ot hay ground ??

I was wondering if anyone out there is makeing a decent living off farming mostly hay ground?  I hear of some people making ago with it but around here rent is around $200 an acre and it just seems hard to justify.  I would like to give it a shot but am hoping for some input first.   any advice is appreciated!

I grew hay in my rotation for the N about 20 years ago. I eventually gave it up because the hay income (when the horsy checks didn't bounce) was far less than even poor corn production income and so I bought my N and made more money. Ordinary horses don't need alfalfa at all, so the owners ration it to keep them from bloating and then the horses feel their ribs rubbing together and they eat the stall and the barn when they can't have more hay. They are designed to eat grass hay all day and night to get their bulk and other needs. If they worked all day at plowing or racing they could use the alfalfa. And horsey types are the pickiest about hay mostly without knowing what they really need.

Hay selling for $100 and up a ton was not part of my experience. Nor was selling corn for $4 or 5 a bushel like I did $4.34 at harvest and have some 2011 corn sold for $5.03.

I've quit beans because they haven't been "paying the rent" either. So my new tenant is corn on corn.

I don't think hay will pay on $200 ground that could be producing 200 plus bushels of $4 or 5 corn. Sure the input cost is higher, but the profit isn't there with the hay.

Gerald J.

My dad and I have three small patches to bale. Two of them is no rent 4 acres and 8 acres people just want it took care of and the other 10 acres is a buddys we get half of for baling.We get enough hay to feed out three steers and about $1000 dollars worth of hay to sell. I turned down about three more fields people wanting done at no cost or half and half. Not bad for weekend warriors. Around here it's $3.50 to $4.00 a bale for grass and $4.50 or better for alfalfa. Selling can be a pain everybody wants it then you never hear from them again or some buy 10 at a time. Hopfully it's better this winter.

Matt, unless we have a dramatic shift in the climate, making DRY baled hay in NE Iowa is nearly impossible.  At least not anything that is not bleached or too mature for people to want.  We have 130 acres of alfalfa for our dairy and thankfully we can usually chop the majority of 3 cuttings for silage and only have to try to bale 1 cutting.  I really enjoy making hay when the weather is right, but the last 10 years or so have really been challenging.  

You guys are going to laugh, but my neighbor let some hay ground go, because twenty-five dollars an acre was too high!