Drawbar
06-10-2008, 04:08 PM
We just started haying on Sunday. Since milk is paid by the protein level, it better to delay the corn crop and grab the high yield fields before the orchard grass, timothy and clover heads out and loses its protein levels.
We are grabbing only the best high protein hay fields though, (200 acres) which should take a few days, then get the rest of the corn in. They say as long as we get the corn in before June 25th we are okay, but that is BS, we planted some last year on the Forth of July and still did okay.
We got some nice new equipment this year which will help with the fuel crunch. Bigger equipment gets the job done faster and with less fuel which is good. With our new 16 foot haybine,we were able to mow a 28 acre field in 1 hr 5 minutes (65 minutes) which is unreal. So yes,we are off to a good start. Hopefully the milk prices stay up to make it all profitable! Hard to believe you need all this big iron to get some milk out of a cow, but thats how it works.
Here are a few pictures from Sunday...the first day of our haying season.
http://www.railroadmachinist.com/images/Chopping_Corn-small.JPG
http://www.railroadmachinist.com/images/Tractor_on_Haylage_Pile-small.JPG
We are grabbing only the best high protein hay fields though, (200 acres) which should take a few days, then get the rest of the corn in. They say as long as we get the corn in before June 25th we are okay, but that is BS, we planted some last year on the Forth of July and still did okay.
We got some nice new equipment this year which will help with the fuel crunch. Bigger equipment gets the job done faster and with less fuel which is good. With our new 16 foot haybine,we were able to mow a 28 acre field in 1 hr 5 minutes (65 minutes) which is unreal. So yes,we are off to a good start. Hopefully the milk prices stay up to make it all profitable! Hard to believe you need all this big iron to get some milk out of a cow, but thats how it works.
Here are a few pictures from Sunday...the first day of our haying season.
http://www.railroadmachinist.com/images/Chopping_Corn-small.JPG
http://www.railroadmachinist.com/images/Tractor_on_Haylage_Pile-small.JPG