Hay yield

[grandpa Love]

Wild guess in number of square bales per. acre? Just grass. Not fertilized. Guy wants to know if I want to cut and bale 40 acres.....

 

[larbear]

I cut, raked and Baled into 5x5 rounds a close to measured acre of grass and white clover last year behind the barn and got 4 round bales. I figure that size of round might be close to 1300 pounds, hard core and quite tight. Grass packs heavier than alfalfa and can have the tendency to mould if not totally dry. 1300x4=5200 dvided by a 45 pound bale= 115.55.

 

[TDJD]

I cut 23 acres last year, and got 1,200 square bales. They were probably about 60 pounds a bale. That was just first cutting. I was late cutting the field, so I probably won?t get that much this year.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Average yield for first cutting has been about 100 bales to the acre with a moderate amount of fertilizer applied. Second cutting generally yielded about 40 bales to the acre.

Depends on how far removed from the last fertilization and seeding the ground is, how it will yield. Could be 80, 70, 50, or less bales per acre.

 

[greg oliver]

Kevin do you have to pick up the bales? My neighbor had his field baled and the rain got them for they got the bales all picked up. I wouldn?t be able to guess on the amount of bales as bale length and density as well as hay quality needs to be determined. Some of the old hay fields up here need at least 3 windrows into one and that?s with a 12 foot mower. I?d plan on a couple thousand bales. When my dad started farming all he had was a JD #5 mower a Cunniham cripper a NH 66 baler with a Wisconsin engine and we picked the bales up off the ground. Had close to 100 acres and he would start in May and if we were lucky get done by the 4 of July with first cutting. By 1974 he bought a newer NH 271 baler with chute and hitch so I stacked the wagon as he baled real fun on a side hill full of woodchuck holes. About 1980 got a NH with a thrower so I unloaded while he baled . It?s making me tired just thinking about it! Lol they don?t call them idiot cubes for nothing!

 

[old]

To many things come into play as to how many one can get. An example. Year before last I could not get enough hay to fill you my hay barn. Then last summer I did not cut and bale the whole field due to the hay barn being over full. Year with less hay was a dry summer. Last summer wet

 

[Super H Mike]

I get around 50 bales per acre at first cutting on my 15 acre grass ex-pasture land, no fertilizer except some manure when I have time to spread it. 2nd cutting less than half that, some years I only get one cutting, some years 2 or even 3. That is in Minnesota.

 

[formerly ny bill]

Kevin, I figure on grass hay first cutting, about 75-100# urea (straight nitrogen) per acre just after greenup (and just before a rain so the N washes in instead of going off in the air), at 100 (35-40# per) bales per acre. if the hay is thin enough to watch a rabbit run away, much less bales per acre.
also consider if the landowner is picking up the bales or you are. if you get it baled and it gets rained on before it is in the barn, who gets paid and who gets pi**ed? with the experience you guys have been having with rain this winter, it could be a real possibility.
40 acres is a lot of ground to cover with smaller equipment.

 

[john in la]

One thing you can count on with grass hay.
You get little rain and the grass doesn?t grow reducing yields.
Or you get plenty of rain and the grass gets over mature before you can cut it so it becomes junk.

Both have about the same TDN value per acre.

 

[flying belgian]

I concur with super H Mike.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

Since this a new venture for you, I'd pass. 40 acres is a lot of ground to cover, and you have equipment that is older and of unknown reliability. If you got some cut and raked up, and had a baler problem/breakdown, you could stand to lose a lot of hay to rain or bleached out nutrients. It would take probably over 20 some hours to just mow 40 acres with a 7' sickle bar mower. I'd start with 2 or 3 acres just to get into the swing of things. When I was a kid we sometimes got 300 bales off of 2-3 acres. It takes a lot of manpower to handle a lot of hay, and labor is not easy or cheap to find. Good luck, whatever you decide to do. Mark. P.S. I still say the baler pick up in that picture is too high and you're losing a lot of hay! All that should be on the ground behind the baler is just bales, and bare grass.

 

[JK-NY]

Hay yields vary greatly by the part of the country you are in, condition of the stand of grass, fertility, soil type,moisture and timing of the cutting. I agree with Ny Bill in our part of the world 90-100 square bales per acre is good first cutting yields. On a lower fertility, older and weedier stand of hay maybe on poorer ground- 60-80 bales. If you come close to that you are looking at 3-4,000 bales. Is this a baling job for the owner, who picks up the hay, provides storage etc. Or are you going to bale for yourself- then I imagine you would be doing all the work , the big issue would be storage. You might need a lot bigger shed than just for the new Farmall tractors.

 

[Adirondack case guy]

You better stick to what you are good at, (carpentry). Way too many variables making someone else's maybe, marketable hay for you to devote time, equipment, and money into.
Loren

 

[showcrop]

Moisture in the ground is a huge factor too.

 

[JDIH]

Lots of negative comments in this post about what you're thinking of attempting. While they are giving sound advice and speaking from experience, dont let that discourage you. Do you have any close by friends with backup equipment incase something goes wrong with yours? I think that may be a good idea. If so, those people likely had a little help to get going too and are probably willing to be your backup

 

[caterpillar guy]

It can be done even with older equipment. It will be a lot of work doing it. I would not bale on the ground. That is stupid when the baler will put them to the wagon floor level. You don't have to cut the whole field at one time. Yes depending on who gets what you will need about a 30x40 over 15 feet high for an idea of the space they will take up. Getting fewer up dry is better than a lot of them on the ground watching it rain on them.
OF course you have to have time for the snakes to die in the bales down there so you don't get bit. We don't have those problems in MI. Just an issue of location.

 

[Bill VA]

I?m guessing without fertilizer, 60ish bales per acre, assuming cutting before everything gets over ripe, seed heads, etc.