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WC VA | Thanks everyone for the good advice! I will clarify that most of the sloped areas are perfectly fine to hay, they're just too steep to take a partially loaded kicker wagon over. A local BTO was actually making round bales (enormous ones - like 6' in diameter!) on the whole place when I bought it. His equipment covered the whole area easily (MFWD tractors in the 3 or 400+hp range with lots of weights).
The point about $7 small squares being a real market is a good point: I can and have for the past several years sold second and third cut small squares for $5 to $7 a bale (all $7 a bale for 2021), but that's at most 1500 bales a cut. If I covered the whole 20 acres and had two or three times that many to sell I would probably run out of buyers willing to pay $7. And remember, these are people showing up in a car pulling a tractor supply 5x8 utility trailer or a half ton pickup. Yes, I get $7 a bale but if I value my time dealing with some of these people (and the no shows, and the people who argue about whether their precious horse will eat the mix of grasses I have) it's not worth it on a larger scale.
There is a local hay auction but it's about 45 mins away and my wagons are not up to making that kind of trip very many times. Their prices are also very inconsistent.
People around here do round bales so much that they're virtually worthless - you can't sell them because anyone who can handle them is already making them on fields as small as large lawns.
Lastly, yes, I would likely have the neighbor who rows crops do the custom work. We'll walk the fields one of these days and see what he thinks about the steepness.
Thanks again for the advice! | |
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Beginner questions about soybeans
