[ZB]

Hey guys, feel free to post a little intro blurb for yourself in here. This could be a good way to start some discussion and allow everyone to 'meet'.

I'll go first - I'm Zach (or zb) and I set up the forum with my dad (downtownjr). I live in Indianapolis and go to school and run a web design business in my free time (zbrown). We made this forum because we want to get the hay farming community together and give everyone a place to come and chat and ask questions and get answers.

Anyway, nice to meet everybody, looking forward to seeing some of your posts.

 

[jd6400]

Hey guys I`m Jim from NE Ohio, saw about this on hayand forage newsletter, thought I`d drop in, I do about 300 ac. of grass and grass legume mix. I am a fulltime hunt club manager and also have a dog boarding training business. Am growing in the hay business slowly, most of my customers are amish. I live in the 4th largest settlement.

 

[Guest]

Welcome to Hay Talk Jim! My name is John. I am from North Central Indiana. We do a little alfalfa and afalfa orchard grass mix. Sell a little to cattle, dairy goat and horse owners.

You have some very beutiful country up there. My wife was in NE Ohio in Astabula County for a cheese making class for about a week in April. She brought back some great pictures.

If you have any pics please post them.

HHH

 

[Riverside Cattle]

Hello, I am from North Central Idaho, (we call it the Palouse) rolling hills of mostly wheat and lentils.

I use to be heavy in cattle but am selling more and more hay into the horse market. I do mostly small squares with some round bales.

I used to work in the columbia basin near Moses Lake Wa. We baled 4x4 bales for the dairy market. And some three tie for export.

Thats me-
-RSC

 

[OhioHay]

Hi, I'm Tim from North central Ohio. We grow about 500 acres of mixed grass hay mainly for the horse market. We also mainly sell to the Amish as we are located in Holmes county with one of the largest, if not the largest Amish populations in the world. The horse and buggy is the hay farmers best friend.

 

[swmnhay]

Hay Guys my name is Cy from SW Mn.I grow 400 ac of hay,Alfalfa,Alf/orchard and ryegrass hay.Large rd bales.Vermeer hay equipment.Been in hay biz for 30 yrs.Started out doing alot of custom work, now doing mostly my own.

 

[jd6400]

That switch grass is really doing good,do you grow much? If so what can I spray it to knock down some broadleaves or maybe just mow high at what time of yr?

 

[greenacres]

I,m Tom from east central Iowa been in hay since 1989 started with sm sq then went to big sq in 94 3x4 most goes to dairy with some low grade to beef
I have 240 with some corn and wheat as rotation to alfalfa and alfalfa/orchard grass I do grid mapping every four years and do custom baling dry hay and baleage

 

[swmnhay]

Hi Jim,Glad to here the switchgrass is doing good.Never grown any myself.Everything I've sold around here was for CRP.I think you can use atrizine or 2-4D if only broadleafs.Make sure to check label as I've never grown any myself.

 

[Joey]

Hi everyone. My name is Joey. I live in the central part of Lousiaina. I've been baleing hay for 15 years mostly round bales to feed my cows. This year I sold my cows and am trying to get started in the small square bale business catering mainly to the horse people. I have about 100 acres of Alicia and Jiggs Bermudagrass, but I wish it were Alfalfa (which doesn't grow very well down here). I'm enjoying the discussions and thanks to all who replied to my Kuhns Accumulator question. I can't wait for the cornering kit.

 

[Farmerboy]

Hi all my name is Sam and I am located in Idaho just outside of Boise. I qualify as a "hobby farm" on this board as I only farm 37 acres of alfalfa. Most of my hay gets sold to the horse people in my area. I just started farming 3 years ago and love it! It really neat to see other hay farmers and I hope to glean some knowledge from the old-timers and pass on the little I know.

Farmerboy

 

[4020man]

Hey there, my name is Jeff, I'm from north-central Illinois. We raise a grass-alfalfa mix and feed most of what we bale. We have intentions of starting to sell a little bit next year if we have a good tonnage year next year. Besides hay, we also grow corn, soybeans and a few oats.

 

[ont hay producer]

Hi I'm Matt
I farm in S/W Ontario, I've been trying to make quality Timothy/ Alfalfa hay for the Florida market for the last 6 -7 years. We have close to 200 acres in pasture and hay ground. This summer has been some what tragic, there has been so few prime stretches of dry weather , we ended up making a lot of 3 X 3X 7 big squares which we're selling to local dairy and beef.
I've enjoyed this forum so far it's been great reading.

 

[haymaker]

Hello I'm Jeremy from North central Kansas. I'm 30 years old, farm with my dad, uncle, and cousin. We are all no-till for the last 3 years, we run commercial cow/calf operation. I started square baling hay 3 years ago when our hay acres doubled to 300 acres. I also do a little custom baling when I have time. We have had a hard time this year putting up dairy hay the weather has been wet and cool the tons per acre are good but the quality has been fair. We started this year using Silo-King had problems to start the year, but things seem to be working better now. Look forward to chatting in the future.

 

[Lazy J]

I just realized I had never posted in the Introduce Yourself thread, so here goes.

I am Jim and my wife and I moved from Iowa back to my ancestral home in Northeast Indiana in 2007. I am a nutritionist for a full line feed company and my wife is a Veterinarian.

We raised hay in Iowa for 10 years, and we are rebuilding our operation here in Indiana. We will plant about 50 acres of hay this spring with a mixture of cash rent and share-cropping. We will also be raising our first row crop this year with 45 acres of soybeans.

In addition to the farm we operated a Feed Store where we sell Hubbard Feeds and Crystalyx low moisture tubs.

Jim

 

[haybaler101]

Hello everyone, my name is Joe. I am from southwest Indiana. I run about 250 acres of alfalfa hay with another 250 acres of grass hay, mostly for dairy and beef clients. Also do custom baling in round bales and 3x3x8's. Grain farm a little too. I also do nutrition consulting for Agri-King, sell plastics for UpNorth plastics, and twine and net-wrap for Poly-Excel. Usually do not run out of things to do.

 

[kfarm_EC_IL]

I'm Mark from Martinsville Ill. near the Indiana state line. We have a small farm 300 acres of corn, beans, & wheat. Raise cattle and chickens. Plus we are now haying just over 200 acres. Hay business started in 2005 and tool off in 2007. So much so we were able to go out and update our entire line of hay equipment this last spring. This wwas an area we felt our farming operation could use to expand vs. high rent cropping. And so far it has worked.

No one in my family had owned hay equipment or baled any hay other than the labor end of picking up the hay. First couple of years were pretty rough. So we have really had a large learning curve to over come. However I found this site earlier this year and has made a huge difference. So I will continue to ask dumb questions but I am getting smart everyday thanks to you all here. Thanks Mark k

 

[2255]

Hello, my name is David. I am from Southern Illinois. We grow corn, beans, wheat, alfalfa, orchardgrass and teff grass. I have been trying to expand the hay side of the business the last few years. The frost of 2007 set us back some and are just now getting lined out. I would like to talk with other growers in Southern Illinois about what kind of hay they grow and compare notes on production practice for our clay soils. I have trouble finding information for our area.

We bale mostly small squares for the pleasure horse and race horse markets. I am currently trying to find a better way to handle the first cutting of alfalfa. Any suggestions or different practices would be welcomed.

I just found this site this winter and have been very thankful for it. The NewAgTalk site is good for everything else, but has very little about hay. This site fills the need for the hay industry.

Thanks David

 

[ZB]

Hi, thanks for the kind words 2255, glad to have you. See you around the boards,

ZB

 

[triguy46]

Hi,
I'm Steve from north central OK, and put me in the hobby farm category. 15 acres of my own, plus helping with father in law's 80 acres of bermuda. Just got a 346 baler and have tons to learn. Will read and stay out of the way.
Thanks