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southern MN | Boy.
Well, what is the market? Horse people, dairy folk, beef guys?
Hay. Are you talking grass, alfalfa, or a mix? Guess you would need to match this to your market.
Are you thinking of jumping in 200 acres, or transition in 20 or 40 acres, ramp up from there if it works? Build a client list?
So the hay market pays top dollar when there is a shortage of hay - you know, when you couldn’t grow any. It pays below cost of production when there is a surplus of hay - when you bale a bunch. Hay can store a couple years, but buyers can see that and you get discounted so trying to even out the roller coaster doesn’t really work out the best either.
You really play the weather game. Timeliness is everything. Down to the hour…..
Most areas small squares make the most money, but you are dealing with small sales to many people, and collecting the funds. This sure eats up time. You can set up regular customers but that doesn’t happen all the first year, and with the roller coaster of production year to year you need to dependably meet their needs or they go elsewhere.
Most years you are going to run into bad weather and bale some too wet, too old, too ripe, off hay. Kind of a pain to run that poor stuff through the small square and the labor involved. Here one might want a round baler to get that stuff up and out of the way. But it depends how you want to invest in machinery, as yea that opens up a whole new line of baler, handling, transport, and storage of essentially a ‘poor discounted’ product. A round baler can get that out of the way quick and it can be stored outside for a time, while you work on better hay.
If you can hook up with a dairy or beef, a big square baler might be more popular. They transport a lot better than round bales.
Locally round bales are popular because the baler is relatively cheaper and quick and simple and you have the option to store the hay outdoors.
Small squares are popular with folk that have less than 25 critters.
Large squares are getting more popular, and more common on the bigger dairy and beef lots. Only way to transport huge volumes of hay longer distances.
I guess there are a lot of directions to go here.
I think it starts with your customers, what do they want? And can you produce that?
I think I might bale 20 acres a year, so consider the source as unreliable here on any kind of business venture….
Paul | |
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Hay guys
