# Part time haying?



## westconsin (Jul 22, 2014)

Hi all,

New to the forum.

I've been interested in farming for a long time. Now I've got the opportunity to buy a small hobby farm. I work full time and am on the road during the week. I am home on the weekends and in hotels during the week. I was wondering if Hay\alfalfa

would be possible with this type of schedule? only being home on the weekends It would definitely be a part time venture. I'm thinking it would be something to do on the weekends to burn off the stress of the week. Not looking to make much money off of it- a friend ranches out in North Dakota and I have a cousin in Colorado that I could possibly sell/donate to if they got in a pinch.

so basically what I am asking is hay doable if i am only home on the weekends?

As far as acreage I am looking at between 10 and 40. probably closer to the 10 side. In fact one of the places I am looking at has 12 acres in Alfalfa.

I live in western Wisconsin about an hour from the twin cities.

Thanks for any info \ advice


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Would be next to impossible to make hay on your schedule unless you can find somebody to mow it on a Thursday or Friday. Usually figure 3 days to get alfalfa dry enough to bale and store properly. Can take a week or longer in late fall with shorter days and heavier dews at night.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Even if you could find someone to cut it for you there is still the weather window to deal with. It would compound the equation by having to always bale on the weekend. It is hard to find a weather window when the hay needs to be cut. Being limited to weekends would make it even more challenging.


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## SwingOak (May 19, 2014)

I moved to central Wisconsin last fall, and bought a 14 acre horse farm. I have about 8 acres of pasture/hay fields of which 6 acres is now hay field that formerly was pasture for horses.

I also have a full time job, and I can tell you this - if you want to make hay, you have to do it when the weather is right. I recently had to travel for work and missed a good window to make hay. That cost me three weeks before I had another chance to cut.

The way I learned it on our farm as a kid was you need four good days to make hay. You can shave some time off that with a mower/conditioner, and a little more time with a tedder. There are plenty of folks here who will tell you they mow in the morning, ted that night or the next morning, then rake and bale the following night. This depends entirely on the type of grass and location/climate/weather conditions.

The biggest challenge you will face is the weather. There's a reason for that old cliche about making hay while the sun shines. You get bad weather when you have time to mow, and you can end up missing out entirely.

Then there's the cost of equipment. I have $7300 invested in old used equipment, and by old I mean the newest piece is about 40 years old, and I had to fix up almost all of it to get it all working.

And most importantly given your limited time at home, do you really want to spend it working your ass off making hay? I'm not trying to discourage you, just trying to let you know what some of the challenges you might be facing. It's a lot of money to spend on a hobby that involves a LOT of work.

The best option for you when you get some land will probably be to get someone to hay it for you on shares, or pay someone to hay it for you. If I had to travel all week long I'd either have to do that, or use up my vacation time to make hay.


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

It can be done if you can plan and or move your vacation days around to when you need them....alfalfa best rent it out at this point ..what type of experience and knowledge are you dealing with?


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

They only thing I know you could do fairly reliably on weekends is make balage with wrapped round bales. Heavy to transport and need a wrapper though.


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## Dill (Nov 5, 2010)

My father's done hay for 40 years with a full time job. As do both my brother and I. We both have jobs that are more flexible, I often take a morning or afternoon off to mow. My father usually mows in the evening into the night. Its possible, we all just end up working a constant 7 days a week.

Just read that your not home during the week? That's going to be more of an issue.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

It would be tough with your schedule. Maybe to start hire it out?

And bite off one piece at a time after that.

Is your schedule flexible? Can you take a couple of days off (on the Hay's schedule)? If so more doable.


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