JD 946

[ALLFARMER]

I am looking at a new JD 946 diskbine. $32500
with 0% for 60 months.

I would like to get away from the side pull 930 I
have now.

Hummmmm

[grassfarmer]

At average AB cow/calf profitability it'll only take 9
years of your entire farm profitability (9x120x$30) to
pay the capital sum of this one item - and that's
before you even start to operate it. Maybe a $2
calculator would be a better buy?

[ALLFARMER]

We will be cutting on average 1200 acres/yr x say
8 years is 9600 acres. 32500/9600 is $3.38/acre
cost for machine.

[ASRG]

If you are cutting 1200 acres a year that means you are cutting about 1000 acres for sale/custom? Or am I not reading this right?
I have a friend who is in the hay business. "Cow hay" according to him doesn't work.....it is a salvage value at best.
Three tons/acre at $60/ton is a gross of $180/acre? Consider that figure?
What does fertilizer cost? seeding/breaking up/reseeding? Cutting/raking/baling?
Do you have opportunity to export or sell a majority of your product into the horse/dairy trade?
Not trying to discourage you, but you do need to pencil these things out if profit is your main goal?.....and I say that realizing sometimes that is not necessarily the main goal. Tax stuff and just the desire to have something might indeed be the goal. Only you can decide....it is your money!

[ALLFARMER]

What I was figuring is a have 330acres now
making hay on and have another 320 I am
planning on seeding down. Taking 2 cuts/yr that's
about 1200 to cut a yr.

Not sure what I am up to myself. I have paid off
quite a bit of stuff lately (basically all machinery
paid off) Making very good money off farm so
getting in the shopping mood. I also priced out a
new Kello-bilt 225 - 14' disc wants $27,000 I see
there made in Red Deer so they must be good.

I guess it's a question of what I want and what I
need the most and that would be the disc. It's
been 4 years now since I cut and piled a half
section so the roots are pretty rotted and brittle.
As soon as I get that worked up I can seed that to
hay and I am at a section of hay land. Could be
than producing 1600 bales/yr with each cow using
6 a winter that's 266 cows . I arrive at 1600
bales because one very good year we made
nearly 1000 off this first half section. Getting the
land worked up also greatly increases the land
value. Guessing that's what I better do ....to
young to slow down yet. Getting my v cutter fixed
this week, hopefully she hold up cutting 3 quarters
of bush this winter.

[ASRG]

I hesitate to give anyone advice, because everyones circumstances are different, but I just wonder sometimes about the 2nd cut thing?
Would it make more sense to take one cut, and graze the second cut late in the summer/early fall? Perhaps cut the first cut a bit later for increased volume? A beef cow doesn't really need the high protein 2nd cut? You could increase cow numbers and add weight to your calves. Maybe graze later......let the cow do the work and save on fuel and wear and tear on equipment?

[ALLFARMER]

Because of the very dry summer we just had that
is what we did. Grazed maybe 3 weeks after a
killing frost then the cows were seriously hungry
and getting run down. Were grazing alfalfa and
meadow brome. Then we got like 2 feet of snow.

Wear and tear and fuel is pretty minimal. Might
burn 2 to 2.5 tanks of fuel all winter so like under
500$

The only problem is I don't get Rutherford this far
up....lol Tractor runs like 15 to 20 minutes/day.

Black angus cows dont produce the biggest
weining calves and the don't finish as fast. The
smaller frame cows don't eat as much either.
That's how I get away feeding 6 bales or less a
winter.

[smcgrath76]

Interesting thread about different
approaches. We do a fair bit of custom
cutting/baling and can't figure the cost
of new. We have neighbors that can. I
guess whatever works, works, but it has
to drive your costs up. 1992 jd1600a
and a 535 baler here.

[ASRG]

Now I may be wrong here.....and I don't really follow this plan 100%.....but there is an argument to be made that generally it might be better to buy your feed and run more cows? The kicker is you might get caught every so often when a dry year hits.
When you buy in feed you also are bringing in nutrients.
A dry cow really doesn't need quality feed.....especially the british breeds (angus).....a good portion of her diet can be straw.
In my opinion a cow needs 35 lbs a day of feed in the winter to fill her up. At 4 cent/lb hay x 35lb. that is $1.40 day....20 lb hay 15 lb straw brings that figure pretty close to a dollar a day....and still meets her nutriotional requirements. If you feed 200 days that is $70 profit over the all hay system.
I'm certainly not as hardcore on costs as grassfarmer....but it is my belief a cow is healthier and more productive working for her living than lazing about waiting to get fed. I think one of the best things you can do for a cow (and your bottom line) is keep her out grazing as much as possible?
Years ago I went to a beef workshop deal called "Pursuing Profits" and the speaker (a banker) said something that stuck with me: "The biggest impediment to profits in cow/calf is machinery.....and the desire to own more!"
As I've said on here before, anyone can make money with cows when times are good, if you can make money when times are tough then you are on the right track.

[ALLFARMER]

I have done in the past custom haying but not
much and have completely quit that. It's 90%
guys with 70 acre or less. I got lots of calls from
guys with 10, 20, 35 acres. They all wanted to do
crop share what a joke. That and it was dry
already and they wanted someone to come drive
25 km cause it's gunna rain! How big the field?
Might get 15 or 20 bales. Then there's the guys
with 25 acres and if you do agree to crop share
there calling and calling 2 days after you cut it that
it's ready to bale. Anyone with more than 90 acres
already has there own equipment.

I am glad you make it work Sean it's just not for
me. My neighbour had a 1600 model years back it
cut nice but in heavy crop it plugged up the reel.
With no reverser we ended up parking it. Does
yours plug?

Of all the cattle producers up here everyone is
feeding bales and has been for a while. One guy
was corn grazing but now he sold his cows.
Guess that's why gaucho gets the spca called on
him is because none of his neighbors think it
works.

[gaucho]

Not sure how I got pulled into this but here is my 2 bits.... I agree if you are going to hay go for 1 good cut and graze the 2nd cut... I hardly ever see if being worth while 2 cut a 2nd cut and Allfarmer there are more droughts up your way than 2 cuts so not sure how to justify 2nd cut every year.

We use haying to manage pasture that gets away on us and to utilize some cheap rented land that we can not get cows on to. There is no dedicated land for hay production. If you put the full the pencil to it>>> between land rent / opportunity value, machinery operating cost, labor, depreciation, risk, and fertility replacement $60-70 / ton delivered hay is a hell of a deal... why screw up your whole summer haying.

When you buy the hay you also see a real cash cost and get over the idea and learn to manage that cows and pasture so they don't need 6 bales for the winter. It makes you conscious to be a better grass manager... 4 times out of 5 our cows graze stockpiled grass till mid to late December and are back on it by start of April. This year heavy early snow so all are bale grazing (cows are packing the calves till February)... by the way I think this is how you should maximize the potential of bale grazing because you really are over feeding cows. We bought 3500 bales this year and don't regret a penny we had to pay the guys for it.

SPCA / AFAC... yes when you do things out of the box there are a few that have a hard time accepting new ways of doing things... that said its priceless seeing the accusers turn red when the vets say you are doing a good job

[ALLFARMER]

Some of the hay I bought was from Richie Bros
gp sale sold for $15 bale so ya hay was abundant
in that area. Here it's 65 to 70$. I think what I
learned this year is carry over extra hay instead of
selling it off.

Congrats on your purchase Gaucho, odviously a
good buy. Did you notice the 2 new Brandt silage
mix wagons consigned to this Wednesdays Richie
GP sale? Not sure if I am going yet. There is a NH
359 that if it sells cheap I may be interested it.

[gaucho]

Sorry I could care less about Iron at the GP RB sale.... the less iron the better... hide, soil and grass is what gets me excited

[grassfarmer]

Trailed 90 pairs home today that have been on some
"opportunity" rented pasture for the last 3 weeks.
Dormant perennial pasture supplemented by grazing
alfalfa regrowth in the next field. Worked out to
56c/pair/day for the grazing plus 3 hours setting
up/taking down temporary electric fence.
That kind of deal excites me - machinery and
designing systems around feeding cows for 200
days not so much.
Get the calves weaned this week and cows should still
have close 6-7 weeks of winter grazing ahead of
them.

[ASRG]

gaucho: Liked the article on you in the recent Alberta Beef magazine. Good to see you are getting some recognition for your "thinking outside the box".

ALLFARMER: It's good to be young and in expansion mode...it's an exciting time in life! And yea...toys for boys can be a lot of fun! Keep your pencil sharp and always ask yourself "Do I really need this? How often will I use it? Can I rent it cheaper than buying it?"
But....at the end of the day.....it is your money...you earned it and you can spend it however you think works best for you!