Cutting your own hay??

[XxFudgexX]

I know this is the wrong time of the year for this but as we are buying a house where i will be able to get my own hay I have a few questions,

How many small round bales would you roughly get from 4 acres?

How much do normally pay your farmers to cut and bale your hay?

and when cut and baled can you use the field for grazing and if you can when would you have to take the horses off to grow it again?

Thank you..

[Mobell]

We don't have small round bales we have small rectangular bales. We got 150 off three acres last year but have had nearly twice that in a good year. You need to leave the field after cutting at least a week to make sure any cuttings left are well dried out and they need to come off by the beginning of March. We have paid £1.50 per bale for baling previously but last year the woman said due to diesel increases it would be a little more but not over £2. She charged me £2.20 per bale but after it was done. I argued with her but it was a waste of time. I was offered hay at the time for £1.50 by two different people so this year I didn't bother. I had it topped/chopped and sprayed earlier in the year so we didn't have the option but I'm glad as it was a bad year for making hay. I have 50 bales at £2 from a local farmer and 150 bales at £1.50 from an organic lady.

[chance encounter]

We got nearly 600 bales from the field but it really depends on how tight they are baled. We wanted them a bit loose as they are really heavy if they are tightly packed. We cut the cost down by lifting it onto trailers ourselves so all the farmer did was cut it, turn it a couple of times and baled it for us. The hard work was done by ourselves.

We had a deal with the farmer though as he cut our other paddock for silage so he didnt charge us anything as it was like a swap you have that field we'll have this field.

If I remember rightly some of the hay was sold off for £2.00 per bale if they came and collected it themselves.

[Tnavas]

While it is lovely to make your own hay it is a biiiig gamble as with only 4acres you will be at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to contractors - if weather is looking doubtful it will be the big acres that get first service.

I lost hay crops two years in a row because I only had 10 acres to turn into hay. It got rained on, and once dried and baled was not good hay. Now I buy it - I can pick and choose what I get. Buying it off the field is the best way to go but does require some burley men to stack it for you.

[gwar]

We cut our own here - but Canterbury has really low rainfall compared to the UK so it's much safer!! We average 100 bales to the acre.