# How much hay will you make in 2015



## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

BEEF magazine says producers will grow more hay in 2015 than ever before. All though I disagree it may be true in other parts of the country. 
We made plenty last year that we don't have to make but a few hundred rolls this year. 
Surplus & No Market HERE 
plain and simple there's not enough cattle in the state to feed all this hay too. 
What do yall think? Going to make more or less this year?

Here's the link:
http://m.beefmagazine.com/pasture-range/beef-readers-aim-harvest-more-hay-2015-past


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

We are doubling hay ground this year. I think we will take a loss doing it, but there are other reasons for us than just the market. I think that our local market is going to be saturated. The last 2 years have been poor for the sunflowers, beans, and grains


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Small square producers getting out of it big time here. I could have sold another 10,000 bales. If I had the time I'd do that extra hay. Even managed to move some round bales this year, maybe 60 sold so far?


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

There is basically no market for round hay here at all and I don't see it getting better this year. Gonna try to put everything I can in small squares and hope to get rid of them.


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## dubltrubl (Jul 19, 2010)

In our area I believe rounds will again be in a surplus market. This past year saw a lot of hay made in rounds, especially of lower quality hay. This spring there are still a lot of folks out there with leftover hay and pastures are coming alive, so there will be a good bit of carryover. Hay season is just around the corner for us and by the end of the season I think the round bale market will hit pretty close to the bottom (if there is such a thing, cuz lots of folks tend to sell so cheap). Quality rounds, especially in the barn will hold price well, or possibly even increase cuz so few store rounds under cover around here. I see the square market holding well too, possibly even increasing some in price since so few produce them. Bottom line, quality hay will sell well, as always. Lesser quality will be in surplus and as the season progresses, folks won't hardly be able to give it away. Just my $.02


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

Lewis Ranch said:


> There is basically no market for round hay here at all and I don't see it getting better this year. Gonna try to put everything I can in small squares and hope to get rid of them.


Better market for squares here to but not by much. Sold 250 yesterday still got about 1500 left I think. Still no point in making over 5000 here because you just can't sell the stuff anymore.


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Gonna try to square some of my bluestem and bought enough teff to plant about 30 acres gonna see how well that works out. Prices might be low but can't be worse than $30 round hay.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Are you guys in Tx feelin the effects of stock decreases associated with the drought of a few years ago? Or are the number of acres planted up dramatically? Obviously it's a supply and demand equation but what came first the chiken or the egg....maybe the grass or the cow


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I hope I can make more but ya never know in this business.....to many variables


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## treymo (Dec 29, 2013)

Hair bit of surplus on the selling end. Still can make a few bucks so looking at 4000 rounds of grass, cornstalks and Sudan to sell. Lots of new cows coming to the country, probably going full bore on the custom haying end of things.

Trey


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

somedevildawg said:


> Are you guys in Tx feelin the effects of stock decreases associated with the drought of a few years ago? Or are the number of acres planted up dramatically? Obviously it's a supply and demand equation but what came first the chiken or the egg....maybe the grass or the cow


No cows left so all the cow pasture getting baled and flooding the market with cheap hay.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

That's kinda what I thought.....there was a mass exodus of cattle back a few yr ago, think the cattle will be back given some time?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Last couple of weeks here rounds and big squares have been selling better than small squares  I have no ideal why, I just collect my check and smile all the way to the bank.

If this summers weather is anything like last summer, any hay is too much.


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

somedevildawg said:


> That's kinda what I thought.....there was a mass exodus of cattle back a few yr ago, think the cattle will be back given some time?


I hope to add a few more next year but I won't even be able to put a dent in it. I'm thinking 2-3 more years before we are back where we should be, problem is most of the older generation got out and I can't see them getting back in.


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## treymo (Dec 29, 2013)

Lewis Ranch- come up I-35 and take some off of our hands. Our bred cow/ pair market has gotten soft since January.

Trey


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Still way to high to buy in here, hopefully by fall I can add 25-50 bred cows to the lineup.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I'll be at same acres as last yr of hay 225.It's enough to keep my regular customers supplied.I used to grow a lot more hay but feedlots have switched rations to cornstalks,straw and more silage for roughage,along with distillers for the protien.

I went to growing 300 acres as corn silage on my lost hay acres.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

I won't be putting any more acres into production, but given the way my fields have responded the past couple of years to me starting to do soil tests and apply fertilizer, the overall amount of hay may be up. Last year was our biggest year in a long time and I almost ran out of room to store all the bales (small squares). Luckily it was such a wet year, that there wasn't any second cutting to worry about putting away. If this years crop is just as good and it looks like the weather will let me get a second cutting in, I will probably round bale some of the first to save room in the barn for second.

As far as the market, I'm not really sure what's going on locally since I ship most of my hay to Florida, but I'm not going to have any trouble cleaning out the barn, so I'm not going to complain.


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## AaronQ (Feb 25, 2013)

how hurting and depleted is the cattle volume down south there?

we seeded another quarter last year, should be up to about 300 acres of mixed and about 600 of timothy and gonna put another 270 of timothy in if the deal goes through.'

better go guy that big square baler soon .....


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

Lewis Ranch said:


> No cows left so all the cow pasture getting baled and flooding the market with cheap hay.


Exactly. All these guys that had a few acres and 50 cows back before 2011 sold all their cows and went into the custom hay business cause they thought there was more money their. Not now lol


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Dropping from 150 to 110 acres of alfalfa this year and still at about 60 of grass. Fewer dairies all the time but my acre drop is mostly do to crop rotation and weather. May be down to 28 of alfalfa and 30 of grass next year (2016) because one of my landlords, Peabody Coal is going to reallocate all rental ground from 16 farmers down to 4 or 5. So I might lose 250 acres of land total or I might gain 2000 depending on what happens. My biggest hay client might quit me, Mennonite farm with 200 cows going to sell out when they get next 3 turkey barns up. Dang turkeys will not eat hay, gotta grow more corn!


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## Dustin (Aug 22, 2013)

Supposed to be picking up around a 100 acres this season. I'll have the time since I'm getting laid off at my fulltime job in the steel industry.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I would like to do more squares but it will be about the same.....good farm ground is terribly expensive here to own.....and I have not been able to lease any nearby. Demand has never been better here.....I even sold some 4x5 round bales(800#) of Alfalfa/Orchard for $80 per this year....not many but all I had.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I'm hoping to have more this year than last.....first cutting yield last year was about 40% off of normal. Running on the same amount of acres as last year though......about 90 acres.....wish I could find more ground to do but there is not a lot of farmland around here and nobody ever gives any up. Thinking about after the oats are harvested planting teff to give me another hay crop instead of double crop beans. I'm also planting 8 more acres of alfalfa this spring......that doubles my alfalfa acreage. Demand for quality hay here is through the roof and I suspect it is going to stay that way since there is pretty much no carry over from the past two winters.


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## Uphayman (Oct 31, 2014)

Currently at 435 acres. Adding 145 -200 more acres, depending on what the spring weather gives me. A balmy 4 degrees this morning. Corn for grain is out of the program. Using oats as a rotation out of old sod. Good market for the grain and straw. Less input, low risk. Good hay moves here.


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

I plan on cutting at least 2000 acres this year but that is still way to much lol..


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

I will be adding 20 acres for a grand total this year 100 plus the 30 acres caseih84 has. Hoping there will be major jump in acres next year.

Have to edit, I shorted caseih84 1 acre so 31 acres and unknown acres of custom.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Colby said:


> Exactly. All these guys that had a few acres and 50 cows back before 2011 sold all their cows and went into the custom hay business cause they thought there was more money their. Not now lol


This is partly true to be sure, BUT...

The real impact was that there was a LOT of old timers with pretty sizable operations that when the drought left them with no other choice, they sold out completely... and they're not getting back into it.

Heck, if I was 70 or 80 and had to sell out, I wouldn't be getting back into it either.

We made it through on our farms, but we did cull pretty hard and sent a lot of heifers to the sale barn that we'd have probably kept otherwise. We're down, but probably close to where we should be. With the wet spring we've had (so far) we could actually carry more than we've got, but OTOH, if it turns dry again, I'd certainly rather be understocked than overstocked.

IMHO buying replacements at these prices simply isn't viable, at least not for us. Those cows that went down the road are being slowly replaced with heifers held back, but that takes time...

Looking back on it, we were really overstocked from where we should have been... Easy to get that way with high calf prices and the urge to increase stocking rates to take advantage of that. Then you get bit by a drought and lose some old cows, send some down the road, cull heavy, and send heifers to the sale barn, and try to limp through. Being understocked, it was nice not to have to feed so much hay this past winter, and now the cattle are belly deep in grass and clover. Better for the cows and the soil. When one figures what feeding costs, be it in winter or drought, being understocked isn't really that bad of a deal... We're building SOME, and SLOWLY, but we're not going back to the same stocking levels we were at before...

Later! OL JR


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## eastsidehayguy (Aug 12, 2013)

Currently 30 acres of orchard grass will go to 45 this year. 65 acres of alfalfa mix will increast to 105. This will be my 3rd year in the business, building clientel, and making conections. Not many around me that put up a quality product that can demand higher price from the clientel that know what they are looking for or, at least think they know. I quit my full time nursing career and went contingent as I have picked up another 160 acres of farm land this year and, my brother is needing more help with his operation. looking at buying a round baler to catch all my rained on hay and put more cattle on if needed to feed it to along with my $3 something corn. If we dont start getting some rain or snow around here we are going to be in for a dry spring/summer. They are saying its one of the dryest March's on record. Thankfully we dont have the heat yet to go along with it.


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## CaseIH84 (Jun 16, 2013)

IH 1586 said:


> I will be adding 20 acres for a grand total this year 100 plus the 30 acres caseih84 has. Hoping there will be major jump in acres next year.
> 
> Have to edit, I shorted caseih84 1 acre so 31 acres and unknown acres of custom.


Yes you did IH, yes you did. LOL


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## whitmerlegacyfarm (Aug 26, 2011)

I'm not adding any just my stands are getting better due to doing soil samples. I need to make better quality. The calls for hay have been coming in left and right and I'm out of horse quality small squares. Been buying and reselling local farmers that don't what the market is just a little south of us. Trying to get quicker and more efficient, the wife and I are expecting our first baby May 1st so Im not sure how much this will slow me down.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I picked up 15 more mushroom hay and 15 more orchard grass.
Was a painful, sad winter, but I still feel fortunate.


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## azmike (Jan 4, 2015)

We will plant bermuda, alfalfa and sudan/sorghum...rounds and 2 strings (if we HAVE to). Patrick and me are trying to be like the guy that wears a belt AND suspenders!!


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

I hope a lot. Last year was not a good year for hay here. I think they have 48 acres sowed with Oats and Rye right now. Rye will come off and corn back on that. The Oats will come off, part for hay and part for combining for ground feed, Soybeans and Millet will go back on part of that and she's going to try some BMR this year on the rest.


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## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

I'm a small timer! Hoping to do 75 tons of small squares, and sell at $200 per ton on average.
Dave


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## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

It'll be a while yet! 

Dave


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Ice going out here this week. Lil lake a couple miles south is open water now. I saw a guy doing fieldwork in sand ground today.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Yep, looks like winter is in the rear view (or side view) mirror


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

Trees are in full bloom here and summer time grass is green!


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Mesquite trees are putting on leaves so Spring must be here in N Texas.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Pecan trees are budding out...

Grandpa always said "when the pecan trees bud out, it's time to plant cotton-- the danger of frost is past!" Always worked from what I've seen.

Everything is several weeks late in southern Texas-- planters have been running like mad the past week or so. One of those "shoot from the hip years" when EVERYTHING will end up going in the ground within a week or two at most. Corn, sorghum, soybeans, and cotton ALL being planted around here this week. Saw some corn a few inches tall to just breaking the ground, and a few sorghum fields just breaking the ground. Cotton and beans aren't up yet (though beans aren't a huge crop here, and mid-group fours are planted later than the typical group 8-9's). We were down in South Texas at the King Ranch a week or so ago, and there was a LOT of unplanted corn and corn that was up drowning out-- fields submerged with a few inches of water over HUGE swaths, due to the land being pool-table flat around Robstown and Corpus Christi... Don't know if they replanted or just called it a day and stuck with what they had... they're a couple weeks or so earlier than we are (a full month earlier than we are in deep South Texas!) and so it's probably past time to replant corn anyway-- it'd be trying to silk and pollinate in 100 degree heat, which is a big no-no... maybe replant sorghum; it doesn't care about the heat...

Catching up on stuff getting ready to head north in the next couple weeks to help my BIL get his corn and beans planted in northern Indiana... it was SO wet last fall we cut ruts EVERYWHERE with the combine and carts, and so EVERYTHING has got to be chiseled and disked a few times before it can be planted this year... what a mess... plus they're having a wet, cold spring too from what I understand. Just no rest for the weary this year!

Later! OL JR


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## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

I'll probably put up between 3000 and 5000 small squares - some fescue, some timothy/alfalfa, and might try some teff on a small piece. Anything more than 3000 and I can sell, won't need for feed myself. Around here hay ground is getting ripped up for beans/corn at an alarming rate and the horse farmers are willing to pay a fair price for small squares.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Well as of this past Tuesday we have 8 acres less of hay and 40 or so potential that's grown up into weeds acres less that was down the road a mile or so. Not so bright landowner/neighbor gave it to a worthless thieving Amish. Landowner claimed we didn't have time last year to do it....hard to plant corn when it rains every damn day and im not planting corn in July....

What burns me up is they coulda came and asked us instead of doing it behind our backs. It's not like we had plans to farm it or anything.

More I think about it the more pissed off I get

Oh well let Karma do her work


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Picked up another 27 acres of which approx 7 needs to be plowed. Going to take out another batch of fields that are rough now. Been a dryer spring this year compared to the last couple so hopefully the plowing goes good as these field are what we call Lander mud.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

We added another 50 acres of alfalfa, brome, and fescue with oats as a cover. We will be at around 290 acres of hay that normally would have corn and soybeans on it.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

As dry as it is some mix hay coming on fast


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## bensbales (Jul 18, 2011)

We hayed 150 acres last year. This year land just seemed to fall out of the sky for me. I was able to add 265 acres to my operation this year. 175 acres of that is in hay. I'm planing/hoping to market 50 acres of first cut standing to one of my manure customers for silage. Then we hope to bale the rest. Its going to be one busy summer, i hope we make it through in one piece.


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