Using contractor for Hay / Haylage

Cran

Anyone use a contractor to make Hay or Haylage doing all mowing, teddering and baling. Is it successful or are you completley at the whim of the contractor and the pressure he's under during good weather?

My approach for the past few years has been purchasing hay from a very good source. Main reason theres no way I could make hay to the same standard due to not being full time. I've increased acreage this year so rather than increasing stock numbers and workload, considering going back to making own hay/haylage.
The only way this would work is have a contractor do it, but just wondering if feasible Alternative is do the same with silage, but have the same questions and also not sure about feeding silage outside to sheep.....

Username John

Cran wrote: »

Anyone use a contractor to make Hay or Haylage doing all mowing, teddering and baling. Is it successful or are you completley at the whim of the contractor and the pressure he's under during good weather?

My approach for the past few years has been purchasing hay from a very good source. Main reason theres no way I could make hay to the same standard due to not being full time. I've increased acreage this year so rather than increasing stock numbers and workload, considering going back to making own hay/haylage.
The only way this would work is have a contractor do it, but just wondering if feasible Alternative is do the same with silage, but have the same questions and also not sure about feeding silage outside to sheep.....

Hi Cran,

Would it be possible to get the lad you buy the hay off to do it?

Getting someone to look after hay is tough enough now, but I found out that the lad I buy hay also saves hay on contract for other people (as he has all the gear)
Now - I imagine you would still be second place to his own hay, but it might be something worth checking out.

moy83

Would you trust the local contractors to be on time for you ?
Id say it would be no problem getting it cut but tossing it out mightnt get done often enough in dry weather or at the right time in wet weather .
Again for the baling you would want to be sure you wouldn't be left waiting .

We cut , turn and row in ourselves and the contractor is sound to come within an hour or two of when we arrange it but I would be on the phone a few times beforehand just to be sure we are on the same page !

If you are not around yourself at all it can be hard for someone else to make the call on when to turn , or bale or cut your losses when rain is on the way and make silage .
Is there a neighbouring farmer that wouldn't be under pressure making hay the same time as you that could do the turning for you ?

mf690

The only way to save good hay is to do it yourself. I only make around 300 or so bales every summer for horses. I work full time so I have tried contractors , neighbours and untill I invested in a mower , haybob and bailer never had good hay. You need you your own hay bob at the very least because being able to turn as required can be the differance between a shead full of hay or hayledge or lots of room to park the tractor for the winter.

J.O. Farmer

As a lot of people said it will be difficult to get good hay relying on a contractor. The OP is unsure about feeding silage to sheep outside. We do this most years with little problem. The important thing is to get well preserved silage. Mouldy silage is meningitis waiting to happen. However good silage is no problem. If the grass is cut dry and baled without rain and maybe gets a day to wilt it will not be bad for handling. The big cost is the plastic but an extra layer of wrap should ensure that the bales preserve well with no mould wetter bales are less prone to mould but harder to handle. 1 bale will feed about 25 ewes for a week. A problem with silage indoors can be if it's wet sheep can be hard bedded but obviously not a problem outdoors.
Silage could be a reasonable option if a lack of machinery and time means making hay is difficult. The extra cost of good silage might not be that much if a contractor has to be paid to shake meadow and row up as well as the risk of poor hat.

jay gatsby

Cran wrote: »

Anyone use a contractor to make Hay or Haylage doing all mowing, teddering and baling. Is it successful or are you completley at the whim of the contractor and the pressure he's under during good weather?


We make a good bit of hay for ourselves for sale and also do a bit for others and I have to say our own always takes precedence and we would say that to a customer beforehand. However a few things to note are:

The country is awash with round balers and in my experience you will almost never get caught for someone to bale, just have plenty of numbers on speed dial if things get tight with weather. The mowing is also easy to organise with a contractor, just make sure that the width of the mower is not too big for whatever is going to toss it out after.

The turning is the tricky bit, it's expensive to get done by hire as it will be a lot of runs and this is where you're contractor could get neglectful. Could you invest in a tedder and leave it on a tractor in the field and pay some local young lad by the hour to turn it twice a day for you?