I know this is a very subjective question with many variables, but what should expect to earn from a 200 acre hay farm in east texas, per cutting, assuming 4 round bales per acre. Yes, after planting, fertilizer, bug treatment, etc.

I know this is almost impossible to answer, but wanted to see if anyone would take a stab.

Assume your labor and equipment is handled by a local farm hand, what cut should you expect to give up, if its your land, and you pay the non equipment costs.

Thanks, wild ass answers accepted.

I know what my dad told me...

Hay is for horses.

A billion dollars.

You said wild ass answers were acceptable.

I'm confused? Trick question...? 800 bales?

Really depends on what grass you're talking about... I'm assuming that this is on coastal or some other permanent improved grass that doesn't involve planting. Rate of fertilization also makes a big difference $ wise. You can put out 80 lbs of N per acre and get a big crop tonnage-wise of lower-quality hay. If you're looking to make horse hay, you're probably looking at more like 200 lbs N per acre.

The real answer is that it is totally dependent upon rainfall - both from a production and a sales demand standpoint. Hay in east Texas costs money to get to the cows in south & central Texas.

Last I heard $35/5' bale was the going rate for string-wrapped custom baling.

Rough guess in that you are trying to make 4x5' bales if you expect to get 4 to the acre. If you pay someone to bale, you might sell for $60/bale for high protein fertilized hay. You might be able to clear $20 a bale if you plan properly and get the right amount of rain after prepping, spraying, fertilizing, and cut/baling the hay.

cleared and sprigged 27 acres in Tifton 85 this spring and only got two cuttings and those were both a little iffy as its not totally established yet. Four 4x5s per acre is probably upper end. Might get that on the first one. I'm just getting started (will have another 40+ acres to sprigg again this spring)

My main cost this year, after the pasture prep and sprigging, was the cost of 17-17-17 fertilizer at 200#/ac cost me $1,600. Second biggest cost was diesel. New equipment so maintenance not bad yet.

I averaged 2 1/2 bales an acre this year and hope to average 3+/acre next year with fertilizing between each cutting.

Lots of hay this year so we sold ours at $45/each and the buyer loaded (used our tractor)and hauled. If established and stick free I hope to get a little closer to rate next year.

My early thoughts are it is harder to find a reliable buyer at fair price than it is to make good hay. Networking will be important.

It seems that the guys with land and cattle around Tyler hire their hay cutting or buy (by the ton) hay. Makes me think I'm going to be on the short end of the business cutting for others.

You can easily get 4 large bales to the acre with kleingrass, johnsongrass or haygrazer. You can do it with thick overgrown coastal, but it is "cow hay" at that point. Most horse hay is cut before the grass matures, as there is a big difference in protein and digestible nutrients as the grass matures. If it is irrigated or you get the moisture, you can cut it every 21-28 days for horse-quality hay.

4-5 Bales per acre is not very good for an established Klein grass field. With fertilizer and good rain, we average around 8.

We are actually getting our second cutting this week and from the looks of it right now, we may be getting another 6 this time around.

The best we've done with our Klein was 10 bales per acre on a 25 acre field.

You'll find the CP and TDN are much lower for Klein once it gets that big. We've all had that patch that it kept raining and got big on us, though. It gets stemmy.

ETA: This does illustrate a point between growing hay for sale vs. for yourself. Obviously for your own use, you are trying to balance yield and quality. If you're paying a custom guy to bale it and trying to sell it, then you are cranking out quantity. The big problem with that is that you are likely making large amounts of hay at the same time everyone else is. You may have to sit on that hay a year (or till winter) to sell it. That means you need a place to store it (preferably out of the weather so it won't lose value) and have the labor to haul it out. You're sitting on a lot of money that can rot away in the elements.

[This message has been edited by swcbonfire (edited 11/1/2013 7:02a).]

Ask the Agronomist(TM) says .....

12,000 lbs of coastal (3 - 2 Ton cuttings) takes 300-140-250 per acre to grow quality hay. That's 100# of N in the spring, and another 100# after each cutting. All the phosphorus goes out early in the spring, and the potassium should be split to prevent "luxury consumption". By all means, get a soil test to see where your starting point is in the spring. Your best investment is to be sure to spray weeds. The old addage "kill a pound of weeds, grow a pound of grass" is wrong. Research has shown it is closer to 1:6!

We cut our Klein for our own use. Even when it's grown up high, there is very little left when feeding. We experienced more waste when we used to farm Johnson grass, red top cane, etc.