Starting A Hay Farm - The Hardest Part

Lots of good information! It took several years for me to get the good loyal customer base. Dealing with people can be the hardest part of selling hay so finding good dependable customers is very important!

It is a constant delicate balance. Long term, supply quality at a fair price and you will succeed 🙂👍🏻.

There are definitely some interesting customers!

I know what you mean in regards to having other people farm your fields. I did that for several years and all they did was take the hay off but never put anything back. I now have a friend of mine making hay here and he puts both time and money into the fields. It's a real blessing for sure.

I loved hearing your thoughts and experiences! Coming from people who are making hay, but want to take the business further, this was awesome to hear. Thank you for sharing!

sell the crap hay to construction workers. they are always looking for woody hay squares for sites and water runoff. the feed grade hay is not as good for construction for it will mold and rott out faster.

I recently retired and would like to start a small farm. My grandfather lost his 600 acre farm. Had to auction everything off. As a kid I loved driving the tractors.

I would like to see you open those fields up by grubbing out All that creep you have on the edge of your fields should gain 5+ acre's but you are on site. So you can get a better grasp of the situation. Maybe a winter time job.

I’m new to Farm life and all the opportunities , this was very helpful thank you and good luck with your Business\farm.

This is my first year of making hay. I have 4 acres, bought used equipment, have ~ $10K invested in just the hay equipment, moco, rake, tedder, baler, and also bought a No Till and a new tractor to handle it all. The tractor is for more than just hay though. The first time I was out cutting, a neighbor stopped by and asked if I would be interested in cutting another neighbors hay, so now I have 8 acres of hay. My field needs a lot of work, his is established, but needs some food and lime too. So far I sold all but my first cutting which got sun bleached thanks to a bad weather forecast. I now have two repeat customers. For me the hardest part is getting lime and fertilizer as well as off road diesel. The local COOP wants nothing to do with me because I am too small to bother with.

Tym for sharing 🎉

How much does an average hay farm make a year. Equally important how much capital you need to get started.

Where are you located. We are in the business but never have enough. Thinking trucking might be an option

I know this video is older but if you are still reading comments . Do you think trying to find people to deliver hey for before starting your own hey farm would help fi d customers ?

Most horse people are the worst

Finding buyer is no problem for me with a little advertising and word of mouth. I place an ad on Facebook Marketplace and spend $10 to boost it and poof my hay is gone.

Subscribed. We have a guy that pays us to hay our fields.
I want to start processing it ourselves. We have 2 tractors, but no hay equipment.

And I’m in my third yr and they buy it like it’s going out of style

the HARDEST part is finding GOOD help

I am in South Africa also looking to start a hay farm as well

appreciate you making this content

Hay smells so great

I pay more for excellent quality hay. I’m in Nova Scotia Canada and I know horse people that actually buy hay from Ontario and New Brunswick. I don’t like to pay for something that is not of good quality.

I’m trying to do the same thing in Northern California. Will be first generation taking my stab at it as a side hustle if all goes well. Your videos are nice insight thank you!

Hello. Great video. This is a loaded question. Sorry. Other farmers please chime in. I’m an OO trucker. I would like to have this a side business/hobby. If I break even with land taxes and maybe some newer equipment down the road I’d be happy. I would be able to offer hay for sale and be able to truck it as well. Do you all see this as a good combo? Experience mowing several hundred acre parks for 11 years. Never grew or baled hay. Early 40’s still able to work long days.

Why not feed your marginal hay to stocker cattle.. Buy 3-4 calves and keep them full of hay all winter. Graze them a month on green grass and get that compensatory gain, then sell them(or send them to freezer camp) just in time to start working on hay..

Just seeing your video now. However, very good and spot on. My experience has been similar and the advice I'd give is don't sell junk. Till up your hay fields, plant a good product that's in demand, I grow Orchard Grass hay for horses. Buy a new or modern baler that puts out nice, solid, tight bales. You are selling and customers all have horror stories of prior purchases. So put a quality hay product in a quality bale and your entry in the business will go easier, smoother. And yes, take care of your repeat customers, if you're in it for the long haul. Again, don't scrimp on balers, do that with the tractor, they stay together better than old balers, but think of it like this - a newer baler is like a high end color laser printer, the output is nicer than a crappy printer and most computers (the tractor) can make a document to send to your printer (the baler). Lousy printer, bad output, lousy baler, bad output! Bad products much harder to sell, good products are just easier to sell.

The quickest way to make a small fortune selling hay is to start with a large fortune, all kidding aside it's a constant race against mother nature, having options such as wet wrapping or chopping for silage is helpful, but it can be done, after 22 years at it seems there's always a curve ball on the way.

To me I have so many customers that i can't fulfill the demand of the market.
This is happening because nobody wants to make small square bales, all bigger farms make round bales. So in my area I have virtually no competition and very high demand.
Usually my hay is either sold by the time I make it or sold within around 2-3 months. For me, my hardest part is buying the equipment, because I'm not willing to take a loan from bank and also I don't have extra money.
But another reason I started making hay is because of low quality hay that others make around my area. I want to provide good quality hay to my customers.

As a marketing idea id be using the "Moutain Grown Hay" as a selling point. Is it different? Who knows. But water up in mountainous areas has to be cleaner then the water down below.

How much do you normally charge per bale?

Feeding it to beef cows always work.

Dont buy old equipment on on line Auctions. Unless you are a mechanic and can see the stuff b4 hand. We have wasted $5000+ on old equipment that broke a few weeks later....
Get a new sickle bar if needed.

Here in the UK, I thought it may be a good idea to grow meadow hay for horses, with wild flower mixes lightly sown, with your regular grass seed.
If you have small fields in the middle of your land, sow some wild flower seed heavily, then keep a few bee hives in them!
1, you will be helping bees in their time of need, plus the honey to sell. 2, Also whatever you sow will get an early pollination.
3, If you look up all the flowers, & herbs that are good for horses, which should command a reasonable price?
Also, as you are not grazing animals any more, maybe grow capons, in large moveable runs?
So they eat all the pests and feed your soil.
Thank you for telling us about growing your hay. 🐝🇬🇧👍😮

We have a very old farm, 45 acres of hay. I agree and experienced everything you said!!

This one is really helpful, almkst more now than ever 😁

We can definitely relate to the struggle of finding customers! It's tough to break into any market, especially when you're competing with established businesses