Growing and keeping your own grass

True North · Jun 15, 2022

We have around 30 acres, not all for cutting as steep in places, but most of it could be cut this year as we have had nothing on grazing.

Currently we have about 15 acres cut by a farmer that pays us £5ish for big rounds and £1ish for small bales. So around £500 for last year and going forward same again maybe double for 2 cuts plus BPS this year in terms of income.

We know it is a lot of work, we are new to farming and as such have set up and said that this is all with a view to setting on a bit more in our own time.

My question is this, would you move to a contractor? Is there much profit to be had after that?

I know we have the easy end of the deal but should we start doing a bit more ourselves?

Any advice welcome.

Limcrazy · Jun 15, 2022

Pay a contractor £15 a bale to mow, rake, bale, wrap and gather and stack. Then sell them for £20 in winter. Jobs a good un

andybk · Jun 15, 2022

Your neighbour has the kit so his cost is spread and needs the feed , there isnt any money in selling big bales , the only way for some cash is make small ones into hay for horse people , you will need a mower baler and haybob , and luck with the weather , (no holidays or days out till its made, cos that will be the only weather window ), then its needs moving and storing . sounds like you have a decent deal already tbh

True North · Jun 15, 2022

We could use a bit ourselves and we could defo sell to horse people.

andybk said:
Your neighbour has the kit so his cost is spread and needs the feed , there isnt any money in selling big bales , the only way for some cash is make small ones into hay for horse people , you will need a mower baler and haybob , and luck with the weather , (no holidays or days out till its made, cos that will be the only weather window ), then its needs moving and storing . sounds like you have a decent deal already tb

Yeah I know, a lot of work, but as a business we have to look to do a bit more and make a more than just grass money, even if that means investing in a bit of kit.

True North · Jun 15, 2022

Limcrazy said:
Pay a contractor £15 a bale to mow, rake, bale, wrap and gather and stack. Then sell them for £20 in winter. Jobs a good un

True North · Jun 15, 2022

I thought it was closer to £25 ;-) but yes I think we need to consider our options, basically we'd liek to keep more grass with the optionof using it or shifting it ourselves.

Which leaves us with contracting or asking him if he wants half the cut currently.

glasshouse · Jun 15, 2022

True North said:
We have around 30 acres, not all for cutting as steep in places, but most of it could be cut this year as we have had nothing on grazing.

Currently we have about 15 acres cut by a neighbouring farmer that pays us £5 for big rounds and £1 for small (!!) bales. So around £500 for last year and going forward same again maybe double for 2 cuts plus BPS this year in terms of income.

We aren't set up with much more than a tractor and a mower and we know it is a lot of work, we are new to farming and as such have set up and said to him that this is all with a view to doing more of our own in time.

My question is this, would you move to a contractor? Is there much profit to be had after that?

I know we have the easy end of the deal but making £500-£1000 a year isn't going to pay many bills when we could make far more than that presumably with a bit of investment in either contractor fees or gear and time ourselves?

We don't want to offend the chap who is doing it, but I think if we'd have known a bit more we'd have suggested a straight split of the cut and no money changing hands and try to shift half of our own grass from the off - could I still do this?

I just feel I am falling into a position where i'm asking for permission to move forward and feel like i'm stomping on his business a bit rather than just trying to grow our own if that makes sense? Any advice welcome.

You are going to buy kit to bale thirty acres?????
Better buying sheep

ARW · Jun 15, 2022

Don’t be fooled in thinking that you will make more than £500 on 15 acre of grass by making and selling your own crop, sometimes £500 is better than the risk of making, storing then selling to awkward customers
But if your keen for a go then have a go

True North · Jun 15, 2022

ARW said:
Don’t be fooled in thinking that you will make more than £500 on 15 acre of grass by making and selling your own crop, sometimes £500 is better than the risk of making, storing then selling to awkward customers
But if your keen for a go then have a go

Yeah that's it isn't it, we can store it, and yeah plenty of awkward folk in the shire to be sure.

glasshouse said:
You are going to buy kit to bale thirty acres?????
Better buying sheep.

Why not? Over a lifetime for a farm, why is that a bad investment? Anyway, that isn't what I was asking really, and yes incoming lamb is on the menu too.

choochter · Jun 15, 2022

If you've got a tractor all you need is a mower and a hay turner. Get a contractor to do the rowing up and the baling. Then bring it in and stack it yourself.

But also, do you have a small fertiliser spreader? And a roller? You'll need them too.

True North · Jun 15, 2022

choochter said:
If you've got a tractor all you need is a mower and a hay turner. Get a contractor to do the rowing up and the baling. Then bring it in and stack it yourself.

But also, do you have a small fertiliser spreader? And a roller? You'll need them too.

We can pick up bits of kit as we go along locally, we will look at those

choochter · Jun 15, 2022

You'll also need a helpful neighbour to give you advice on when the hay is fit to bale (if you've never done it on your own before). Always helps to have a second opinion on such an important decision.

True North · Jun 15, 2022

choochter said:
You'll also need a helpful neighbour to give you advice on when the hay is fit to bale (if you've never done it on your own before). Always helps to have a second opinion on such an important decision.

We could just look across the river, see who has cut first and check the weatherforecast surely?

Yes, definitely.

Frank-the-Wool · Jun 16, 2022

Its not that difficult. You just spend around £10k on some second hand kit that will need at least £1k a year spent on it.
You mow it when the neighbour mows his in June and then the weather changes, so he puts his in wrap.
You spend the next 3 weeks turning yours until it goes black and then pile it in a corner of the field to rot down.

Easy job hay making. In this area there are lots of people trying to sell last years hay to make space for this years as well.

You sell it to the horsey people, who tell you they will give you the cash when you bring the next load. They get the next load off someone else!!

ARW · Jun 16, 2022

I mess about with around 50 acre of grass, we make hay on about 30 acres of it and run store lambs on it
We make a good return on the hay 1 in every 5 years, the other 4 you are lucky to be able to buy next years fertiliser, never mind spraying and fencing
Our small farming enterprise if anything costs us if you really dig down into it, it doesn’t pay bills anyway

Muddyroads · Jun 16, 2022

There’s a big difference between gross income and profit.

BRB John · Jun 16, 2022

I think the first thing I'd do is get a tractor then look at PH and lime where needed and then get a Harrow or aerator. Get the grass the best it can be before throwing money at trying to make hay.
Depending how old it is you might need to reseed some of it as well.

ewald · Jun 16, 2022

Haymaking in this country is a stressful and time consuming occupation (even in the slightly drier East) - I speak after too many years of rattling around little fields in most of July, trying to get it done before harvest. Every year I say this will be the last one - but come April I will be throwing a bit of fert around, then I am committed for another season.
I should just sell the kit.

Just don't start - you will end up like me....

Dry Rot · Jun 16, 2022

Do the time critical work yourself and leave the rest to a contractor. Contract out the mowing. Contract out the baling. Grass cut without tedding will stay fresh for longer than tedded hay. Ted and row up during a fine spell and the contractor could bale that acreage in passing between bigger jobs.

Buy second hand kit wisely and look after it or repair it. It will sell for what you've paid for it.

Judging when hay is fit to bale is not rocket science for those prepared to learn, but some can't or won't.

choochter · Jun 16, 2022

30 acres is a decent skelp of ground, @True North should be farming it/managing it themselves, not just looking out the window at it.

They should be encouraged to start doing the straightforward things first, like hay turning.
I've mentioned some other things in my post above.

You'll also have to manage weed control, the cheapest way is with an appropriate chemical and a knapsack sprayer, go round the edges in late spring and make sure you nuke all the docks, thistles and rushes if present. You'll need a qualification to do that - PA1 and PA6 which courses (1 day each) you can attend at an Ag college.

Yes, the costs are mounting up, but you'll have to start somewhere.
Sounds like you wont stop at making hay, you'll be feeding some of it to your own stock eventually.

Best wishes, I started 20 years ago from a zero knowledge base as well.

Growing and keeping your own grass

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