Horse farmers and hay sellers, learn me.

So the house I bought last year came with a couple tillable acres. It was previously rented to the guy that farms the surrounding ground. I decided that this spring I would put hay on it, and I hope to sell the hay to horse farmers that can't produce enough of their own hay. I have experience in hay making but not the selling. My biggest question is what is most desirable hay for the horse farmers and what is the best way to market it. Any input is appreciated. Thanks

Contact your local Agricultural extension office, they should have the most detailed info about what grows best in your micro-climate and have contacts in the industry for you to connect with.

I know alfalfa and timothy are popular. Disclaimer: I don't know jack about horses, but I do buy a few bales of straw for garden mulch and archery backstops.

I buy bales either from the local Southern States Cooperative (possibly still known as Agway in the northeast) or a local guy that also runs a bait shop. I pay between 6 and 8 dollars per bale.

So, if I had hay to sell, I'd check with local farm supply businesses and farmers' markets. You might even sell some with a "Hay 4 Sale" sign at the end of your driveway.

my wife's uncle has horses. he and the FIL have a couple hundred acres and sell to lots of horse people up in rural NW michigan. they grow timothy hay.

Unless you already have the equipment and depending on how many acres we are talking about here, I'd make a deal with a neighbor that they can have all the hay the field can produce as long as they mow, bale and haul it away. If you are trying to generate income in something other than good will from your neighbors, this approach will not work.

That's not enough land to fiddle with as far as hay is concerned. You may be able to find a farmer in the area that would do it for free, but make sure he keeps the land limed and fertilized.

In reply to T.J.:

I do have access to tractors, haybine, rake, tedder, baler and wagons. Also tillage equipment and a seeder to put it in the ground. My dad farms and only lives a mile away. I have two acres, which isn't a bunch, but it's good ground that should make 300 bales a year. From what I'm seeing the going rate currently is $5 per bale. The person who was renting it was paying $160 a year and trying to act like he was getting ripped off. Another aspect was this patch is in front of the house. We would prefer the hay as opposed to having a wall of corn in front of the house. And the last thing is I just enjoy doing it. We have been baling hay since I was but a wee lad, but it's always been for dads cows. I know how to make hay happen, but what I'm looking for is what are the horse farmers looking for in hay. I know they have more discriminating taste than our old cows. From the reading I have been doing it looks like a mix of alfalfa and Timothy are as good as anything for equine nutrition. Also I was curious how my potential buyer's find their hay, Online, word of mouth, etc.

150 a acre is on the high side for smaller suppliers I think 80-100 is more likely. Two acres planting and water if required for 1500$ a cutting, maybe 2.5 cuttings a year. For hay that can spoil is a lot of work for you with not a lot of payoff. Plus you have to bale yourself or borrow the gear. If you want to do it for fun cool, but I would not bank on any cash out of the deal unless you value your time below minimum wage.

My parents have horses and ~20ish acres in hay. They have a deal worked out with a farmer up the road that he cuts, bales, and keeps all but one cutting of hay per year. My parents get that one cutting and sell it to horse people, just as you are suggesting.

I'd go for Timothy hay over alfalfa, the latter actually tends to be a bit rich for most breed's diets (hence why my parents sell most of their cutting worth of hay rather than keeping it for their own.) You should also be aware that horse people, for the most part, are going to be a hell of a lot pickier about what they're buying. Conditions for cutting and proper storage are absolutely critical, as the hay can mold, which makes it basically worthless to horse people. If you end up cutting hay and letting it dry, then get rained on before you can bale it, you're pretty much berkeleyed.

Prices will tend to fluctuate year to year as well as between seasons, generally being cheaper in the summer and more expensive in winter. Simple supply and demand, good growing season = better prices and visa versa. I'm sure there are also significant geographical differences as well. I think the last I asked, going rate was somewhere around $4.00/bale locally.

How are you planning to handle the equipment? If you're looking to buy all your implements I don't think you'll ever come remotely close to making your money back on just a couple acres.

KyAllroad wrote: Contact your local Agricultural extension office, they should have the most detailed info about what grows best in your micro-climate and have contacts in the industry for you to connect with.

^This is as close to a correct answer that you'll get from random folks on the internet that have never seen your farm, nor know your market.

Public outreach and education is why they exist, not just for Agriculture, but for sure Agricultural education is a very large part of it. Thank the Good Lord for Land Grant Universities.

What worked for a friend of mine with a similar plot was to let a local farmer manage the hay production and keep the bulk of the harvest in exchange for part of the crop that he used to feed his own horsed.

What is surprising is how much hay it takes to feed a few horses. 3/4 of a bale a day per horse and 4 horses works out to 1100 bales of hay per year. An acre of land should provide at least 100 bales/acre. Works out to 10 acres to feed 4 horses. Hay in our hood goes for about $9/bale, so you can see where horses get pricey!

My friend still ended up buying hay to get through the year, but the arrangement did subsidize his Ramada.

Some horsemen won't use hay near any roads as it is salted by snow plows in the winter and smells like diesel in the summer. The best tasting hay is the "second cut", end of the summer stuff is sweeter.

Update on this one. I planted my hay on april 15. 75% alfalfa and 25% timothy grass as that seems to be desirable in this area. I also planted oats as a cover crop. I used a broadcast seeder and worked it in with a cultimulcher set shallow. As of yesterday it was sprouting pretty nicely in the areas of the field that hold moisture better. Hopefully the rain that is predictected for the end of the week shows up to get the rest going strong.

Im glad weve moved out to the country. My wife and I really enjoy this stuff. The hay is growing, the chicken coop is done and the hens should be laying eggs in a month or two, now its time to get the vegetable garden going. Im not sure how thats going to go since my sister in law just bought a house and Im trying to get some remodeling done so she can get moved in.

I wish I had done that 30 years ago.

In reply to NOHOME:

Good one.

Update II; The sequel. I did first cutting on July 15. This cutting happened later than I wanted because of a very wet late June/early July. First cutting was mostly the oats that I had planted as cover crop, so I gave that to dad. It was a lot more ripe than I wanted because of the late cutting so it may end up being more bedding than feed, but his old cows will find a use for it. It was kind of funny, he round baled it and set the bales outside. The bales got rained on and now the bales are growing their own oats. They look like big giant chia pets.  

After first cutting the weather turned really dry, so the alfalfa and timothy didn't get very big. It was green, thick, and healthy though. We cut it again a couple weeks ago, at a time when most guys were on either their third or fourth cutting for the year. It didn't make much, about 50 bales, but I kind of expected that. It was however very good quality hay. I was able to sell what I made though, to a local horse farmer for $3.50 a bale, which put me about the break even point for what I spent on seed. Most hay around here was advertised higher but this guy was ready to buy. A bird in the hand, as they say. Since the hay should come back every year for 5-8 years (if nothing kills it, alfalfa is touchy)I am happy with how this year turned out. It is coming back nice and thick right now and it looks like I should have a good healthy stand next year.

My future plans are to work up another half acre that is attached to the field this spring and put hay out there. I was going to do that last spring. There was 1.5 acres that was beans last year that I disced, and this half acre was sod ground. The sod ground was so damn hard the disc wouldn't even make a dent, so I left it to see how the grass hay would turn out on that patch. It didn't turn out worth a hoot so I sprayed it with roundup last week and it will get plowed and planted next spring. I also need to put some potash down some time before the ground thaws next spring. Potash is usually all the hay needs in this area.

It feels good to be producing something. I grew up on a farm and have done this stuff since forever with my dad and uncles, but its different when its on your own ground and your own product. There is something very fulfilling about it. I'm very happy that I decided to do this instead of continuing to rent out the ground.

This thread is relevant to my interests! 

We recently did a "Family compound" deal for 20 acres. Previous owners raised cattle there at some point (which I actually hope to do at some point.)

After no more cattle was being raised, and the old lady got...well...old, the deal was that a local dude would cut/bail/and remove the hay, as well as bush-hog the "road" down to the creek, and the "non-hay" acre or so near it.

I've been totally cool with this, but a buddy of mine keeps telling me we're getting "screwed" by not charging dude for the hay.

I'd prefer to keep the status-quo for many reasons, including the fact that we're "outsiders" in a small community, and this is a good dude who's solidly in the "good ol boy network." I figure I'm basically getting my grass cut for free.

Isn't farming right along there with racing and boating when it comes to turning a large fortune into a small fortune?  Used to lift hay bales in the summer when I was a kid too for some scratch.  Sucks when you're little and you don't have gloves to handle the twine whilst lifting. 

In reply to nutherjrfan :

It depends. Just like racing and boating, its easy to over do it big time. Fortunately for me i come from a farming family, this means i have access to tractors, haybines, rakes, balers, and wagons. In return for use of these i fix a car here, help out with farm work there, and everybody is happy. If i had to buy all this stuff, even worn out stuff off CL, i would be looking at least $10k. So to make that back you need more ground. Guess what that costs, in my area $10-12k per tillable acre. So you can see how things start piling up quickly. If you started at zero and wanted to become a full time farmer you would need several million to invest. So yeah its no joke. But as for me, ill do my little hay field and feed my chickens and be happy. I would like to raise some steers or hogs to sell, the problem is my wife would have them all named and think of them as members of the family, so thats not gonna work out.

In reply to poopshovel again :

Youre definitely not coming out on top in the deal. I dont know what you have growing there, or how much it makes a year, but i think the usual practice is either to split the hay (you get half to do with what you want) or charge him rent for the ground.

If you split you need a place to store the hay, and something to do with it, i.e. sell it, feed it, whatever.

If you rent it to him you need to find out what the going rate is in you area, and probably go lower if it is going to stay as hay. Its not as profitable as corn or beans, so its not worth a premium. But the deal you are doing is like giving someone a free apartment because they keep it clean and dont ask you to fix things. I get what your saying about trying to stay on the good side of the locals, so thats your call to make. 

In reply to poopshovel again :

I should also add, if you choose to go from what you have going on now to renting the ground to the guy, it becomes his to do what he wants with it while he has it rented. So that means the hay could plowed under and it becomes a tobacco field, or he could pasture about a million goats, or whatever. So if you arent comfortable with a loss of control then this wouldnt be a very good option for you.

Unless you sign an unrestricted lease, you are still in control of your land.  You just write up a contract with your terms and sign the lease.  My dad has stopped farming his land and now leases it to a local cattleman.  Dad has a few hundred acres we used to raise beef on when I lived there.  His lease agreement is that the cattleman buys around 200 head in the spring and pastures them on his land.  For the last several years it's been "organic" beef (they have a specific name that I can't remember) , meaning no vaccines chemicals.  These get a premium when they are sold to feedlots in the fall.  The cattleman's workers load, unload, and feed the steers.  Dad does nothing.  They then split the profits.  This year he made a little over $40K.  The least he made was $12K and the most $150K.  That's a pretty good yearly retirement.  My state has a monthly newsletter called The Market Bulletin, where you can post free ads.  There's always people looking for farmland to lease.  You can also buy and sell stock, hay, machinery.

I got my additional half acre planted a few weeks ago. I had $70 in seed. It is coming in nicely. Yesterday I baled first cutting of the hay I planted last year. It made 100 bales of really good quality alfalfa that I sold to the same guy I sold to last year. He has one horse but he boards five horses for other people. I asked $3.50 a bale again. That puts me at a net profit of $280 so far this year with two, maybe three cuttings left this year.

I have six horses, 2 are draft horses, I have about 20 acres of tillable pasture but it’s not worth it to me to buy equipment when there’s so many hay sellers in my area. I usually pay $4.00-$5.00 for grass/Timothy mix.  I try not to buy anything with clover in it because occasionally I’ll board the local racers mares when they’re with foal.

I buy alfalfa pellets to supplement their diet in the winter which I found was cheaper and more consistent than buying alfalfa bales, plus the local racetracks keeps alfalfa at a premium price. 

I need to reseed two of my pastures but I have to thin the deer population first. I reseeded one ten years ago when I built my lake and a herd of deer would destroy my field as soon as it would come up.