Help! Been badly let down re: hay making - advice please!

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kit279

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Sooo, we have about 10-12 acres of land that was set aside to make hay from.

A local farmer usually pays my YO a bit of money and makes the hay off it then sells it on for a profit. Said farmer did not get his arse in gear this year and missed the only decent haymaking weather in June so the hay has gone over and isn't great quality. We did nag him and for 2 months, he's been assuring us that it will get done next week. Today he phones YO and says he can't be bothered to do it now.
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Anyway, YO is a bit clueless about hay making so has asked us to sort it out. We have bought our hay elsewhere (sensing that unhelpful farmer might not get it done on time) so we don't need it for hay. But we do need the fields cut and the grass baled and taken away as it's very long and we want it cut before winter to get the fresh growth for the horses to graze.

So, do we:-

a) ignore it and do nothing
b)cut it and try and make hay from it (despite crap weather)
c)cut it, bale it and pay someone to take it away
d) cut it, bale it, compost/burn it (not my idea BTW but one opinion!)

YO doesn't want to spend a huge amount of money on it - suffice to say we are all p*ssed off because it was really nice meadow hay and if I'd known he was going to let us down, I'd have organised someone to do it ourselves.

Does anyone know roughly how much it will cost to take it away? Any thoughts/advice very welcome.
 
You can't do anything with it re- hay making until we get some dry weather.

I'd then get it made and sell it as cattle fodder rather than for horses.
 
try making round bale silage but still needs to be decent weather, we have given up with hay and going to do 40 acres of silage so leave us short of hay again damn rain.
 
depending on the weather you could cut it next week and make hay from it, it the weather is poor then cut and bale it and sell it as silage for cattle and sheep,
anymore advice pm me as we are farmers and bale 15,000 bales a year for the equestrain market as well as our own horses and cattle
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I think at the moment (unless you have had no rain) you will have to sit on your hands and hope it improves and gives a good weather slot...all is not lost yet...my hay came in in Sept last year...just hope your farmer gets his arse into gear if we get a good slot I got some in in June but was hoping to get some more in whenever if ever this weather changes its mind...
 
It will be too low a sugar content to make any form of haylage or silage now. There is no reason why it wont make tollerable hay if we get some dry weather.In bad years I have known hay to be made in september and people were glad of it.
This year is the first time in a longwhile that ideal weather matched the ideal time.
 
Get it cut and baled and sell it cheaply to cover costs. Ours has gone over too but it has to be cut. We will keep some ourselves but buy better stuff in for the horses that need it. The ones that live on barbed wire and fresh air will probably be fine with it!
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Not ideal but one of those things.
 
Ditto others in that it could be made into silage. Why not approach local farmers and ask if they would like the crop and that they could have it for free so the field could be cleared?
We are farmers and have this arrangement with a local family who have a bit much land for their horses, so are happy for us to have the silage for free and we are happy to get a little extra silage for just the cost of us getting it off the field
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We made our hay in mid or late August last year. The grass looked rubbish, all gone over and even brown and horrible underneath; we didn't hold out much hope...but for some weird reason the hay was actually lovely and clean and has done our horses very well! Ideal for my laminitic too!
 
You can either find a farmer or contractor to make hay for you.
Altermatively you could have it cut (topped), or cut and collected.
Your cheapest option would be to find a farmer or contractor that wants it as hay and will cut, turn it, bale it up and take it away for nothing in return fo him having the hay or some of the hay.
 
The trouble will be finding someone to do it. Now that harvest has started they have moved on from the ha, worth a try though.
 
As others have said the hay will still be ok from 'over' grass...last year most people were only making hay towards the end of August due to the weather. You just need to sit it out and wait for a dry spell and have someone lined up to do it. I would be getting on the phone and internet and ringing all the farmers and contractors around to see if someone could do it.
 
We made haylage last year in 1st week september and it was fabulous haylage. Not too high in protein so all horses were fine on it. If you get a few good days you shoud find a contractor who will bale it for cattle silage and take it away at no cost to you.
 
when the weather gets better (if), get it cut an bailed even if looks very gone over there is a market out there for hay for laminitics and also the cough larger pony, by the way where are you i am on the look out for as i put it carboard with a hint of wheatabix (very good doer unfortuantely where i am the haylage is wonderful)
 
You probably will find someone to do it, although it would probably be a smaller contractor rather than the neighbouring farmer. As above, the cheapest option would be for the contractor to make and take away the grass in whatever form they prefer. They might give you a bit of money if it turns out OK.

We made our hay in June in the hot weather and someone was dickering about not knowing if they wanted their field cut or not ((not applying this to you!). It is too late now, we have finished haymaking, the machinery is back in the barn and when and if the sun shines we will be harvesting instead. The bigger contractors will probably be doing the same.

The smaller ones who have have different equipment will probably be able to help you. Ask at a local feed merchants, the pub, etc.
 
i have half a field currently cut - its a been a windy day today so i am hoping its dried a bit and can be salvaged.

Last year, we did loose one paddock worth, farmer cut it - rain came, we lost it. What did we do? we left it on the field and it had pretty much gone after about 4 weeks.

Its the problem when you rely on farmers! we have been pestering ours for a couple of month also.
 
But if it's gone brown....would you still want it?

We wouldn't for our silage. 10 - 12 acres of poor grass wouldn't be worth the hassle to get it off the field.
 
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