# Who grows their own hay?



## SKB1994 (Sep 28, 2014)

I've always dreamed of having my own farm, and been window shopping different properties. Especially out west where the land is so much cheaper. A lot come with already established hay fields, particularly alfalfa.
Out of curiosity, who grows their own hay? What steps go into growing and harvesting your own? Is it financially worth it compared to buying hay? How many acres of hay do you need to grow to feed the average horse?
I'd love any and all input about growing hay :smile:


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I've been in situations where we have grown hay and frankly unless you are going into it as a business venture buying is a better use of your resources (money) and time (savings). The first time we used the horses with equipment that was given to us and we refurbished. We borrowed a baler and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent. We didn't cut near enough for the number of horses we had and time is a limiting factor. The second time was done conventionally. Purchase of equipment was out of the question. Rental of equipment ended up costing us more than buying hay. After that we leased the fields in exchange for hay for our own use. That person put less time and effort and money into it than we did and mismanaged things so badly the fields are still recovering. It became a huge family argument and we have nothing to do with that property any longer. 

Starting from scratch is expensive as you are looking at prepping and seeding or sprigging. If the weather isn't perfect you can lose your field before it even gets started and seed/sprigs are not cheap. Then there is maintenance -you have to fertilize and test to ensure the crop is getting what it needs and the actual effort to cut, dry and bale then move and store your hay. On top of all that is the initial expenditure for equipment which is high.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Let me also add that the quality of hay is a factor in how much a horse eats. If you use a good year at 100 bales an acre and feed hay five months out of the year then graze the rest (not what you are cutting for hay) then that one acre could do. Make it a team, two acres and room to store loose hay and you might could do just fine. You'd just need equipment to cut and a tedder, along with a hay wagon and covered barn..


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

We grow our own hay- but I live in NW IL and so growing hay here is a little different than it is out west. Our hay is Alflafa, Timothy and some grass. We have 3 - 4 acres of hay and it is not enough to feed our horses and cows so we buy some as well. We converted pasture to hay ground out of necessity most farmers in our area stopped baling square bales so the price was increasing dramatically every year. We pay a farmer who mostly does hay to mow, ted and bale our hay. We provide the man power for racking and in-racking. The farmer that cuts our hay also fertilizes the field and planted it as well. 

For us the cost is cheaper than buying all of our hay - but we do not own any of the equipment 

I think that having to own and maintain the equipment would be cost prohibitive -


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## RMH (Jul 26, 2016)

As a farmer by trade I grow my own hay for my horses, cattle, and some to sell. Unless you have a large herd or plan to sell some it probably won't be economical. I have over $40,000 in used hay equipment with no other purpose than to produce hay. This figure does not include the tractors needed to pull the equipment. In the past I have done some custom hay harvesting for neighbors where I did the complete harvest and split the hay 50:50 with the landowner. If the hay wasn't well fertilized and managed I lost money as it took a lot of machine time for not much hay. That may be an economical option if you have a farmer nearby. The only downside in the humid east is that good hay weather is often limited so when it's fit to do hay I'm often working on my own hay or with my other crops. You mentioned west and I know there are some areas where they have to bale hay at night as it's too dry during the day and the leaves fall off of alfalfa. It's my understanding that there is very little dry hay produced in Florida because it rains too frequently. Every area is different for hay production. My main hay crop is alfalfa. Once it's planted and established it's good for 4-5 cuttings per year and lasts 5-6 years. I also grow some Teff grass hay which is an annual that requires additional tillage and seeding equipment to plant it every year. Harvest generally requires cutting with a mower conditioner, tedding, raking, baling, picking up hay, and stacking in the barn. Unless you have family help you can't hardly pay anyone enough to want to handle hay. I use a New Holland automatic bale wagon to pick up and stack hay so there is minimal hand work until I feed or sell it. Depending on the growing conditions my 5 horses eat one cutting from 8-10 acres of alfalfa. Luckily there are 4-5 cuttings to choose from because every cutting doesn't come out horse quality. Sometimes due to weather the hay may be moldy or too stemmy and only good for cattle, sheep, or goats. I wish more people would attempt to do their own hay as it would give them an appreciation of what it takes to produce horse quality hay. At the same time there are too many people producing hay as a hobby who don't realize the costs associated with growing hay who sell it too cheap. With that being said, I'd hate to have to rely on someone else to produce my hay.


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

We grow our own hay, actually just did our own cutting last year. The pasture we cut and baled has been used as a hay field years prior, unfortunately for us we dont have any of our own equipment, so our hay guy brought his equipment over and cut and baled it for us at a discounted rate. We buy hay off him for about $3/bale, he cut and baled our hay for about $1.50/bale I believe. 

An insane amount of work growing your own hay. We made a lot of mistakes regarding our field, hoping with a few changes we'll have a better outcome! We had two pastures done, one was about 15acres, the other is about 40acres. Got approximately 1200 bales off one cut, sadly the one pasture wasnt as nice of quality as we had hoped, but the other was very promising! For us it was worth it, we put all our hay up into storage that we got off our own property, and had enough for about 15horses through this harsh winter.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

SKB1994 said:


> I've always dreamed of having my own farm, and been window shopping different properties. Especially out west where the land is so much cheaper. A lot come with already established hay fields, particularly alfalfa.
> Out of curiosity, who grows their own hay? What steps go into growing and harvesting your own? Is it financially worth it compared to buying hay? How many acres of hay do you need to grow to feed the average horse?
> I'd love any and all input about growing hay :smile:


Beware of inexpensive land in the western states. It is often priced low when there are no water rights. Even if a creek runs through the place, or there are reservoirs on it, the water may not go with the ground. Water rights are expensive. Water rights can be, and sometimes are, sold separately.

How much you get depends on how much rain you get and/or how well you irrigate, what kind of ground there is, and if you notice when the bugs arrive and do you get them sprayed in time. How many deer, elk, and antelope are you feeding while it grows? In drought years you'll be feeding more with less to spare. And don't scare them off without the blessing of the local Game and Fish person. That can result in a big fine. 

Straight alfalfa isn't horse hay out here. Alfalfa mix or a good grass mix is more desirable. How much you need depends on the horse and the kind of winter you get. Lots of subzero temps and/or deep snow requires more hay. I plan on at least 3 ton per horse and then have extra in case winter lasts into May.

I used to put up 320 to 360 ton or large round bales by myself. I had good equipment. Theoretically, if all went well, I would never have to touch the hay with my hands. But, I always knew I'd be working on the equipment from time to time. I also spent time working on the pivot sprinklers and did ditch irrigation and even tubed out of one concrete ditch. I had two pumps that drew from a river and those took a lot of maintenance. The next hired person on that outfit got electrocuted working on one of them. Awful.

Oh, we get two and hope for three cuttings here in the northern mountain states.

In spite of the stress and lack of sleep and hay ruling your world during the summer and fall, when you get it all put up and finish doing the end of season maintenance of the machinery, dams, and pivots, it feels good. You know for sure you have done something.

Then you start watching the weather again in anticipation for the next year.

Now that I only have my own horses and belong to a grazing association and joined up with two friends and made an LLC, it is more economical for me to buy hay at $120-150/ton than buy and maintain equipment and devote that much time into haying.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

We do, but on a large scale which wouldn’t help you out as far as a small operation. I can only imagine it done our way though, so it would seem much cheaper to buy than grow in my head. Lol


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## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

We grew our own hay off of 10 owned acres, and 10 leased acres for MAYBE 2 years, without our own equipment. Around here, nearly all farmers are going towards round bales, and were completely unwilling to bale for us any longer. Square bales are more of a pain, take longer to take care of, the list goes on...but they are easiest to feed portions to horses! Unfortunately, I am largely surrounded by people who rely on hay to feed cows, so round bales is what we could bale by the end, and we had no place to store more than 3 or 4 of them. It ended up becoming easier for us to just buy the amount of hay we needed for our 3-4 horses. If you decide to bale your own hay, find a farmer to bale the hay BEFORE committing to seeding and prepping the acreage, and really look at if it would be cheaper and easier to bale your own in the long run.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

We do our own hay. I could probably write a book on all the ins and outs of it. 

Over a period of years we have planted the hay fields and pastures hiring a neighbour to do the planting at the start until we secured our equipment to carry on and finish it all. We have about 20 acres in pasture and 90 acres in hay. What we don’t need for hay ourselves we sell to neighbours.

I do the haying by myself. My husband willingly helps out when needed but he does not have the patience for fixing equipment which is very much part of the process (we have a mixture of old and new and they will all break down at some point). I, on the other hand, have become Little Miss Fix It much to my surprise, his relief and, I like to think, the envy of at least some of our neighbours.

I make square bales and do up about 700 to 800 a year for my four horses. Needless to say I use an automatic bale wagon to pick them up in the field and stack them otherwise I wouldn’t survive the event. 

For me, it is worth doing it myself because I am very particular about when I bale as I dislike getting my hay rained on. When you contract out or hire someone you’re very much at their mercy and they are never as bothered by rain as you are for some reason.

We’ve been doing it long enough now that, without actually crunching numbers, I would say it has been a financial benefit for us.


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