New to Farming and looking to seed and crop hay for horses

6 posts
Sun, 06/19/2016 - 23:55 #1

Member for

8 years 6 months
Kacprzak
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 06/19/2016 - 23:46

New to Farming and looking to seed and crop hay for horses

Hi guys, i'm as new as they come to farming but am excited to learn.

My wife and I recently purchased 55 acres of flat farming land and i'd love some advice on what implements i would need to prepare, sow and crop for horse hay. I understand it's not as simple as i may want it to be but i figure if i can slowly get the implements then i can start my farming journey. I currently have a small 30hp tractor for all my small maintanance jobs around the place and would look at only croping 30 acres to start , maybe even 15 , so any advice would be much appreciated,

I'm the type of person that follows steps very easy, so long as i have all the tools i need,

Thank you

Tim

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Mon, 06/20/2016 - 10:39 #2
Terry
Last seen: 02/29/2024 - 14:20
Joined: 09/13/2013 - 18:57

HI Tim,

 

I was where you are two years ago and put in a  crop of hay for horses as well. I seeded 6 Hectares and got 123 large round bales out of it in the first year.

 

I got a peranniel mix of seed so should get a  better crop this year. I contracted the work out though. Had the paddock sprayed with a herbicide to get any weeds down and then over seeded the paddock. This is best done late Autumn. Late spring they came in and mowed the grass down and put it into rows to dry out a bit. They turned it over once and then baled it early December.

 

I have  a 35 HP tractor and all the equipment I have would not be big enough to do the job in any reaosnable amount of time and doing it just once a year I dont think you would get enough utilisation out of the equipment you would need to make it pay let alone keep the maintenance up to the equipment. 

 

I can tell you that in the first year the bales ended up costing me about $50/bale. I would expect that to drop back to about $30/bale this year as I dont need to reseed.

 

i recently revisted this issue along the lines you are thinking and came to the conclusion it just didnt make  commercial sense to invest in the equipment required and then keep the maintenance up to it for a once a year harvest.

 

So what do you need to do this if you still want to go ahead.

 

Herbicide Sprayer

A reasonable size mower. I couldnt imagine mowing the 6HA with a 6 ft slasher. Could obviously be done though

hay rake

Baler and consumables for it.

 

Good luck with it all irrespective of which way you go.

 

regards

 

 

Terry

 

 

 

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Mon, 06/20/2016 - 22:36 #3
Kacprzak
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 06/19/2016 - 23:46

Hi Terry,
 

Thank you so much for the advice , it's most helpful and your right with the cost of all the equipment to harvest once a year it could be getting pretty expensive, with 50 a bale last year and prices here ranging from 130-180 atm you would turn a tidy profit without doing any real work.

I guess the decision of whether 50 a bale over 30 acres would generate enough cash to pay for the implements required and the work needed to be done considering i also work full time , hmmm the joys of farming , and being new to the caper ,

Thanks again

 

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Tue, 06/21/2016 - 13:42 #4
Terry
Last seen: 02/29/2024 - 14:20
Joined: 09/13/2013 - 18:57

Hi Tim,

 

Where's your farm? That few bales for that much acreage seems very low but I dont know the land. 

 

I'm on the Bellarine Peninsula at Drysdale and while we didnt have much water last year, I did probably get the best crop in the district but I think that was probably due to over seeding the paddock. I've just sprayed it again to have another go at the capeweed. We are getting good rains at the moment. Had 100mm last months and look like heading up for the same this month. It will be interesting to see if I get a better crop this year as predicted.

 

You may want to consider seeding but it is expensive. I redid the horse paddocks for a total area of about 2.5 HA and the 6HA hay paddock and it was about $2400 just for the seed. Did get great crops though.

 

Good luck with it. 

 

kind regards

 

Terry

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Tue, 06/21/2016 - 15:47 #5
Kacprzak
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 06/19/2016 - 23:46

Hi Terry,

I'm actually not far from you in Bannockburn , we are getting some great rain atm, i think i may of said it wrong as in $50 a bale over 30 acres , going off your numbers it would see us generate around 250 bales. Provided the prices stay the same you can make a good profit for not having to do much more than storage. 

Currently i lease 45 acres until my wife and I understand the farming game but this info makes it much easier and a lot less dawnting when we finish the current lease ,

Thanks

 

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Wed, 06/22/2016 - 09:33 #6
Terry
Last seen: 02/29/2024 - 14:20
Joined: 09/13/2013 - 18:57

Hi Tim,

 

That's pretty much agrees with what I got. From  what i can see at the moment you can do better out of croping hay than what you can get out of cattle or sheep.

 

Your costs are pretty much the same as mine for last year although I expect it to drop to about $30/bale this year. Will be intersting to see. Prices are pretty good. If you are happy to sell in 1's or 2's you can get about $150/bale down our way.

 

I'm going to see how many more bales I get this year from the paddock I have set aside and may do another 35 acres next year.

 

kind regards

 

 

Terry

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