Hay

[sumdumguy]

Wonder what farmes would do if they had 100 acres of standing Alfalfa-Brome at White City Sask? I have always hired the baling done and ended up not even breaking even. I need some advise.

[bluefargo]

I,m probably not the one to give advice on this but I,ll share my experience for what it's worth.
I usually do this on a half share. My neighbour cuts and bales the hay. He gets half. I get half. Usually he will move my share off the field for me.

Personally I think this is a pretty good deal for my neigbour. He gets first dibs on my share although often he doesn't buy it.

Bottom line is I'm not making money on this deal either although it is convenient. I think you would be better to pay someone to custom cut and bale, if there is someone in the neighbourhood.

The only reason I have hay is that up until this year I was in the seed alfalfa business and sometimes had extra hay. My advice is to get out of the hay business!

[gustgd]

sell it standing. ask a couple of cowboy buddies they will be fair. most will say I'd rather sell the cows than pay X for hay but give them an opportunity I think this year esp you will make out well.
good luck

[bucket]

If a guy wears cowboy boots - beware.

[gustgd]

back in 02 we had people from Hafford hauling straw back home. We don't usually take the straw off because we need the organic matter and nutrients in the straw but that year they were paying lots for bales, they did all the work. Their cheques always cashed.

[checking]

My advice is for the land owner. If I was the owner of the 100 acres of hay at White City, I'd small bale it, and peddle it to the horsey urban set of Regina one last time. It would be followed with 1.5 litre application of glyphosate, and I'd be out of the hay-livestock business for good. Loading your animals for final sale only hurts for as long as you see the tail lights of the trailer leaving the yard. This is from experience.

[frustrated1]

checking: need to talk to you. We've had cattle on this farm for 107 years. Two droughts in the last 7 years is tough to take. Did you really get rid of the last critter without regret? Was the transition hard? Did you rent your pasture? Just pondering my options. Thanks

[parsley]

We showed cattle on the show circuit for 22 years. Put them out on shares, sold the rest, and have never had a cow on the place since.

I miss lugging in a half-frozen slithering premature calf at midnight, onto the porch floor in thirty below weather from a two year old that won't take her calf, listening to it beller throughout the night before it scoured and died.

Or maybe not.

I remember wading through the thick spring muck, you know the kind, to look at the calves from the cows that were out on shares, and discovered my rubber boot needed a patch, a problem, indeed, so I fixed the problem, and never ever browsed through a cow pen again during springtime.

I absolutely loved it when in it, but never looked back. Pars

[parsley]

I said WE have never had cows since, however, the neighbors do pasture cows on the farm.

[checking]

Frustrated1, our problem, (although looking back at it it may have been a blessing), is that from 1889 to 1995 the family had only 40 to 125 cows. Living in the pothole region under summerfallow rotation, which meant field access to put up most slough hay when it needed to be put up, it was possible to say okay the herd isn't costing that much except my time. They also weren't making much, but did get us out of the warmth of a winter home for an exercise routine! The pendulum swung with no till, and our aversion to cutting though crop to reach hay sloughs. Sowing down good crop land to hay didn't make sense. Logic said the cows could go. The cows were extremely quiet, had names, and the ones that died before X-mas we made the most money on. (lol) You will feel good about their departure in short order. The summer pastures (ravine quarters)were rented at first, but we've since allowed them to be idled for the wildlife. No regrets - only opportunities for that big block of time you have just inherited.

[rookie]

I'd also do it on shares, and when you come home from a money making job, you can find someone to buy your share and then forget it...

I wrote off my canola this morning as it rained ( thats' irony ), and have made the calls as the cows are getting the boot soon aswell.

Maybe its just because I have been bankrolling my own outfit and am getting a little tired of dealing with forces beyond my control that I may sound a wee bit snarky, but if the dog won't hunt, get rid of it.

Is it a business or an addiction....

[frustrated1]

Thanks all. Every year a couple hundred crop acres is dedicated to cow feed. I'm already old and tired. The opportunity to rent an extra thousand acres of cropland on my doorstep just came up and methinks it's time to shift. Rid myself of cows and any cropland that isn't convenient. We've got cowboys that would rent pasture, even take some cows on shares. Do one thing and enjoy it more? Perhaps a holiday...?

[grassfarmer]

Each to their own I guess but there are a lot of things going for cows and grass. We have been in a green drought this spring with exceptionally dry conditions for this area. We just had 3 inches of rain since July 1st. We have been grazing since April 18th and hopefully will graze until mid January again if we get just a little more moisture. We do not suffer the problems of lack of germination, frost damage, hail damage, weed or insect damage that our farming neighbors do. We have a system that almost eliminates purchased inputs - we rely largely on free solar power and water for our inputs. Grass is a wonderful crop - the ultimate sustainable crop in fact and cows are a pretty good way to harvest it in this climate. We don't need millions of dollars worth of machinery either. Yeah, we have some problems getting a fair price for our product from the marketplace at the moment but don't you grain guys also?

It saddens me to see folks like Parsley say they were glad to leave the cattle business because of calving in winter - the cold, frozen calves, the sleepless nights etc. It's a common thread amongst many ranchers but if they would just change their management to calf in better weather it becomes a very different job. You can calve 250 cows at the right time of year with as little work as calving 40 at the wrong time.

[parsley]

I left the wrong impression. They were show cattle, for us, timing births for show in specific classes.

It was wonderful, but a lot of really hard work, and dedication, and the season for that kind of committment has passed for us.The purebred business was good to us, and filled with adventure, and good sales and travel and visitors from other countries.

But we also have other interests.

To be honest grass farmer, if I was one year younger, lol,..maybe two, hmmm...how about three?, lol, I'd go out today and buy a swack of cows, maybe 200, and bring them home and build a herd based on sound health. It would be an economic decision.

It's a perfect time to buy.I'd keep them free from untested imports, and log each and every aspect of their feed, health and treatment on the computer.

I agree with the grass aspect. We still grow sainfoin...a perfect crop for show cattle, or dairy or horses, or commercial cattle because it is totally bloat free, livestock love it, and we can sell it for either seed OR for hay.

As well, it is a nitrogen fixating plant, so it builds the soil<p></p>
<p class="EC_style8ptBK"><strong>[url="http://parsleysnotebook.blogspot.com/search?q=sainfoin"](Sainfoin)[/url]</strong></p>