# New to hay farming



## JimmyG (Sep 18, 2021)

Hi!
Im new to owning a hay field but not new to animal feeds as I used to teach animal nutrition.
We recently bought a very productive 20 acre hay field in Arcata CA. There is a neighboring rancher that leases the property for 650/month. He hires someone to cut and bale and then sells the hay which is a mixture of red and white clover as well as rye and orchard grasses.
Questions:
Is this past lease price fair or should I be charging more?

My plan for the property is to keep the property in hay but I also want to build a technical pond on it for my retriever training at one end of it. The planning commission here wants a wetland study done. I know that some of the plants present are on the list they'll designate as wetland but they are also plants that are in the hayseed mix that has been used on this property as well as some of the weeds present (red clover, orchard grass, etc). There is one corner of the property that has upland plants but thats because it has never been irrigated, planted, or harvested because it has an old cement ramp and head catch in the middle of it but it's not enough to mitigate if thats what they tell me to do.
How can I remediate the field? Disc it and plant more Rye grass? Aerate it? Plant a different seed mix?
Thank you for your feedback!


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## sea2summit (Aug 4, 2021)

$650 a month for 20 acres of hay? So $7,800 a year? I can't make that much in a year of cutting hay on 20 acres, it would have to be alfalfa to be even close but I'd be barely covering expenses and rent with alfalfa. Hay prices must be way better out there.


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## JimmyG (Sep 18, 2021)

sea2summit said:


> $650 a month for 20 acres of hay? So $7,800 a year? I can't make that much in a year of cutting hay on 20 acres, it would have to be alfalfa to be even close but I'd be barely covering expenses and rent with alfalfa. Hay prices must be way better out there.


They are and much longer growing season too.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

sea2summit said:


> $650 a month for 20 acres of hay? So $7,800 a year? I can't make that much in a year of cutting hay on 20 acres, it would have to be alfalfa to be even close but I'd be barely covering expenses and rent with alfalfa. Hay prices must be way better out there.


$7800 is is 1300 bales at $6/bale. That is a total of 65 bales an acre on 20 acres for the entire season. That is a poor yield for first cut, let alone the entire season.


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## sea2summit (Aug 4, 2021)

Hayjosh said:


> $7800 is is 1300 bales at $6/bale. That is a total of 65 bales an acre on 20 acres for the entire season. That is a poor yield for first cut, let alone the entire season.


That's profit only that's available to pay toward a lease. Here bales average $4, $6 is high for really quality hay from more established guys.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

sea2summit said:


> That's profit only that's available to pay toward a lease. Here bales average $4, $6 is high for really quality hay from more established guys.


Wow, where are you that hay is only fetching $4? Here, $6 is the average and I'm cheap to middle of the road. Not uncommon to see $7-9 hay here.

$4 is what I'd sell some garbage hay for and people would pay that for it all day long.


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