we have gotten a little rain today (we've been very dry lately), we'll be looking at our 3rd cutting in a week or two.

Yeah, those pictures would be great. One of the great things about a forum like this is getting to see the equipment, techniques, and forages that people use in other parts of the country. I'm pretty new to this, so all I'm really familiar with is what we do around here in Texas.

Chet.


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## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

Like the work you did on the rake...I just bought a NH 256 that I hope looks as good when I am finished. I worked over a NH 279 Haybine that is working pretty weel for us. Took the Hesson Baler out for a spin...and it did not knot well







It had worked fine earlier...hope it is something somple...we just finsihed out woth the NH 315 my brother owns. That 315 is a great baler Take care everyone


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

Nice to meet you Chet. I'm Tim from Ohio. I agree it is real interesting to hear about other parts of the country. You are almost on third cutting already, while some of our late timothy's are just hitting their prime first cutting. Got some orchard grass to do still that is way past its prime due to the wet weather.


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## 4020man (Jun 21, 2008)

Welcome to the forum Chet. How many cuttings of hay do you usually get in a year there?


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## chetlenox (Jun 5, 2008)

Downtownjr, thanks for the compliments on the rake. It turned out to be a bigger project than I thought it would (don't they all?) but I'm very pleased with the final product. We essentially totally stripped it down to parts, and ended up replacing ~70% of the bearings in the thing, and there are quite a few. Once we got it all mechanically good we gave it a good cleanup and re-paint, and now it shines like new (ok, maybe not exactly new, but pretty nice). Even bought a set of decals and reflectors to make it "official". Of course, my "good deal" used rake that cost me $1200 ended up actually costing close to 3 grand when it was all said and done. But in hindsight it still was a good deal. Not only should it run well for a good long time, but I got to spend some good quality time with my father, who loves to do that sort of work.

You mention your baler, that's next year's project. The NH 315 you talk about, I assume it's a older model small square baler? I've heard people say good things about NH and JD square balers, so I figure that's where I'll end up. That, and they are the two local dealers in my area, and I'm already figuring out that a steady stream of parts are required to keep just about any of this equipment running!









OhioHay, yeah, it's pretty interesting to read the differences in what people are growing/doing in different parts of the country. I'm going to have the same problem shortly with my Bermuda as you are having with your Orchard grasses (cutting after prime) but due to an opposite reason... not enough rain. We've only had a little over an inch in the last two months and the field is not happy about.

4020man: Talking to my neighbors who grow hay, 3 is pretty typical for this area. This is only my second year, so I don't have much of a history to know for sure. Last year was a wet year and most got 4 and some got 5. The year before that was very dry and most got a measly 1 cutting. There aren't many folks that can afford to irrigate around here, so we are very weather-dependent.

Chet.


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## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

Chet,

Working the rake over like that will give you years of trouble free sevice. I know what you mean about the decals after a paint job. My brother and I did that and they look great...like new from the highway


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