Market Farming

["Errol Castens" <castens AT peoplepc.com>]

My uncle used to let his hayfield get desperately overmature before he'd cut it, because it created so much more volume, and it made him feel like he was accomplishing more. The resulting hay was of exceedingly poor quality, and the condition of his cows showed it all winter. (His explanation was, "Well, it beats a snowball.")

 

Maybe there's a logical difference, but can someone explain to me why stockpiling summer grazing for winter foraging would yield substantially better quality feed than my uncle's hay?

 

Blessings,

errol castens

Oxford, Mississippi

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Andrew Wendt

To: Market Farming

Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 11:11 AM

Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Farm Equipment

    Why can't you feed forage in the winter?  You could stockpile forage going into winter and reduce your feed costs.  The cows will eat right through the snow to get to the feed (they will eat through snow up to 4 ft. deep).  The cost of feeding stockpiled forage is generally about 1/2 to 1/4 the cost of feeding hay.  The one advantage of feeding hay that you bought is that you are bringing nutrients to your property rather than exporting them. 

    With only 68 acres I have doubts if harvesting equipment would in the long run pay off.  Besides jumping into a lot of debt right off the bat is a pretty big hole to get out of!  If you make the cows (or other ruminants) harvest it for you, it is considerably less expensive.  I highly recommend using Management intensive Grazing (MiG) practices.  The amount of seasonal forage production given up with continuous stocking rather than rotationally grazing the animals is at least 50% a year (just because you didn't put up a few fences to subdivide your paddocks).  The main point is to make money off of your "management" and not purely your brawn. 

Just a thought,
Andy

Jack Lane wrote:

    Here in Kentucky forage doesn't grow in the winter. we have to start feeding in November and that continues until April. Believe me  I wish they could graze year round.

    But, you do need to be careful when you start getting your heart set on lots of Heavy iron that sits in the barn lot for most of the year. Most people don't realize that for operations that handle less than 100 head you might be better off investing in storage facilities and buying your winter feed. The dynamics definitely change if you have a lot of land and have an outlet to sell your forage. Or if you are interested in producing certified organic beef.

 

To see if it makes sense to buy your own harvesting equipment you need to put pen to paper and do the math.

 

Jack Lane

Kelley Farms

Lexington, KY 

-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Wendt
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 11:46 AM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Farm Equipment

    Congratulations on your purchase of a farm!  I have a question though:  Why do you "need" to bale hay?  It is expensive and it takes resoureces off of your property that are hard to get back (i.e. it takes money).  Why don't you graze  (grazing as in Managment intensive Grazing) your hay fields and keep your resources on your property?

Good luck,

Andy

----- Original Message -----

From: Jay Atkerson

To: Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 9:35 PM

Subject: [Market-farming] Farm Equipment

Well, it looks like I'll be moving to Kentucky, to a new farm.  I'll be
thrilled to get back to farming, but I'll still shoe on the side. 
Anyway, question is we need to find a loan for financing farm equipment.
What do y'all recommend?? This farm is 68 acres & we have someone who'll
bale hay for us until we get settled. But in the meantime we still need
a tractor!!  Where to start??
 
Liz Pike
Danbury NC (soon to be Dawson Springs, KY)






One of the better places in western Kentucky to buy farm equipment in
Mitchells' in Central City, KY.

I have found tractor parts for 50% of local prices, making it practical
for me to make the one and one-half hour drive to Central City from
where I live (Franklin, KY).  Equipment appears to be less than most
places I've seen.

Jay

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