Making my Own Hay

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NWalker

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Thinking about making my own hay this summer. Haven't a clue about what I should be doing. I have a three acre field which hasn't been grazed since the Summer and a 6 acre field which is my winter field for four horses. I will probably be moving them at the end of March. If I wanted to make hay from both these fields, should I be putting down any fertiliser, weed killer. We don't have any ragwort but quite a few docks and dandelions. Do I need to move the horses earlier if I wanted to make hay from their winter field. I was hoping to maybe cut the 3 acre field in June and leave the 6 acre field until September. Would this be feasible? How many bales of hay would I get from 9 acres and would it be enough to feed four horses over winter. Thank you.
 
cant help you re what you need to do with your fields as we pay a very nice farmer to hay ours & do whatever needs doing to it to get a good crop of it!
But with regards to how much you will get off 9acres can vary greatly, we managed 340small bales off 3acre, which wasnt grazed at all since the hay crop the previous year. We were very luck with this yeild & it has fed 7/8horses this winter (horses vary from growing foals to veterans who only eat 1section/night to a 17.2hunter). The farmer who did ours also sells hay/haylage & he said on one of his 10acre fields he had to push for 100small bales! The variation is vast, but i would highly recommend you talk to a local farmer who will have an idea on the type of land/soil in your area, what you need to do to get the best crop, etc. It may even be worth asking him to cut it for you this year with you helping alongside so you can do it next year!
The major advantage to making your own hay is the cost, ours was a little under £1/bale! But the disadvantage is poor weather=poor crop!
Good luck!!
 
Shutting up your field in March will be fine, we don't take the horses off ours until well into April. Fertiliser is not necessary, the muck your horses have dropped will be enough, but you will need to chain harrow it to spread it out. You could spray the weeds with Grazon and a knapsack sprayer, getting a contractor to spray it with a tractor would be very expensive.

I would not bother saving grass to cut in September, it will have lost most of it goodness and sweet smell, it would be ideal for fatties/lamis though. Hay made in June is usually the best.

You would get about 100 bales per acre in a good year. Ask local farmers if they would mind fitting yours in with theirs, or if they know a contractor. My OH used to charge £1 a bale to make hay, but he hasn't done any for anyone else in recent years, so it probably costs a bit more than that now.
 
Also the complicated bit is the baling, and the conventional balers can be pricey and temperamental.

So you could do a halfway house the first year and cut the hay with a mower and then turn it several times with a haybob but then (pre arrange) get a contractor in just to bale it. That way lots less visits for them and lots less cost for you. Thats what I would do in year one....
 
I was thinking of just growing it and getting a local farmer to cut and bale it. Still will be cheaper than £4.00 per small bale. Had no idea I will be able to make so much hay. Interesting what was said about September hay loosing its goodness. Perfect for my fattie who lives on fresh air!
 
We had three cuts last year (a record for this area!) and the third in late Sept was the best looking and tends to be eaten first, but I wouldn't offer it as more than half the ration as it's sure to be lower in nutrients.

We get about 100 or so to the acre and started off by purchasing used machines at auction the first year.
Our friends lend us a tractor and in return we lend them our baler, which suits everyone. I think we spent about £600 in total on an ancient baler (full working order), a tedder and a 'finger bar' mower. You won't get a mower like ours, as it's about 90 years old, but you should get a good used one at auction for two or three hundred quid. Then you need only pay somebody to use their tractor.
On a tighter budget, I'd buy just the mower and add the other items used later, negotiating to borrow a tractor if possible.

Round here small bales are about 80p at cheapest, cut, turned and baled but not collected up, and the dearest person I know charges just over a quid a bale.
It costs us about 40p at the most for each good bale we get, allowing perhaps a third to be counted as waste (we throw a lot in the field and don't consider it as 'good' for haynets).
 
maybe you will get a rough idea how many bales you will get to the acre but it will be a very rough guide as you only get out what you put in, everyones grass is diffrent, might not grow as much or might grow too much, treat it right now with harrowing/rolling maybe fert (but i dont think its needed) and spray (if you have to, again i dont think its needed) and your end results should speak for themselves.
 
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