# Hay Land Rent



## jeroberts (May 20, 2010)

I am trying to rent some hay land in Alabama. Does anybody know what the going price per acre is?

Thanks


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I am in Alabama and the most I have ever heard of paying was $20/ acre in my area. That was established grass. Most people I know, myself included, do not pay rent on hay ground. Just fertilize according to the soil test and keep it looking good.


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## LaneFarms (Apr 10, 2010)

I am paying $40/acre for most of mine. There is alot of pressure from the row crop guys driving hay rents up.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Stop it...everything here starts at $100/acre, some irrigated ground went for $375/acre a while ago.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

mlappin said:


> Stop it...everything here starts at $100/acre, some irrigated ground went for $375/acre a while ago.


Many round here are putting there rental land up for bid some real good hay ground went for $400/acre.... A nice flat 44 acre field good dirt was put up for 1 year only rental bid someone offered $677 per acre..... Farmings really changing round here.


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## whitmerlegacyfarm (Aug 26, 2011)

WHAT??? Serious? Here the most i'v heard is $100 and thats the a few valleys up the line w/ good soil. It's amazing how a few miles the way the crow flies makes a huge difference. Where you at in Central PA, Endrow?

Heck at that rate you might as well just buy the dang land lol. And keep farming it. That's gota be the mortgage payment on 44 acres and then some.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

endrow said:


> Many round here are putting there rental land up for bid some real good hay ground went for $400/acre.... A nice flat 44 acre field good dirt was put up for 1 year only rental bid someone offered $677 per acre..... Farmings really changing round here.


That's incredible, run those numbers, what crop, alfalfa? No way those numbers can work out........


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

whitmerlegacyfarm said:


> WHAT??? Serious? Here the most i'v heard is $100 and thats the a few valleys up the line w/ good soil. It's amazing how a few miles the way the crow flies makes a huge difference. Where you at in Central PA, Endrow?
> 
> Heck at that rate you might as well just buy the dang land lol. And keep farming it. That's gota be the mortgage payment on 44 acres and then some. The counties where I see this is in Lancaster and Lebanon County Pa.. They broke the $500 dollar barrier 3 years ago I thought that had to be the high end . Ive been farming 35 years andcould not make these numbers work . Thet say these big


 dairy and hog operation need to have control of the land for there manure so they must ,can , and will.. pay those numbers for rent .. They say $4.00 corn may be closer than we think wonder what will happen?/


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## Lazy J (Jul 18, 2008)

If you intend to rent crop ground to produce hay then your rental rates need to compete with rowcrop rents.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Lazy J said:


> If you intend to rent crop ground to produce hay then your rental rates need to compete with rowcrop rents.


There is no way hay ground can compete with row crop rents......most hay land is marginal at best, that's why it's hay land, someone figured that out long ago. The only way it can compete with anything is the end yield value has to be close to the same, don't think one can make that happen with hay, at the price of hay around here, they must be getting paid by the landowner to cut it........


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

somedevildawg said:


> There is no way hay ground can compete with row crop rents......most hay land is marginal at best, that's why it's hay land, someone figured that out long ago. The only way it can compete with anything is the end yield value has to be close to the same, don't think one can make that happen with hay, at the price of hay around here, they must be getting paid by the landowner to cut it........


It's worked for me for 30 yrs,putting alfalfa on row crop ground.It varies but for a long time when corn was under $3.50 it was alot more profitable then corn or beans.Corn is more profitable now but how long are we going to have $7 corn?Alfalfa remains more profitable then soybeans also.

I do realize it's a location thing with hay prices.

And I have cut my hay acres down from 50% to 25% of my total acres to cash in on the corn price.


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## Lazy J (Jul 18, 2008)

somedevildawg said:


> There is no way hay ground can compete with row crop rents......most hay land is marginal at best, that's why it's hay land, someone figured that out long ago. The only way it can compete with anything is the end yield value has to be close to the same, don't think one can make that happen with hay, at the price of hay around here, they must be getting paid by the landowner to cut it........


I guess it depends upon what you call "hay" ground. Based on your description I'd call that pasture or trash gound in our area.

We choose to raise hay as a cash crop and a valuable part of our crop rotation. If the alfalfa can not compete with corn or soybeans on a profit basis then it is gone. I love making hay in the summer time, but if we can't cover all expenses and make a profit I'll allocate our resources elsewhere.

Jim


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

chatted with my college roommate who farms in Indiana. They are leasing out their farm for $600 an acre to seed corn and potato guys. They are putting on a new pivot irrigation system and a new irrigation well.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Lazy J said:


> I guess it depends upon what you call "hay" ground. Based on your description I'd call that pasture or trash gound in our area.
> 
> We choose to raise hay as a cash crop and a valuable part of our crop rotation. If the alfalfa can not compete with corn or soybeans on a profit basis then it is gone. I love making hay in the summer time, but if we can't cover all expenses and make a profit I'll allocate our resources elsewhere.
> 
> Jim


Yes agreed Jim Im not talking about meadow hay only land I call hay ground some of our hill fields can notill corn but never make over 175bu. Much better for alfalfa corn>$7.25x225bu =$1631.25 or Alfalfa>$1631.25 / $225per ton = 7.25 tons per acre


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Have to agree, most of my hay is on several types of ground.

Field is too odd shaped for row crops and would be inefficient for center pivot irrigation.

The landowner wants hay on their ground for number of reasons. Less herbicide use or even they don't want their view blocked by corn.

HEL that even no-tilling row crops in would most likely cause some nasty erosion.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

In my area, there is no or very little non-tilable non row crop ground. If you plant hay, it is going to go in ground that can be planted to corn or soybeans. Land rents around here run for $175 - $500 plus. Most all hay ground will fit into that catergory because if it weren't in hay, it would be in row crop.

I am going up to 25% hay in my rotation of hay, soybeans and corn.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Down here if you can't reach yield on peanuts, cotton, corn, or soybeans, land is generally put into hay fields. But our input costs are much higher than you guys, perhaps that's why land rents for much less here, 200pa for dry land 350-450 for irrigated land, you will not see any irrigated hay ground except for the occasional dairy farm, very few of them in this locale. There is no way a man, down here could pay any more than about 50 pa for hay ground nd that's established hay ground. Down here it takes a couple of years to get a fully developed by field, very rarely does it go into any rotation, it may be taken out of grass after a period of time, planted with peanuts, but it usually is returned to hay after a couple of years of production. 
I guess with the dairy farms that you guys have coupled with the demand for alfalfa coupled with lower input costs, but hay ground or pasture land for 600+ an acre is completely undoable down here for sure......of course HERE you can buy a 100 acre farm for 2-3k an acre as well..... Guess it's all relative.


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