# Sticky  Introduce Yourself



## ZB

Hey guys, feel free to post a little intro blurb for yourself in here. This could be a good way to start some discussion and allow everyone to 'meet'.

I'll go first - I'm Zach (or zb) and I set up the forum with my dad (downtownjr). I live in Indianapolis and go to school and run a web design business in my free time (zbrown). We made this forum because we want to get the hay farming community together and give everyone a place to come and chat and ask questions and get answers.

Anyway, nice to meet everybody, looking forward to seeing some of your posts.


----------



## jd6400

Hey guys I`m Jim from NE Ohio, saw about this on hayand forage newsletter, thought I`d drop in, I do about 300 ac. of grass and grass legume mix. I am a fulltime hunt club manager and also have a dog boarding training business. Am growing in the hay business slowly, most of my customers are amish. I live in the 4th largest settlement.


----------



## Guest

Welcome to Hay Talk Jim! My name is John. I am from North Central Indiana. We do a little alfalfa and afalfa orchard grass mix. Sell a little to cattle, dairy goat and horse owners.

You have some very beutiful country up there. My wife was in NE Ohio in Astabula County for a cheese making class for about a week in April. She brought back some great pictures.









If you have any pics please post them.

HHH


----------



## Riverside Cattle

Hello, I am from North Central Idaho, (we call it the Palouse) rolling hills of mostly wheat and lentils.

I use to be heavy in cattle but am selling more and more hay into the horse market. I do mostly small squares with some round bales.

I used to work in the columbia basin near Moses Lake Wa. We baled 4x4 bales for the dairy market. And some three tie for export.

Thats me-
-RSC


----------



## OhioHay

Hi, I'm Tim from North central Ohio. We grow about 500 acres of mixed grass hay mainly for the horse market. We also mainly sell to the Amish as we are located in Holmes county with one of the largest, if not the largest Amish populations in the world. The horse and buggy is the hay farmers best friend.


----------



## swmnhay

Hay Guys my name is Cy from SW Mn.I grow 400 ac of hay,Alfalfa,Alf/orchard and ryegrass hay.Large rd bales.Vermeer hay equipment.Been in hay biz for 30 yrs.Started out doing alot of custom work, now doing mostly my own.


----------



## jd6400

That switch grass is really doing good,do you grow much? If so what can I spray it to knock down some broadleaves or maybe just mow high at what time of yr?


----------



## greenacres

I,m Tom from east central Iowa been in hay since 1989 started with sm sq then went to big sq in 94 3x4 most goes to dairy with some low grade to beef
I have 240 with some corn and wheat as rotation to alfalfa and alfalfa/orchard grass I do grid mapping every four years and do custom baling dry hay and baleage


----------



## swmnhay

Hi Jim,Glad to here the switchgrass is doing good.Never grown any myself.Everything I've sold around here was for CRP.I think you can use atrizine or 2-4D if only broadleafs.Make sure to check label as I've never grown any myself.


----------



## Joey

Hi everyone. My name is Joey. I live in the central part of Lousiaina. I've been baleing hay for 15 years mostly round bales to feed my cows. This year I sold my cows and am trying to get started in the small square bale business catering mainly to the horse people. I have about 100 acres of Alicia and Jiggs Bermudagrass, but I wish it were Alfalfa (which doesn't grow very well down here). I'm enjoying the discussions and thanks to all who replied to my Kuhns Accumulator question. I can't wait for the cornering kit.


----------



## Farmerboy

Hi all my name is Sam and I am located in Idaho just outside of Boise. I qualify as a "hobby farm" on this board as I only farm 37 acres of alfalfa. Most of my hay gets sold to the horse people in my area. I just started farming 3 years ago and love it! It really neat to see other hay farmers and I hope to glean some knowledge from the old-timers and pass on the little I know.

Farmerboy


----------



## 4020man

Hey there, my name is Jeff, I'm from north-central Illinois. We raise a grass-alfalfa mix and feed most of what we bale. We have intentions of starting to sell a little bit next year if we have a good tonnage year next year. Besides hay, we also grow corn, soybeans and a few oats.


----------



## ont hay producer

Hi I'm Matt
I farm in S/W Ontario, I've been trying to make quality Timothy/ Alfalfa hay for the Florida market for the last 6 -7 years. We have close to 200 acres in pasture and hay ground. This summer has been some what tragic, there has been so few prime stretches of dry weather , we ended up making a lot of 3 X 3X 7 big squares which we're selling to local dairy and beef.
I've enjoyed this forum so far it's been great reading.


----------



## haymaker

Hello I'm Jeremy from North central Kansas. I'm 30 years old, farm with my dad, uncle, and cousin. We are all no-till for the last 3 years, we run commercial cow/calf operation. I started square baling hay 3 years ago when our hay acres doubled to 300 acres. I also do a little custom baling when I have time. We have had a hard time this year putting up dairy hay the weather has been wet and cool the tons per acre are good but the quality has been fair. We started this year using Silo-King had problems to start the year, but things seem to be working better now. Look forward to chatting in the future.


----------



## Lazy J

I just realized I had never posted in the Introduce Yourself thread, so here goes.

I am Jim and my wife and I moved from Iowa back to my ancestral home in Northeast Indiana in 2007. I am a nutritionist for a full line feed company and my wife is a Veterinarian.

We raised hay in Iowa for 10 years, and we are rebuilding our operation here in Indiana. We will plant about 50 acres of hay this spring with a mixture of cash rent and share-cropping. We will also be raising our first row crop this year with 45 acres of soybeans.

In addition to the farm we operated a Feed Store where we sell Hubbard Feeds and Crystalyx low moisture tubs.

Jim


----------



## haybaler101

Hello everyone, my name is Joe. I am from southwest Indiana. I run about 250 acres of alfalfa hay with another 250 acres of grass hay, mostly for dairy and beef clients. Also do custom baling in round bales and 3x3x8's. Grain farm a little too. I also do nutrition consulting for Agri-King, sell plastics for UpNorth plastics, and twine and net-wrap for Poly-Excel. Usually do not run out of things to do.


----------



## kfarm_EC_IL

I'm Mark from Martinsville Ill. near the Indiana state line. We have a small farm 300 acres of corn, beans, & wheat. Raise cattle and chickens. Plus we are now haying just over 200 acres. Hay business started in 2005 and tool off in 2007. So much so we were able to go out and update our entire line of hay equipment this last spring. This wwas an area we felt our farming operation could use to expand vs. high rent cropping. And so far it has worked.

No one in my family had owned hay equipment or baled any hay other than the labor end of picking up the hay. First couple of years were pretty rough. So we have really had a large learning curve to over come. However I found this site earlier this year and has made a huge difference. So I will continue to ask dumb questions but I am getting smart everyday thanks to you all here. Thanks Mark k


----------



## 2255

Hello, my name is David. I am from Southern Illinois. We grow corn, beans, wheat, alfalfa, orchardgrass and teff grass. I have been trying to expand the hay side of the business the last few years. The frost of 2007 set us back some and are just now getting lined out. I would like to talk with other growers in Southern Illinois about what kind of hay they grow and compare notes on production practice for our clay soils. I have trouble finding information for our area.

We bale mostly small squares for the pleasure horse and race horse markets. I am currently trying to find a better way to handle the first cutting of alfalfa. Any suggestions or different practices would be welcomed.

I just found this site this winter and have been very thankful for it. The NewAgTalk site is good for everything else, but has very little about hay. This site fills the need for the hay industry.

Thanks David


----------



## ZB

Hi, thanks for the kind words 2255, glad to have you. See you around the boards,

ZB


----------



## triguy46

Hi,
I'm Steve from north central OK, and put me in the hobby farm category. 15 acres of my own, plus helping with father in law's 80 acres of bermuda. Just got a 346 baler and have tons to learn. Will read and stay out of the way.
Thanks


----------



## timok

Howdy from the Rocking TJC Tim and Janet Chandler in Dickson OK . I run heavy equipment and Janet works at Walmart. Janet raises about 10 bottle calves a year with 4 nurse cows. I handle the hay needs. For fun we pleasure trail ride our 6 head of horses. I have a '76 Cobra II mustang that I've had for 28 years also a '74 Harley Electraglide highly modified
Take Care Tim


----------



## Rider61

Hi! I see I never posted in this thread, so I'm making up for lost time. Greetings from Gallant Hope Farm in NW NJ. I'm Joanne. My partner Cliff and I only have 8 acres for hay, the rest of the farm is pasture for horses. He's a diesel mechanic (handy to have around the farm, that's for sure!) and former dairyman from PA. I'm a retired schoolteacher and a freelance writer. I've been having my hay custom cut for the past 12 years, but now I'm on my own and getting my hay legs pretty quickly! You guys were great about answering my novice questions when I had to do my second cutting by myself with only a day to learn the equipment.

Nice to meet you all!


----------



## haymaker1956

just found this site a week ago. it'sagoodn'. we raise donkeys, goats and chickens here in west central north carolina. "real" free range eggs; no doors on the chicken houses. i own a small commercial construction company and my wife is a full time nurse. i bale fescue/orchard/clover mix on about 50 acres. it's a two "man' operation. me and my wife. dawn to dark every day. this was our family farm which my dad ran until he passed in '03. i moved back out and spruced it up a bit with some new machinary and added to the herds and flocks. hay is a tough business here due to the weather. last year was really tough. lots of rain with short windows to get it mowed-raked-baled. alot of hay was wasted for some folks. we got lucky and hit our first cut over memorial day. that was three long hard days. got in a second cut and managed to squeeze out a decent third. at the end of every season i wonder if i'm crazy. but, then comes winter and then spring. i've had all the equipment out and getting it ready to start again. and i can't wait... must be crazy.


----------



## scrapiron

Found this site several months ago and finally decided to register. There is a lot of good information here. We Lisa & Lindsay have a small 180 acre farm in WC Fl north of Brooksville. Lisa is the 5th gen of her family on this farm. We have a few cows & horses, grow some commercial vegs and getting into the commercial hay business,also have off farm jobs. We have as a family been bailing our own hay for over 40 years,just not good quality. We have sprigged, by hand,15ac of hyb bermuda grass in the last two years and will do another 15-20 ac this year with a goal of 80ac of bermuda and winter annuals[ mostly clover] of about 40 acres growing between the veg crop growing seasons.

scrapiron


----------



## aussie

G'day

Gary from Bathurst in NSW Australia, we do mostly Lucerne (Alfalfa) hay, and a bit of Oaten and Pasture hay depending on season.

We sell to horse (small squares) and sheep and cattle farmers (rounds and 3x3)

Signed on to see what I might learn from the other side of the world.

Cheers


----------



## rob_cook2001

Hello Everyone.
This looks like a great site. I hope to learn a lot and help as much as I can.
I am from Colorado and have been doing custom hay since 2004. 80% small squares and 20% 5x6 rounds. About 75% is Alfalfa. When not farming I am Shooting, dirtbiking or wasting money on diesel race trucks lol. During the winter I sell hay and plow snow.
Robert


----------



## ccellmer

Hi, Cory here from Northwest KS. I'm 36 and started with 15 red angus cows in 2002 and growing from there. Now I'm up to 50 pair and growing to 100. My best friend/partner and I do the farm thing in our spare time which pretty much makes being busy all the time. Just last year bought tractor, baler (NH 7080 5' x 5' bales) and 1465 NH 16' swather. It's been interesting, but have just started to look for custom work to make payments on equipment, plus the bonus of being able to have all the bales I need for the herd. So far we have 540 acres that we can graze, but 160 of it we've just been putting up for hay as I'm still building the fence around it. Picked up about 500 acres of custom work this year on shares and looking to keep growing. Appreciate the site and I'm sure I'll have many novice questions. Thanks in advance to everyone who shares their knowledge.


----------



## dbergh

Hi everyone,
I'm Dave from South West Idaho and I farm with my Dad and one of my sons. We raise row crop and 600 acres of alfalfa and orchard grass/ alfalfa blend. Most of the alfalfa goes to local dairies as green chop and 4x4 bales but we have been expanding into the horse hay market the last few years with the blend in small squares in an attempt to diversify our customer base a bit more. It has worked out well but does take a bit more time and effort than the diary hay does, but we enjoy it and our customers really seem to appreciate what we do for them . 
I also believe that surviving in today's Ag world requires us to go out and market to the retail customer when possible in order to be profitable ( hence the horse hay business). We also run 15 to 20 pairs of cow/calf to eat our haying mistakes and to keep us busy during the winter and we sell steers as grass fed butcher beef locally.
This is a great site for a lot of good hay info.


----------



## Rae

Hello all. o/

I'm so green at this that I would not even be able to guess how many acres we hay. I live somewhere in the general area near central North Dakota. I have just returned home to ranch with my mother and grandfather for awhile. I grew up on a farm (which my father and brother still run) that had various animals on and off, but cattle ranching and haying is something that I have no prior experience with. I likely won't be doing any haying myself, though that is a future possibility, but since I'm the IT department around here part of what I do includes researching things on the internet. I will probably doing a lot of reading (and have enjoyed listening to the podcasts so far), but every once in awhile I'll have a question or two.

Speaking of questions, I'd like to start by asking haymaker1956 how in the world he keeps the raccoons from getting his chickens!


----------



## hayseed104

Hi guys, nice to meet everyone. We have about 100 ac in central W.Va. just do hay for my daughter;s 3 horses. most is fenced in pasture. This site is awsome,everyone is so helpful, it's hard to find that these days.


----------



## farmer0_1

just a small time fellow here . we have been on the family farm since 1919. wish grandpa could have bought more but am happy on the 40 acres we have. have done some custom haying in central oregon but thats been a few years back. raise alfalfa and timothy and teff some years. i am over 50 now and have been kicking bales around since i could roll them on there sides.


----------



## JasonsHay

Hello Everyone-
I'm Jason from Western Indiana and am starting to raise a little hay for my horses and cattle instead of buying it. I really enjoy reading about and working with hay, so I am glad this website exists. I'm a novice at hay making, but am excited to learn how to make quality forages for my livestock. I've made a post in the Alfalfa forum and am looking for some feedback. Nice to read about everyone and I look forward to hearing from y'all.


----------



## RoyBob

Hello All from South Houston New to this Hay Cutting and Square bale any help would be great We have 10 Acres and will be useing what we cut and Selling to Our Neighbors I can fix anything Most of the time so looking for Used Equipment Rake/Tractor/Square Baler-/Cutter 
Thanks Again RoyBob


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN

Welcome Guys, Glad you decided to join the group. Everyone is great on this site and will help you whenever they can. Mike


----------



## STRAWBOSS

Hello Fellas from Middle Georgia!! We cut around 500 acres of coastal bermuda and custom bale around 10k of wheat straw rounds. I'm a 5th gen farmer and am kinda fair with a square baler. I'm looking to install some irrigation asap.
William


----------



## BCFENCE

STRAWBOSS said:


> Hello Fellas from Middle Georgia!! We cut around 500 acres of coastal bermuda and custom bale around 10k of wheat straw rounds. I'm a 5th gen farmer and am kinda fair with a square baler. I'm looking to install some irrigation asap.
> William


Welcome gald to have ya.


----------



## heytalk

Looking to farm some hay for 2011.

Located in Davis, CA.

Hoping to make a few friends and learn about haying.

Thanks,

Heytalk


----------



## cestes1abac

Hey everyone, my name is Chris Estes. I am a student at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia. I am a junior in one of the first four year degrees that is offered at ABAC, which is Diversified Agriculture. I work at a private field research facility in Chula, Georgia. The reason i joined this forum is because i wanted to learn a little more about the hay market because i would like to next semester start my own business being a hay broker. I know that there are many bad things that people say about hay brokers, but hopefully i can be a good one and be honest with people. If anyone has any advice or anything about being or not being a hay broker id like to know. Thanks, Chris


----------



## Dill

Howdy. Doing lots of searching for equipment upgrades, I kept getting sent here, so figured I might as well start posting.
Growing up my father ran a decent size custom operation (for New Hampshire) and still does. I started my own operation 2 years ago, and for 2 part time gigs we do alright. Our fields are tiny compared to other parts of the country, but we have plenty of customers in the area with horses. This year I did 3k small squares and 300 4x4 rounds. My Father is right around 10k squares and 200 rounds, half silage, half dry. Combined we do about 300 acres of rented ground. Mostly grass mix, last year we did 5 acres of oats, and next season hoping to try 10 acres of barley for straw. Also have 20 or so dairy beef. Not sure if there is a section for machinery listings, but we have a pretty good supply. My real job is farm insurance so hopefully I can add something useful to the forum.
Thanks

Forgot to mention, also have a handful of pigs, and run a 400 tap maple operation.


----------



## downtownjr

Welcome Everyone,

Glad to have you on the boards. Feel free to use market place, and post answers and questions. It is great to have all the experience and growers from different regions. Take care and be safe out there.


----------



## haybine

Hello everyone! Been involved in the horse industry for a long time (breeding and showing AQHA and APHA) but fairly new to the hay business. Been doing it part time for 5 years now and really enjoying it. After years of trouble dealing with different custom balers, We (wife and I) decided to buy our own equipment to take care of our 20 acres of bahia. We figured since we got this stuff, we might as well pick up a couple of fields to help pay for it. Things snowballed from there. Ended up doing a lot of custom baling and even picked up a couple of free lease fields. The next year we prepared our field and planted part of our property in seeded Bermuda (sungrazer777). And the following year planted the rest in Jiggs Bermuda. This year we dropped all but our two best customers we custom bale for and added a couple more free lease fields. Man, all of the sudden, we are really starting to make some money. Enough that we paid off the 5 year note on new tractor, cutter, baler, rake, and bought a bigger flatbed to haul hay with. Praise God!!!

So now, I havnt been on a horse in 2 years and dont miss it a bit but what I learned from that has helped in producing quality hay and being able to market it. We have more hay customers in our area than we can supply for. This has led us to begin planning on expanding our business.

Researching over the past few years has brought me to this site many times. Figured it was finally time to join up. Look forward to learning more from yall and sharing my experiences.


----------



## hay king

Hi there all James is my name and i started doing 50 acres of custom work 5 years ago just by dumb luck. anyhow 5years later I now do over 250 acres and in silage and grass hay. most of the fields I do are free to me and I take the crop and sell it. last year I did around 8500 sm squares and 400 rounds. sold out by Christmas and am now looking to expand my land base to 350 acres to try to keep up with demand love the posts and Ill try to visit this site often


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN

Welcome Hay King. Great to have you on board. Good luck in the coming year. Mike


----------



## dixietank

Just an old southern wrench puller who got back into hay to help out my dad and some neighbors. I worked the hayfields for years slinging squares when I was young and now I guess you could say I'm going back to my roots. Doing around 200 acres on shares, 50 of mine and 50 of my dads. I put up 4x5's to sell and now the custom cut requests are piling in. Tractor time has always been peaceful to me (until something breaks).


----------



## customhaystacking

Hello, My name is Craig and I'm a full time Firefighter/Paramedic who married the farmers daughter 15 yrs ago. That's when I was introduced into the farming/haying operation. Over the years we have put in many hours helping with my in-law's 300 acres which is a combination of cattle and hay and most recently in corn. Three years ago I purchased a 1095 bale wagon and do custom haying/stacking to help make payments. I really enjoy farming, but it doesn't pay enough, so for now it is my side job. It's nice to meet everyone and thanks for this forum!


----------



## downtownjr

Welcome everyone, great folks on here and lots of experience in everything...glad to have you as part of our hay community.

Also be safe safe out there and will will see you on the boards!


----------



## chetlenox

Hey Craig, welcome to the board! Your post made me laugh, as I'm a non-farmer (Engineer) who also married a farmer's daughter (more or less). My little hay farm also helps supplement the "real" income, although at times I feel like it's more the other way around... when the equipment is breaking on a regular basis!

Just curious, where in Eastern Oregon do you live? I spent 8 years working in Oregon a while back and used to love to head to the Eastern side of the state for the sunshine, dry weather, and bird hunting. The Hell's Canyon and Steens Mtn areas are some of my favorite places...

Take care,

Chet.


----------



## ArkHay

Hello Everyone. This is my first post but I have been looking at this site for a while. You guys have no clue how much you have helped me over the past few years. I am pretty new to haying. I live in central Arkansas and I am in the process of converting a wheat farm to hybrid bermuda. I sprigged 32 acres last spring and plan on doing 60 this spring. My long term plan is to square bale this for the horse market. I also round bale a couple hundred acres for the local cow guys as well. I just wanted to say thanks for all the help and I hope to be able to contribute in the future.


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN

Welcome Arkhay. Mike


----------



## hayray

I have been on the board now for a couple of years but never thought about introducing myself. I like this board alot and think this is great to reach out and BS with other hay producers, I feel so isolated in my own community as there just never seems to be many other producers to talk intellect to. My name is Ray Moses and I have had my own hay business since 1992. I bale around 350 acres of grass, alfalfa, and trefoil mix hays in small squares and 4x4 rounds. Most of my business is for the horse industry. I also lease another 200 acres of pasture land to run my cow herd on. As a ancillary business I have a conception to plate business of direct marketing my beef to local consumers. I also for the first 15 years out of college trained and showed dressage horses for years and also did some farrier work but now am way too busy in farming. In addition I teach concealed pistol training classes for Michigan's training requirements, it is a good way to make extra cash on the weekends at my farm.


----------



## swmnhay

Welcome hayray,Yep Haytalk is a great site.

Does the pistol training help with bill collecting?LOL

Cy


----------



## Dolphin

It does when you ask for the check with the butt of a .45 sticking out from under your belt LOL

Good to know you better hayray, I always appreciate seeing your posts, and welcome to ArkHay, what took you so long to register?


----------



## hayray

Pretty funny. Took me so long to register beause I did not look that far down on the page.


----------



## Shetland Sheepdog

Hello from New Boston & Hollis, NH, USA. I am 72 years old, retired from electric utility linework, and still farming it! I live in New Boston and hay my share of the old family farm in Hollis, (around 20 acres). I sell feed hay to horse people and mulch to the DPW. I'm looking forward to learning new things and meeting new friends on this forum.
Dave


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN

Welcome Dave. Great to have you on board. Mike


----------



## 4Gen

Hello all,

I am just shy of 30 and just smart enough to get into haying last year. Of all the years and with my family all row crop, I am obviously extremely grateful for all the info and stories on this site.

Currently my operation is too big to be called a hobby but I am still farming with money (other job) and not farming for money. Rest assured that I am not one of the hay prostitues on craigslist or such. I actually take a lot of pride when I end up on the higher end of auctions with the big boys (and possibly some of the members here)

Regardless I will try to get a post about my first field which will bring a lot of laughs for most of you. And Again I can not thank you all for the wealth of information in these forums.... Hopefully as the years go on, I might actually learn enough to post someful useful for you


----------



## Nitram

HELLO! From the middle of Kansas. Sorry it took so long to find this portion of the site but I get caught up in all the info passed around ITS WONDERFULL! I am 49 last june and have grown up helping my Dad farm and raise cattle. I work 70 miles south in Wichita ks and raise calves here at my place. I also put up praire hay to feed. Soon I will be unemployed and am going to try loosing what money I have left Farming and Ranching. lol I want to thank all who have helped me already and those who will in the future. My Dad pasted away last Oct so you fellers gotta keep me from "doing what i want anyway"


----------



## Hay3020

Hello, im josh from Northern michigan and i do custom haying with my brother. Last year we put up about 300-400 round bales and 1500 square bales. Its not alot of hay but i makes the summers fun.


----------



## K WEST FARMS

Hay3020 : Welcome Josh ! I put up less hay than you but find this board useful. You get the benefit of others experience and will hear of things that may work in your operation. Have a good hay year !! John


----------



## LeadFarmer

Hello everyone, my name is Kellen. I was born and raised in the southwestern region of Arizona. I have lived on a farm my entire life (28 years), worked on it nearly as long, but have only recently taken an interest in actually farming. I have years of experience operating equipment, but i only have a little over a year under my belt as Farm manager.

Alfalfa comprises the majority of our acreage, even though it is down by about 50% this year due to the insane cotton market. We are currently farming 520 acres of Alfalfa for hay, we use two New Holland 3'x4' balers. We actually have yet to run them this year, as our first three cuttings were sold, in the windrow, to an export outfit.

We are also currently growing 500 acres of cotton, 140 acres of wheat and about 375 acres of assorted bermuda grass (Sultan, Sahara, 1012, Princess). We also grow/maintain a 3 acre nursery field of two types of grass that once cross pollinated become Princess grass.


----------



## fitz

Hello all. Apologies for not noticing this thread before posting below. Thanks Dolphin & Swmnhay.

fitz


----------



## downtownjr

Welcome to HayTalk Fitz. Glad to have you onboard our community. Take care and be safe in the field and we will see you around the boards.


----------



## organic hay guy

hello. We have a certified organic hay farm here in ohio where we do about 70 acres of hay a year.

Thanks.


----------



## HOOKS

Howdy. Just small time hay hobbyist i suppose. Been out of it for a while and decided to jump back in. Got a ten acre stand in now, gonna shoot for about twenty more this year. Doing some custom work for a few neighbors. Not making any money but it keeps me off the streets.


----------



## Hunter Valley Lucerne

G'day everyone

Interesting to find this forum. Have been reading lots of posts when I can.

Me - I'm from the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. My late father came to this area in 1955 to make Lucerne (Alfalfa to most of you guys) Hay commercially. Whilst he passed away earlier this year I have been continuing the operation firstly with him, from when I left school at 15 & on my own since 2002. I'm 59.

The main market concentration is horse hay with small squares. Downgraded hay goes to cow hay locally or mulch which there is a significant demand for. Most of my horse hay goes to the Sydney & Central Coast areas either direct to consumers or to Produce Shops.

I generally have 50 hectares (approx. 125 acres) of irrigated Lucerne in production, rotating with approx. 30 acres of Oats, for oaten hay each season. I use underground water for irrigation.

I use Profile A bacteria for high moisture baling.

Machinery - Fendt 409 Vario tractor, MF 1372 mower/cond., 2 (old) NH S56 rakes (love to update), MF SB139 Baler. I also still have my previous baler, Hesston B4600 in mothballs. I use my own design 10 bale accumulator.

Get usually 6 - 7 cuts a year. Currently growing all Force 10 winter active lucerne.

Look forward to comparing notes on occasions here.

Cheers


----------



## Teslan

Hello,

My name is Marc and I'm new to this forum. I farm alfalfa and grass hay in Northern Colorado. We currently bale and sell about 15-20k small bales a year, but I'm seriously thinking about slowly moving to large 3X3 bales as my dad really doesn't want to help anymore and it's very difficult finding workers that know what they are doing for only about 3-4 total weeks a summer (Its hard enough to train someone how to run a baler in a few hours and impossible to train someone to run a NH hay stacker). All our hay is irrigated. I farm with my dad about 190 acres of hay ground. As for equipment we use a 2001 NH 1089 stacker, two newer NH 16X18 inch balers, and a Massey Ferguesan self propelled disc swather that I really really like. I've been baling and stacking hay since I was 15 years old so that would make it about 21 years now I guess.


----------



## mlappin

Talk to the folks in your area that are already making 3x3's. In _our_ area the guys that consistently sell premium 3x3's year in and year out and haven't burned a barn down yet all say you have to pick em up right away and can't leave em sit on the ground overnight. If this holds true in your area, right back to needing help to get em picked up.


----------



## Teslan

Nope it doesn't hurt to leave even small bales in the field overnight if there is no rain in the forecast (thought I don't do this often). So I would imagine it wouldn't hurt 3X3 bales. Plus it's alot easier to find someone that knows how to run a loader and truck then a hay stacker.


----------



## zubiedoobydoo

Hello... I am Sam (zubiedoobydoo) and I am just starting to make my own hay in Iowa. It's been a real issue getting some small fields and waterways mowed and baled, nobody wants to do it and even friends commit and then bail out. I decided to just buy the equipment and do it myself. I will be asking for a lot of advice on equipment and hay! I have about 12 acres of hay ground, mostly nice wide waterways seeded with brome or brome timothy mix, and feed 6 horses and a mini donkey. If done right, I can pay for my equipment in a few years and sell the excess. I hope! I have never done any farming, but grew up on a farm. So this is ALL NEW to me.


----------



## HayFarmChick85

Hello there my name is Casey and i live in eastern Nebraska and just getting into the hayb business. My boyfriend grew up in the farm and hay business si he knows a thing or two. I'm originally from Denver but was always, always a country girl at heart. Can't wait to get started and super excited to get to know this site and expand my knowledge if the haybusiness and to be successful!! So glad to be here 
A little about our situation... we currently reside in the city but make trips to help my boyfriend's dad cut and bale about 50 acres and got about three cuts this year, had a real wet summer so we could've gotten more had the weather been a lot more dry. 
At the first of the year we will be moving to our own far place just down the road from his parents' place and onto our own about 150 acres. Can not wait!! Got about 25 acres of pasture for animals as well, along with all the outbuildings... itching to get started.


----------



## Ohfarmer

Hi, New to this site. We have around 150 ac. acre hay ground in Ohio. We plant grass/alfalfa mix hay for our dairy. We just purchased a claas uniwrap baler so 2012 will be our first year for balage so I will have lots of question as I`m sure there will be a learning curve going from all haylage to balage. Any one who has any experience with the uniwrap baler let me know, I will need the help. Thanks for the forum, it is a great source of information.


----------



## downtownjr

Welcome aboard. Feel free to get involved in the conversations. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.


----------



## Waterway64

I am new to this forum. I hay about 300 acres of irrigated hay in western S.D. each year. We run a Vermeer Super M baler, H&S wheel rakes, and a Heston 8550S swather. We have a fairly dry climate but deal with most the same problems all hay producers do. This has been a wild year marketing hay and I am curious how others are dealing with it. Finding enough truckers and sending round bales further than we have ever shipped them has been a challenge we have never had before. I enjoy reading the posts here!!


----------



## Vol

Welcome to a great family of foragers.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Redrock

Hi all, or better yet, Howdy Y'all.

We just picked up 22 gorgeous acres just south of Lake Texoma and hope to retire there in about 6 years. Between now and then I want to establish great pastures to support a few head of cattle. I'll be rooting around in the forums here for tips on how to get the best hay pastures established. Thanks in advance.


----------



## T & R Hay Farms

Hello, 
I'm Richard from Moorhead MN. Came across this on the internet and thought I would drop by. My dad and I run a decent sized Hobby Haying Operation. We farm mostly ditch hay, but alway have some fields. We run a JD 4440, JD 4320, IH 656 hydro, JD 568 round baler, NH 617 Disc Mower, NH 315 hayliner, NH Self propelled bale wagon, and a Gramip 9 wheel rake.


----------



## Vol

Hello Richard, 
Sure glad that you found us. You sure sound energetic and it looks like you and your dad have some nice equipment. I hope you visit with us frequently and you will find alot of information on this site. We have a very knowledgeable member from up in your country....he goes by swmnhay....get to know him.

Regards, Mike


----------



## swmnhay

Hello Richard.Welcome to Haytalk.It's a great site.

I'll be going threw there in a few weeks with a delivery headed to Crookston.

Cy


----------



## JD3430

Hey everybody, I am just breaking into the hay biz. All at once I got about 40 acres offered to me and figured "what the heck". It's something I always wanted to try. 1/2 the people I tell that I'm going into the hay business tilt their heads to one side and look at me like I'm crazy (and I probably am) because I gave up time from a business that makes more money to persue a dream of something I never thought I could do. Maybe it'll be a nightmare, but I feel fortunate the Lord has blessed me with the many things needed to try to start haying. 
Great website here. Great people that are unselfishly offering help. I'm a lot more edjumicated in only the few months since I've joined! So far I've purchased a Tonutti 2-star tedder, a JD 74 hydraulic bar rake, a JD 336 baler and a EZ Trail bale basket. Trying to nail down a CaseIH 8830 Windrower, but money's getting tight!!!


----------



## swmnhay

JD3430 said:


> Hey everybody, I am just breaking into the hay biz. All at once I got about 40 acres offered to me and figured "what the heck". It's something I always wanted to try. 1/2 the people I tell that I'm going into the hay business tilt their heads to one side and look at me like I'm crazy (and I probably am) because I gave up time from a business that makes more money to persue a dream of something I never thought I could do. Maybe it'll be a nightmare, but I feel fortunate the Lord has blessed me with the many things needed to try to start haying.
> Great website here. Great people that are unselfishly offering help. I'm a lot more edjumicated in only the few months since I've joined! So far I've purchased a Tonutti 2-star tedder, a JD 74 hydraulic bar rake, a JD 336 baler and a EZ Trail bale basket. Trying to nail down a CaseIH 8830 Windrower, but money's getting tight!!!


 Welcome JD3430,

Don't feel bad a lot of people have tilted their head at me also.LOL.Including my banker.

You gotta enjoy what you are doing,life is to short.

Can't beat this site for hay stuff.

Cy


----------



## JD3430

swmnhay said:


> Welcome JD3430,
> 
> Don't feel bad a lot of people have tilted their head at me also.LOL.Including my banker.
> 
> * You gotta enjoy what you are doing,life is to short.*
> Can't beat this site for hay stuff.
> 
> Cy


So true! Words to live by


----------



## hay rake

Hello my name is gary and apologize for not getting to this thread sooner. i am on a family crop farm in central maine. we stopped doing animals in the late 70's and concentrate on forage crops. at this time we do a little over 500 acres in small square,round and for the last 4 years 4x4 big square. we use mostly new holland equipment for mowing and baling except the big square which is a hesston. we want to expand to about 1000 acres and to do this need to get more efficient equipment and there is little of it used here. i have been looking at this site for about a year trying to get ideas and recently started to share. thanks in advance for all your help gary


----------



## Wildrosebeef

I'm new here, but here more to do reading than posting, as I'm just reading around for tips and tricks and that when I get back into farming again. This is a good site, plenty of information on hay and forage and that.









-Karin


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN

Welcome guys and gals. Lots of useful info here and a good group of people. Enjoy and don't be afraid to ask. Mike


----------



## SelmaR

Hi there. Mi name is Mary.
I'm 25 now and still single. Mot that anyone is interested.








Anyway, how you guys doing?


----------



## Vol

Mary must look like the last rose of summer if she is 25, single, and hanging out on the dirt farmer boards.









Disregards, Mike


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN

Vol said:


> Mary must look like the last rose of summer if she is 25, single, and hanging out on the dirt farmer boards.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Disregards, Mike


LOL That is funny


----------



## Nitram

Guys you know I mustn't leave this alone...Hi Mary. I am Martin single, 50 yrs old and bald. Welcome to Haytalk. Glad your here.


----------



## punkin

Hi everyone im new to this site and really look forward to the discussions.I am from Georgia and have farmed all my life (41 yrs) we raise holstein bull calves and cut around 100 acres of hay to feed them and some to sell.Thats me and i look forward to sharing and learning from everyone on this site.


----------



## Vol

Welcome Punkin,

Regards, Mike


----------



## CF-Farmer

Great to read everyone's backgrounds. My name is Colby and I am a fifth generation farmer in North Eastern Oregon. We farm around 4000 acres and 1500 is alfalfa. The rest is wheat and corn. We also custom harvest another 700 acres of mixed hay. Our alfalfa goes to dairies and cattle feedlots. We use Hesston 3x4 balers, three swathers, 2 hi capacity rakes, and a pro ag 16K bale stacker. I guess it is enough equipment to give me a headache or two in a days time but that is why we love doing it. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Take care all and a safe haying season to everyone.
Colby J


----------



## Vol

CF-Farmer said:


> Great to read everyone's backgrounds. My name is Colby and I am a fifth generation farmer in North Eastern Oregon. We farm around 4000 acres and 1500 is alfalfa. The rest is wheat and corn. We also custom harvest another 700 acres of mixed hay. Our alfalfa goes to dairies and cattle feedlots. We use Hesston 3x4 balers, three swathers, 2 hi capacity rakes, and a pro ag 16K bale stacker. I guess it is enough equipment to give me a headache or two in a days time but that is why we love doing it. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
> Take care all and a safe haying season to everyone.
> Colby J


Sounds like you for sure know your way around a bale of hay







......welcome Colby....you will really enjoy this site.

Regards, Mike


----------



## blackydon

Hey my name is Lisa, I own 4 achers in Arizona. I own 3 horses. I would like to take advantage of 2 achers of my land to grow hay. Bermuda grass. The prices of hay is so high i would like to grow some for my animals. I have done a soil test. The results is high salt and everything else is so low, I have to add nitrogen phosphate and potash ect ect. I know this is going to be expensive. But I want to keep my horses. I have started out with a small area of about 6,000sq ft. I have planted tierra bermuda in a small area and sahara bermuda also. The tierra bernuda is doing well better than expected, kind of look like a putting green right now with all the cleachy rock on top, the sahara is much slower to sprout. I wish I could get the large hull of bermuda grass seed but cant afford it, It is not availble in Arizona. I cant afford 400.00 for a 50 lb bag. Just lookin for some help and suggestions to improve the growth of my grass. Or suggestions where I could order seed that is not so bad on my pocket. Thanks Oh please send rain to Arizona.


----------



## Circle Hay

Hi my name is Earl, I cut, rake and bale for a few local farmers in my spare time. I'm here to discuss hay production. This website seems to have everything I'm looking for. Located in central alabama


----------



## Vol

Welcome Earl, we have several members from AL and I am certain you will enjoy this site....Tim/South is a frequent poster on this site from AL.

Regards, Mike


----------



## FarmLady

Greetings! When I read about some of the acreages that y'all are haying, I felt like apologizing for joining this Forum, but I kept ending up here and finding lots of useful info. My thanks to Joanne and Lisa who said they have really small acreages too.
I agree with the fellah that said, "Hobby farm is an oxymoron." Amen to that! I have a "diversified" micro-farm (6.5 acres) in Western Massachusetts. That acreage is about half wood lot in back; the front includes a barn & a couple of decrepit but useful out-buildings, horse corral/riding rink, big organic garden (for home use, so far). I raise Shetland sheep (for wool, until I get hungry enough) and chickens for eggs & the freezer. Also have 2 horses (both half-draft PMU rescues, if you know what that is)--they are the primary hay-burners although the sheep get hay in the winter. I have a high-stress professional 'day job' but my heart (& a tanker-truck-load of sweat) is in the farm. "Never quit your day job," I keep reminding myself. My husband is very helpful with the lifting, electrical, mechanical, etc., but the farm is really my thing. I am always trying to find ways to be cheap... I mean frugal, like a good Yankee, and make the most out of the acreage that we have. That brings me to haying. I have no way to handle big round bales & nowhere to store it and it's no good for horses anyway (moldy hay can kill horses and it isn't good for sheep either, assuming that they will even eat it). I need "horse hay," in other words, not cow hay. My little sheep are rotated over every grass-covered square foot of the property in a 'mob grazing' style (moved daily). I don't have lawns, I have pasture.
The small square bales around here are from $5.50 (when we go pick it up from a local farmer) to $7 (yikes!) at the feed store that I never patronage unless I'm desperate. Hay is my biggest feed expense. I have a, maybe, 3-acre hay field/pasture that I inherited from previous farmers who lived here. It's mixed grasses with a lot of birdsfoot trefoil--a good legume, tho' a trifle rich for the horses, and I discovered it really binds up a sickle-bar mower. I have maintained the field completely organically for the past five years, overseeding a couple of years ago with timothy & fertilizing with composted manure (of which I have a LOT--made fresh daily!), via a small ground-drive manure spreader. I can't run the animals over it fast enough to keep it all from going to seed & getting stalky, however. I would love to be able to make use of that hay, but had no equipment. For the past five years a local guy was supposed to hay the field for his cows & give me some of the hay in square bales. That would've been OK. Year 2, his square baler broke & it's been all downhill from there. Last year, out of my lush field, for the entire summer I got a total of one long brown stinkin' wind-row of seed & stalk that nobody would eat--yes, he just left it there, for me to pick up. With what? With a pitchfork and a Vermont cart. That did it. I've been trying to figure out 'the hay problem' the whole time. Last week I got a sickle-bar mower for my Farmall Cub--liberation! But then there was the tedding (absolute necessity here, now that Western Mass. in spring & summer is feeling more like the Tropics!) and the raking: all by hand, with antique pitchfork and wood-tine hay rake (courtesy of previous farmers who moved on & left a barn-full of great old tools). Problem is, I thought I was gonna die. And we only did about 1 acre. My husband ferried cart-loads of hay 'tumbles' into the barn, where we now have a big hay stack. Neighbors stared. Guess nobody's seen this kind of hayin' for 50 years or more! Now I'm looking for a cheap old--or should I say, "pre-owned"







-- tedder & side-delivery rake. Where there's a will there's a way! Sorry this was so long, but that's why I'm here!
Have a great day, y'all! Jocelyn the Farm Lady, always eager for enlightenment
===============
'48 Farmall Cub with sickle-bar mower (+ belly-mount mower, Henderson manure bucket, grading blade); '58 Massey Harris (yes: MHF) Ferguson Model 202 36-hp "Work Bull" (plug ugly but amazing power!) w/Davis front loader


----------



## dubltrubl

Welcome to the forum Jocelyn! Lot's of good info here, and great folks too. I'm sure you'll find a lot of usefull information here. 
Since I'm not familiar with your location, I can't really speak to your particular problem/s, but I'll take a general stab or two at some. Regarding the tedder, it's a very useful tool. I find one essential due to our climate, (South Louisiana) and due to my work schedule, it gives me a chance to harvest in less than ideal conditions. That said, many folks don't even own or use one. So I'm not so sure I'd go out and get one as a first choice in equipment. A rake of some sort is necessary. It appears your willing to put alot of sweat equity into your place, so the lastest and greatest is not so important. If your having a lot of problems finding someone to help you bale, I'd seriously consider looking for an older baler. Keep in mind, if your square baling, storage is what you'll really need. I'd look real hard for an older "pony" motor driven baler given the type of tractors you have. Not fast by any means, but will do the job and you won't need to run it off of the PTO. Just a suggestion. Also, regarding round bales, I have a different opinion. Lot's of people down here feed round bales to horses with no ill effects. The key is having enough animals to clean the bales up in a reasonable amount of time. It also helps to have a feed apparatus with a cover on it in the event it rains after the bale is opened. The good side to round bales is that they can be stored outside. The downside, is moving them, but if you have a decent 3 point lift on a tractor, a 3 point spike or fork will easily move them. Smaller bales can even be rolled around. I know several people that simply roll one away from a stack, and move an electric fence wire around the remaining stack to keep the animals off of them. What I'm saying is, look into it a bit more before deciding against them. They're cheaper to produce, don't need storage, and don't require as much hand moving as squares. I still prefer squares myself though! I hope some of this helps, and best of luck in your farm endeavors!
Regards,
Steve


----------



## Veillardvillemo

Hello everyone, 
My name is Mo and I am a cattle farmer in Northeast Saskatchewan, Canada.


----------



## Vol

Welcome Mo...is that pic of a fine looking bull yours? Reminds me of a Red Angus.

Regards, Mike


----------



## jchay

hello everyone i just found this site through another tractor site. anyway i have a small operation here in ct that was on my familys farm. since its expensive to live around here i have a regular job as a cable splicer at the telephone company although i'm not sure how much longer that will last. we currently bale around 2k small squares/yr sell some and keep some for our herford/belted galloway crosses, we also buy about a dozen wrapped baleage rounds for winter feeding. this yr a local farmer friend sold all his equipment and we took on a couple of his fields and 1 of his custom jobs. i also have a small maple sugaring operation for something to do in the late winter. my equipment is nothing special but we get by just fine with it and slowly upgrade as we can.


----------



## Shetland Sheepdog

Veillardvillemo said:


> Hello everyone,
> My name is Mo and I am a cattle farmer in Northeast Saskatchewan, Canada.


How far from Reindeer Lake and what direction?


----------



## Vol

jchay said:


> hello everyone i just found this site through another tractor site. anyway i have a small operation here in ct that was on my familys farm. since its expensive to live around here i have a regular job as a cable splicer at the telephone company although i'm not sure how much longer that will last. we currently bale around 2k small squares/yr sell some and keep some for our herford/belted galloway crosses, we also buy about a dozen wrapped baleage rounds for winter feeding. this yr a local farmer friend sold all his equipment and we took on a couple of his fields and 1 of his custom jobs. i also have a small maple sugaring operation for something to do in the late winter. my equipment is nothing special but we get by just fine with it and slowly upgrade as we can.


Welcome jchay....you will like it here....

Regards, Mike


----------



## arcadianhaven

Good morning!
Just wanted to stop in and say hello, I am new to this forum. My wife, Angela, and I own Arcadian Haven ranch near Austin. We are just starting to grow organic foods and grass fed pork products for sale to the general populace. Looking forwrad to gleaning knowledg from you all, we have been reading so many books, but I feel like the real time experience will prove equally as valuable.

Anyway, we have our new website up, and have placed a blog on it to help tell our story as we transition from corporate America to the farm life. Stop by and check it out. Chat soon.

Evan McGee
Owner / ranch hand
http://www.arcadianhaven.com


----------



## rpierce749

Im Reilly from Northern New York. Still in high school but my family takes hay off of ~25 acres for our sheep. I have read this forum for a couple months and finally decided to join. I hope I enjoy my time here ;-)


----------



## ANewman

Hey, im Alex, new to the site. Been readin the posts for a couple weeks. yall seem to be an informative buncha folks. I look forward to learnin some more about the hay bidness and hope to be able to contribute some of my limited knowledge.

A lil about myself. I live in southern middle Tennessee and raise hybid bermuda, a few row crops, do a lil custom cutting and baling, and help a buddy of mine with his operation.


----------



## Vol

Welcome rpierce and Anewman....glad to have you on board!

Regards, Mike


----------



## IslandBreeze

I'm Randy & I live n southwest Missouri (Misery).







I've had a construction company for the last 15 years but I'm n the process of shutting it down, opening a retail location of outdoor furniture n Branson Missouri & possibly getting back to my teenage years & start haying as I did with my grandpa. Looking to do a little for myself but mainly custom haying for others. Google got me to this site but posts from Mike120, somedevildawg, mlappin, swmnhay, JD3430 & others got me hooked & made me feel like I needed to become a member. Thanks again!


----------



## Vol

Welcome Randy, we have many members from the show-me state....you have come to the right place for everything haying.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Bcreech

Hi I am Brad and live in East Central Arkansas (Mississippi River Delta) I am a manager on a row crop farm and bale hay (rounds) for our use in a stocker calf operation and also for sale it is mostly grass hay and bermuda wanting to improve and expand on the bermuda We also bale oats for hay and baleage
I also bale alot of corn and milo stalks and milo regrowth after we cut the stalks after harvest and let it grow back to cut and bale
I am originally from South central Mo and have just been down here a little over a yr
I have been baling hay for myself and custom for several yrs but it is different from where I am from the main thing is the high humidty we have to deal with here
I hope to learn alot from here and maybe help someone out also


----------



## swmnhay

_Welcome to Haytalk Brad._

_Be nice if you put your location in profile,state anyway.It helps alot in disscutions where you are located._


----------



## foz682

Hey all,
I'm Foz in Nova Scotia, My father and I run a small beef farm (30 breeding cows) on about 250 acres. Our farm was dairy up until about three years ago when we just could't keep up with the bills and regulations, sold the milk cows(holsteins and guernseys) and quota, and bought a small herd of Limo/Charolais.
We round bale around 350-400 silage and 150-200 dry hay ever year.
We sell what we feel we can safely do without, which tends to be about 25% of our annual harvest.
My father started round baling about 26 years ago and we've found it worked really well with our farm layout. We do some custom baling, but it's mainly helping neighbors out who have hay on the ground and there's rain on the way.


----------



## Vol

Welcome Foz....whats winter like in your country now?

Regards, Mike


----------



## foz682

The temp. here has been between -6° and -10°c (22° and14°f) for the last couple of weeks, we have about a foot and a half of snow on the ground.
It's a typical winter so far, it will usually stay this way from early Jan to about the middle of March with the occasional stretch of 4-5 thawing days.


----------



## ladyhay

The temp. here has been between -6° and -10°c (22° and14°f) for the last couple of weeks, we have about a foot and a half of snow on the ground.
It's a typical winter so far, it will usually stay this way from early Jan to about the middle of March with the occasional stretch of 4-5 thawing days.

Wow! I have a friend who lived in Nova Scotia for some time and thought it was just beautiful. But she could not handle the cold. Of course I'm sure some would say the same about the Georgia heat. Definitely on my bucket list of places to visit.


----------



## ladyhay

Hello my name is Carmen. I'm a math teacher by day! I grew up on a cattle farm/haying operation and the haying part about killed us all growing up! Strangely that's the part I missed most when I moved away. I was born in north Georgia, started my teaching career in northwest Georgia then married and moved to southeast Georgia! Now I've kinda settled in the middle on a little piece of land that's pretty close to heaven. We have a few Paso Fino horses and my daughters are loving growing up on a dirt road in God's country. I enjoy kayaking when I have time and this past summer my husband and I kayaked 105 miles down Georgia's Little Amazon, the Altamaha River. My girls enjoy showing goats in 4-H and destroying the knees of their jeans each summer jumping hay bales. Look forward to meeting everyone!


----------



## hillside hay

Hello Everyone,
Just a bit of info about me. My name is Aaron and I'm farming 150 acres of mostly timothy orchard grass redclover and native grasses in central NY. Google brought me here when dealer support was nonexistent. Very helpful to have a trade specific forum with so many top-notch contributors. A few times the good-natured advce foundhere has saved an older piece of gear from the scrap heap.. amazing what a few turns of a hidden slack adjuster will do!


----------



## R Ball

Hello, my name is Roger. I started cutting hay 4 years ago from scratch. Currently cut approx 100 acres of hay and run ~ 20 feeders a year. Also have 3 horses and a mini horse and donkey that's the mascot. Was lucky enough to be able to afford the equipment and ground to farm (blessed). Was let go in October from work at 
55 years old. 
Work harder at this than ever and hope to be able to maintain my equipment and grow. My son helps a ton and he has two little boys that I hope grow to love this life.

I think the site has volumes of info and appreciate it very much.
PS forgot to say 3 dogs and a cat also.


----------



## nathanhrnicek

Hello fellow members,

My name is Nathan Hrnicek. I am a District Sales Manager for Dairyland Seed. I represent our Western Indiana region. We offer a full line of corn, soybeans, silage, world class alfafa including hybrid alfalfa, and some forages as well. I would like the opportunity to get to know some guys on here and wish all of you the best of luck in your endeavors. I live just north and east of Wolcott Indiana.


----------



## mattr158

hey matt here over in idaho i stumbled on this site one night looking up the web sight of the seed company
i use and sell for. I farm about three hundred acres and sell seed for tug of war, so please any one with helpful hints on farming or markenting get back to me please


----------



## jimmy56

Hello,
My name is Jim, I'm from Oregon. I currently hay about 20 acres as a hobby and to keep our Paint Horses happy. I have been doing Metal Fabrication for 36 years, but I am in the process of selling my interest in the business and plan on purchasing a Farm/Ranch in Central Oregon to raise Hay and start a new career at 56 y/o. I have accumulated a lot of equipment and am lucky enough to try this without going out on a limb financially.


----------



## Vol

jimmy56 said:


> Hello,
> My name is Jim, I'm from Oregon. I currently hay about 20 acres as a hobby and to keep our Paint Horses happy. I have been doing Metal Fabrication for 36 years, but I am in the process of selling my interest in the business and plan on purchasing a Farm/Ranch in Central Oregon to raise Hay and start a new career at 56 y/o. I have accumulated a lot of equipment and am lucky enough to try this without going out on a limb financially.


Welcome to HayTalk and congratulations on your 2nd life.....

Regards, Mike


----------



## gaboy

Hello all, glad I finally stumbled on a site that deals with my hobby. My uncle and I cut bermuda and fescue off of 300 irrigated acres in North Georgia. I've been doing that since I was big enough to drive, which is 18+ years now. I also just recently returned from a fall harvest run in ND, a dream I wanted to complete before entering the real world.

This year will be bringing many changes for our operation. In the past I ran the daily operations of our farm but I have another full time job this year. Also our long time buyer is scaling back so I am going to have to find a way to move more horse/ cow feed hay in the southeast. This is one of the reasons I am excited to join this forum, there have got to be some ideas on here that will help me out.

Looking forward to chatting with you all.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk gaboy......


----------



## cshead

My name is Chet. I grew up on a farm, in a farm community. My wife and I are finally getting to the point we can start planning to buy a small farm. I intend to start small and expand. My goal is to do hay for a living by 50(I'm 34 now). For now, I have a full time job elsewhere, but I am beyond ready to get "back to the farm."


----------



## Slim

My name is Shane. I live in mid michigan. This looks like a great place to learn some tricks if the trade. The wife and i are starting a little haying operation this year. Hope to expand in years to come.


----------



## somedevildawg

Glad to have ya on haytalk, Shane and Chet 


Slim said:


> My name is Shane. I live in mid michigan. This looks like a great place to learn some tricks if the trade. The wife and i are starting a little haying operation this year. Hope to expand in years to come.





cshead said:


> My name is Chet. I grew up on a farm, in a farm community. My wife and I are finally getting to the point we can start planning to buy a small farm. I intend to start small and expand. My goal is to do hay for a living by 50(I'm 34 now). For now, I have a full time job elsewhere, but I am beyond ready to get "back to the farm."


----------



## Native87

Hello Everybody,

My name is Terry and I am a small hog, goat, and produce farmer in Southwest Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. Ive been on and around farming my whole life. I am just beginning to harvest my own hay and I have learned that I have alot to learn. It was always someone else making the decisions on when it was ready to harvest, and how it was going to be done. So I threw myself into making my own hay and soon found I have no idea what the nuts and bolts of it are. Like what weather do you look for, what are the conditions that are acceptable to harvest and it goes on forever. I need all the help I can get here folks. There is so much more to it than the cutting, raking, and baling. I know how to do those things, its the other major points that I have no idea what I am doing. Any suggestions, websites, books, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I really need to learn all I can. Thank yopu for yalls time. ~Terry


----------



## cwright

Hello Terry and welcome to hay talk. Lots of good information here so feel free to look around. One of the challenges in this area is the humidity and finding the right window with clear skys and a enough days of sunshine to get it cured all before the hay gets to ripe or over mature.

Here is some information that is really helpful. Mr Hay Wilson in Texas post these rules. I hope he does not mind me re-printing the info.

Mr Hay Wilson said:

"The rule is hay will be no drier than 40% moisture when the Humidity is 90%

The hay will be no drier than 18% moisture when the humidity is 70%

The hay will be no drier than 16% moisture when the humidity is 65%. This is the humidity down next to the windrow, not 5.5' above the ground. This is also the rule when the humidity is going down.

Baling at night with the humidity going up is different.

East of Dallas we want to have our hay spread out as wide as possible behind the mower / mower conditioner.

Haying where the humidity seldom goes above 50% they do *not* *need* a wide swath to cure the hay, as a matter of fact a wide swath lowers cost them leaf shatter."

Use the search function on this site to find a lot of knowledge jewels such as this one. Key words "moisture and humidity"

These are to me the two most important factors in making good hay that isnt moldy and dusty.

Here is a link to Virginia Tech. The university ag sites have a wealth of information on hand. http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/category/pasture-forage-aa.html

CW


----------



## [email protected]

Hello everyone! I am John and I live in upstate South Carolina. I recently joined International Stock Food as a regional sales rep for Hay Guard preservatives covering OH, PA, NY, MD, VA, KY, TN, NC and SC.

I look forward to participating in the discussions on Hay Talk.

If you have any questions about Hay Guard feel free to get hold of me at [email protected]


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN

Hello Guys and welcome to Haytalk. Don't be afraid to ask any questions. Best, Mike


----------



## RockyHill

Google has brought up this site for more hay searching inquiries than I could number. Joined a while back to be able to post a question and have just now found this part of the forum. So, hopefully better late than never.

RockyHill is really Jeff and Shelia from south central Kentucky. Jeff has been farming all his life and has the knowledge; Shelia is the wife who is out there too and uses the internet & keyboard.

We used to raise tobacco, beef cattle, sheep, and hay for our own livestock feed with some custom hay work and sales of extra hay. We've tried to "cut back" to just hay and are doing small squares. Last year (2012) we baled over 11,000 bales and the unfortunate drought that others experienced sold our hay quickly.

You all know what 2013 has been for hay production. Raise oat hay, Timothy, orchardgrass, some fescue, Korean lespedeza (when can afford the seed), and johnsongrass. We use a sickle bar mower conditioner followed by a Agland macerator (reconditioner), ted, ted again, (and sometimes ted again) rake with an 8 wheel carted V-rake, bale with JD 348, pick up with NH 1044 balewagon. This is first year for this balewagon, had been using a Farmhand 8 bale accumulator & grapple.

So now you know that RockyHill is really a married couple I'll be posting from either "Jeff says . . " or Shelia if that is OK.


----------



## Vol

We welcome both of you and it is a pleasure to have you in tandem....

Regards, Mike


----------



## somedevildawg

RockyHill said:


> Google has brought up this site for more hay searching inquiries than I could number. Joined a while back to be able to post a question and have just now found this part of the forum. So, hopefully better late than never.RockyHill is really Jeff and Shelia from south central Kentucky. Jeff has been farming all his life and has the knowledge; Shelia is the wife who is out there too and uses the internet & keyboard.We used to raise tobacco, beef cattle, sheep, and hay for our own livestock feed with some custom hay work and sales of extra hay. We've tried to "cut back" to just hay and are doing small squares. Last year (2012) we baled over 11,000 bales and the unfortunate drought that others experienced sold our hay quickly.You all know what 2013 has been for hay production. Raise oat hay, Timothy, orchardgrass, some fescue, Korean lespedeza (when can afford the seed), and johnsongrass. We use a sickle bar mower conditioner followed by a Agland macerator (reconditioner), ted, ted again, (and sometimes ted again) rake with an 8 wheel carted V-rake, bale with JD 348, pick up with NH 1044 balewagon. This is first year for this balewagon, had been using a Farmhand 8 bale accumulator & grapple.So now you know that RockyHill is really a married couple I'll be posting from either "Jeff says . . " or Shelia if that is OK.


That google is some kinda smart....welcome to haytalk


----------



## Kristin

Hi everyone. My name is Kristin. Starting my 3-year self-education to leave the corporate world of business and computers and start phase 2 of my life and get into the hard, unpredictable world of farming/ranching. I have one kid that is a senior and will be off the Air Force, the second one graduates the year after. We're positioning ourselves to leave suburban Minneapolis and move to South Dakota (ideally.) My husband is supportive of the idea of me embarking on this adventure, and if he's lucky I might let him drive my tractor once in a while, I have a lot to learn, and enjoy the wealth of knowledge here. Thank you for being a resource.


----------



## RockyHill

Welcome Kristin. Brave woman to let hubby drive your tractor. 

Keep us posted on your 'education'. Glad you realize the change from corporate to farming.

Shelia


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome Kristen, good luck with your second half adventure.....I'm sure you're very proud of your son, please give him my gratitude for serving. My father was in the air corps/air force as was a couple of my cousins....great branch of our military as I'm sure you're aware. There's alot of good people from MN on the forum, you can learn alot from their wisdom.....


----------



## halfmoonfarm01

Hello,

This is a great site, I have been reading it for awhile as a guest. The wife and I have helped her father on his farm since we were married. He was a remarkable man, he just passed away at 100 years and 7 months old. He drove up until he was 98 and helped me rake hay at 99, his mind was still sharp. We will keep the farm and take care of it as he would have wanted. Small operation, we just raise hay for the cows. Now that I am retired we hope to expand a little with more cattle and into selling some hay. Thanks for all of the great information. David


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome David and my condolences for the loss of your grandfather-in-law....he's part of the greatest generation, we'll never see another quite like em I'm afraid....unbelievable to be still operating a tractor at that age...sounds like hard work on the farm is a blessing in disguise.

Good luck with the farm, I'm sure you've been blessed with copious amounts of rainfall this year, makes hay farming a real challenge....I don't know if I wouldn't think about expanding the herd rather than selling hay....thnk you might get more bang for the buck, just my 02...

Welcome to HT


----------



## EMPIRE AG

Hello Everyone,

My name is Bill. I'm from Central Arizona. Found this link come up in various hay equipment searches. I work for a machinery dealership and am always browsing looking for values, specs, etc.

We get about 11 cuttings a year out here

Lot of good info so far from browsing the forums.

-Bill


----------



## LWLARK

Howdy,

My name is Levi. I'm from a very small town on the Kansas, Nebraska line. I raise hay for my families cow herd consisting of primarily of alfalfa and brome hay. I also put up small square bales for several neighbors.

This next spring I am starting a custom haying operation. I have a full time job as a crop consultant, so it won't be a real large scale venture, but hopefully it will keep me busy.

I always have plenty of questions.

Thanks,

Levi


----------



## RockyHill

Welcome Bill & Levi!

Eleven cuttings - wow!

Questions - we've gotten a lot of good answers from here.


----------



## Vol

LWLARK said:


> Howdy,
> 
> My name is Levi. I'm from a very small town on the Kansas, Nebraska line. I raise hay for my families cow herd consisting of primarily of alfalfa and brome hay. I also put up small square bales for several neighbors.
> 
> This next spring I am starting a custom haying operation. I have a full time job as a crop consultant, so it won't be a real large scale venture, but hopefully it will keep me busy.
> 
> I always have plenty of questions.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Levi


Mighty fine deer hunting in your part of the country Levi.....do you live near Red Cloud? Welcome to haytalk.

Regards, Mike


----------



## LWLARK

Vol said:


> Mighty fine deer hunting in your part of the country Levi.....do you live near Red Cloud? Welcome to haytalk.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I'm a little ways East of Red Cloud, about an hour. My town is right on the state line where 81 Highway goes through. We've certainly got some great deer hunting here too.

Thanks for the welcome.

Levi


----------



## hayfire

Hey everyone. I'm in central Ok. Raised on a farm, still run a few mama cows for fun. Just introducing myself, here to learn and possibly get into the hay business next spring. Mainly here to learn from the experts. I've fed alot of hay, but never cut/baled so I'll be the guy asking lots of questions over the next few days. I've got a full time job and volunteer with the fire dept. in my home town. If you want to know anything else, ask away.


----------



## RockyHill

Welcome! Hope you enjoy the production side of hay. Appreciate your volunteering in the fire dept.-- a dangerous job and around where I live they get calls for everything no one else wants to do.


----------



## Tim/South

EMPIRE AG said:


> Hello Everyone,
> 
> My name is Bill. I'm from Central Arizona. Found this link come up in various hay equipment searches. I work for a machinery dealership and am always browsing looking for values, specs, etc.
> 
> We get about 11 cuttings a year out here
> 
> Lot of good info so far from browsing the forums.
> 
> -Bill





LWLARK said:


> Howdy,
> 
> My name is Levi. I'm from a very small town on the Kansas, Nebraska line. I raise hay for my families cow herd consisting of primarily of alfalfa and brome hay. I also put up small square bales for several neighbors.
> 
> This next spring I am starting a custom haying operation. I have a full time job as a crop consultant, so it won't be a real large scale venture, but hopefully it will keep me busy.
> 
> I always have plenty of questions.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Levi





hayfire said:


> Hey everyone. I'm in central Ok. Raised on a farm, still run a few mama cows for fun. Just introducing myself, here to learn and possibly get into the hay business next spring. Mainly here to learn from the experts. I've fed alot of hay, but never cut/baled so I'll be the guy asking lots of questions over the next few days. I've got a full time job and volunteer with the fire dept. in my home town. If you want to know anything else, ask away.


Welcome Bill, Levi and hayfire.

Not saying we are experts here but between us there are a lot of hay miles on the meter.

It is always nice when I read and learn how things are done in different regions and countries.


----------



## Vol

LWLARK said:


> I'm a little ways East of Red Cloud, about an hour. My town is right on the state line where 81 Highway goes through. We've certainly got some great deer hunting here too.
> 
> Thanks for the welcome.
> 
> Levi


You are North of Belleville Kansas are you not? I have hunted in Republic County Kansas for about 10 years or so.....terrific hunting in your area....I have taken my largest 2 whitetails in that area with archery gear.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Bonfire

hayfire said:


> Hey everyone. I'm in central Ok. Raised on a farm, still run a few mama cows for fun. Just introducing myself, here to learn and possibly get into the hay business next spring. Mainly here to learn from the experts. I've fed alot of hay, but never cut/baled so I'll be the guy asking lots of questions over the next few days. I've got a full time job and volunteer with the fire dept. in my home town. If you want to know anything else, ask away.


Which way from OKC?


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome hayfire...."HAYFIRE" are we running out of screen name possibilies? Just jokin, I like but I dislike as well....welcome


----------



## Coondle

Well it took me a while to go so far down on the board and I have made a few posts before introducing myself,

Name is Kevin and I run a small farm at Toodyay a district of about 1683 square kilometres some 60 miles North-East of Perth Western Australia, population 4800.

The Climate is West Coast mediterranean average rainfall is about 22inches per year falling mostly in winter but lately the rain season seems to have moved to later in the year.

Born and raised on this small farm and had to work with old worn out gear but it teaches respect for maintenance and means you study operation and think about innovation/ modifications helped along by the many repairs.

Farmed cattle, dairy and beef, sheep for meat and wool but now more as meat sheep. Grew wheat, barley, rye, oats, citrus fruit ( oranges & mandarines), pome fruit (apples and pears), plus stone fruit (plums, apricots, peaches and nectarines), a really mixed farming operaton.

Wife and I own 120 acres, lease/use another 50 but at about 65 years of age we scaling back. We run sheep do some hay and have started a sandalwood plantation.

Have dropped haying to only 70 or 80 acres now and likely to produce 10,000 small square bales this year if the rain goes away and I can dry it. I run it as a one person operation, my wife will not cart hay the way she used to, particularly as she commutes 50 miles each way each day for work. Someone has to earn money so I can farm. 

Also run a water delivery business locally, delivering up to about 18 million litres (4.5 million US gallons) per year, plus for the last 4 years been a local government councillor and Shire President (Mayor) for the last 3 years 2 months (retire tomorrow October 21). :lol:

Used to do what is called custom haying , up to 400 acres and 35,000 bales on top of the nearly 15,000 bales at home and on leased land.

Worked for our State Government for 24 years, qualified as a lawyer (solicitor and barrister or counsel) have worked for prosecution and criminal defence as well as civil cases, last case was 9 years ago.

My wife says I will never die wondering about what it is to do something different. 

The result is I am educated, probably opinionated, I hope articulate, but not yet bored out of my brain as many at my stage of life are.

A rich and varied life with many skills learnt, many friends made and few bridges burnt I hope.

My experience so far is this is a wonderful forum and most posters respect the other members. Members ask for assistance not criticism for the gear they have. We all have to work with what we have and make the best of it. After all there is no such thing as a silly question but there can be silly answers.

I have the following gear

504, and 604 with loader, Euroleopards

Case 2290

WCM Front End Loader (10 ton class 125 hp articulated industrial loader)

NH 1411 discbine

NH 96 slasher mower

Chamberlain 753 28 row no till seeder

Silvan 60 ft 2000 litre (400 gallon) trailed boomspray

Hardie 20 ft 200 litre (50 gallon) 3pl boomspray

NH 570 baler

JD 348 baler

100 series Bale Bandit

Volvo FH13 8 wheeler Truck

Austin truck vintage (37,000 miles and 1966)

Fordson E27N crawler tractor vintage (1949)

Fiat 70 CI Dozer

Case 930 about 1960, 930 Comfort king about 1965, 832 Western plains Comfort King about 1970, all vintage

Massey Harris No 6 side drag combine harvester Vintage about early1950's

Sunshine AL harvester Vintage about 1930's

Massey Ferguson 12ft 585 self propelled combine harvester vintage about 1970's

Sunshine hay binder vintage about 1930's

Bagshaw Bros Winnower (patented 1856)

NH 471 bale loader, plus bale elevator.

plus lots of other more minor toys and some vintage gear: vehicles, ploughs, cultivators, combine seeders, chaff cutters, hand tools, horse gear to name a few bits and pieces.

More an accumulator than a collector.

Would like to meet and say "G'day Mate" to haytalk members who visit downunder, yeah you get used to walking upside down . Saw some pics on forum which were upside down, had to check if they were from Australia!

Being able to talk, with my slow typing, to intelligent people in a similar industry on the other side of the world is fantastic.


----------



## somedevildawg

Hope I can book a Quantas flight one day, my mother visited about 15-20 years ago when my sister lived there, she loved it...and the wine. Glad to have you as a contributor coondle...a true asset to the forum


----------



## Vol

Yes, I also would like to go to Australia....and New Zealand.....I sorta still want to go to South Africa and hunt plains game with archery gear, but I am somewhat more reluctant on going there now...Be great to hunt Red Stag in NZ and Buffalo in Australia. And of course, to visit the ag regions and socialize with the people.

Regards, Mike


----------



## somedevildawg

Vol said:


> Yes, I also would like to go to Australia....and New Zealand.....I sorta still want to go to South Africa and hunt plains game with archery gear, but I am somewhat more reluctant on going there now...Be great to hunt Red Stag in NZ and Buffalo in Australia. And of course, to visit the ag regions and socialize with the people.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Me too, but I'll take the Browning .270 win mag thank ya very much.....


----------



## RockyHill

Coondle/Kevin, welcome. Have enjoyed your posts to different topics already, good to hear about you and a perspective from a different continent. Hope you'll post pictures along the way too. Maybe you can host a "Hay Talk" get together at your place, sounds like a lot of folks would be interested in making the trip  .

Shelia


----------



## Coondle

I was fortunate to visit the US and Canada some years ago during July and August. Spent 6 weeks driving around the North East down into NY State and as far West as going around the west of Lake Superior. Amazed at the amount of Timber logged, at the amount of grain terminals in Duluth, the use of barns for livestock some year round shedded dairy herds it seems, the lack of sheep in big numbers, your methods of haying and the range of hay handling gear you have. The range of crops and the amount of row cropping.

Not keen on your cold winters though, i am used to more temperate climes. A minus 5 degree Celsius is extreme for me ah yes many would need a conversion, the formula in case you are interested and even if you are not, is Temp in C multiplied by 9 and divided by 5 then add 32

ie -5 x9 -:- 5= -9 +32 = 21 F . There are some intervals in the two temp scales that are simple

they are -5, +5 and -40. The first 2 because the divisor is 5 and the last because that is the point where the temprature scales co-incide, but I digress.

As far north as g

Geraldton in Canada (Geraldton is a coastal town about 3 hours NW of me where a major industry is "Western Rock Lobster") and down parts of the east coast near the Canada/US border. Did 18,000 kilometres in 6 weeks in a hire car, or "rental" as some call em, nearly got arrested for not understanding the different terminology along with the different accent when transiting the US/Canada border near Thunder Bay. Luckily I caught on in the nick of time so did not get the internal body search with rubber gloves so they could focus my mind. None-the-less I must look a suspicious sort, got near a full search at every air terminal on our trip except going into Detroit, the officer there was unbelievably helpful, even filled in the missing bits on our forms, maybe she fancied me 

Was a fabulous trip and saw much, learnt a lot and enjoyed the whole 6 weeks. Went too fast. Saw cities like we ain't got here, Perth was only about 2 million, Toronto was 10. Came home and thought our roads were empty compared to many there. WE had the experience of travelling via Gary Indianna, through Chicago heading for Wisconsin on Friday afternoon and that is with every driver on the wrong side of the car and travelling on the wrong side of the road at breakneck speed. Lucky you all do the same over there otherw se it would be chaos on the roads if some of your drivers sat on the proper side, by that I mean the right side and drove on the left, the proper side!

Just kidding :lol:. Was interesting and the hardest for me having driven for about 40 years then to not operate on auto pilot and end up on the wrong side of the road and the law. The most difficult for me was to do a left turn at an intersection. Must have don something right, the accident score for me and them was nil all when I left.

For those interested in hunting there is a local guy near town that runs "safaris" into the arid interior to hunt feral camel. Australia has more camels than Saudi Arabia with feral numbers estimated at more than a million causing terrible degradation of our fragile srid landscape vegetation, and great damage to infrastructure in our grazing rangelands. It takes a good fence to hold, and good tanks to withstand a determined bull camel.

The buffalo take a bit of stopping too, they are the asian draft buffalo that have becomr feral, powerful, wily and armed with dangerous horns. There is a slowly growing pressure to permit controlled hunting of handbags, oh no, I mean saltwater crocodiles. Salties as they are known grow up to 20 feet long and weigh plenty are a bit smaller than the Nile croc but are now becoming a threat to people and station(ranch) stock, capable of taking grown cattle! Bigger, more active and more dangerous than an alligator. Guarantee no one would willingly get in the water with a croc of any size. Crocs are totally protected at present unless one has taken a person and they may be captured and relocated to a safe place or a crocodile farm if hanging around too close to humans. They are seagoing having been found many miles out to sea. Hunting is not that big here in the West for a range of reasons, not the least of which is the very strict firearms controls in place nationally. We do not need to get into that debate here, I just mention that as a fact.

There is no other place like Australia, it is different, and most compared with the areas I travelled is very very arid but it may be an acquired taste, with vegetation and animals adapted to these conditions. Animal oddities like mammals that lay eggs, mammals that have young so undeveloped that they are no bigger than a matchbox when born, but grow to larger than a human. Birds that have been known to fly 250 mile round trips to feed their young when the season turned bad.

Happy to meet hay talk folk that make it here and depending on work commitments show them around.

It is along haul here, took 23 hours flying time to get from Perth to Detroit, and there are no shortcuts. Took just as long to fly home, funny that!

There I go running off at the mouth or should I say keyboard again

Keep safe., be cool


----------



## somedevildawg

very insightful, thanks...my mother just really lliked the wine  she did complain about the length of flight however.

if I do get a chance to make it "down under" I would love to do some fishing at the reef, if they allow it anymore.....I wonder, are the handbags on the endangered species list? if not, I personally think its a good thing to allow for controlled hunts. Thanks for the insight, all we ever get to experience of Australia is "outback steak house"


----------



## Coondle

There are two croc species, Johnson River Croc a small (to 4 ft) freshwater fish eater, totally protected for many many years. The saltwater critter is very large and has been totally protected for about 40 years or so but after being in decline is making a comeback. Can leap about 10 feet out of the water. A young female American tourist, Ginger Meadows, how is it I remember her name was taken off a cruise bout in our North West in the 1970's by a crock leaping out of the water and grabbing her from the deck rail. So long as it is an outback steakhouse not an outback outhouse, the aroma would be different at least.


----------



## swmnhay

Coondle said:


> I was fortunate to visit the US and Canada some years ago during July and August. Spent 6 weeks driving around the North East down into NY State and as far West as going around the west of Lake Superior. Amazed at the amount of Timber logged, at the amount of grain terminals in Duluth, the use of barns for livestock some year round shedded dairy herds it seems, the lack of sheep in big numbers, your methods of haying and the range of hay handling gear you have. The range of crops and the amount of row cropping.
> Not keen on your cold winters though, i am used to more temperate climes. A minus 5 degree Celsius is extreme for me ah yes many would need a conversion, the formula in case you are interested and even if you are not, is Temp in C multiplied by 9 and divided by 5 then add 32
> ie -5 x9 -:- 5= -9 +32 = 21 F . There are some intervals in the two temp scales that are simple
> they are -5, +5 and -40. The first 2 because the divisor is 5 and the last because that is the point where the temprature scales co-incide, but I digress.
> As far north as g
> Geraldton in Canada (Geraldton is a coastal town about 3 hours NW of me where a major industry is "Western Rock Lobster") and down parts of the east coast near the Canada/US border. Did 18,000 kilometres in 6 weeks in a hire car, or "rental" as some call em, nearly got arrested for not understanding the different terminology along with the different accent when transiting the US/Canada border near Thunder Bay. Luckily I caught on in the nick of time so did not get the internal body search with rubber gloves so they could focus my mind. None-the-less I must look a suspicious sort, got near a full search at every air terminal on our trip except going into Detroit, the officer there was unbelievably helpful, even filled in the missing bits on our forms, maybe she fancied me
> Was a fabulous trip and saw much, learnt a lot and enjoyed the whole 6 weeks. Went too fast. Saw cities like we ain't got here, Perth was only about 2 million, Toronto was 10. Came home and thought our roads were empty compared to many there. WE had the experience of travelling via Gary Indianna, through Chicago heading for Wisconsin on Friday afternoon and that is with every driver on the wrong side of the car and travelling on the wrong side of the road at breakneck speed. Lucky you all do the same over there otherw se it would be chaos on the roads if some of your drivers sat on the proper side, by that I mean the right side and drove on the left, the proper side!
> Just kidding :lol:. Was interesting and the hardest for me having driven for about 40 years then to not operate on auto pilot and end up on the wrong side of the road and the law. The most difficult for me was to do a left turn at an intersection. Must have don something right, the accident score for me and them was nil all when I left.
> 
> For those interested in hunting there is a local guy near town that runs "safaris" into the arid interior to hunt feral camel. Australia has more camels than Saudi Arabia with feral numbers estimated at more than a million causing terrible degradation of our fragile srid landscape vegetation, and great damage to infrastructure in our grazing rangelands. It takes a good fence to hold, and good tanks to withstand a determined bull camel.
> The buffalo take a bit of stopping too, they are the asian draft buffalo that have becomr feral, powerful, wily and armed with dangerous horns. There is a slowly growing pressure to permit controlled hunting of handbags, oh no, I mean saltwater crocodiles. Salties as they are known grow up to 20 feet long and weigh plenty are a bit smaller than the Nile croc but are now becoming a threat to people and station(ranch) stock, capable of taking grown cattle! Bigger, more active and more dangerous than an alligator. Guarantee no one would willingly get in the water with a croc of any size. Crocs are totally protected at present unless one has taken a person and they may be captured and relocated to a safe place or a crocodile farm if hanging around too close to humans. They are seagoing having been found many miles out to sea. Hunting is not that big here in the West for a range of reasons, not the least of which is the very strict firearms controls in place nationally. We do not need to get into that debate here, I just mention that as a fact.
> 
> There is no other place like Australia, it is different, and most compared with the areas I travelled is very very arid but it may be an acquired taste, with vegetation and animals adapted to these conditions. Animal oddities like mammals that lay eggs, mammals that have young so undeveloped that they are no bigger than a matchbox when born, but grow to larger than a human. Birds that have been known to fly 250 mile round trips to feed their young when the season turned bad.
> 
> Happy to meet hay talk folk that make it here and depending on work commitments show them around.
> It is along haul here, took 23 hours flying time to get from Perth to Detroit, and there are no shortcuts. Took just as long to fly home, funny that!
> There I go running off at the mouth or should I say keyboard again
> Keep safe., be cool


Wow that's sounds very interesting.Never would of thought of feral camels in Austrailia.Have to put Austrailia on my Bucket List.

I'm about 300 miles SW of Duluth.In our area most livestock are under roof yr around.Dairy and Hogs anyway.Beef cattle are over 50%.Because of regulations and the weather.

Of all the places to go in the US why Detroit?


----------



## Coondle

Booked on Qantas and the fight from Perth was to Narita in Japan then boarded North West airlines which flew to Detroit one of its hubs. Then caught a commuter flight to Toronto. My daughter was in Toronto working for Adeco doing labour hire for Cirque de Soleil.

Planes fly a Great Circle route Japan USA and return which is the shortest route between the two

The great circle route from Minneapolis-St Paul takes a course up along the Rockies into northern Alaska, so far north that there was snow in the valleys that were in shade in August! then curves down to Japan. The actual route flown has variations particularly if the aircraft can pick up a jetstream ..

To see how a great circle route works, you need to look at it on a globe not a flat map.

On the other hand to fly across Australia and then the Pacific and then the US actually takes more flying time and at the time had poorer connections. Detroit was just to change Planes. On the return we left from Toronto and transited at Minneapolis-St Paul another of North West's hubs and then Narita, on to Perth.


----------



## hayfire

Bonfire said:


> Which way from OKC?


I live in Piedmont, right on the northwest side of OKC. My brother and I partner on a small cow/calf operation east of Duncan, which is about 90 miles south of me.


----------



## Bonfire

hayfire said:


> I live in Piedmont, right on the northwest side of OKC. My brother and I partner on a small cow/calf operation east of Duncan, which is about 90 miles south of me.


I ate at the Mexican restaurant there in July 2012. Ate fried chicken in Okarche one night.


----------



## rcb

Hello all,

New here obviously. I'm single handedly (well double handedly counting my wife) putting the family farm back into gear... low gear, but still.

It's been sitting idle for over ten years now, so I'm opening the fields back up. Also, as it happens our neighbors (and friends) haven't been working their property either, so they said i could use their fields to boot.

Having previously raised cattle, feed corn and hay, I'm going to just go with hay (I think) initially on a portion, probably start with 40-50 acres as I don't want to bankrupt myself trying to get these fields back into use.

What we haven't done before with hay is produce it for commercial intent (just our own use) so I've been doing a lot of reading on preference and trying to gauge our local market.

We've got ancient equipment that I'll continue to use, with the exception of a new to me baler and perhaps a discbine.

Anyhow, as I may ask stupid questions at some point, figured I'd at least say hi.

Thanks for having me,

-RC


----------



## Grateful11

Welcome aboard !

BTW: There's no such thing as stupid questions here, they're all as important as any other questions so ask away


----------



## RockyHill

Welcome to you and your wife! Family farms and ancient equipment are a good combo too.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome RCB....lots a folk from your neck o the woods here....welcome, good luck


----------



## rcb

Thanks for the welcome! Well if nothing else, it'll give me a good excuse to drive the tractors around and spend some time outside.


----------



## 555t

Howdy from Houston, TX

I have a small spread 25 miles outside Houston, though I grew up on a small farm in northern Illinois.

As a kid we baled alfalfa in small bales always using old equipment. I remember in the '70s we had an old IH baler that was powered by mounted gas engine. That engine was started with a hand crank.

My Dad still bales with a JD 24t that he bought in the 80s. Back then everything in my area was small bales, and all of us neighbor kids helped load thousands of bales on each others farms. One neighbor had an Allis Chalmers small round baler that we all hated. It was hard to stack the bales in any organized manner. You also had to use hooks to move them. I now think it would be cool to have one.

I couldn't wait to get off the farm 25 years ago, but now in my mid forties, I am getting back to my roots. I am getting a couple horses and will bale my hay for personal use. I have an Ag exemption, but really don't have enough land to justify purchasing baling equipment. After one year (and only one cutting) using a custom baler, I have purchased a small round baler. It will most likely never pay for itself, but I miss working the fields.

I learned a lot reading these forums, and went with a 4x6 baler that I plan on using to make 4x4 bales since my MF 271 has around 60 pto hp. I waited for a lightly used baler that had been stored inside. I will be practicing using it here if it ever stops raining. The bales will be junk, but I'll be ready for first cutting next year.

Thanks.


----------



## somedevildawg

Howdy Texan 555t, glad to have you as a member of haytalk, lots of folk here from the great state of Texas, good luck with baling the last crop this year, you didn't mention the brand of baler that will be pulled by the MF271, welcome to HT


----------



## Coondle

Welcome rcb and wife, there is nothing like a bit of tractor therapy to heal the inner self. The ladies they may like a bit of retail therapy but noise and dust from a tractor and gear sure makes me feel good.

Ancient machinery is tried and tested, some has tested me too. There are plenty of farmers who have gone broke with the latest and greatest, remember that you have to match your gear with the pocket you bring, get out of balance with too much shiny gear and not enough pocket and ther will be trouble. I found that you could grow your programme as you grow your equipments production capacity.

You seem ready to live within your means and if you do I think you will do well.

Again, welcome from someone downunder, and ask questions , tey are never silly, but some answers can be!


----------



## Coondle

Welcome Tx555, I know that this forum has opened up a window in another part of the world for me. There is a great deal we can learn from each other and this forum is a great place to do that. Getting back to your roots is a bit like reminiscing but for real, not just a fantasy in the mind.


----------



## 555t

Here's the baler at the auction yard. Hesston 555t


----------



## Bgriffin856

Hey guys new here. Looks like a great site. Im from Northwest Pennsylvania and milk 40-50cows and crop 200+acres with my parents. Very interested in learning and helping out others. Use new holland john deere IH and other brand equipment and 5 IH tractors and one john deere.


----------



## Vol

Bgriffin856 said:


> Hey guys new here. Looks like a great site. Im from Northwest Pennsylvania and milk 40-50cows and crop 200+acres with my parents. Very interested in learning and helping out others. Use new holland john deere IH and other brand equipment and 5 IH tractors and one john deere.


Sounds like you will fit in here just fine Griffin. Welcome to haytalk....

Regards, Mike


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk griffin, I like those older IH, not much better in the day, good friend of mine drove one up I-75 to Atlanta straight to the capital, that's 200+ miles......think it was in '75..........he trailered it home


----------



## Bgriffin856

Thanks guys. 
I should also mention we grow corn for silage and some grain, sorghum sudan grass, mix of hay including reed canary grass, timothy, red white alskie clover, tall fescue, orchard grass, and whatever comes in naturally usually in mixes Have a wide variety of soils from clay to gravel loam clay mostly clay loam. Everything we grow and put up we feed. Did sell a couple round bales this summer. 
Hope to one day grow and expand our land base enough to grow all our own feed plus sell some crops.


----------



## hickey farms

Hi there my name is Shane my main income was maple syrup I would work two months out of the year and live of that income the rest of the time I did nothing so I got into hay farming 10 years ago. I grow 250+ of alfalfa I'm always trying to find more ground and expanding. I run everything new Holland cause no other company would give me the time of day to an 18 year old kid trying to purchase a 80k tractor. But now Deere has come to my door asking me to trade in a tractor and try their equ. Lol. Anyways its nice to see other hay farmers around in my area I have none its all cash crop here. I'm sure I'll get to know you guys a little better when talking to ya on this site


----------



## Bgriffin856

Welcome Shane! Nice to see more young people interested in agriculture


----------



## JD3430

hickey farms said:


> Hi there my name is Shane my main income was maple syrup I would work two months out of the year and live of that income the rest of the time I did nothing so I got into hay farming 10 years ago. I grow 250+ of alfalfa I'm always trying to find more ground and expanding. I run everything new Holland cause no other company would give me the time of day to an 18 year old kid trying to purchase a 80k tractor. But now Deere has come to my door asking me to trade in a tractor and try their equ. Lol. Anyways its nice to see other hay farmers around in my area I have none its all cash crop here. I'm sure I'll get to know you guys a little better when talking to ya on this site


Do you actually own any farmland, or are you a commercial farmer renting land like me? 
I'm first gen, too. Tough to get started, ain't it?
New Holland also took the most interest in helping me. Their equipment isn't perfect, but their dealers are really invested in their customers. Mine gave me his cell phone number and has helped me past quitting time more than once with equipment failures. That says a lot to me.


----------



## hickey farms

I bought a farm when I was 24. 94 acres but not all of it is tillable it has a pond woods and a small swamp. The rest I rent from neighbors and friends.


----------



## hickey farms

It was very tough to get started my syrup bussiness made my hay bussiness lol . I profit a little over 200k a year and I put 3/4 if it into hay equipment and fertilizer and of course farm maintance. I have a web page I've been working on if anyone is interested. Its. Hickeyfarms.wix.com/hickeyfarms it needs a little work yet.


----------



## Donavann

Hello my name is Donavan chris. I was born and raised in the southwestern region of Toronto, Canada. I have lived on a farm my entire life 26 years worked, on it nearly as long but have only recently taken an interest in actually farming.


----------



## somedevildawg

Donavann said:


> Hello my name is Donavan chris. I was born and raised in the southwestern region of Toronto, Canada. I have lived on a farm my entire life 26 years worked, on it nearly as long but have only recently taken an interest in actually farming.


Welcome to haytalk Donavan, lots of people here ready to help in any way possible!


----------



## swmnhay

Donavann said:


> Hello my name is Donavan chris. I was born and raised in the southwestern region of Toronto, Canada. I have lived on a farm my entire life 26 years worked, on it nearly as long but have only recently taken an interest in actually farming.


Welcome to Haytalk.

Just wondering if you grew up on a farm why no interest until you are 26?


----------



## RockyHill

Welcome!


----------



## Jacobb

I am new to this website and really look ahead to the conversations,.I am from Brampton, Canada and have captive-raised all my life 78 yrs we increase holstein bull calf calves and cut around 80 acres of hay to nourish them and some to offer.


----------



## swmnhay

Welcome Jacobb.

So I have to ask "captive-raised "sounds odd,for me anyway south of the border.It means what?Never been out of the area?? 

"Increase bull calves"?Meaning a calf raiser that sells feeder cattle?? 

Ehhh


----------



## UK hay grower

Hi there. My name is Mark. I am a hay grower in the south of England. Hope you guys don't mind me joining your forum. I am looking for more information on Alfalfa or Lucerne as we call it in Europe. It's a minority crop here as we don't have a great climate for making it into hay. 
We run a GFC Vale Bandit 200 and make around 15000 small bales of grass hay per season for the equine market.

Check us out on YouTube 'old manor farm haymaking' and oldmanorfarm.com.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome Mark!


----------



## Vol

Yes, welcome Mark and jump right in on the forums. I always liked that word.....lucerne....it just sounds good.

Regards, Mike


----------



## RockmartGA

UK hay grower said:


> Check us out on YouTube 'old manor farm haymaking' and oldmanorfarm.com.


Just visited your website. Impressive looking operation.


----------



## UK hay grower

RockmartGA said:


> Just visited your website. Impressive looking operation.


Thanks. There aren't too many Bandits in the uk , a few Barons are getting around now too.


----------



## mlappin

UK hay grower said:


> Hi there. My name is Mark. I am a hay grower in the south of England. Hope you guys don't mind me joining your forum. I am looking for more information on Alfalfa or Lucerne as we call it in Europe. It's a minority crop here as we don't have a great climate for making it into hay.
> We run a GFC Vale Bandit 200 and make around 15000 small bales of grass hay per season for the equine market.
> 
> Check us out on YouTube 'old manor farm haymaking' and oldmanorfarm.com.


Interesting, I haven't been to Bedford yet. The wife has family in the Cambridge, Ely and Felixstowe area. Have always enjoyed ours visits there though.


----------



## sdrancher

Hello all. I'm on a ranch in western South Dakota. I'm fairly new to South Dakota (7 years), but not new to ranching. However, I have virtually no experience with haying (other than feeding it). We decided to start making our own hay, mainly due to unreliable custom cutters and bucked up and bought some hay equipment over the winter. I finally decided to join this group because every time I Google a question on something hay related, this forum comes up and you guys answer it. It is a fantastic resource. I will post on the machinery thread here in a bit, because I do have some specific (and probably stupid) questions.

General info on the haying portion of our place 200-ish acres of mostly western wheatgrass (a bit of brome and alfalfa in places) along the creek bottoms. 40 acres of dry land alfalfa with crested and western wheatgrass mixed in.

Looking forward to "meeting" you folks.


----------



## Vol

Welcome SD....I think you will like what you find here.

Regards, Mike


----------



## deadmoose

sdrancher said:


> Hello all. I'm on a ranch in western South Dakota. I'm fairly new to South Dakota (7 years), but not new to ranching. However, I have virtually no experience with haying (other than feeding it). We decided to start making our own hay, mainly due to unreliable custom cutters and bucked up and bought some hay equipment over the winter. I finally decided to join this group because every time I Google a question on something hay related, this forum comes up and you guys answer it. It is a fantastic resource. I will post on the machinery thread here in a bit, because I do have some specific (and probably stupid) questions.
> 
> General info on the haying portion of our place 200-ish acres of mostly western wheatgrass (a bit of brome and alfalfa in places) along the creek bottoms. 40 acres of dry land alfalfa with crested and western wheatgrass mixed in.
> 
> Looking forward to "meeting" you folks.


What kind of hay equipment did you get?


----------



## sdrancher

deadmoose said:


> What kind of hay equipment did you get?


Hi deadmoose,

We got a HS14 hay head to go on the cab end of our TV6070 tractor; NH Pro Rotor 3226 rake (to be pulled by Kubota 5140); NH 5070 Hayliner for small squares and a NH BR7090 for big rounds (both to be pulled by Case 105U). Due to inexperience, some of this may or may not work that well together... we shall see in the coming days...


----------



## deadmoose

How new? Sounds like NH salesman may have had a very good day with you.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome To haytalk SD.....


----------



## sdrancher

deadmoose said:


> How new? Sounds like NH salesman may have had a very good day with you.


New to new-ish. New to us anyway.. He had a very good day...


----------



## 706D

I'm just a young guy trying to start with nothing. Been buying equipment for the past 2 years, and I'm trying to find a place to use it all on.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome 706, nice looking iron, what year?


----------



## Waterway64

I am from SD to and welcome to the forum! As you are already aware a lot of good discussions and information is available here. Where are you located? Mel


----------



## 706D

Thanks. I am near Newell, in the irrigation district. The tractor is 1963 model. I really like it.


----------



## Waterway64

I am east of Nisland! We are not far apart. Mel


----------



## Dmillikan

My name is Doug (DM) and live in southwest Missouri. I bale my own hay and am semi retired. I currently have a Krone KR-260 baler and have some questions for any person who has had experience with this baler. I tore up the take up reel, it does not want to seem to want to bale hedge limbs hiding in the wind row. Is there anyone out there with a Krone KR-260 I could buy for parts or is parts from a KR-160 compatible. I found one of these. I thought maybe I could make my baler the parts baler, since the other one is currently field ready. Any thoughts?


----------



## MF_Fab

Hey,

Jerod From Illinois here. I operate a welding and repair shop, and we also manufacture bale spears and attachments.

I like to post photos of some of our projects, and or products online, so as to gain feedback from the folks that use them every day. Here's some samples of what we do.


----------



## Adrian777

Hello everyone, I am Adrian. I am also newbie here and 25 years old. I am glad to see scuh a community. I am willing to offer whatever I might have picked up over they years and looking forward to getting to know others here.

Have a nice day!!!


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk....dimillikan, mf fab,and Adrian....

Dimillikan, post your ? In machinery forum....lot of folk don't look in this forum....
Mf fab, them some nice looking spears.....I like the 4 spear for the 3 pt hitch....
Lots of folk here from your neck of the woods Adrian, welcome!


----------



## Adrian777

Thanks somedevildawg...nice to meet with you.


----------



## draagyn

Hello from Canada. Grew up farming, been away from it for 10 years, just bought 160 acres and slowly turning it back into a farm. 40 acres field, 120 acres dense Canadian wilderness. In process of re establishing fields for hay production, opening trails back up, an building a barn. Have three horses and a jack ass at the moment. Will be getting sheep and chickens within next year. 
Cheers to all.


----------



## somedevildawg

Woodpecker Canada....that's a new one to me, welcome draagyn!


----------



## WesintheRockies

Hello everyone,

Some great reading here!

I am Wes, guess I have Hobby Farm, just got 38 acres with about 10 under alfalfa, about 8 in house, barns, shop and corrals another 20 grazing. not sure where to post this question but I am thinking about getting a 70hp Kubota Tractor with front end loader to use around, Was thinking about later getting Mower and baler to pull behind it, is this to much for what I have? would it be better to have someone come in and cut and bale?

Hill side place. maybe 2 to 4 %

Thanks Everyone!


----------



## 8350HiTech

Welcome Wes!
Try asking in either the machinery or tractor forums. You'll certainly get some opinions.


----------



## WesintheRockies

Thanks, will do.


----------



## BigT

Hello everybody. My name is Todd but most call me Big T. I am a full time farmer from Blackstone, VA. I never had any idea that a hay site like this was out here. I grow produce, raise cattle and hogs and of course cut hay. I am glad to have found and be a part of the site. Take care.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome Todd....I like that big T nickname, need a Tennessee hat to wear....although them folks up in blackstone may not take a likin to it, welcome to the site...


----------



## KSfirstGen

Hey Everybody
My names Travis, I'm a 24 yr old suburban boy white collar raised from Kansas City but absolutely hate that lifestyle. I've worked on my friends farm last two summers helping with haying during harvest (they get too busy with wheat, I do all the hay). I will graduate college this December (6 year plan haha) and hoping to get hired by my girlfriends dad to operate his hay operation for the whole summer. Hoping to work out a deal with him to rent his equipment and start custom within a few years. Been reading this forum all summer really appreciate the help some of you experienced guys give us youngins.


----------



## somedevildawg

Hello Travis, I would advise against the plan to help the beau's dad as a source of income.....that's not sustainable in so many respects! But kudos to you for wanting to work....use that education for something other than hay and use the hay as a getaway from your "real" job.....welcome to haytalk Travis, best of luck in your future....


----------



## Uphayman

Hello fellow haymakers. I'm Monty from Michigan's beautiful U P. our family homesteaded here in 1879. 750 tillable with 550 in hay. Hope to be at 650 hay by next summer. Exited dairy in 2008 and went into Dry hay production. We produce 3x3x8 and 4x6 net wrapped (as a back up and when beating weather). Cater to large dairy heifer and dry cow Hay. We strive to meet our customers needs. I look forward to learning from , and interacting with hay producers across the country. Thank you


----------



## Paokie

Hey everyone. New guy here from Western PA. looking to get into the farming business as I have deep farming roots but have been behind a desk for too many years. Looking to do some produce early on while I build up my hay business but am starting from scratch so any advice on getting started, equipment and insight for the western PA area would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Vol

Paokie said:


> Hey everyone. New guy here from Western PA. looking to get into the farming business as I have deep farming roots but have been behind a desk for too many years. Looking to do some produce early on while I build up my hay business but am starting from scratch so any advice on getting started, equipment and insight for the western PA area would be greatly appreciated.


Several PA members here okie....Bgriffith is a very mature and knowledgeable young man in NW PA and SVFHAY a commercial producer is from WPA and several others could be from the Western area as I am not sure of their exact location. Welcome.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Paokie

Vol said:


> Several PA members here okie....Bgriffith is a very mature and knowledgeable young man in NW PA and SVFHAY a commercial producer is from WPA and several others could be from the Western area as I am not sure of their exact location. Welcome.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Thanks Mike. Glad I found the forum and look forward to making some friends and learning a lot.


----------



## Bgriffin856

Vol said:


> Several PA members here okie....Bgriffith is a very mature and knowledgeable young man in NW PA and SVFHAY a commercial producer is from WPA and several others could be from the Western area as I am not sure of their exact location. Welcome.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I try Mike 

Welcome aboard Paokie. Seems to be quite a few from PA on this site


----------



## Brian8

Hey ya'll my name is Brian and I have a farm in Richlands NC and just purchased a farm in Butte MT. Our primary resident will be in MT and we have 40 acres there. We are a horse farm and I'm not looking at hay as my primary job, but I'm able to do it any day and any time of the day and any day of the week. So with that said we want to grow alfalfa and have enough to support our farm, and my cousins two horses. I was looking at just planting 5-10 acres this spring and starting off small. So that would be plenty for us as I only need hay in the winter as they will be grazing the other 25 acres (factor in 5 acres for my crap).

I'll post the rest in a new thread since I don't want to hijack a welcome thread.


----------



## IH 1586

Figured it was about time to introduce myself. My name's Chris, grew up on a dairy farm that I took over after dad died. Ran it for a few years then leased out the cows and got into custom haying business. After a 2 years of that auctioned everything off and went to work for Cummins. Could not stay away from farming so I restarted the custom business. Spent 8 years at Cummins dumping all the extra money into the business. This past spring I "retired" and now back to farming full time. I'm back at the home farm, have about 100 acres of my own hay that I sell and hoping in a few short years I will be looking at approx. 400 acres. I still do the custom work which is all haymaking and small scale tillage.

For those that are interested at Cummins I worked in the test department where we test every engine that gets built at that factory. The engines built are the M and X series, the ones found in semi's, large tractors, and generators.


----------



## Bazooka

Just came across this too. Stumbled on this site a while back, but have not been consistently following til lately. My name is Brian and I just changed my handle from BBoellstorff to Bazooka, which is an old nickname. Born and raised in Southeast Nebraska, cattle, hogs, grain and hay farm. Never was successful enough to stand a bad year, so I worked at elevators etc. IN '88 I went to work for the local JD dealership as setup/delivery boy. The farming came and went and gradually got out of the livestock,then the crops and stayed with hay and custom work. Decided in '98 that I had to leave the area to completely wean myself from the farm bug and moved to s//w Colorado to work at a JD dealership there as a hay equipment tech in the high country. Been JD certified haymaster for 17 years, in the business 27 years, Service manager for 8 years, now a CSR. I like the work, miss the farm. Life is good, enjoy putting on clinics and checking out this site off and on. Really like this area and probably will never move back to Husker country.

Thanks to all of you for the interesting topics and opinions.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk Brian, , so if we see Bboellstorff posting we should know that's an imposter! Look forward to you sharing some of your adventures.....


----------



## Vol

Bazooka said:


> Just came across this too. Stumbled on this site a while back, but have not been consistently following til lately. My name is Brian and I just changed my handle from BBoellstorff to Bazooka, which is an old nickname. Born and raised in Southeast Nebraska, cattle, hogs, grain and hay farm. Never was successful enough to stand a bad year, so I worked at elevators etc. IN '88 I went to work for the local JD dealership as setup/delivery boy. The farming came and went and gradually got out of the livestock,then the crops and stayed with hay and custom work. Decided in '98 that I had to leave the area to completely wean myself from the farm bug and moved to s//w Colorado to work at a JD dealership there as a hay equipment tech in the high country. Been JD certified haymaster for 17 years, in the business 27 years, Service manager for 8 years, now a CSR. I like the work, miss the farm. Life is good, enjoy putting on clinics and checking out this site off and on. Really like this area and probably will never move back to Husker country.
> 
> Thanks to all of you for the interesting topics and opinions.


Pretty good hunting in that part of the country also....

Regards, Mike


----------



## Bazooka

You go it Vol, Big game,varmits and plenty of good fishing. Thanks


----------



## Vol

Bazooka said:


> You go it Vol, Big game,varmits and plenty of good fishing. Thanks


I used to stay in Syracuse Nebraska on my way to Buffalo/Sheridan Wyoming.....it was half way.....then it got to be more than I wanted to drive in one day so I shortened it to St. Joseph, MO.....you around Durango or Pagosa Springs?

Regards, Mike


----------



## Bazooka

Cortez..... 'bout 45 miles west of Durango. Know where Syracuse Ne is too. Grew up 30 miles southeast of there. Family in Nebraska City and Auburn. Worked at the Auburn and Tecumseh JD dealerships there. Tecumseh is closed now. The guy who owns the Syracuse Dealership also owns the Auburn one too. Good people. they started out In Syracuse selling JD and and appliances, quite a combo.

Used to go to St. Joe to buy feeder pigs at the salebarn. The world just keeps getting smaller.


----------



## Bazooka

Hey Vol, you ever hear the song by C.W. McCall about Wolf Creek pass?


----------



## Vol

Bazooka said:


> Hey Vol, you ever hear the song by C.W. McCall about Wolf Creek pass?


I knew who CW McCall was, but had not heard of the Wolf Creek tune....until this morning. I see that CW's father was from Pagosa Springs and this was a tribute to him.






How did you manage to get over to Cortez?

Regards, Mike


----------



## Bazooka

Bad Marriage, I'll spare the details. I answered an ad in the High Plains Journal looking for a Hay equipment technician. Got the job, sold the Custom haying equipment and moved on out...... to save the marriage. It lasted 8 more months. That was 17 years ago. Best thing that could happen. Long story short, been married 13 years to the best gal I ever known. You know what they say, "Happy wife, Happy Life"


----------



## IH 1586

CW Mcall was one of my dad's favorite. I listened to him on 8 track I put in my 92 pickup


----------



## barnrope

Cw McCall is one of the all time best music ever! I liked it as a little kid and still like it today! I used to be able to recite every word of "Classified". I can still spit most of it out.


----------



## Thorim

I always enjoyed Cw McCall's Convoy


----------



## Thorim

I lived on the "farm" from the age of 10 to 18, there wasn't much left of the original farm about 13 acres, which had been share cropped for years by a very poor and big family. There was 4 boys around my age 2 younger 2 older there was also an older brother and sister and another sister the same age as I, 7 kids in total they farmed a couple hundred acres and milked about 30 cows. Wasn't a big grade A operation but rather a small B grade operation back when they would still accept B grade milk.... those were the days. I learner a lot...The other friend I had who also had a tremendous impact on my life was Fred and his father. Between his father, uncle, one hired hand, himself they worked over 3000 acre of land which was a good size operation back in the mid and late 70's in the state of Michigan.

Left the farm when I was 18 and never went back, as I look back on my life it is one of the few things I regret.... Now at the age of 53 I am going back to were I should have always been, kinda of scary a lot has changed since 1979, but what hasn't is the hard work and sense of accomplishment at the end of the day no matter how many knuckle heads we come across.

I came across this site while doing research for another project and I am glad I did, it has brought back memories, and smiles to my face, and has helped me catch up, helped me learn some new things. and everyone has been nice kind and helpful thank you all... Looking forward to learning more and sharing as thing progress, and seeing and reading all your posts


----------



## somedevildawg

I graduated HS in '79.....a lot has changed, mostly not for the good it seems but a hard days work on the farm is still better than a lazy day doing nothing..... Sands still runnin outta that hourglass

Glad to have ya On the site Thorim....


----------



## Bonfire

Bazooka said:


> Cortez..... 'bout 45 miles west of Durango. Know where Syracuse Ne is too. Grew up 30 miles southeast of there. Family in Nebraska City and Auburn. Worked at the Auburn and Tecumseh JD dealerships there. Tecumseh is closed now. The guy who owns the Syracuse Dealership also owns the Auburn one too. Good people. they started out In Syracuse selling JD and and appliances, quite a combo.
> Used to go to St. Joe to buy feeder pigs at the salebarn. The world just keeps getting smaller.


Cortez. That's nice country out there. I've been through that Co. DOT weigh station there more than a few times. Contributed to the local economy there at the store next door. Lots of reservation between there and Gallup.


----------



## Thorim

somedevildawg said:


> I graduated HS in '79.....a lot has changed, mostly not for the good it seems but a hard days work on the farm is still better than a lazy day doing nothing..... Sands still runnin outta that hourglass
> 
> Glad to have ya On the site Thorim....


So did I, had the biggest class to ever graduate, also the last, 36 kids in the entire Senior class of 1979....Glad to be here thanks


----------



## CaseIH84

Hello Everyone, I have been browsing this site for quite a few years. I just recently joined. My name is John and I work with IH 1586. I live in western New York. I am Machine Repairman by trade and farm for hobby. My wife has horses and the hay venture started to make decent quality hay for horses. I had tough time finding good quality hay. As time went by we aquired 60 acre farm. We turned fields back into hay production and started to produce our own hay. I have used this site many times as resource and been very impressed with knowledge of individuals on this board. Thanks for all the information, this is a wonderful site.


----------



## CBarM

Hi my name is Cody, I live in north central Texas. I first starting haying with my dad back in grade school. I've always loved tractors and working on them. We run a few cows and married to a great wife that has ranching background on a cow calf operation. We do mainly custom baling now that more city folks keep building houses on great farm\pasture land. We bale coastal bermuda, Sudan, oats, wheat, Milo stalks, bluestem and rye. We pretty much bale whatever will go through a baler. My wife and I just had two beautiful twin girls born 8 weeks ago (shotgun is ready) although one has a heart defect. She's still in NICU but will be home shortly with a few more surgeries to follow. I can't wait until they get old enough to go with me. Yes, I know my time in the field just got way shorter having kids now but worth it. I've looked at this forum for over a year and finely decided to join as it seems like a great group of people. Everyone always seems friendly and very knowledgeable. I want to thank in advance for any help and tips given. I always say that no one knows everything, your always learning.


----------



## CBarM

Hi my name is Cody, I live in north central Texas. I first starting haying with my dad back in grade school. I've always loved tractors and working on them. We run a few cows and married to a great wife that has ranching background on a cow calf operation. We do mainly custom baling now that more city folks keep building houses on great farm\pasture land. We bale coastal bermuda, Sudan, oats, wheat, Milo stalks, bluestem and rye. We pretty much bale whatever will go through a baler. My wife and I just had two beautiful twin girls born 8 weeks ago (shotgun is ready) although one has a heart defect. She's still in NICU but will be home shortly with a few more surgeries to follow. I can't wait until they get old enough to go with me. Yes, I know my time in the field just got way shorter having kids now but worth it. I've looked at this forum for over a year and finely decided to join as it seems like a great group of people. Everyone always seems friendly and very knowledgeable. I want to thank in advance for any help and tips given. I always say that no one knows everything, your always learning.


----------



## Vol

Welcome Cody.....you will fit right in here....if I could have, I would have "liked" your post twice.

Regards, Mike


----------



## deadmoose

Vol said:


> Welcome Cody.....you will fit right in here....if I could have, I would have "liked" your post twice.
> 
> Regards, Mike


You can. Just look at the one above it.


----------



## Vol

LOL!!

Regards, Mike


----------



## CBarM

Lol thanks I think its my tablet it gives me problems sometimes its an RCA the wife don't let me use the IPAD lol...,


----------



## bbos2

Hey everyone this is actually bbos just wanted to clear up that this is the same user. My original acct got bugged or something and had to make a new one. The hay talk administrator that helped me was Very prompt and helpful.
But I thought I'd quickly introduce myself because I never did that b4 in the first place. 
I grew up on a farm and got my start at about 4. I would sit on the armrest, bouncing my head off a jd 4640 window while dad or grandpa we're discing plowed ground ! In seventh grade I borrowed my dad's 7700 tractor jd 14t baler and baled 15 acres of straw for my first on farm income (besides 4H steers) since I didn't have a licence I'd pull full wagons to the barn with a jd 3010. since then I've traded and saved and with a lot of help from family especially my ,father and my late grandfather, grew the "baling" aspect into a nice business. My father has always row cropped and had livestock. I am very blessed have wonderful wife and a little one on the way!


----------



## Bonfire

CBarM said:


> Hi my name is Cody, I live in north central Texas. I first starting haying with my dad back in grade school. I've always loved tractors and working on them. We run a few cows and married to a great wife that has ranching background on a cow calf operation. We do mainly custom baling now that more city folks keep building houses on great farm\pasture land. We bale coastal bermuda, Sudan, oats, wheat, Milo stalks, bluestem and rye. We pretty much bale whatever will go through a baler. My wife and I just had two beautiful twin girls born 8 weeks ago (shotgun is ready) although one has a heart defect. She's still in NICU but will be home shortly with a few more surgeries to follow. I can't wait until they get old enough to go with me. Yes, I know my time in the field just got way shorter having kids now but worth it. I've looked at this forum for over a year and finely decided to join as it seems like a great group of people. Everyone always seems friendly and very knowledgeable. I want to thank in advance for any help and tips given. I always say that no one knows everything, your always learning.


Kids are something else. If I had it my way, I'd lay on the couch every evening and let my 18 mo old crawl all over me until she went to bed. I get the biggest kick out of it. Never woulda thought it a few years ago. Did Children's Miracle Network offer any help for the NICU baby? I try to support CMN locally here at fund raisers.


----------



## CBarM

She's in Ft Worth's Cooks children hospital. She's been there since birth and 2.5 months old now. She had a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Its where the left side of her heart that does most of the work is severely small. She had open heart surgery at 3 days old and will have another at 3-4 months and 3-4 years old. She's never been home yet unlike her twin sister. She's doing better now, got off the ventilator last week. Thanks for your support Bonfire to the children's network, Cook's hospital is a non profit hospital just for kids that runs off of donations from guys like you and it does make a difference. We have insurance through my wife's work but I hear tons of stories where they have helped and the Ronald McDonald house does a lot too...


----------



## CaseIH84

Glad to hear she is doing better CBarM. I hope she continues to improve. Our best wishes go out to you and your family.


----------



## slprwgn04

New to the site here... located in North georgia. Came here hoping to find some people to do business with for mulch straw.

I work in the erosion business and we go through mulch straw by the tractor trailer load a week. Also looking to compare prices and make sure I'm doing the best possible, lol


----------



## IH 1586

slprwgn04 said:


> New to the site here... located in North georgia. Came here hoping to find some people to do business with for mulch straw.
> 
> I work in the erosion business and we go through mulch straw by the tractor trailer load a week. Also looking to compare prices and make sure I'm doing the best possible, lol


Too bad it wasn't mulch hay you were looking for. Lots of it up this way. Around here mulch can bring more per bale than selling as good hay. You can get $3-$4 for mulch and could have a hard time getting $3 for good. What type of bales do you use?


----------



## Bishop

Just a guy who grew up on a dairy farm, was told to go to school and get a real job, did that, now bought the farm from my mom 12 years ago and dove right back into cash cropping 80 acres. 25 ish acres of it in hay of various types, sheep and goats in the barn, and a couple fields with on corn / soybeans / winter wheat rotation.

Still have a real job during the day.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk bishop, just curious....did you snap that "selfie", think that's what they call em....welcome back the Farm...


----------



## Bishop

somedevildawg said:


> Welcome to haytalk bishop, just curious....did you snap that "selfie", think that's what they call em....welcome back the Farm...


Nope that was the wife taking that shot. Part of our marriage agreement is that we drive and visit her folks once a month. Ended up being great for me as her dad and brother cash crop about 700 acres and are a wealth of knowledge.


----------



## DinoF

Hi

My name is Dino Fourie. I am from the Free-State region in South Africa. I am a cattle farmer primarily (for the last two years on my own small patch of land) Currently I bale weeping Love Grass as feed for my cattle during our long and dry winter periods.

I wish to gain knowledge from experienced individuals on the forum and hopefully make a few friends along the way.

I enjoy shooting sports,hunting and fishing .


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome Dino, I too enjoy taking the boys to the skeet range and blasting targets/huntin and fishing....not sure I've ever heard of Love Grass.....well, kinda...they started growing it legally here in some states for medicinal proposes only


----------



## JustinSOTEX

Hi All,

My name is Justin, i'm from South Texas. About 30 miles South East of San, Antonio in the country. Have a friend that bales a lot of hay a little West of here, i've learned the basics from him and ran one of his tractors with a tedder yesterday. I really enjoy the process of baling hay and just working in the field/county period. We have a 5105 4wd JD, i want to try and get into a 5100E so i can start cutting, raking & baling hay around the area. I also love to hunt and fish the along the middle Texas coast.


----------



## freddyg

freddyg here retired fireman 604 superm 3200 krone trailed kuhn 300 10 wheel 6715 jd 6100 jd 461 mf c65 mccoemack 2 8560 mahindra 348 jd haymaster 8 bale krone 6 rotor tedder 5000 squares 2500 rounds getting to old for this think ill trade for bass boat also precision bench rest shooter central ms.


----------



## Vol

Welcome freddy.

Regards, Mike


----------



## CWC_IL

Hi everyone. I'm Jerod from Illinois. My wife and I own and operate Central Welding Company, we specialize in bale spears/forks and hay handling attachments.

I'm looking forward to gaining some good insight from the guys and gals that use the equipment.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk CWC, nice looking fabrications......


----------



## shifty06

Hello I'm dave 27 years old from west central IL grew up on the family farm left it for other interest now back to it with a wife. Love the farming life. Wish I never left it. Ohh well live an learn. An I plan to do a lot of it here "Learnin"

Shifty


----------



## Farmin' Mizzry

Hello everyone I'm also Dave from Southwest Mo. I have gotten a lot of useful info from this forum ever since I started baling hay in '09 with my brother and friend. I live on a small place on the Missouri Oklahoma border and if I drive north about four miles Kansas is on the West side of the road instead of OK. Lived there about 10 years now and still love it, except when a piece of equipment breaks. I'm what would be considered a hobby farmer though, I have another full time job in a paper carton plant. Now that I have traded up from a Hesston 5580 to a Vermeer 554xl I am ready to start asking questions, and maybe someday give some helpful input. The baler trade might have been just a lateral move at this point, just depends on the day.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome farmin mizzry, good name......really good name


----------



## wadek

Hi everyone. I'm Wade from Mil-Stak, Inc. over here in Fruitland, ID. We manufacture the large square bale clamps for the New Holland stack wagons and build our own pull-type and self-propelled models. I have been reading a few threads here on HayTalk lately about our equipment and if anyone has any questions or input I'll be glad to help. We also have a lot of experience here at the shop when it comes to troubleshooting the New Holland wagons so we might be able to help with that too even it's not related to our clamp attachment.

At work I try to keep all the IT related stuff running smoothly, write software for our equipment here, create product documentation, and help answer the phone. Outside of work I enjoy spending as much time as possible with my wife and 6 mo. old son and am always ready to talk about fishing


----------



## Vol

Welcome Wade.

Regards, Mike


----------



## JayTN

Hello everyone, my name is Jay, I am 44 yrs young and I am from Henry County in NW TN. My farm has been in my family since 1837. I was a member here for several years some years back. For some unknown reason I stopped visiting the site. I have now rejoined and am looking forward to getting involved again.

I am a licensed plumber and electrician and have my own business which keeps me busy. I wire and plumb new construction most of the time but do all aspects of the trade. So I will be glad to give any advice or tips on those matters. I also have a small herd of cattle. I am currently running 20 cows. I raise all my own grain and grind my own feed. Then sell what is left to a local dairy farmer. I also raise Bermuda hay and have for about 20 yrs. I started raising my own hay because I couldn't find suitable hay for my horses at the time.

I remember lots of names here from when I was here before, but one I remember most is Hay Wilson. I learned a great deal from him over the years I was here before and for that I am grateful. He is a wealth of knowledge. Like I said, I am looking forward to contributing again. Thanks for having me.


----------



## Vol

Good to have you back Jay....and haywilson has been a great asset to our hay and forage community.

Henry County.....home of Paris....the catfish capital!

Regards, Mike


----------



## glasswrongsize

Hi everyone. My name is Mark and am from south central Illinois (yeah, I know Illinois SHOULD be capitalized, but I am not THAT proud of the state of the State) and am a general contrarian. I kinda homesteaded a lil piece of Heaven here in Clay County. People asked me what I thought I could do with the ground and I could never live on it. I built 3/4 mile of road, bored a well, ran 3/4 mile of 7200 primary etc,, built a house (Well, to be honest, I paid to have the basement poured, but I built the REST of the house. Not a store-bought stick of lumber used to build the house as I thought that would be too easy when dad has a Woodmizer sawmill), barn, outbuildings. All of that since 2010 after my house was a total loss in a fire. I have been told that I am JUST A LITTLE hardheaded. I personally don't see it.

So, I asked myself: What ELSE could I do to keep from having to take low blood pressure medicine. The obvious answer was to raise sheep (dad already runs about 170 head of ewes and I know that a fence that you can see through or spit over will not hold sheep) and raise hay for the sheep. So far, my blood pressure is staying right up there at the top of the chart.

I started with a borrowed moco, a borrowed rake and a 14t baler bought from a consignment (translates to "junk) auction. The junk 14t was win/win. Learned knotters and almost everything that can go wrong with 'em AND learned some new words.

Since the past 4 er 5 years, I'm up to nearly 70 acres of hay...a lot of acres for me, but not too many idiot bricks, as the ground is so poor that rabbits have to pack a sack lunch to hike across.

I have been "stealing" info from this site for a long time, and thought allyall seemed purdy nice and smart as whips.

So, thanks for having me...although I nearly did not get thru the set-up of the account. The spam question kept asking "is hay red or green". I kept answering red, because the blood, sweat and tears that leak out of my pores and cuts usually dye it a nice crimson color. I finally googled some pics of hay and found that it is SUPPOSED to be green...who knew!?!

73, Mark


----------



## deadmoose

Welcome to Haytalk Mark. I like your thinking. That i state doesn't deserve an I. Doesn't mean some of you folks who live there are not reasonable hard working folk.


----------



## Vol

Mark, I think you have found a website home. Welcome.

Regards, Mike


----------



## glasswrongsize

deadmoose, self-proclaimed work ethic may be partly from my mother's side. She grew up in Williams Mn., and I have been there a fair bit. "a thousand Swedes ran through the weeds...chased by one Norsky"...I don't much cotton to the idea of scooping a path THRU the snow, though!


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to Haytalk Mark, we ain't real worried about them spelling/punctiation problems......but I agree with your assessment, welcome


----------



## rjmoses

Welcome, Mark.

I'm from the Land of Cheatin' also--Calhoun County. Pretty disgusting state of affairs we have here, so I seceded from the State. My place is called the Kingdom of Moses. And I am the absolute, benevolent dictator (when my wife isn't around.)

Ralph


----------



## Thorim

Welcome to the forum Mark....


----------



## glasswrongsize

rjmoses, I don't blame you for leaving. You were so close to the river, you could make a break for freedom. My sister absconded to St Peters, and never regretted it. I had my chance, I reckon. I got out and saw the world in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club, but came back home...figgered I'd throw out anchor here and defend the fort. This state wouldn't be too bad if all of the lawyers would jump off a cliff with a politician under each arm.

Thanks for the warm welcomes, Deadmoose, Vol, somedevildawg, rjmoses, thorim,....everyone.

73, Mark


----------



## Just Jan

Hey there! I just stumbled upon this site while trying to find some answers/opinions/experiences with dealing with an obnoxious ram. Since I can't seem to find anyone locally or anything in the yahoo search bar that is helpful, I'm hoping someone here can contribute. Anyway, this section probably isn't the place for my ram woes so I'll go to the forum and post in just a sec.

Into/stuff about me:

I am: 38, female

I was: raised in the burbs (ish) of FL, but now live in the sticks of WV

I have:

a couple of teenagers

a couple of dogs

a few cats

a canary

a bunch of chickens

a few ducks (so gross, why are they here again? Oh yeah, my mother just had to have them cause they are "so cute!" See, this is how I end up with gross critters that poop in the water trough :/

an obnoxious ram

a hair sheep (ewe)

a half hair sheep/half wooly variety (ewe) (combo from above mentioned critters)

I'm interested in:

learning from others with experience

canning recipes

bee keeping

hydroponics

simple living

I enjoy:

kayaking

gardening

camping

small scale hobby farming


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to the forum Jan......ram have decent horns? Just kidding....


----------



## glasswrongsize

Welcome Jan. I don't reckon I've really been here long enough to be part of the housewarming party, but thought I would butt in. I will try to watch for your question in the sheep part of the forum. I run about 30 hair sheep ewes and a couple of bucks. Dad runs 100-130 ewes and bucks accordingly. I am not a super-genius with them, but have worked through my share of problems.

Somedevildog, I've got one with NICE horns....Was a bottle lamb, up to1-1/4 to 1-1/2 turns on the horns, and he likes dog bones. He's kinda my favorite buck, but enough $$$$$ and I might not even like him at all anymore.

73, Mark


----------



## luke strawwalker

Duck eggs sure are good for breakfast...

Even the green ones...

Put a little dill weed in them-- VERY tasty!

Welcome and good luck! OL JR 

PS. Agree ducks are nasty hygiene-wise, and IMHO are too greasy to eat for meat, but the eggs are very tasty...


----------



## somedevildawg

Duck eggs huh, i wonder how duck eggs and brains would be ..... Throw n sme grits and red-eye gravy.....big ole cat head biscuit.

Sorry.....gotta try some duck eggs


----------



## Thorim

Welcome to the forum Jan, I guess grits is a acquired taste or I've never had them done right lol and I was in Ft. McClellan Al. for 14 weeks never got to liking grits, maybe its cause I am a yank lmao


----------



## somedevildawg

Thorim said:


> Welcome to the forum Jan, I guess grits is a acquired taste or I've never had them done right lol and I was in Ft. McClellan Al. for 14 weeks never got to liking grits, maybe its cause I am a yank lmao


Lol, In the end you got it right


----------



## Thorim

somedevildawg said:


> Lol, In the end you got it right


  Hey if we can't poke wee bit of fun at our selves.....


----------



## luke strawwalker

Thorim said:


> Welcome to the forum Jan, I guess grits is a acquired taste or I've never had them done right lol and I was in Ft. McClellan Al. for 14 weeks never got to liking grits, maybe its cause I am a yank lmao


Meh... I don't like grits neither...

Jerry Clower, country comedian extraordinaire, used to have a bit where he decried the loss of grits on the breakfast menus of restaurants back in the 80's, I guess... (they're back in vogue now though).

Said the waitress said, "sorry, we don't have grits, but you can have hashbrowns"...

He told her, "Ma'am, I've been poor in my life... I mean POOR... Poor like I didn't have a proper pair of shoes of my own til I was eight years old kind of "poor". "Poor" like eating mustard greens and collard greens at the same meal because there wasn't nothin' else... I mean "poor" like Momma eatin' the chicken neck so us growin' boys could have them there good pieces... BUT, in all my years, and poor as we was, I ain't NEVER been SO poor that I had to eat an Irish 'tater for breakfast!"

LOL

Personally, I ain't never been so poor I had to eat ground up corn meal for breakfast... LOL

Though, it ain't that bad, so long as you have some good South Carolina fatback with it...

Later! OL JR


----------



## BarryA

Hi folks, Barry from north central WV. I have a low budget hobby farm with one old Long tractor, an old worn out NH baler, an even older NH 467 Haybine, and an old Ezee Flow 5-bar rake. Our 40AC farm supports a total of one Jersey bull, one jersey heifer, soon to bring on a milking jersey from a commercial dairy, 3 dairy goats, 3 brush goats, 10 rabbits, 8 guineas, 12 ducks, 8 chickens, one great Pyrenees LGD, 7 beautiful children, and an amazing wife that really goes through a lot with my "incidental" breakages on the heavily experienced equipment.

I grew up working on a mid-sized dairy in south central PA and I guess I got the farming bug. I have been lurking here for a while gathering assistance for the old NH 320 I am keeping alive with a steady diet of bruised knuckles and dirty hands. This has been a great resource for detailed baler diagnostics & repair. Thanks to all of you for your willingness to lend your knowledge to those of us that are new to maintaining our own machinery. I'm looking forward to learning and possibly helping if I can.


----------



## carcajou

Welcome to HT Barry. Nice size family!


----------



## glasswrongsize

Welcome Barry. This is a great site. I am not saying this from the inside-looking-out, but rather as an outsider-looking-in (I am new to the site too). These fine folks won't LET you feel like an outsider, though.

73, Mark


----------



## pede58

Good morning!

First off I'm not a farmer but live in a small farming community and have come to realize the value of a forum such as this. I'm a second generation contractor working mainly on the farm doing such things as land clearing, waterways and ponds to name a few but I'm also am a commercial right of way spray applicator and this is where I will ask most of my questions, from what product is best to different types of equipment. I look forward to picking some of your brains.


----------



## glasswrongsize

Welcome Pede58. I am confident the smart folks on this site can answer your questions. Again, welcome.

73, Mark


----------



## wadek

Welcome to the forum, pede58!


----------



## Hay for Sale Ads

Dear HayTalk community,

I am a web developer / first year hay cutter, raker, and baler. I am helping develop and manage a new web site for buying and selling hay where you search by your location to see hay ads posted near you. We're hoping to begin advertising with HayTalk very soon and you may see our ad occasionally. During haying I learned more than I wanted to know about old equipment since it all broke this year, BUT it was a very satisfying endeavor putting up our own hay for the first time. We're in Minnesota, snow is threatening, machinery is tucked away, but already looking forward to next years hay.

Clay


----------



## Northcountryboy

Hello everyone,

I grew up next to my grandparents horse farm in Connecticut. Worked on the neighbors dairy farm. Moved to Northern NY in the late '80s. Worked for a few contractors over about 15 years. The last contractor specialized in building free stalls. And for the last 11 years I've been working as a chemical applicator. We work coast to coast. I'm on the road about 230 days a year.
Anyhow we decided to get some beef cows 4 years ago. Started off hiring people to cut our fields. Last year I figured I should buy a tier3 tractor, then a round baler and discbine. Now we are trying to improve our fields. And also trying to build a better way to handle the cows. We started with 4 breed angus cows and currently have 14. We only have 60 acres. 
I truly appreciate the knowledge that this forum shares. Sorry for being long winded, thought I was long overdue introducing myself. 
My name is Jon by the way


----------



## Vol

Welcome to both of you Clay and Jon....sounds like both of you came to the right place.

Regards, Mike


----------



## 560Dennis

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Haying People


----------



## avarageerod

Hello everyone.

New guy here from NC. I'm going to look at buying my first grain drill tomorrow and thought I'd stop by here to get some info. The site looked so good I figured I'd hang around and introduce myself.

A little about myself. I grew up farming tobacco and when I turned 18 I swore I'd never touch it again. After working 13 years at a good paying job in the city that I hated, I quit and started working at a low paying great job here in the country. I wanted to sub some of my pay loss by growing 6 acres of tobacco, but I can't get a contract. I live on my family farm, and wanted my 10 year old son to get some of the work ethic I learned. That's my short bio and introduction. I am looking forward to getting to know you guys.


----------



## Vol

Welcome rod....what make/model of drill are you going to be looking at?

Regards, Mike


----------



## avarageerod

It's a John Deere 8200 13'


----------



## Wcbr1025

Hello folks,
I'm Will from the Piedmont area of NC. Grew up in a farming community but my family doesn't farm so I found a job with a local farmer and began "piddling" on the side with my own operation. Fast forward 5 years and after the collapse of the tobacco contracts, and I've started making a considerable (to me anyway) amount of straw and hay. I've been following this forum for awhile and you all are full of knowledge and wisdom so I hope you'll share some with us just getting started.

Happy Farming to you all
-WCB


----------



## Widairy

Hello all

Hi I'm Chris from central Wisconsin. I apologise for not introducing myself sooner still getting familiar with the forum. I am in my mid thirties and have been farming since before I graduated from high school. I started with a few acres of corn and soybeans and raising steers,and continued that for years along with working in town, for years as a Pepsi delivery driver and my last job off the farm was doing building design. Over the years my farming grew to a beef herd of 35 brood cows and about 100 steers on feed while cropping about 150 acres. I also did some custom planting years back. Six years ago I finally was able to buy the farm I'm on and decided to full-time farm and went into dairy. Started with 28 cows in tiestalls. After one winter of shoveling all the feed and fighting a barn cleaner shute I built a loading barn and have the cows on a bedding pack and feed along a feed rail. Now I have about 60 cows and things seem to work better all around. About 4 years ago I met my fiance, she is a dairy girl through and through. I will give her all the credit when it comes to the cattle. We are working towards incorporating grazing into the dairy. We are a first generation dairy, she grew up on one and I have two uncles in the business which gets us a wealth of information and helps.

One of the biggest reasons I came to the forum was to get input on grass hay and ideas on how others do things. In the dairy industry I grew up in locally. There was pure alfalfa hay or nothing. Grass was basically a swear word. In the 5 seasons I've tried to feed my dairy cows I've had my alfalfa frozen out twice. I've experienced the need for alternative feeds and it opened my eyes. I still seed alfalfa, but I love feeding the peas/oats cover crop with the new seeding. I've also fed rye chopped in the bag along with haylage and got great milk out of it. Raising forages is a huge part of making the dairy profitable and I have seen some very informative threads on here already.

Equipment wise we chop most of our feed, with the amount of rain we get it's hard to get hay dry and it's easy to mix when it's in silage form. We have a vertical mixer and I don't like to run unprocessed bales through there. We have one Case, it's a 2wd 7110. Then we have a 7510, 4030, 4020, 520 and an "A" John Deere. I do have a Vermeer round baler. Enough said.

I hope I can give some good advice. And I thank the group for the input you have already given me and the information to come.

Have a great day

Chris


----------



## Coondle

Welcome to HayTalk Widairy. Thanks for the rundown on your operation. I visited Wisconsin some years ago and was told that it was in the middle of a terrible drought but to me everything was still green. Shock horror it had not rained for three weeks. At about that time we had had a period of 6 months without a single drop (Mid-October to late April). I certainly do not envy you trying to make hay (dry hay is all I understand) with the regularity of rainfall you have spread across every month of the year. So it is all relative.

You have had some successes with scaling up and no doubt have experienced growing pains in the process, financial physical and mental but more power to you for doing it and living your dream.

One of the big plusses for me on this forum is that there are plenty who are ready and willing to give good advice in a positive manner.

Once again welcome.


----------



## olschoolsteel

Hi all.

I have a small farm here in So. Illinois. I manage a few head of cattle and a dozen or so sheep. And one a$$hole goat. I am just a buyer of hay, so I am here mostly to pick your guys' heads for my livestock. I wasnt born a farmer, but am one for sure now. I love every minute of it. Keeps me entertained since I retired from the USAF.


----------



## glasswrongsize

Welcome, olschoolsteel. There oughtta be plenty of wisdom here for ya. Got a few sheep, moo-moos (don't wanna call cattle by the wrong name on here...inside joke), a pig or two now and again and a managerie of fowl. Too dang proud to own a goat...gotta draw the line somewhere; neighbor has goats, and only so much "crazy" per square mile is allowed around these uppity parts of the world 

73, Mark


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome oldschool.....Thank You for your service to our country.


----------



## olschoolsteel

Thanks devildawg. It was fun. I wouldnt have made it past 22 if I would have stayed back home at my HS graduation.

glasswrongsize,

The previous owners of my place had horses for yrs. Since my wife and I have an agreement of only edible livestock on our farm, we are now known as the people who have cows in the horse pasture.(as if it really makes a difference) We spent all of last summer prepping the fences for cattle and sheep. Knowing it takes more than 3 rails to keep them in. I bought some heifer calves and a fat pregnant half breed Beltie. She calved out in Aug to what looks like a Angus/Jersey half breed bull calf. Shortly after the last snow I wanted to get her butchered. Called 4 different butchers and they all wanted an appointment to get this Beltie butchered. With the heavy rain last week, and another week of nothing but rain, looks like she will be with me for a while. So I spent yesterday moving the bull calf and his 3 heifer calf girlfriends into another pasture and have been listening to the sweet song of mother and son bawling to each other. (fenceline weaning)

On the 27th of Dec we had a surprise lamb, pretty much the day before the flooding started. We put the other ewe that came with her in the barn stall with her, and a week later we had lamb #2.

I have 2 young woolie bucks I ran with the rest of my flock. They never tried to ram me in the fall, so I dont know if they were mature enough to do their job on the dozen or so ewes I have. The next 3-4 weeks I will know for sure.

I notice everyone in this area want to raise the hair sheep. I prefer a big fat smut face woolie myself. I am also learning my flock doesnt stay parasite resistant like they did when I had woolies in Utah. I'm guessing the wet soil and warm winters have alot to do with that.


----------



## glasswrongsize

olschoolsteel said:


> Thanks devildawg. It was fun. I wouldnt have made it past 22 if I would have stayed back home at my HS graduation.
> 
> glasswrongsize,
> 
> The previous owners of my place had horses for yrs. Since my wife and I have an agreement of only edible livestock on our farm, we are now known as the people who have cows in the horse pasture.(as if it really makes a difference) We spent all of last summer prepping the fences for cattle and sheep. Knowing it takes more than 3 rails to keep them in. I bought some heifer calves and a fat pregnant half breed Beltie. She calved out in Aug to what looks like a Angus/Jersey half breed bull calf. Shortly after the last snow I wanted to get her butchered. Called 4 different butchers and they all wanted an appointment to get this Beltie butchered. With the heavy rain last week, and another week of nothing but rain, looks like she will be with me for a while. So I spent yesterday moving the bull calf and his 3 heifer calf girlfriends into another pasture and have been listening to the sweet song of mother and son bawling to each other. (fenceline weaning)
> 
> On the 27th of Dec we had a surprise lamb, pretty much the day before the flooding started. We put the other ewe that came with her in the barn stall with her, and a week later we had lamb #2.
> 
> I have 2 young woolie bucks I ran with the rest of my flock. They never tried to ram me in the fall, so I dont know if they were mature enough to do their job on the dozen or so ewes I have. The next 3-4 weeks I will know for sure.
> 
> I notice everyone in this area want to raise the hair sheep. I prefer a big fat smut face woolie myself. I am also learning my flock doesnt stay parasite resistant like they did when I had woolies in Utah. I'm guessing the wet soil and warm winters have alot to do with that.


We only have edible or (hopefully) money makers for critters, too...with the exception of the guineas. They make more racket than a Japanese radio, but I like 'em around for watchdogs and eating bugs.

Hope your fence building works out; the claim being "if you can see thru it or spit over it, it won't hold sheep". It's also taxing on the fence to wean thru them (or so I've been told).

I cull heavily for ewes that get out (fastest way to get gone!!), for worm load, and feet; it took awhile, but mine rarely need a worming or feet work. I usually check eyes once a year and only have to worm a handful. If you bought a few ewes, you may have gotten someone else's culls?

Butchers around here also require an appointment; they only have certain days on which the USDA inspector will be on site- these are the only days on which they are allowed to kill. You have missed the weather to butcher yourself unless you have a cooler; it's not too hard of task and also rewarding.

A buddy and his cousin raise Dorsets (separate flocks/farms) and they are the only ones of which I know that raise wool sheep. Everyone else (that will associate with me) has hair sheep. A wet pasture is no good for keeping parasites at bay; don't give up hope, last year is not a prime example of the moisture one should expect in this region.

This has to be quit a change from Utah, I would assume?

If you keep on this site, it won't be long until you can't stand the fact that you are not baling hay too!! We are ALL good at helping you spend your money on new shiny equipment to do just that!! 

...and like Dawg said, thanks for your service. I think I was just the opposite of you...if I had stayed in the military life would be different-for the worse. I was a little too un-understanding of molly-coddling of the new people and wasn't too lenient on people who were entitled, lazy, or disrespectful :angry: .I could have retired 6 years ago...if I would not afraid of losing my composure on a new-era recruit and ending up in the brig :huh:

73, Mark


----------



## Bgriffin856

Widairy said:


> One of the biggest reasons I came to the forum was to get input on grass hay and ideas on how others do things. In the dairy industry I grew up in locally. There was pure alfalfa hay or nothing. Grass was basically a swear word. In the 5 seasons I've tried to feed my dairy cows I've had my alfalfa frozen out twice. I've experienced the need for alternative feeds and it opened my eyes. I still seed alfalfa, but I love feeding the peas/oats cover crop with the new seeding. I've also fed rye chopped in the bag along with haylage and got great milk out of it. Raising forages is a huge part of making the dairy profitable and I have seen some very informative threads on here already.


We have tricky weather and less than ideal ground a diverse forage base of a couple different species of grasses mixed legumes, some years annual forages and corn. Really helps in case of weather hardships in case one crop does good and ones fails or in between you'll have feed.


----------



## Swv.farmer

Hi all I'm from South West vrigina I have a small farm I put up about 50 arcers of hay and have 40 cows.
I enjoy the reading on hear.this is a great site.


----------



## r82230

I am ashamed for all the information that I have borrowed, slolen or just learned from this site.

Best to ask for forgiveness, than for permission, I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier, I have followed this site for 5-6+ years.

I'm Larry, I own about 130a of what remains of the 180a my grandfather bought in 1926. I'm located about 50 miles due North of Detroit and 20 miles East of Flint (yea, the city with the water problem). Most of the area around me has turned into "10a hobby farms".

I presently raise about 85+ acres of alfalfa and 20 beef cows. I used to raise row crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and oats), along with pigs (regular pigs, besides my three sons :lol:.

Aging myself, I quit row crops, when corn was down around $2.00 and I had 3 hungry mouths to feed.

I have an off farm job (milk house), that allows me to buy toys and farm with new (or newer) equipment (now that the boys are grown). The NBD (National Bank of Dad) is closed, however my sons tell their children National Bank of Grandma is open!!!

I plan on working my milk house for a couple of more year (my toy list keeps getting additions).

Thanks to HT, I have increased my hay production, dramatically, going from selling very little, to 3/4's of my annual production, thanks guys/gals.

Hopefully, I can contribute to HT and try to 'pay back' a small portion of the knowledge I have gained over the years from this site.

I feel deeply indebted and grateful for the knowledge that HT members have given me.


----------



## somedevildawg

Thanks for the kind words from all of us here on haytalk.....gotta ask tho, the r82230....what's that all about, any rhyme or reason?


----------



## Thorim

Welcome r82230 the Lapeer area is nice area if I am reading the mileage right


----------



## Vol

r82230 said:


> I feel deeply indebted and grateful for the knowledge that HT members have given me.


Mighty kind words Larry....good to have folks like you looking over our shoulders and eventually contributing. I spent some time around the Flint area when I was real young. I have a cousin who lives in Mt. Morris. I believe my father deer hunted in the thumb around Bad Axe back in the early sixties. Welcome to haytalk.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Coondle

Welcome r82230, good to hear from you. The fragmentation of productive farm land into "Hobby Farms" is an international malaise. Sadly the next generation will reap the harvest of turning the best farmland that is closest to its market into non-productive life-style land that is so fragmented in ownership as to make it useless. The spread of hobby non-farms is taking more land out of production than salinity urban sprawl and highways. I read some time ago that in the US something like 1 million acres of productive land is covered in asphalt each year. That is a lot of food production disappearing.

Glad to hear you have managed to keep the bulk of grandpa's historic holding.

Keep living the dream and I look forward to hearing from you on HT, it is a fantastic member orientated forum.


----------



## Thorim

Vol said:


> Mighty kind words Larry....good to have folks like you looking over our shoulders and eventually contributing. I spent some time around the Flint area when I was real young. I have a cousin who lives in Mt. Morris. I believe my father deer hunted in the thumb around Bad Axe back in the early sixties. Welcome to haytalk.
> 
> Regards, Mike


My grandmother lived in Bad Axe I lived in Grindstone City/ Port Austin area


----------



## r82230

somedevildawg said:


> Thanks for the kind words from all of us here on haytalk.....gotta ask tho, the r82230....what's that all about, any rhyme or reason?


Somedevildawg, has to do with the business/company I am associated with. In today's world you need an user ID and password for so many things. Then they make you to change them every 90 days . R82230 is my number with the company that I am associated with, it is not my user ID however, but I need to enter that number on just about every piece of correspondence I submit to the company. Being I use that number often (daily) it is an easier user ID to use in other places (and usually it is politically correct and nobody else has used it yet). I am up to a five page word document, with the different user ID's and passwords already.

Hard to simplify your life with technology. :lol: I was just talking to one of my sons last night about, thinking about a GPS and how accurate they are. Yet I can remember, widening the front end on my Dad's Ford Jubilee, so the tires were 80 inches apart for planting corn as a kid (40 inch rows at the time, with a two row corn planter, that still sets in my barn).


----------



## carcajou

It sure is nice to see more and more people sign on. I enjoy reading about everyone's background and farming history. Hopefully their intros will encourage other lurkers to tell us their's as well.


----------



## Three44s

Hello,

I am a farmer/rancher from Central Wa.

We run a commercial cow herd and raise hay for our own use and sell some mostly to the horse market. Our main hay crop is alfalfa but we use cereal grains and lately some Sudan grass for rotations.

I recently discovered this forum during searches about info on the old line of NH self-propelled balers. After reading an extensive thread on the subject from a few years back, I decided I should register so here I am!

Thank you for this forum and the gracious folks that belong to it!

Three 44s


----------



## Waldo

Waldo here I,m in the state of new South Wales australia .first job in hay making was sitting on Tha back o f a Wisconsin driven inter baler tell making shore knots tied.about 5 years old now 55 years down the tack have Owen 2 round balers 10 big square baler and all the rest of the gear to go with it.now have hay done by contactor,s in small squares for horse market.putting 30 ac. Of thimothy grass for pet rabbit trade.having a guess if there was 100ac of thimothy hay grow for hay in australia I would be surprised.main work is supplying hay into dairy and feedlot market.well that about wore my typing skills for today


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk Waldo.....we have several folks from Australia here, all very nice and knowledgeable folk. One thing I will mention, this site is photo friendly, so if you have pics of the countryside, we would all love to see them. Just a word of warning, if you post pics (more reply options) make sure to post the pic upside down on your end and by the time it gets back to us it'll be posittioned correctly  
Gonna have to put Australia on my "Bucket List"

Again, welcome to Haytalk.....


----------



## Coondle

Welcome Waldo. Good to have another Aussie on the Forum.

Just post your photos the right way up and it will be fine by me.

The folks in the Northern Hemisphere can just stand upside down to look at them, then they can get to feel a little of what we have to put up with all the time. They will get to appreciate the photos even more.


----------



## Tx Jim

I also wish to extend a welcome to Waldo.

Jim


----------



## Waldo

thanks for the welcome , and will get the it department oto photo,s re if any over you people look like coming down would be more than glad to show around and set up with other farmers in all fields of farming


----------



## Thorim

Welcome to Hay Talk Waldo


----------



## notmydaytoday

hi everyone i am John from se kansas i own 50 acres 38 of it hay field. I dont know much about haying but i am going to learn. i am almost 40 years old I have a wife and two sons 18 and 20 my boys are going to help on this venture as they would like places of their own.


----------



## Vol

Welcome John....there are loads of info to research on here about haymaking. You came to the right place to gather info and learn about haying.

Regards, Mike


----------



## r82230

Welcome, John, just hang on to those boys, nice dependable labor (notice I didn't say cheap labor, I had 3 of them and could they eat). They will last longer as dependable labor if you can keep the girls away is my experience.  I have learn A LOT from this site, hope you have the same experience.

Larry


----------



## labdwakin

Hello Gents (and Ladies),

I'm Louis from North Central Arkansas. We have a small 550 acre farm that's mostly overgrown but still have some beef cattle. Currently we have about 50 acres in hay on the home farm and I cut another 100 acres on shares. Hoping to reclaim hay ground to about 110 acres on the home farm in the next few years.

My first hay field job was raking when I was about 7 years old with a Ford 641 workmaster pulling a JD 660 rake. When I was 9 my dad finally let me pull his square baler with a little JD 820 for about an hour. Grew up around small square bales and worked myself half to death with them many MANY days. Branching into round bales now because the marked for mixed grass squares is very small and I don't have the physical ability to mess with them nor the funding to buy the equipment to make it easier.

I'm leasing the home farm from my mother since my dad passed away on a profit-sharing basis. Dad passed away of kidney cancer in 2013 about 3 years after I ruined 2 discs in my back at work. So, as I can, I'm trying to clean up the old place and put it back in order with the help of one full-time manager and 2 or 3 occasional part-time hands.


----------



## Tim/South

Welcome Louis.

Making hay with a bad back would challenge anyone. It is nice that you have worked out an arrangement with your mother on the home farm. Nothing like farming ground you grew up on.

Hopefully cattle prices will pick back up and make that end more worth while.


----------



## labdwakin

Tim... the arrangement is really more to give her an income than anything, I don't expect to make anything. LOL


----------



## notmydaytoday

Thanks everybody for the welcome.


----------



## Tim/South

labdwakin said:


> Tim... the arrangement is really more to give her an income than anything, I don't expect to make anything. LOL


It also keeps the place from growing up more. Amazing how quickly Mother Nature can reclaim a place.


----------



## luke strawwalker

Tim/South said:


> It also keeps the place from growing up more. Amazing how quickly Mother Nature can reclaim a place.


Yep... looking at old photos and little switches coming up in the fences were full fledged trees now. We had the old fencelines bulldozed on the Needville place and chainsawed down trees straddling underground phone lines and stuff and let the stumps rot down, back when we were still row-cropping. Since we've re-fenced the place and gone all hay and cows, we ride the fences and pastures and spray Remedy/diesel mix to wipe out switches as they come up.

Same thing at Shiner, in places switches grew into trees and trees into thickets with greenbriar and crap that the cattle couldn't hardly even get through. Then the fences go to pot in there and you can't even fix them. Lots of old cross-fences that had gone totally to pot and needed to go, so we started spraying Remedy/diesel mix and wiping it out. Started with the perimeter fences (which were in pretty good shape as they'd been replaced over the past decade or so) taking out various trash trees that were growing up in them, most about 6-12 feet tall and usually no larger than 4-6 inches. Cleaned up a lot of mesquite and huisache and toothache trees (camphor trees) and hackberries and similar crap from the pastures and started doing the cross-fences. We rolled up as much crossfence as we could and pulled lines of old posts, but the heavily wooded/thicket areas we just hosed with Remedy/diesel mix. Needless to say it was a step-by-step process, that we did over the past five years. Spray, let the chemical kill the trees the first year, let the tree dry out and "loosen up" the roots the following year, push them out with the 5610S and FEL during the winter/spring when the ground was wet and soft, push into burn piles. We finally pushed and burned the last of it last spring-- we pushed the old fences out with it in the really brushy areas and burned it wire and all, then I'd come along with the FEL and roll the barbwire under the bucket to make a big "turd" of barb wire all balled up on itself and load that on the trailer-- hauled a load this past spring that was 5,500 lbs of barb wire and various old cow troughs and junk... Nothing nicer than turning a mess into money!

Now we can do one pass with the golf cart with my brother driving and me running the spray gun with Remedy/diesel in the late spring and wipe out everything that comes up with just a couple gallons of chemical at the most... but it's a continuous effort... if you think you'll just clean up brush and walk away forever, you're sadly mistaken!

I just shake my head at some guys around the area that spend boku big bucks bulldozing and root plowing mesquite and huisache and other nuisance trees and brush, disk it and spin some grass seed out, and think they're done forever... and in a dozen years it's grown up into a thicket of 10-12 foot tall brush and trees again... When all they had to do to keep it clean and brush/tree free was ride around on a golf cart or four wheeler with a TSC electric sprayer on the back with a couple gallons of Remedy in it and about 8 gallons of diesel fuel as carrier, and spray the bottom foot of the brush all the way around-- which for small switches 2-3 feet tall, is usually just a quick "spritz" with the gun on stream mode on both sides of the trunk... Couldn't be easier... Wait til they're a foot in diameter, it takes a gallon of mix to coat the entire trunk all the way around a foot or two up from the ground, but it WILL kill it... might take a year though.

And we did it all with a 70 horse Ford tractor and a golf cart...

Later! OL J R


----------



## don5453

Hi,

I am from Ontario Canada. I took over the farm from my father.

I am glad to be on this forum. we grow hay and soybean. We also have cattle farm.

I hope I can get the latest news and ideas of farming from here.

Thanks


----------



## deadmoose

don5453 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am from Ontario Canada. I took over the farm from my father.
> 
> I am glad to be on this forum. we grow hay and soybean. We also have cattle farm.
> 
> I hope I can get the latest news and ideas of farming from here.
> 
> Thanks


Welcome to Haytalk. You will learn much if you choose to here. Hopefully teach some of us a thing or two as well.


----------



## IH 1586

Welcome


----------



## Kasey

HI everyone. I am from Northern iowa. I have reading on here for some time, thought I should start posting. I have a small growing flock of ewes and I started haying to save on my hay cost. Slowly growing my hay equipment too. I have enjoyed reading and I have learned a lot


----------



## glasswrongsize

Welcome Kasey. Your knowledge and diversity will be welcome here. I read a post earlier and observed that you had been a member for quite some time...glad you decided to participate a little more.

Mark


----------



## r82230

Welcome Kasey, I hope you continue to find the knowledge base here as informative as I have over the years. The ability to learn from each other is invaluable IMHO.

Larry


----------



## tipofloe

Hello everyone,

Tony from Los Angeles here. New to the industry and I joined Hay Talk hoping to get some information about the Hay industry.

I am currently looking to purchase about 100 tons a month of organic alfalfa hay for export. I think the quantity will increase to 200 to 300 tons per month quickly if I find good+ quality alfalfa hay and also looking to expand to organic oats hay and organic timothy hay. I have been having a lot of difficulties obtaining "true" market price for the organic hay and most importantly I have had problems finding a reputable custom compression service (double compression).

I'll post what I am looking for in the Hay Wanted section.

Nice to meet you all!

Tony


----------



## SCtrailrider

Welcome Tony, there are some very knowledgeable folks here that may be able to help you with your needs...


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk Tony, what's a nice feller like yourself livin in a place like Los Angeles.....I'm purty sure you are the first and only person on haytalk from the big city. Don't be going back thru lookin at old posts, liable to be some mention of LA, San Fran, Oakland and such......not so sure it was flattering either 
Who's buying all of this organic hay and why? Feeding horses I assume....
Not sure on the double press, I would think you're in the right area, but maybe up the road a bit....seems they do a good bit of export in Oregon. Organic hay is most certainly a niche market, but there are people filling the niche.... Good luck and welcome


----------



## tipofloe

SCtrailrider said:


> Welcome Tony, there are some very knowledgeable folks here that may be able to help you with your needs...


Thank you SCTrailrider for your warm welcome.  I hope that the experts on Hay Talk could shed some light for me as well!


----------



## tipofloe

somedevildawg said:


> Welcome to haytalk Tony, what's a nice feller like yourself livin in a place like Los Angeles.....I'm purty sure you are the first and only person on haytalk from the big city. Don't be going back thru lookin at old posts, liable to be some mention of LA, San Fran, Oakland and such......not so sure it was flattering either
> Who's buying all of this organic hay and why? Feeding horses I assume....
> Not sure on the double press, I would think you're in the right area, but maybe up the road a bit....seems they do a good bit of export in Oregon. Organic hay is most certainly a niche market, but there are people filling the niche.... Good luck and welcome


Hello SomeDevilDawg,

My ultimate dream is to get out of the big city and get into farming and self-sustainable life. I don't know if that is even possible, but my dream is to own my own ranch one day, have a variety of livestock and run an organic farm. I lived in metropolitan cities all my life - Seoul, Paris, Seattle, New York and now Los Angeles, and I am getting so sick of the city life.

My cousin is an organic dairy farmer out in Korea and he and his collective of farmers are getting sick of the price gouging and lack of organic hay availability. So he asked me to look into a direct import from the US farmers to the Korean farmers and skip all the middlemen in between.

I have some conversation going with a few farmers in Oregon, but it's very difficult to obtain the organic hay at the price that my cousin and his group is looking for. I do receive hay market reports every Friday from Cornell University/USDA market news services and I have an idea of what I need to pay as a fair market value. However, it's been proven very difficult to find a farmer that can supply the quantity. So I am looking outward to the rest of the western states and decided that as long as the RFV meets what we're looking for, I am willing to pay the proper fair market value of the hay. One of the main reasons for reaching out to Hay Talk community is hoping to find someone who would be willing to work with me. 

I've been searching for the past two months and it really has not gotten me anywhere. If I find a farm that can supply me the hay, then it will cost me more to haul them to a compressor and then to a port, if I find a farm near the coastline, then they already have a contract with existing exporters and can't supply anything for me... It's been frustrating, but I am not giving up. There is bound to be someone out there that I could strike up a long term contract for mutual growth and prosperity.

Cheers!


----------



## luke6983

Tony,

What protein and rfv are you looking for? It may be a bit tough to find organic for a few more months, but I may be able to get you the supply as soon as first comes off. I can offer it delivered to Korea if that helps, which port are they closest to?

Feel free to pm me if you want my contact info.

Luke


----------



## Vol

Luke, I hope that you and Tony can work something out.....anyone that wants out of the city and into a rural setting to become involved in ag is deserving of a helping hand.

Regards, Mike


----------



## CaseIHRed

HI, I'm a new guy here. Born and raised in Southern Alberta where my family ran a mixed farm operation with 300 head of cow calf pairs, raising and selling alfalfa. I spent from 2005-2016 working as an agriculture equipment tech at a large local Case IH dealer. Spent lots of time working n Axial Flow Combine and Bourgault air seeding equipment. I returned home to the family farm one year ago.Hobbies and pastimes include hunting and fishing in our Rocky Mountains and atv riding with the kids. Looking forward to interacting members on this forum


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk...we won't hold that screen name against you 
Quite a few of those axial flow combines in our area....always seemed to be very popular. 
Glad to have you on the forum, caseihred...


----------



## Vol

Welcome CaseIHRed....you will fit in well here.

Regards, Mike


----------



## billns

Hello Billns here I grew up on a farm my father gave up farming when i was 15 and i inherited the farm about 25 years later We have 12 horses a bunch of chickens We cut about 110 round bales and 1000 square every year I never realized until recently how much there was to the art of haying !


----------



## somedevildawg

Amen to that.....welcome to haytalk Billns.


----------



## shawnyork

Shawn Here,

At the moment I am a "when ever someone lets me help" rancher.  But i am hoping to change that soon. My ultimate goal is to raise Elk and a few other animals and grow as much of the food as i can. Trying to read and learn as much as I can about this business. I am gonna have tons of questions but i'll look around before i start asking repetitive ones. Anyone else on here from the tooele Utah area?


----------



## r82230

Welcome Shawnyork,

Hope you find the wisdom of this site as valuable as I have,

Larry


----------



## Palmettokat

Good morning to all. I grew up on small (very small) animal farm and wife on tobacco farm, many years ago! Mules were still used to some degree on both farms. Do enjoy farming greatly and do farm what is her family farm for the joy and to take care of it. Have worked to get it up to about 38 acres in cultivation and rest of the land here and on what is left of my families is in timber.

For now near twenty years planted row crops some peanuts (for those who are blessed to like boiled peanuts and to know the cry in the tobacco warehouses of years ago) but really corn and soybeans. I have been looking at moving from row crop to hay for about twenty years with no background (unless you county loading with pitch fork onto mule pulled wagon) did not find the support needed. Blessed to have a very good friend who now with a few years experience and the necessary equipment to do all the cutting and baling have taken my first major step and had fifteen acres sprigged with Coastal Bermuda this March. Boy and I thought i was ready!

Finding weed problems did not know we had due to use of roundup ready crops, especially Johnson Grass. My concerns at present are first controlling the Johnson Grass in three month old Coastal. Then storage for the hay. After that will be hay equipment. My first hay equipment I think I need is a system to know where has been sprayed (no rows to count) and system to load the square bales.

Have read a good bit here and really do like Hay Talk. Have read many comments on Johnson Grass and also Guidance systems. Not firm on either of those two issues yet or hay grapple for square bales.

Pray you have a safe and blessed season.

Kenneth

PS: insurance is my full time business mainly in life, health but a few years experience in property insurance. Not in any mode other than recommendation glad to help with any question.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk palmettokat....

Best thing on that johnson is to keep it cut this first year, not a whole lot you can spray for control on a newly sprigged field as I'm sure you are aware....N and lots of it will allow the Bermuda to outcompete the Johnson to some degree this first year. In heavy infestations I have spot sprayed and/or weed wiped....keep it cut.

GPS system are the ticket....any one of them is a huge improvement over foam markers (or watching tracks ) even the most basic of systems will work fine for Bermuda grass hay fields. Might need it here in a bit.....be vigilant for army worms from now until September.

Welcome to haytalk....


----------



## Palmettokat

somedevildawg, thank you.

I stumbled across somewhere "impose" would handle it. Have not been able to fully verify it.

Thanks for the warning on army worms.


----------



## somedevildawg

Palmettokat said:


> somedevildawg, thank you.
> I stumbled across somewhere "impose" would handle it. Have not been able to fully verify it.
> 
> Thanks for the warning on army worms.


Your welcome, 
Take some pics of this Johnson grass if you get a chance, start a new thread and post to the forum, I have seen vasey grass misidentified many times as johnsongrass, either way it needs to be controlled but methods would differ...good luck


----------



## 51cub

Hi everybody. I joined here to read about yet another of my many interests. I live to go to the fair. I like being around anything agricultural, industrial, mechanical, electrical, animals, and more that don't come to mind right now. I used to volunteer at a nearby nature center to help at sugaring time, and with their bees. I'm always willing to learn, even when I can't remember what I was trying to do


----------



## Palmettokat

Welcome to Hay Talk 51club..like your comment about learning but no idea what you were trying to do. I have gotten to the stage in life where I go to mail a letter, see my keys, go to put them up and realize left the milk out, so stop to put in refrigerator, find a snack in there to eat, go to get me a pepsi (diet) and wonder why the letter I just found had not been mailed.

Well have not that to happen yet but do about the same with repairs, go to buy the parts needed, take to my shop and placed them right where they should be or so I think. Then a couple of weeks or months later I find the parts and have to work to remember what they were for..only upsets me if I have gone back and bought parts again...yep have done that.


----------



## 51cub

Palmettokat said:


> Welcome to Hay Talk 51club..like your comment about learning but no idea what you were trying to do. I have gotten to the stage in life where I go to mail a letter, see my keys, go to put them up and realize left the milk out, so stop to put in refrigerator, find a snack in there to eat, go to get me a pepsi (diet) and wonder why the letter I just found had not been mailed.
> 
> Well have not that to happen yet but do about the same with repairs, go to buy the parts needed, take to my shop and placed them right where they should be or so I think. Then a couple of weeks or months later I find the parts and have to work to remember what they were for..only upsets me if I have gone back and bought parts again...yep have done that.


Thanks for the welcome, Palmettokat. That's me all over. I keep telling people that I believe in the hereafter. I'll go in to the tool crib for something, take two steps, and have to stop to try to remember what I came in here after. Mind you, for me to go in the crib is literally turn around and take three steps!


----------



## Boatman

Hello everyone. Long time lurker here. I'm looking forward to learning from you all, and hopefully I'll be able to make a positive contribution on the rare occasion that I might actually have some information of value.


----------



## valleyforage

Really late as I think I have snooped for a year or better but..

I am from western North Carolina, I had the idea after college to make hay on the side. It has been interesting but rewarding. I only make mixed grass hay and pure orchard, mostly squares but roll some that is not up to spec, it has grown into something bigger than expected but i can't seem to say no. I think some of it comes from it is similar to my day job as in working with live goods but it is nice to be my own boss when I'm in the field.


----------



## Palmettokat

Boatman and Valleyforage welcome to Haytalk. Neighbors to boot.

Have not been here long my self, great people here, have been very generous to me.


----------



## MIHay

Hello all, just created an account this week. Young farmer, I just turned 18 last month and my family has no farming background at all. Ive raised animals since I was a kid and moved into doing hay last year. Its been a big learning curve and im grateful for sites like this where everyone chips in to help others out. Im hoping that as the hay starts to pay i can upgrade my old equipment and start renting more land. Just a side business/ hobby for me as I will be a full time college biology/pre-med student starting in the fall. If anyone has any tips for a small time farmer just starting out i appreciate it!


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to HayTalk MIHay!


----------



## somedevildawg

Strive to be at the top of your class MIhay.....welcome to haytalk


----------



## Coondle

Welcome to Haytalk MIhay, a mixture of academia and rural pursuits can give you the best of two worlds.

Embrace and enjoy both worlds each can be rich and rewarding.

You seem like someone who is not afraid to learn.

Knowledge is a wonderful commodity, if you gain extra knowledge in a day, it is not heavy: you do not get tired carrying knowledge around.


----------



## Mf5612

Hi im Dave from central ontario.north of toronto. we are dairy farmers and grow alfalfa beans wheat and corn.my boys are the 6 th generation on our farm.the youngest ,23yrs farms w me and has acustom hay wrapping business.my older son has just started a farm fencing business.i really enjoy reading about guys farming elsewhere.youre never too old to learn.thanks


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk Dave, 
how do you like the 5612, they look like nice machines.


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to HT Dave!


----------



## Mf5612

thanks for the welcome guys.I really like the 5612.Great onfuel and very comfortable too.very smooth shifting tractor with alot of nice features.Weve only put 1300 hrs on it in the last 2 yrs but its a keeper.itsnice on the round baler,seedrill or the new moco we just bought.


----------



## Mf5612

Happy thanksgiving to y all south of the border.hope you enjoy friends and family .looking forward to haytalk this winter.I hope paoutdoorsman isnt buried in snow yet. and to somedevildawg,i hope u have apiece of pecan pie for me.lol. ive stopped at Tifton ga many times on our tour to see mickey when my kids were young.im hoping to get my last 20 acres of grain corn off tomorrow.take care fellas.


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Thanks Mf5612, and happy Thanksgiving to you and yours as well. The snow came and went already. Now if our summer moisture pattern keeps up, I just might be buried in it before the winter is over.


----------



## Jimmy Bartlett

Hello Everyone, I'm Jimmy from Iowa. I grew up making bermuda hay with my dad in central Florida. He encouraged me to go see the rest of the country so I went to school in the midwest to become an engineer. My wife and i just bought our first 80 so i'm looking forward to farming hay and row crops in Iowa. Several years ago I created an account here as jcbag just to read about forage in other places. There is a great amount of experience among this forum and i look forward to getting to know everyone.


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to Haytalk Jimmy! Congrats on the 80 ac purchase!


----------



## Thorim1961

Hello Everyone.

I used to be Thorim/Jim could not get in for a long time. so I created a new account. for those who remember me it has been a little over a year since my wife passed away from a rare stomach cancer and I wish to thank all of you wonderful and amazing gentlemen and ladies who's out pouring of support helped me through a very rough time in my life... Still living life day to day and it gets a little better with each day.


----------



## r82230

Nice to hear from you Jim, time passes, the hurting doesn't it seems...&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.

To bad about being locked out, have heard of a couple of others with same problem.

Larry


----------



## carcajou

Glad to see you're back on, I hope it gets easier on you soon. You were missed.


----------



## RockyHill

So good to hear from you. Really don't like it that you couldn't get on here, had been wondering about you. Glad you things are as well with you as they are.

Shelia & Jeff


----------



## Vol

Good to have you back Jim.....I wondered about you. Our software is primitive on this site and until just a few weeks ago, we were having huge problems because of the change the ownership made to Google Cloud.

Regards, Mike


----------



## hcriddle

Glad you're back Jim. Thought about you often.

Buddy


----------



## Full Circle Farm

Hi everyone, New member here! I'm a young guy trying to start cutting hay on my parents' farm. I live and work off-farm, but I absolutely love the rural lifestyle, and I have always had the desire to start a hay operation on the side. I realize the uphill battle I have ahead of me, but am determined to make my dream a reality. Thanks for having me on the site, and I look forward to learning from you all.


----------



## r82230

Welcome Circle, that desire you have can be addicting (maybe even costly ).

Larry


----------



## Full Circle Farm

r82230 said:


> Welcome Circle, that desire you have can be addicting (maybe even costly ).
> 
> Larry


Hi Larry, Thanks for the welcome! Haha, for some reason, I can see that being the case! As the saying goes, my biggest fear is that when I die, my wife will sell my hay equipment for what i TOLD her it cost


----------



## Ohio Bale Dragger

Hey all, just wanted to stop in and introduce myself before I start asking all the noob questions.

My name is Zach and we recently got into cattle and hay. $30k later we have the needed equipment to start producing our own hay. We will be working 60 acres this year and hope to expand over the next few seasons.

We run a NH T4.75 tractor, Vermeer 5420 baler with net, Sitrex 8 wheel rake, Sitrex 4 basket tedder, and a Kuhn 9' disc mower.

If this rain will let up we might get 1st cutting off before July.


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to HayTalk Ohio Bale Dragger!


----------



## Aaroncboo

Welcome. A lot of useful information and very nice people on this site. Love the picture very pretty. A lot of people on this site know exactly how you feel with the rain...


----------



## Ohio Bale Dragger

Thanks all for the warm welcome. I can see from looking around that this site is a treasure trove of info for us noobs in the business. I have been reading quite a bit.

Next week looks like we may actually get three straight days of sun, if that's the case I'll be out rolling my first bales. Wish me luck!

PS- Which forum do we go to for emergency field repairs and troubleshooting?


----------



## Vol

Ohio Bale Dragger said:


> PS- Which forum do we go to for emergency field repairs and troubleshooting?


Either Machinery or Tractor forums. If you have a NH piece of equipment you can look at the "pinned" topic at the top of the Machinery heading.

Or, you can do a internet search for a particular piece of machinery or tractor problem and quite often you will see some responses directly from haytalk listed. Or, you can use the site search box on top right....but it does have a few glitches sometimes.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Ohio Bale Dragger

Vol said:


> Either Machinery or Tractor forums. If you have a NH piece of equipment you can look at the "pinned" topic at the top of the Machinery heading.
> 
> Or, you can do a internet search for a particular piece of machinery or tractor problem and quite often you will see some responses directly from haytalk listed. Or, you can use the site search box on top right....but it does have a few glitches sometimes.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Thanks for the pointers Mike.

Of course I broke a chain on my baler twice on Tuesday. Quick repair and chain adjustment after the second time and I was up and running.

Put 72 bales on the ground over a three day period.


----------



## StoneRidgeFarm

My name is Gary and am located in central Kentucky. Been on a farm most of my life. The family farm was mostly row crops in the western part of the state. Got away from farming for several years, built a career, got married, bought a farm and started learning about forage crops.

My brother and I farm together, me on the forage side, him with row crops and cattle. We cut about 60-80 acres a year (per cutting). Primarily to feed his cattle. When prices started dropping and with a new family growing, the cattle were scaled way back. We are now selling 90% of what we put up and branching out to include small squares to try and maximize the return off this old hill farm.

I've read a great deal of the information available on hay talk over the last 5 years. A great source to pick up some experienced view points.


----------



## Tx Jim

Welcome to HT. I agree this forum is very informative.

Jim


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to Haytalk Gary!


----------



## CBudFrggy

Hello, my name is Carolyn and I know next to nothing about growing hay. I do know my horse needs T&A (b/c he's a TB and eats a lot). My hubby and I just purchased a hay field north of Gainesville, Coastal Bermuda grass hay, and will be eventually building a house and barn. For now, we are lucky to have wonderful neighbors with good contacts regarding maintaining and improving the property.


----------



## Ox76

Welcome to HayTalk! These folks are great. Nice, understanding, willing to help, etc. Lots of knowledge here already so search away and you'll likely find everything you need already printed up.

FWIW, I use google to search by doing: haytalk.com (insert search words here)


----------



## CBudFrggy

I know how to use google that way also! :-D


----------



## Ox76

Great! It seems to work better for most forums, I think. The in-forum search boxes don't seem to work as well as one would think.

Keep safe!


----------



## Onthayman

Hello my name is David . 
If been a lurker for a while and decided I'd better join because I might have some questions to ask. I live in Ontario Canada, North east of Toronto. We are in the horse business but also sell hay and do some custom work. We hay about 400 acres for ourselves, all either by crop share or on rented land. We do two cuts mostly , squeeze in a partial third if possible.We make about 20,000 small squares a year. We do another 600 rounds for ourselves plus what be do for custom work. 75% of our horses get fed haylage/ balege at @ 30 percent moisture. We have been feeding this way for 18 years. We feed close to 450 haylege bales a year . Both in rounds and big squares which we cut custom done.
Looking forward to getting help when I need it.


----------



## Ox76

Welcome. There is a huge amount of knowledge on here, I tell you what!


----------



## veriest1

My name is Larry and I operate a small hay and stock farm here in Central Texas. We primarily sell small square bales, round bales, and cattle (in that order). I joined to learn and maybe even share some information.


----------



## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk Larry....lots of folks here from the great state of TX.


----------



## 1965RU

Good evening,

My name is Todd and I'm finishing up the last 5 years in my Navy career. When I finish I will have 30 years and a nice pension. My wife and I would like to move to the New England area, probably New Hampshire, and buy our forever home. I figure since I'm finally retiring, I'm going to do something I've always been interested in and try my hand at small scale farming. I'm looking for around 30 acres and would like to use half of it to grow hay. I'd like to learn as much as possible before hand so I set myself up for success. I'm not looking to make a huge profit, maybe just cover fuel and maintenance costs of the equipment. Any and all advice would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks!


----------



## FCF

Welcome to Haytalk Todd. With only a small acreage you are wise with your expectations. You have come to the right place for answers, be sure to read as much as you can of previous posts and ask about what you don't understand or can't find answers.


----------



## Shetland Sheepdog

Welcome aboard Todd, here's a link for you!

https://www.farmsandbarns.com/

HTH, Dave


----------



## Tx Jim

Todd

Welcome to HT & thank you for your 30 yrs of service helping defend my life & my families lives & our countries freedom!!
Jim


----------



## somedevildawg

Thank you for your service Todd and welcome to Haytalk.....I just have to ask, why New Hampshire? Family? Climate? Seems available land is pricey up there, but I’m sure that’s not everywhere....maybe, hopefully?


----------



## 1965RU

somedevildawg said:


> Thank you for your service Todd and welcome to Haytalk.....I just have to ask, why New Hampshire? Family? Climate? Seems available land is pricey up there, but I'm sure that's not everywhere....maybe, hopefully?


You hit the nail on the head. Both family and climate. We are looking at other areas including Tennessee but haven't totally locked in on anything yet. Besides those two factors, I also have to look at which states offer the best retirement benefits for military. The pension will be good, but a reduction nonetheless, so we have to do our best to maximize what we will have. To that end, I have begun to accumulate equipment and thus far have gotten two JD 1010s, a 1963 and a 1965. I have plenty of time so I'm hopeful a good deal as far as house & property will come along.


----------



## somedevildawg

Good luck, it’s a great way to live life! God, Family, Country! If ya’ go to havin’ any questions....there’s a forum for that! (We try to be up with the times  )


----------



## luke strawwalker

Palmettokat said:


> Good morning to all. I grew up on small (very small) animal farm and wife on tobacco farm, many years ago! Mules were still used to some degree on both farms. Do enjoy farming greatly and do farm what is her family farm for the joy and to take care of it. Have worked to get it up to about 38 acres in cultivation and rest of the land here and on what is left of my families is in timber.
> 
> For now near twenty years planted row crops some peanuts (for those who are blessed to like boiled peanuts and to know the cry in the tobacco warehouses of years ago) but really corn and soybeans. I have been looking at moving from row crop to hay for about twenty years with no background (unless you county loading with pitch fork onto mule pulled wagon) did not find the support needed. Blessed to have a very good friend who now with a few years experience and the necessary equipment to do all the cutting and baling have taken my first major step and had fifteen acres sprigged with Coastal Bermuda this March. Boy and I thought i was ready!
> 
> Finding weed problems did not know we had due to use of roundup ready crops, especially Johnson Grass. My concerns at present are first controlling the Johnson Grass in three month old Coastal. Then storage for the hay. After that will be hay equipment. My first hay equipment I think I need is a system to know where has been sprayed (no rows to count) and system to load the square bales.
> 
> Have read a good bit here and really do like Hay Talk. Have read many comments on Johnson Grass and also Guidance systems. Not firm on either of those two issues yet or hay grapple for square bales.
> 
> Pray you have a safe and blessed season.
> 
> Kenneth
> 
> PS: insurance is my full time business mainly in life, health but a few years experience in property insurance. Not in any mode other than recommendation glad to help with any question.


Best thing to control johnsongrass in bermuda-- three words-- SPIEDEL WEED WIPER. Google it and get you one, use 33% Roundup solution in it run a foot above your bermuda. Works great on a front end loader. OL J R


----------



## Big Blue Tractor

Introduction- Hello everyone, I’ve been a Haytalk member since 2018, but the forums would never allow me to post until now! So I have been reading and absorbing the forum up until now. I am in Michigan by the Ohio border and I am a new farmer. I’ve been developing my farm for 5 years now. I reached a milestone and planted some Timothy last fall and I just got done planting some Alfalfa/ Timothy last weekend in my second field. I have never done hay before. I have been collecting all of the equipment over the last few years and have been doing lots of reading on soil, and maintaining the crop and making hay. I am very excited to get my first cut of small square bales. I understand that haying is an art and a science. I am using older equipment and I like my older equipment. I am up for the challenge. It’s good to finally be able to post. I have a lot of questions and I look forward to joining in the conversations.


----------



## Vol

Yes our old software had gotten to the point where the site was barely moving. Folks could not join or join in like you. Welcome

Regards, Mike


----------



## Tx Jim

BBT
Welcome to HT. I'm a computer dummy & I could post on the "old style" forum but I;ve been a member for few yr longer. I wonder what was keeping you from posting on "'old style but allowed you to post on new style"????

Oh well the important thing is you can now post to this forum.


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Glad you're able to post now Big Blue Tractor! Welcome to Haytalk!


----------



## MikeBurker

Hi there 
My name is Mike. Finally got around to posting in this thread 
Glad to be here!


----------



## Tx Jim

Mike
Welcome to HT
Enjoy the knowledge on this forum.
Jim


----------



## PaulN

Welcome aboard Mike!


----------



## Fae

Just an old retired ranch woman age 70 that does a daily 3 to 5-mile walk around alfalfa hayfields. Grew up in the Rocky Mountains on a large cattle ranch with 80 acres of alfalfa hay. As a teen, the hayfield became my job since I liked running equipment better than other chores.


----------



## Tx Jim

Welcome to HT


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to HayTalk Fae


----------



## the farmer 3

Hello all, We are in central n.y. dairy and beef farm I have my wife helping me and one son I have had haytalk pop up to answer a few things I have googled so I thought I would jump in and tell you all that you are helpfull Thank You, Joe from Brooksvale Farms


----------



## Gearclash

the farmer 3 said:


> Hello all, We are in central n.y. dairy and beef farm I have my wife helping me and one son I have had haytalk pop up to answer a few things I have googled so I thought I would jump in and tell you all that you are helpfull Thank You, Joe from Brooksvale Farms


Welcome to Haytalk!


----------



## Tx Jim

Welcome to Haytalk!


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to Haytalk Joe!


----------



## Smideniz

I just joined the forum so there are so many things I don't know yet, I hope to have the help of the boards, and I really want to get to know you all on the forum.


----------



## Tx Jim

Welcome to HayTalk
What brand & model of tractors/hay equipment do you have? Where hay is involved this discussion forum has some very knowledgeable members.


----------



## HardnoseCattleCo

Hi there I'm Phil. I figured I would join in and introduce myself. I'm on other cattle forums and such. I'm 28 years old I've been starting and growing a cattle and hay operation from scratch. Currently I have a john deere 5310, new holland 315 baler, fahr tedder, and a new idea 400 rake. I work full time on a neighboring dairy but end goal/ plan is to be full time cattle and hay. I look forward to discussing and brainstorming with everyone on here!


----------



## PaulN

Welcome to Haytalk Phil. I have found this site to be a wealth of useful information.


----------



## Tx Jim

Phil
Welcome to HayTalk
Jim


----------



## JDaniels

Hey Fellas,
I’m JD and from central Alberta, Canada. I’m in my mid thirties and the son of a third generation grain farmer. I’m an engineer by trade but my dad recently retired from farming and I’d like to continue farming, however, every May when I’m supposed to be seeding, the plant I work at is shutdown for maintenance, and that is the busiest time of year for my job. This has me thinking of seeding down our three quarters to some type of alfalfa/hay rotation for the local dairies. Look forward to discussing that prospect with you guys on the forum.


----------



## georgecheneylll

Small horse farm in so. Maine. Been haying small for the last 3 seasons. Bought a BFH 210 Enorossi sickle bar; it's been cutting poorly despite new blades...the NH 273 bales really well with a 955 Deere pulling it. Looking to discuss getting a disc mower, but the most I have is 40hp on a tired Kubota 4200.


----------



## Hayman1

georgecheneylll said:


> Small horse farm in so. Maine. Been haying small for the last 3 seasons. Bought a BFH 210 Enorossi sickle bar; it's been cutting poorly despite new blades...the NH 273 bales really well with a 955 Deere pulling it. Looking to discuss getting a disc mower, but the most I have is 40hp on a tired Kubota 4200.


I pulled a 273 with a 950 for several years. Ate the pto clutch. Just saying you might not want that as a long term strategy. That said, I loved that handy little tractor. 24d with loaded 28 rears.


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to haytalk @georgecheneylll


----------



## Tx Jim

George
Welcome to Haytalk


----------



## Eds1969Ford

Hello Hay talk. I am new to this forum and site and looking for information on a Case IH 8830 Swather , Specifically , anyone who has experience with the 18 foot draper tables , and also any other advice on the rest of the swather as well.


----------



## HayMike

Welcome. Nice car!


----------



## contitour

Hello,

I'm Bouke and from the Netherlands, but now living in Germany, close to the border (bridge to far, Arnhem area). I make about 3500 small bales a year for horses. Until last year I used a Mc Cormick B47, But this year I bought a new New Holland BC 5060 and a Krone Activemow 360. Both machines are speeding up the hay making proces😀. If you want to see what I'm doing you can look on my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/boukemaas/videos

Greetings from Germany


----------



## PaulN

Greetings from the USA, and welcome to Haytalk! That looks like a very nice baler. They must paint them yellow for Europe, over here, New Holland is red.

Paul


----------



## Jbernal

Greetings from central Florida. I’m Jeremy, a homesteader on 20 acres. We do some livestock with Dexter cattle and chickens, I use hay for the animals and for Ruth Stout potato gardening. I have a new holland 575 i am having some trouble with (posted in the machinery forum). I don’t do hay as a business (maybe i would if i could get the baler to be reliable!) but i do sell the surplus once in a while.


----------



## Jrollings

Hi all. I’m Jason from Indiana. Just recently moved north west from the west side of Indy. I just bought a NH275 and am trying to get into doing hay for friends and family. The bad part is my tractor is only 35 hp for the pto so we will see how it goes. We have about 10 acres to cut BUT I have a lot to learn. Thankfully, my 9 year old son is here to walk me through it all. I’m sure I’ll be in here as time permits. We are also getting into chickens and will get cattle in the next few years. I hope to learn a lot and help out when at all possible.


----------



## Tony Knight

G’day, grazier and contractor for my whole life mostly in Victoria Australia, worked my way up from humble beginnings with a Fiat 640 DT, 1460 Gehl, NH Hayliner 69, rollerbar and a NH 462 mower. 
Now running JD 6130R’s, JD V451M, Case 8545, Claas 2600 twin rotor, Claas 3600 contour mower, accumulators, grabs etc.
The season should have started in earnest a month ago but the weather is dumping rain almost daily.…..

Best regards to all,



T


----------



## paoutdoorsman

Welcome to HayTalk Tony! Another Aussie member has been posting some pics of the massive rains. Sorry you gents are having a tough start to the season.


----------

