What's your bale count? How does this compare to normal?

[lazy ace]

I was just curious to see how haying was going and how many bales you put up in a year? How does this compares to a normal year? We are roughly at about 2000 with a couple quarters to go, and then on to grain hay.

have a cold one

lazy ace

[cwfmr181]

IM IN WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND WERE LOOKING AT FIRST CUTTING OF ALL OF OUR REGULAR HAY FIELDS AT ABOUT A 50% TO 60% CROP. IN A NORMAL YEAR WE CUT ALFALFA 4 TIMES AND OUR GRASSES AT LEAST TWICE. BUT WE WONT GET THAT THIS YEAR. MY AREA IS DRY AND THE ALFALFA HAS STOPPED AT ABOUT 8 INCHES FOR THE SECOND CROP, THINKING OF JUST TURNING THE COWS OUT ON IT 20 TO 30 ACRES AT A TIME, SAVE THE DRY PASTURE AND FUEL FOR LATER. PROBABLY GOING TO BALE A LOT OF STALK FIELDS THIS FALL.

[jigs]

with the freeze, then a fungus, then weevil, and now the leaf hoppers, I am surprised we are getting anything put up ! but we are 1/2 way through the second cutting and we are in the 3000 bales area. nice thing is most of it is shipped out already!

[HAY MAKER]

The last few years we have been in a drought,bout 600 bales if we were lucky,this year looks about double,when it dries up...............good luck

[jigs]

[kolanuraven]

Just s small example.

On small lot/pen that normally gives me 20-25 ,5x5 rounds....gave up a grand total of 4 this time....4 small ones!!!

On a larger scale.....people are just selling out and the stock barns are running till 2 AM or so due to so much volume!

[IL Rancher]

We had a grain field that was going to be cut for hay but it was a failure so we grazed it instead... beyond that we have cannery silage and distillers, seed corn silage and stalks to bale this fall.. The hay folks are at 50% on first cutting or so and second cutting is looking a lot better, I know m Alfalfa fields tat we graze are at about 2 feet talll which is "okay" and pretty thick... Lot of wheat straw being put up too.. With the good moisture during the lat half of June and that 2 incher we got July 3rd we should be good to go for a while on pastures...

[CattleArmy]

Last night walking into the pickup after haying my father and I were talking about how the hay was turning out. We counted the bales on the small meadow and there were 47 last year it put up 50. For a late frost June 9th that isn't to bad then.

[Nebraska Sandhills]

After having one of our worst droughts last year, we are back to normal for this year. Many native hay meadows are cutting 4 to 5 times what they did last year.

[Oldtimer]

Last year the first cutting was around 600 bales-- This year with the good rain we had was set up to be better (700+)...Ended up with 24 that was baled pre hailstorm and 21 that was salvaged from the hail...

Alfalfa is coming back good- but the grass won't make much of a cutting...Only hope the winter stays open until about Feb-March so I can graze it...

[cwfmr181]

jigs thanks for the offer, we will have enough for ourselves but the people that we normally supply will be short. we ussually sell everything after the first cutting. the horse and dairy people will be really short here. one of our dairy neighbors is already paying 55 for round bales plus trucking. i look to see him fill the bunkers then bring in somebody to fill some bags with silage.. again thanks for the offer and i will keep you in mind when they start calling for hay. are you big square or net wrapped round.

[jigs]

3x4 square put up 200 acres today that is the prettiest green ..... hope the test comes back good.