Getting started with small scale hay production

thomas379

Member
Arable Farmer
Hello,

I've potentially got a chance to take on around 5 acres of grassland, to produce bales in. I've been doing some research and believe conventional bailing would be the way forward. Around me there are lots of equine yards, feed shops, etc. where I'd hope to be able to sell them to.

I've been doing some reading up both here and on other websites, and I believe to understand the basic process needed to take a crop of hay. Once I have that established, I'd then look at ways to increase yeild etc.

I'm primarily looking for any feedback if this is a good idea at all. I know it won't be a small investment to get going, so some feedback from those with more experience/insight would be greatly appreciated. One thought I have to increase the ROI on the equipment is to also have it as a small business for anyone else who wants land baled. Again, feedback on this idea is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advanced,
Thomas
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
Love the enthusiasm but bad idea.

You obviously don't know how to make hay, but are also obviously willing to learn, and it needs a reasonable amount of experience before deciding to invest in the equipment and to make the decision on it being a good idea or not.
Reasonably good idea to sell into the equine world but they are renowned as the worst customers and above that they generally have no money.
5 acres is not enough to make it a business. Baling for others is a good idea but when you get the weather window to make hay you are committed to your own. There are not many windows.
Probably a better idea to set yourself up for hedgecutting first
 

bobk

Member
Location
stafford
Hello,

I've potentially got a chance to take on around 5 acres of grassland, to produce bales in. I've been doing some research and believe conventional bailing would be the way forward. Around me there are lots of equine yards, feed shops, etc. where I'd hope to be able to sell them to.

I've been doing some reading up both here and on other websites, and I believe to understand the basic process needed to take a crop of hay. Once I have that established, I'd then look at ways to increase yeild etc.

I'm primarily looking for any feedback if this is a good idea at all. I know it won't be a small investment to get going, so some feedback from those with more experience/insight would be greatly appreciated. One thought I have to increase the ROI on the equipment is to also have it as a small business for anyone else who wants land baled. Again, feedback on this idea is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advanced,
Thomas
What happens when you've sold your 5 acres of hay ........
 

thomas379

Member
Arable Farmer
Love the enthusiasm but bad idea.

You obviously don't know how to make hay, but are also obviously willing to learn, and it needs a reasonable amount of experience before deciding to invest in the equipment and to make the decision on it being a good idea or not.
Reasonably good idea to sell into the equine world but they are renowned as the worst customers and above that they generally have no money.
5 acres is not enough to make it a business. Baling for others is a good idea but when you get the weather window to make hay you are committed to your own. There are not many windows.
Probably a better idea to set yourself up for hedgecutting first

Thank you, I really appreciate this insight. Certainly some points of view I hadn't considered. Hedge cutting sounds a good idea that I'll certainly look into.
 

egbert

Member
Livestock Farmer
Let it regrow, right now the farmer that farms it only takes one cut a year. I realise it's not the most efficient use of the land. Not a wind up post in the slightest.
Taking more than 1 cut for hay is quite a trick, but doable on strong ground, in a dry parish, and with a very favourable wind.

Making hay of a quality for neddies is pretty high skill stuff....a lucky chap might get it right by chance...or not.
There are plenty of threads on the subject.
 

thomas379

Member
Arable Farmer
Taking more than 1 cut for hay is quite a trick, but doable on strong ground, in a dry parish, and with a very favourable wind.

Making hay of a quality for neddies is pretty high skill stuff....a lucky chap might get it right by chance...or not.
There are plenty of threads on the subject.

All good to know, thank you. Will do some more research on the subject of multiple cuts etc.
 

fgc325j

Member
Hello,

I've potentially got a chance to take on around 5 acres of grassland, to produce bales in. I've been doing some research and believe conventional bailing would be the way forward. Around me there are lots of equine yards, feed shops, etc. where I'd hope to be able to sell them to.

I've been doing some reading up both here and on other websites, and I believe to understand the basic process needed to take a crop of hay. Once I have that established, I'd then look at ways to increase yeild etc.

I'm primarily looking for any feedback if this is a good idea at all. I know it won't be a small investment to get going, so some feedback from those with more experience/insight would be greatly appreciated. One thought I have to increase the ROI on the equipment is to also have it as a small business for anyone else who wants land baled. Again, feedback on this idea is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advanced,
Thomas
If you can guarantee 5 days sunshine @ 22c+, at the time when the grass is at the right stage to be cut, then you are on a winner. BUT if you can predict the weather with this accuracy, then you'll make more money flogging weather predictions.
 

Goweresque

Member
Location
North Wilts
5 acres of non reseeded grass is going to make you what somewhere between 250-500 bales of hay, depending on rainfall and whether you put some nitrogen on it. Maybe a second cut if you're really lucky - you basically have to have a wet spring to get plenty of grass early, then a dry June to make it early, then a wet July/August for it to grow back (and not burn up in a dry late summer) and then some unseasonable hot weather in September to make the second cut. In nearly 20 years of making hay I can remember maybe a handful of years this combination happened, ironically last summer was one such year, apart from the wet spring, the June cut was thin. Good weather in September is reasonably common (depending where you are of course) but its the combination of all the other weather timings that makes getting 2 good cuts of hay unusual.

So your revenue @ £5/bale is somewhere between £1250 and £2500, assuming the weather lets you make some decent hay. In order to get this you need a tractor (£5-10k), mower (maybe £500-1000 for a drum mower), tedder (£500-1000 for a haybob), small baler (anywhere from £500 to £10k, depending on what vintage and condition), a trailer (£500). You'll also somewhere dry to store this hay, as horse owners won't pay top dollar for something left out in the open under a tarpaulin most of the winter. And all those machinery prices are for pretty old stuff that will break down and need fixing, so you'll need to be good with spanners too. And you'll need a towing vehicle and trailer to deliver it, as most horse owners won't collect. Though you might get away with using the tractor and trailer for local deliveries if both are half roadworthy.

5 acres is hardly going to generate enough revenue from hay to just cover your running costs - insurance, fuel, string, spares, repairs etc, let alone a return on your time, and money invested. And thats before thinking about fertiliser, re-seeding costs or sprays to keep the weeds under control (horse owners don't like hay full of weeds either, they might buy it, but only for knockdown prices, not £5/bale).

Around me there are lots of equine yards, feed shops, etc. where I'd hope to be able to sell them to.
Dream on. Those sort of places will already have suppliers in place, suppliers that can guarantee large amounts of hay (thousands of bales maybe) each and every winter of a suitable quality, because they make lots of hay and know they can (given a half decent summer) make enough decent stuff each year to satisfy a heavy user like a big stable yard. Your market place would be individual horse owners, who need 50-100 bales per winter for their nags, most of whom would be shopping around for the cheapest hay they can find, or just someone who will supply them at all because they owe money to every other supplier in your area. Not the best people to deal with......the non-payers and the PITAs.

Its doable, and it would be possible to build a reasonable business from it, but it would take a lot of hard graft, quite a bit of luck, and being in the right type of place ie a part of the country where there's lots of wealthy people who have a few acres of land with their country pile and want someone to either make some hay for their horses, or just tidy their fields up for them. Then you could quite easily (if you're a hard worker and honest with it) gain access to plenty more land to make hay on, provide various paddock type contracting services and expand slowly. But a get rich quick scheme it aint. And it can all go horribly wrong if you get a bad summer (like last year) or even in a good year make the wrong decisions as when to cut your grass and end up with a pile of rubbish hay suitable only for burning.
 

Robt

Member
Location
Suffolk
2 questions if I may.
a) how old are you?
b) where in country are you.
c) what kit do you already have .
yes sorry that’s 3 questions . As mentioned to break into an already established market you either a) buy your way in. (Very very bad idea ) or b, you do something unique. Unless you plan to make rainbow coloured hay. I can’t see how you can make any money doing this
 

HWC Darren

Member
Mixed Farmer
Hello,

I've potentially got a chance to take on around 5 acres of grassland, to produce bales in. I've been doing some research and believe conventional bailing would be the way forward. Around me there are lots of equine yards, feed shops, etc. where I'd hope to be able to sell them to.

I've been doing some reading up both here and on other websites, and I believe to understand the basic process needed to take a crop of hay. Once I have that established, I'd then look at ways to increase yeild etc.

I'm primarily looking for any feedback if this is a good idea at all. I know it won't be a small investment to get going, so some feedback from those with more experience/insight would be greatly appreciated. One thought I have to increase the ROI on the equipment is to also have it as a small business for anyone else who wants land baled. Again, feedback on this idea is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advanced,
Thomas
This is our 1st season baling our own. we invested 1200 in a baler, 300 haybob, 100 in an old claas mower 200ish baler/bob parts, 200 fuel and have yielded 870 small bales out of about 8 acres. 870 at £3/bale off the field price elsewhere means that we've paid for our hay gear in the 1st year.

Simple enough to do but what a ball ache picking up and storing. Still a whole year to recover before we start again
 

Wood field

Member
Livestock Farmer
This is our 1st season baling our own. we invested 1200 in a baler, 300 haybob, 100 in an old claas mower 200ish baler/bob parts, 200 fuel and have yielded 870 small bales out of about 8 acres. 870 at £3/bale off the field price elsewhere means that we've paid for our hay gear in the 1st year.

Simple enough to do but what a ball ache picking up and storing. Still a whole year to recover before we start again
I’ve done 600 bales this year , everything done by myself including hand balling them on and off trailers and stacking.
I was absolutely exhausted, we make them for our own stock not really to sell
If anyone asks for some they need to be £6 each after the effort that went in to making them
 

ewald

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Mid-Lincs
Why not be positive!
It is a way of getting started, you don't need to own all the equipment from the start (small tractor, old haybob , a baler and a trailer - get someone to mow it for you)
You will quickly learn about haymaking in British weather - I would describe it as character forming.....after 40 odd years I still get it wrong
You may get a 2nd cut - depends on the grass, the season and your location
Horsey customers are like anyone else - good, bad, skint, well-meaning, disorganised, entitled etc etc - if you get the money up front you can't go too far wrong

Got to be better than sitting at home on social media!!
 

Spencer

Member
Location
North West
Let it regrow, right now the farmer that farms it only takes one cut a year. I realise it's not the most efficient use of the land. Not a wind up post in the slightest.
You could argue it is “efficient” and actually quite Sustainable if that’s your thing. Sustainability is something farmers have historically been very good at before the world hijacked the word. One cut of hay and grazed for the rest of the year would look after the land quite well.
 

thomas379

Member
Arable Farmer
a) how old are you?

Mid 20s

where in country are you.

North Essex, around 10 miles from Chelmsford.

what kit do you already have

20 horse power 1990s Kubota B8200 with a topper mower. I know it's not appropriate for hay making, but still could be a marketable service as others have suggested broadening my scopes outside of the hay idea I initally had.
 

thomas379

Member
Arable Farmer
Why not be positive!
It is a way of getting started, you don't need to own all the equipment from the start (small tractor, old haybob , a baler and a trailer - get someone to mow it for you)
You will quickly learn about haymaking in British weather - I would describe it as character forming.....after 40 odd years I still get it wrong
You may get a 2nd cut - depends on the grass, the season and your location
Horsey customers are like anyone else - good, bad, skint, well-meaning, disorganised, entitled etc etc - if you get the money up front you can't go too far wrong

Got to be better than sitting at home on social media!!

Thank you for this feedback, as you say some positivity is always welcome. Your point about getting off social media etc is one of the main reasons I'm looking into it.

Having an excuse to get out the office for something like this (and if it grows to something bigger, then great!) is one of the primary motivations behind this, alongside a life long interest from the sideline, but never really getting into it outside helping family with odd jobs.
 

thomas379

Member
Arable Farmer
This is our 1st season baling our own. we invested 1200 in a baler, 300 haybob, 100 in an old claas mower 200ish baler/bob parts, 200 fuel and have yielded 870 small bales out of about 8 acres. 870 at £3/bale off the field price elsewhere means that we've paid for our hay gear in the 1st year.

Simple enough to do but what a ball ache picking up and storing. Still a whole year to recover before we start again

Thanks for breaking down the costs, that's really interesting to hear. My research suggested around that price for hay too, so nice to know covering costs of equipment is possible in a fairly short timeframe.
 

Will you help clear snow?

  • yes

    Votes: 68 32.1%
  • no

    Votes: 144 67.9%

The London Palladium event “BPR Seminar”

  • 9,537
  • 129
This is our next step following the London rally 🚜

BPR is not just a farming issue, it affects ALL business, it removes incentive to invest for growth

Join us @LondonPalladium on the 16th for beginning of UK business fight back👍

Back
Top