# 4 acres - hay or pasture?



## jillybean19

We are looking at a lot of about 5.5 acres for horse property. Having planned out the house, round pen, arena, barn, etc., it all takes up about 1.5 acres. That means I have about 3-4 acres, depending on how large of a dry-lot turnout I decide to have, that I can either use as pasture or grow my own hay on. The lot has been used to grow hay before (I'm not sure if it's still being used to grow hay).

We plan on having 2-4 horses. My horses have been hay-fed up to this point, and I don't mind continuing that. The idea of pasture is nice since they will have more room to run around. However, I'd like to go with the most cost-effective option. If I were to grow hay, I'd have a larger dry-lot to satisfy turn-out needs. If I had pasture, the dry-lot would be smaller. In addition, the horses would have limited time out on the pasture and still receive some hay and supplements in the mornings and/or evenings.

Which would be the most cost effective? I have never grown my own hay before and would hire someone to come do the heavy-machinery work like baling (It's a farming community, so I'm sure I could find someone and we even have a few friends there that grow hay). I estimate getting about 8 tons of hay per acre (4 cuttings @ 2 tons per cutting). With even 3 acres, 24 tons of hay would be plenty for my 4 horses, and any extra bales I could sell, but would it save me any money?

If I didn't grow hay, how much would it cost to make the land suitable for pasture?


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## Wallaby

I know nothing about baling hay/that whole aspect but I CAN tell you that the 5+ acre pasture that I'm using right now (which is basically 3 or 4 useable acres since a lot of it is covered in blackberries or too steep to really graze) had a hard time keeping up with 2 horses this summer (plus a large number of deer, etc). However, the horses were out on it all the time and it had been mowed at an awkward time of the year (mid-summer, right after the rains stopped for good).

Now that there's only one horse on it and two goats (all stalled at night), the grass is doing great but things would cheaper now if there had been only one horse through the summer.

Anyhoo, I might think about haying 2 acres and having 2 acres of pasture that the horses go out on during the day/in good weather and then a drylot for the rest of the time... The pasture might keep you from having to feed hay/much hay through the summer which, personally, is the epitome of "perfect". 
But then again, I know nothing about haying. 

I'm super jealous of your set up, it sounds like it'll be wonderful!

ETA: with the cost to make the pasture "pasture"...I have no idea. We have good enough earth out here that grass just grows like nobodies business. That's definitely a good point, I had never thought about that being different throughout the country! haha


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## jillybean19

I did like your idea of a kind of middle-ground - maybe have 2 acres in turnout and another 2 in hay, so I should have a little hay for the summer and plenty for the winter. I wonder if this would work?

We're really hopeful for this property - it could really be our dream set-up!


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## BigGreyHorse

Another point to consider is whether you will be baling your own or hiring it done. In our area, finding someone to bale a small field was pretty much impossible. Much cheaper to buy the hay & use the pasture. However, that was over 15yrs ago and things could be different now.


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## jillybean19

BigGreyHorse said:


> Another point to consider is whether you will be baling your own or hiring it done. In our area, finding someone to bale a small field was pretty much impossible. Much cheaper to buy the hay & use the pasture. However, that was over 15yrs ago and things could be different now.


I would be hiring someone. However, it is a rural area and we have friends that grow their own hay as well.


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## jillybean19

I'm leaning toward using the pasture but managing it very well and keeping the horses off it more than on, but I'm not sure what work it would take to convert the hay field into a suitable pasture for horses.


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## Celeste

I come out better utilizing all the pasture that I can and minimizing my hay requirements. I buy my hay. I guess the downside to this is that my horses can be a bit too fat. 

Making hay is expensive. You have to fertilize the fields or the hay will be low quality. Hay making equipment is expensive. The whole thing is labor intensive. You may be able to find somebody to make hay on halves, but you still will be investing a lot in fertilizer.

I enjoy having enough pasture so that I am not having to always clean manure out of paddocks. They get plenty of vitamin A from the green grass. The horses are happy. They get exercise when I don't have time to ride them.

It should not be that hard to turn a hay field into pasture. Proper fencing with access to shade and water should do it.

One other thing that you could consider is to let the horses have the run of the field for part of the year after you make the last cutting of hay.

A field that is grazed will need to be bushhogged a couple of times every year to keep the weeds down.


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## deserthorsewoman

We just asked our hay guy who has his cut and baled by a custom farmer. He says a 110lbs bale costs him 2.50 plus fertilizer and in his case seed(oat hay).

We're debating the same thing, have 8 acres irrigated pasture and are planning on two cuttings only.


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## Breezy2011

If you do want more hay then pasture you could do 1 acre pasture, just so your horses have some space to run around, and 3 acres hay, so you won't run short during the winter.


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## Chevaux

I preface what I am about to say with I am unfamiliar with the climate and geography of your area but I can't help but think that your estimate of eight tons per acre is high. Are you able to bale year round where you are? Is your field going to be irrigated? Where we are, we might get a second cutting if we can get the first cutting off the field in June and then wait another two to three months for the second to grow if the weather cooperates. 

It is expensive to have your own haying equipment and you need to be proficient at repairs because you can't always count on getting professional help out quickly to do fixes. Also, since your land is in a farming community and you're thinking of getting the "locals" to bale the hay for you, be prepared to have to wait because the reality is that they are doing their hay at the same time and you're field probably won't be a priority for them - that may affect the quality of the hay if it's done late and/or gets rained on.

In your situation, I suspect you'll be happiest with pasture land and purchased hay. Your horses will be glad of the room and grazing and you will be able to exercise some quality control with purchased hay. A pasture is not that hard to maintain - if you're getting a tractor buy a rough cut mower to mow down the weeds should there be any; if the manure piles start to look too plentiful, run a harrows over the field once in a while to break them down; if there are sparse areas showing up hand toss some hay seed and a bit of fertilizer (preferrably before a rain) to help fill them in.

Otherwise, it sounds like you've got a good set up planned so enjoy!


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## Joe4d

the field is gonna grow X amount of hay, whether you let them eat it as it grows or cut and bale it, your production will be about the same. Using it for hay will incur the additional expense of harvesting. 
More cost effective to let em eat it in place.
Sayign that. 4 acres is gonn aget mowed down pretty good by 2 horses, 4 will over graze it. Id also look into zoning laws. many places are putting acreage and setback limits on horses. If I knew I wanted to keep 2-4 horses I wouldnt even consider less than 10 acres of grass. NOT buying hay all year is a big money saver.


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## Northernstar

Need to log off here, but it sounds like you're thinking and planning everything very well - my only little bit of advice is to buy (mine was a few dollars on Amazon) or check out @ your local library the "bible" per say on this topic titled, *"Horsekeeping On A Small Acreage" by Cherry Hill.* It's quick, easy reading and chock full of excellent advice. Best of luck!


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## RitzieAnn

I'm in the same boat. Trying to decide if I want to find somebody to hay half of my property. 

The first thing you need to look at is: is there anybody close by that does hay in the area? A lot of people won't haul all the tractors over to do just a tiny portion of hay. I know a lot of people who do hay, and they say if it's less than 4 or 5 acres, it's not worth it for them, or they charge a lot more.

The other thing to keep in mind, I hay my folks property, which is just under 5 acres of hay. I get 230 bales (50-60lbs each) off of it. Due to our grow season, and since we don't irrigate it, we get one cut only. That's plenty for my 3 horses to winter on, and I sell some. But that's 5 acres. Does your property grow densely? If it's thin grass, or sparce, then you might find it not worth cutting. It's hard to say though for sure.

Maybe try it one year, and decide from there?


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## JeepnGirl

Jillybean,
We are in the Pacific North West also. We bought a little farm that is 11 acres. We have about 6 acres that we could have turned into hay. I was looking into getting USED hay equipment.
A used rotary hay cutter attachment would cost about $3000.
A used hay rake to wind row the hay are about $1500.
The baler, used is about $3500 to $5000.

So already I was way up there in price. $9000 would be a LOT of hay just bought from someone. So I asked a friend that is about 11 miles down the road about if he would hire out to cut our hay. And he has all the equipment - he grows oats and barley and bales the straw. He has hired out before to hay other people's fields, but they have a bunch more acreage than we do, making it much more cost effective for him to do it. 
He said, that with the cost of fuel, time, etc that it wouldn't be worth the outcome for us to have him do it. And he didn't know anyone else right near us that would want to do a little field for us either.

So I decided to just divide up the pasture we have and rotate the horses so a couple paddocks get a rest and grown while one or two others are being grazed. That way I don't have to feed a stem of hay, unless we go over night camping with the horses.
I can often find hay for $3.50 a bale near me. So I am just going to stock up for the winter and call it done. 

Now when we lived in Northern California, The *real* Northern part, like almost to Oregon, we had a 6 acre irrigated hay pasture. We had the guy a mile down the road come with his combine and cut, flip, and bale it. He would even gather it up in a hay buggy and put the stacks of hay in our hay barn. He would charge us $200? I think we got three cutting and they were about 2 tons each cutting. But the growing season there is about to start in April. And it lasts until around October sometimes...


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## RitzieAnn

Gosh, that sucks. We are in northern Washington. Lots of farm land around us. The property at my moms that I have cut for myself cost me $3.25/ bale this year. Lucky for me, it was recently seeded by the guy who used to cut it for himself (before his doc told him that age 85 is too old for haying as many fields as he does, lol) so I turned around & sold my hay for $6 a bale. Lol. My total overhead for 3 horses hay this winter was about $250. Score!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cat

We are in Kentucky. Have 5 acres w/ house, barn and small arena on it. Everything else is in pasture and we buy hay. Found it is much more cost effective that way. Even if you get farmers to hay it for you they either want 1/2 or charge you for their work. Might as well put that money towards purchasing extra hay and let the horses use the fields. And no matter which way you go you still need to fertilize, lime, and weed control.

We have a dry lot that connects to a tract around our pasture. It lets the horses get a lot of movement while dry lotted but keeps them off the grass when we don't want them there. The term paradise paddock I think is what a set up like this is called - you might want to look it up.

We have our pastures divided into 2 pastures, and a smaller 3rd side pasture due to how our land lays around the house. We rotate the horses on these lots for best maintenance of grass.

Here in KY - I can maintain 4 horses on 4 acres (about what we have in pasture) from May - November with no extra hay. As long as its not a drought year. The rest of the time time I supplement with round bales. It takes managing the land, but it can be done in the right locations. I've even had more equines on this land and been able to maintain with just minimal hay supplementation through the summer as well. But the more animals per acre - the more work it is to keep usable pasture.


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## Cat

Joe4d said:


> Sayign that. 4 acres is gonn aget mowed down pretty good by 2 horses, 4 will over graze it.


Depends on location and management of the land. I have 4 horses and own 5 acres - including house and such. For 8 years now the only time I've had to buy hay in the summer is during a drought year. Otherwise with rotational grazing I have had good grass for them until late fall. 

On the other hand when I was looking at possibly moving out to Wyoming I was being told at least 10-20 acres per horse!


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## Saddlebag

If you can find someone to cut and bale the hay, that will cost you 2/3 of the hay crop. That's only if that person needs hay. You are anticipating four cuttings. That requires a lot of fertilizer. Someone has to put it on the fields, another expense. If you opt to pastue 4 horses on it they will make short work of the grass once the growth slows down. You don't want them on it during the day during optimal growth because of the founder factor.


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