Thrashed hay?

[Elliott]

Might grow some grass seed on a two year contract. Thrashed hay is something that could add to the margin.
I know bugger all about it, so is the hay worth getting involved with?
Can you offload big tonnages to merchants or is it direct selling to stables?
Any info around the subject greatly received!

 

[Andrew K]

Used to bale up to 15000 bales of it until we gave up grass seed.In some years we sold it for £2.50 a conventional bale, in others it got virtually given away!
The best markets are riding schools or larger horses such as Welsh Cobs who just want cheap belly filling food, you wont get it in to Newmarket, its all about having plenty of local horses around you, and doing your sums and promoting the product.Obviously making and storing good quality hay consistently is also vital.We used to chop when demand is poor rather than saturate the market with a perceived lower value product.
In a wet spring when turnout is difficult and pastures easily damaged you can fill your boots esp if you are prepared to deliver or load out of hours on weekends etc.Market share has to be earned and customer loyalty is variable at best.

You also need to offer straw and possibly meadow hay as alternatives IMO, so you become a one stop shop for your customers.

If you are getting older and want an easy life, its most likely not for you.

 

[Andrew]

We do some, depends on the grass and how you combine it. Some is easy, some isn’t.

So what exactly are you growing and how are you planning on combining it? Conventional or stripper header?

 

[puntabrava]

£40 ton barn stored for burning

 

[Werzle]

More goodness in sawdust usually but has improved through direct cutting

 

[honeyend]

I would market it for laminitic ponies, get its tested and up sell it as quality high fiber forage, chopped or bagged as hay.

 

[Michael S]

It all depends on whether you have a local market and whether you already have the gear to do the job. We used to do a lot but the market seemed to fade with the growth of hayledge and some bad mouthing about the quality which I don't think is actually well founded. Now I sell it stripped behind the combine or mow and chop it. The barn I used to store the hay in is let for more than if it was filled and sold at £3 a bale that we could rarely achieve.

 

[Elliott]

Thanks for all the replies. Very interesting reading.
It would be agricultural perennial ryegrass.
We could strip it as there a few grass seed stripper headers around the area now. Alternatively combine with our axial flow?

 

[Michael S]

From my one hour's demo of an Axial direct cutting herbage seed 30 years ago you wouldn't have much left to bale although I know some have used modern Axial flows successfully.

 

[ollie989898]

Thanks for all the replies. Very interesting reading.
It would be agricultural perennial ryegrass.
We could strip it as there a few grass seed stripper headers around the area now. Alternatively combine with our axial flow?

There are folk who would use the stripper header first and then combine it conventionally.

Axial flow will cut it fine.

I guess if no demand for the hay then you could just stripper header it and then top it down.

Unless I am mistaken you sow grass seed for 2 years and take the seed the second year. You need to be free of ryegrass volunteers/off types etc mind as the crop inspectors are a fastidious bunch.

 

[Michael S]

Autumn sown ryegrass will give (usually best) harvest the first following summer. The second year yield is normally lower, but with less costs. If asked to take a third year harvest don't. Many NZ growers only take the first harvest then graze overwinter and plant a spring crop.

 

[DrWazzock]

Grandfather grew Timothy for seed. The “hay” was baled and went to the elephants at the zoo.

 

[DrWazzock]

I remember the combines would have to roll urgently as the seed was “sawing out” in the wind presumably as the heads rubbed together.

 

[Dry Rot]

Judging by what the little girls in lycra pay for "supplements", there should be a good market out there if you could tap it. It would need a fancy name and a nice shiney wrapper with a pretty picture on the side though. I am on a few pony forums and find it quite shocking what they pay for nonsense. My dozen or so won't be getting anything special and a bag of sugar beet (used in training) will last me a year!

 

[farmerm]

Judging by what the little girls in lycra pay for "supplements", there should be a good market out there if you could tap it. It would need a fancy name and a nice shiney wrapper with a pretty picture on the side though. I am on a few pony forums and find it quite shocking what they pay for nonsense. My dozen or so won't be getting anything special and a bag of sugar beet (used in training) will last me a year!

Pony girls can be very willing to buy stuff, nonsense or otherwise, paying for stuff now that is a different matter...

 

[Andrew]

£40 ton barn stored for burning

This is OK as long as you have it in writing before you do it. Some years they will take it, some years they won’t, depeneds if they think straw will be short.

Thanks for all the replies. Very interesting reading.
It would be agricultural perennial ryegrass.
We could strip it as there a few grass seed stripper headers around the area now. Alternatively combine with our axial flow?

Ryegrass is about the worst, don’t know why it just doesn’t want to dry.

If you stripper it, mow it with a conditioner after and leave it for a week to dry, then ted it a few times till it’s dry, then bale it. It’s normally only good for powerstations then. But that first week you can ted it every day and it won’t dry any quicker. We do about 300 acres a year of this.

If you direct cut it, bale it straight away and wrap it, good cow food

 

[DrWazzock]

I would have thought it would be plenty dry enough if the seed is fit for combining and the “hay” could be marketed as a lower laminitis risk product as it won’t be high energy at that stage. The elephants were fed on our Timothy grass straw as it was high roughage but low energy. They did not want the elephants to get too fat. Went over Manchester way.

 

[Andrew]

I would have thought it would be plenty dry enough if the seed is fit for combining and the “hay” could be marketed as a lower laminitis risk product as it won’t be high energy at that stage. The elephants were fed on our Timothy grass straw as it was high roughage but low energy. They did not want the elephants to get too fat. Went over Manchester way.

You would think so but its really sappy, like I said 300 acres every year for 4-5 years now and it’s always like that.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

If you can get it to Devon I'll give you £75/t. 550 dry cows here over winter just looking for clean belly fill.

 

[ollie989898]

If you can get it to Devon I'll give you £75/t. 550 dry cows here over winter just looking for clean belly fill.

Was just about to write it would make an excellent dry cow feed!

Grass seed is a nice crop to grow if your soil and weed issues allow it. Need a nice drying floor for it.