Finely got the hay cut

[deadeye]

For one reason or another, we did not get the hay cut last year.  Several farmers said they would cut it but fall came and went and no one showed or called.  I called one guy who said he wanted it, and he said he just didn't get around to it.  At any rate, over 40 acres are now now cut, baled and probably off the fields by now.

[Dotch]

You managed to find someone to cut and bale it for you deadeye? Hay is still bringing about what it did last winter here for quality stuff altho prices show signs of softening some on the lesser quality hay. Noticed locally there were a lot more ditches baled this year than last. I gotta tell ya, cutting & baling it yourself is overrated. I fell in a hole while stacking the last partial load this a.m. & twisted my ankle. Heard lots of snap, crackle & pop. Now it's getting sore.

[LPS]

Yup time to just buy it and rent out your fields.  ????

[deadeye]

Dotch,
being a farmer in the know, what's a fair stumpage price per bale (probably 1000 pound bales) for lesser quality grass hay.  I know there are a lot of factors that would influence the price.  Distance from road, quality of hay, ease of cutting and hauling (smooth fields), etc.   

[Dotch]

Just a ballpark guess, they should be worth $25 -$30 a bale if the guy did his own cutting, baling and hauling which is what I assume you mean by "stumpage". If you did the field operations yourself, then it's more like $35 - $50 a bale depending on how good it is. I know it's been dry in NE MN so betting hay might be a little tight there. That's a positive thing if you're the guy selling it, not so much if you're buying it. LPS might have some thoughts on price to as he has some hay burners. 

[LPS]

I agreed to buy 22 bales of pretty good hay for my horses.  They guy also feeds his stock cows the same stuff.  He is a pretty knowledgeable guy.  I am getting appx 800 lb bales at about $30 per bale.  He bales them and will probably load them on flat beds and I go pick them up and return them when I empty them.  Good system for me. 

[deadeye]

I had time to run up to my land today.  The hay has been baled and hauled.  I have no idea at this time how many bales the guy took off the land.  I just have to hope he's an honest man.  Because a 24 acre field was not cut for two years and an 18 acre field was not cut last year, I gave him a great deal being their could be a bit of old residue in the new cutting.  When I was there on Wednesday, he told me at least three times that he wanted to make the hay net year.  I guess he knows a good deal when he sees it. 

[oldbuck47]

Question for anyone that might know... just picked up an 80 that has about 50 acres tillable hay field. has not but mowed last 2 years. Do you charge a farmer willing to hay the field a stumpage fee??  We are going to talk to some local farmers and wondering how to approach it..  Would like someone to maintain the field into the future not just mow it this year, so just wondering??????

[Jerkbiat]

My brother in law just lets the guy he has do it foe free. That way it is maintained and he doesn't have to do it.

[LPS]

I agreed to buy 22 bales of pretty good hay for my horses.  They guy also feeds his stock cows the same stuff.  He is a pretty knowledgeable guy.  I am getting appx 800 lb bales at about $30 per bale.  He bales them and will probably load them on flat beds and I go pick them up and return them when I empty them.  Good system for me.

I want to add something important to this conversation.  The last 3 years or so I have bought 400 lb bales that were real loose and I had to be careful with them when I picked them up with the WD so they wouldn't fall apart.  Just regular old grasses, nothing special at all.  4' bales.  He brought them the 5 miles from his place to mine and I unloaded them.  $18 a bale.  I also paid him $18 for a round bale of straw to put over the old septic tank.  Good ol boy, not a rich guy at all,  fun to deal with but his hay didn't do good this year.