The Farm. Haying and Cattle Thread

[deere4040]

Thought I would start a thread about what we do here. Will be mostly pictures from past and present. Been selling hay off from 200 acres acres for over 10 years now at this scale. Have a herd of Dexters, Jerseys, and Dexter/Jersey crosses for beef sales. current herd is 40+. Also help my cousin from time to time on his 1400 cow dairy in 2 states and work Preload at UPS.


Yesterday knocked down our rye for precut rye straw. Takes a week plus before it is ready and we do want it to get a little rain but not to much. First batch of 1st cutting off on May 30. Can't remember when we have done that before and not in 2.5 days. Wish all summer we could bale in 50 degree weather.

 

[Little Fred]

@deere4040 is the hope for a little bit of rain to get more of a "straw" color?

 

[deere4040]

@deere4040 is the hope for a little bit of rain to get more of a "straw" color?

lol. I looked today and the ECM has us for 5 inches Sat-Tues. GFS has the perfect amount of about quarter inch. Even if we don't get rain the sun will bleach it out. Dew helps. Just takes longer. It is a tough crop for this area. Trying to predict best time to mow so not to mature with trying to get a little rain then couple good days for a baling window. I would say we have made perfect straw twice in the last 5 -6 years we have done it. But we have never lost a crop just not pretty. And have never made black straw but its been close. One batch did get close to 5 inches and on ground I think 2 weeks. At least this year no mud.

This was our start to straw 2025

Not all of the field was that bad though. Notice the mower. Just past perfect for the flowering stage. This year it is perfect. In fact Saturday when we baled hay as I drove along the field I was looking for flowering and found 2. Sunday after checking cattle went and looked and 70% was in flower. A difference of 12 hours. I was originally planning on mowing Tuesday didn't want to deal with that much pollen.

 

[deere4040]

Straw gets baled tomorrow. Might be some of our prettiest we have ever made though still some green. It did get quarter inch of rain yesterday. Tedded 3 times. Probably should have done at least a fourth. Not as heavy looking now. 18 acres of hay down for Tuesday.

 

[deere4040]

Might be pushing my luck for hay tomorrow

 

[jon f mn]

Where are you?

 

[deere4040]

Where are you?

NWPA

 

[Destroked 450]

We finished up 1st cutting hay last week, all baled and in the barn by Saturday night
Only got 203 bales off 57 acres which is a little better than half of normal hay production
We’ve had the driest spring I can remember in many years, normally we a haying between rain showers

 

[flying belgian]

Nicollet county mn. 3 acres baled and sold 66 small squares. Half of what it should be. 4 acres cut and rained on laying there. About 55 acres 1st. Cut to go. Will bale the rest in rounds. Two customers waiting for 20 rounds.

 

[deere4040]

Been a long couple days with straw and hay. Straw yielded good at 1400 bales but very unhappy with the bales. The crop was inconsistent resulting in loose bales. 50% of the bales I would say were perfect and 90% of the bales had good weight but by the time they were handled by 3-4 people they were looking rough. An inline baler would resolve one of the issues. Always kicked myself for not getting one when bought new even knowing they were recommended for the accumulator. Creates headaches every year.

Bit off more than I could chew on the hay. Sunday had a really nice 3 day window knowing late in the day on Tuesday Thunderstorms were predicted. Took the gamble and knocked down the 20 acres. Not a hard run. Ran the numbers we already had and inflated them knowing they are our better fields. Lined up customers for approx 1100 bales and rest would fit on the wagons. Running the model runs on Monday it wasn't looking to promising. Intialized June 8th at 2pm, while the simulated radar doesn't show lots of rain what it does tell me is the cloud cover is high. Couple that with high cape values it was not a promising outlook.

Well everything that came through somehow missed our fields. Would like to say it is my forecasting skills but really it was just dumb luck. Finally got going at 1pm Tuesday. One of the Amish drivers canceled so lost about 300 bales that were going to leave on this round. Yields went much higher than anticipated. 9 acres went 107 bales/acre. The other field went approx 90. Finished up with baling 1542 bales and still have 5 acres on the ground. Not sure I can get lucky 2 days in a row. Rain chances this morning then clearing. Will be round baling the rest if possible.

Some pictures of past couple days.

 

[paul]

Nice pics and description.

Was very cold early spring, but nice and dry for our location. (Dry is a good thing here, snow melt and spring rains are often overwhelming.)

Hay was slow to grow.

As the temps finally warmed up the clouds opened up too, and we are back to too wet to make hay, rain forcast every 2-3 days, dew doesn’t go away until 2:00pm.

Went to the hay auction today, last years and this years hay looked and sold the same, couldn’t tell the difference.

I did manage to cut some waterways and field roads and got it round baled dry early on, but yield was low, I only got 4 and a half bales, normally that would be 6-7 bales. Not enough bales to make the drive to the auction.

Much of my hay is from ground a little too wet to row crop, so a real dry spring is a bonus for me. But even the regular hay fields, just too many spotty showers.

Paul

 

[deere4040]

Pulled off 2 days of luck. 45 4x4 rounds on approx. 5 acres.

And some of the herd.

 

[deere4040]

Technically I pulled off 3 days of luck. The 45 bales got .15 of a light rain on them over night. Customer contacted Thursday morning by noon they are gone and at 3pm we got an inch of rain. I couldn't do that again if I tried.

Now in the shop fixing equipment

Lost hydraulic pump on our main loader tractor. Locked up solid. Was fun removing grapple and loader with no hydraulics.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

I think I saw something like that before. Make sure your engine mounts are not loose, worn or sagging. Did this happen after hitting a bump, or crossing a ditch? Mark.

 

[deere4040]

I think I saw something like that before. Make sure your engine mounts are not loose, worn or sagging. Did this happen after hitting a bump, or crossing a ditch? Mark.

The company that is getting this pump wanted picture proof that it was cracked. Did not believe me. It will be getting an autopsy and I will have an answer. Horrible grinding, Locked up and stalled the tractor before I could grab the clutch.