should you make or buy your hay? here's the math for small farms 

“Pay in cash on the day they make hay”. That’ll keep you at the top of the list. Knowing you have money in your pocket on the way home it’s a motivator.

I'm a farmer, 175 acres, 60 cows, 140 ewes and I enjoy every minute of farming. If you enjoy what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

I absolutely love these types of videos when you break it down and show the costs and alternatives. Very helpful. Thank you .

Words of wisdom to live by:"If you don't love it, it's just a job. If you love it, it's a life!"

A very thoughtful video that covers a topic I get dragged into a couple of times a year by newbies to farming. I don't have cattle, but have about 20 acres of fields. Traditionally I've done hay, but the last 5 years we've done winter wheat (because I had a specific buyer for organic wheat). Now that there are lots of farms jumping on the organic band wagon I'm switching back to hay, which is showing better price stability. Because of the ease of handling, round bales dominate local production, which means I'm going back to square bales which are hovering around $6.....at least as long as my 70 year old body will hold out. One thing worth noting for those that like shiny new equipment, is that it won't be shiny and new for long. By year 5 or so they'll be in the same (if not more complicated) maintenance cycles that they'd have with well used older equipment. If they aren't mechanically inclined they better be wealthy, because Ag shop time around here is similar in cost to owning a BMW out of warranty....and during prime season priority rightfully goes to the big guys that drop $50 K or more a year on parts and maintenance, not the small guy that spends as little as possible. The primary profit in smaller farms is the joy of farming. If you don't love farming, it is a hot dirty thankless job with little financial reward.

Grew up on a 105 acre farm in SE MO. We typically ran a 20 cow/calf pairing. We square baled approx 10-15 acres and reaped about 1,500 bales a year. We had a neighbor bail up round bails for us one year, but there is so much waste in a big bale in my opinion. Using the square bales allows you to spread the hay in different parts of the fields for feeding, thus allowing what is not eating to better breakdown in the field. Big bales just kill the grass underneath in the spring.

I have never made hay, but at my last house I used to watch so enviously of the young bucks next door square baling the 6 acre field out front. Smelled like a perfume city folk can't even imagine. Great video Pete, as usual.

You seem like such a wonderful person. Thank you for taking the time to share. It's clear that you love what you do!

I tend to re-watch these videos and appreciate them each time. I don't think there are any other youtube videos I watch more than once. Great job on these!

Great videos Pete, I really appreciate the time you take to share your experiences and advice

When you apply numbers to every aspect of farming, everything seems much clearer. Thank you, Pete.

This video was my introduction to your channel. Amazing! I've been on a mission to find someone answer these types of questions for me. Just got into beef 4 years ago, but am still just a rookie with only 3 head. Moving to a larger working grass fed farm in a couple months, so we plan to expand everything. Thank you for doing this!

your videos are great. My wife and I are starting a herd so your content has been very helpful. Thank you and keep up the good work

Man, this channel is phenomenal! I love how you go through everything step by step; some channels skip things assuming the viewer knows what they're talking about. The knowledge that is given through this channel is just incredible. Years of learning for you and generations previous becomes way more accessible to me! I'm working as a farmhand right now in Alberta and this channel has helped me be a bit more knowledgeable when I'm helping out, which is awesome. Thank you.

Great video. I was a custom cutter for years and did about 3,000 acres a year. A lot of what you talked about also applied to me. The costs are of purchasing bakes and having it done are similar to your numbers as well. The problem with people like me is the bigger customers that laid a premium always got done first and then we worked our way down the list based off of geography and number of acres (we served 2 counties so we didn’t like moving around a lot for 10 and 15 acre patches). I loved making hay and find myself missing it every summer when I see guys out doing it.

I love how you explain everything.

You’re kicking butt!!! 100-200 new subscribers per day.

Perfectly perfect! You were able to help me wrap my head around a topic that is of great interest to me.

Hi Pete, I’m new to your channel.I really enjoy watching! My Dad grew up in a farming community and I find I’m really enjoy watching you on your small farm. My Dad sold commodities most of his career. In his retirement job he was the National Director of the National Hay Growers Association. I used to listen to him talk all about Hay! He’s been gone a little over a year and watching your channel reminds me of him! I’ll keep watching!

Vintage tractors have been a hobby of mine for a while and while doing some research on what I want to restore next I found your video on the MD. After that I came here because I'm looking into doing hay and gotta say amazing job on the video. Can't wait to watch more of the backlog.

Great stuff, really enjoy someone who takes time on the details. Helps me be more confident about my choices, thanks for sharing!!!!

Vid was put together very nicely…… Covered all the bases. And the IH EQUIPMENT stood out to me…!

This was one of the first videos to pop up when I searched for hay making. Glad I found it. We presently live on one third of an acre in the suburbs but are saving up for our eventual move to the country where we hope to raise alpacas and goats. Thanks for being part of our educational journey. Also- I like your “junk” equipment. Keep the old stuff going!

Just found this channel it's now one of my favorites!

Although I will not be going into farming I really enjoy your videos. You are straightforward, honest, and well-spoken. I think you do an outstanding job of sharing your love for farming and of providing valuable information for your audience. Keep up the good work.

Love your content, that’s for all the information you share with us. Keep them coming!!!

Very good advice on the topic of baling hay & equipment needed to do it. You're so right about the difference between it being something that you enjoy doing & just being a job. Stay safe.

Love your stuff and this video in particular. Our first year I put up about 6 tons of loose hay for our dairy goats with a scythe. Total cost: $80. But the labor-oof! Taking a good hard look at putting our own small line together soon.

What an interesting channel! I retired early and am working on a small solar powered aquaculture project but so far I am just feeding hawks and caterpillars. Thanks for the inspiration !

GREAT video packed with useful wisdom! Also, the last 30 seconds is sheer truth. Thanks!

Thank you so much for your video, having equipment such as a tractor on hand that’s paid off already is a huge advantage to considering doing your own hay! Well said

l enjoy making our own hay , every step of it, especially seeing a full mow com end of year along with a full wood shed of firewood. 3rd generation here on this farm since 1908 l am and hope . my children will keep it going! farmer john

Great video Pete. I too, love making hay. I couldn’t imagine buying my hay. There’s too many variables when you buy in all your hay. Makes me nervous just thinking about it! But I we only have 5 cows so I sell more than I keep, so that really helps in the equation for me.

Pete, you are SO good at explaining all the intricacies of everything from the economics to the equipment operation. I really enjoyed watching your hay videos and look forward to the others! Thanks for sharing! PS: great camera work and editing!

Finally! Took me so long to find someone with this kinda smarts. Most of these homesteaders really are flying into it learning. Love to hear from the folks who know what's up from the get-go.

Pete. I’m just about to take early retirement. Looking at your video’s has inspired me to buy a small farm and make hay. Most people wouldn’t bother but I just want to have a lifestyle like yours. All my life I have lived in a concrete jungle, now I just want to get out onto the land. Thanks for your informative, honest views. Happy farming.....

Great video!!! 👍🏻 Another thing to remember certain hay cutters/mowers have difficulty cutting certain grasses. Also we switched from a side rake to an eight wheel V-rake. Great decision for us. Went from raking hay for three hours down to forty-five minutes. Also once your equipment is paid for. You can start working on an upgrade.

Wow my lucky day. I found 2 videos that somehow I missed. Thanks for posting your passion.

Awesome video! No wasted time all info. Love the channel!!

Thank you for this video subject. I really needed to listen to the discussion. I just got my first tractor! A 1989 John Deere 870 with only 88 hrs on it. The thing was garage kept and still looks new aside from a few dings and scratches. All fluids look new. Even the battery and cables look new…. Even though the battery was installed in 2011. I feel so lucky! It came with a brush hog and blade. Time to start getting some work done around the place… and maybe hay in a few years after the newly planted pastures take off.

There is a new meaning to me now about the phrase, "making hay while the sun shines"..... You are making hay for yourself with low cost factors, older equipment, and experiencing pleasure in the making of your hay. Knowing you aren't costing yourself a bunch of money, makes your life pleasurable. Good economic information of your farm, presented in a easy to follow way. You are a good teacher! Thanks for spending the time to present this video.....

Very well done. I started by hiring a 'custom baler' - went through two of them. The most frustrating part was seeing my field ready to cut and the guy telling me it might be 2 weeks before he could get to me ... or one just kept repeating "maybe in a couple of days" until it was raining. Then I bought used pieces, better than yours, and started doing my own. One idea you missed that might be important to someone. Once you have the equipment to do yours, provided you have the time and ambition, you can become that 'custom baler' for someone else, to help pay down your equipment costs.

Thank you for the video, I look forward to your new ones, and above all...I really enjoy them! Take care!

Wow, Awesome channel. Best videos I've seen yet on small farming. Thanks for making these videos and bringing us down to the farm.

These videos are so helpful. Keep up the great work!👍👍👍👍👍

Good points. We went to round bale and never looked back. Your equipment costs are hardly a fraction of what our costs are but if it works, that's what counts. Stay safe out there and keep enjoying working in the sunshine.

Excellent Pete, thank you for such a good presentation, you know what you love , that's for sure :)

Great information....I have been watching many of your video's and hope to bring in Dexter cattle next year to our small farm.

this video was so informative I've subscribed - can't wait to binge watch your channel

Great presentation! So precise with your information! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Another great video! I'm exactly where you were 5 yrs ago. 15 head of cattle expecting it to be 20 next year. Been doing small sqaures and buying in the extra i need. Just got an 1976 international 674 and plan to move into round bales as I find old gear cheap that I can fix!

Pete, just discovered your videos and they help me make better decisions. We have 18 acres and 10 head of sheep that we harvest wool from. Trying to justify buying equipment would not have made sense to others I'm sure. We got tired of never knowing if our fields would be hayed and one dude told us he would not be harvesting but sadly told us in the spring. We invested in small mini round baler by yanmar, a 2 drum mower and a single wheel spreader, tedder, rake combination. Recently I picked up a 2 disk Sitrex tedder for $600. The bottom line is we may never make our money back in the short run, but I love being self sufficient and enjoying time learning how to hay. I have even picked up a neighbors field this year and actually able to sell. Thanks for your You Tube videos!!! George @ Double Q Farm Maine

Thanks again for the videos pete your are awesome farmer have a good night

I swear, every video I am reminded why I love this channel. Pete's "energy" (for lack of a better term) is just warming and gracious. He's both knowledgeable *and* wise. Gotta love it, keep up the good work! One thing that I think would be neat (though not necessary) is some drone shots of the landscape. Would be somewhat cliche, but adds just a small touch. Looking forward to the next video, as usual!

Great video. Watching your videos gives me something to look forward to. Your videos are one of the few things that make me happy. Thank you.

Nice wrap up at the end!

Thanks for the informations , and the lovely way you are telling us the info 🙏

We have a small farm in Vermont and make our own hay for a small herd of cattle. It's the self sufficiency that makes it so satisfying as well as using the land in an efficient way. Thanks for a great video!

I am trying to start doing mine own on 10 acres watched you video very helpful thanks

Your videos are fantastic! Very informative and well done.

I did love it and thank you very much!! You have such great videos that are helping our small farm get started... very informative. Alot of my subscribers are subscribed to you which is why I checked you out. I subscribed as well!!! They weren't lying this is a good channel! God bless!!!!

You Rock Buddy! I love your videos,Thank you! Butch Ashland Ohio

Perfect! Exactly what I was looking for! I have small acreage and have to buy water. That changes my equation. Thanks for the awesome info!

Just a minute in I was hooked...great, professional video

This is not about hay but what you said pay in cash, yesterday I had an outfit cut and trim some trees for me. When talking price I said I would pay in cash, he dropped the price $400 and even did a little more that I had originally asked. Like your videos very informative.

Another really GREAT video. love these types of videos.

This was fantastic. Thanks Pete!

I loved running the 656 my uncle had that was my first learning tractor

Great video, we make are own hay using IH and New Holland equipment from 70's. We make small squares bales up to 5000 bales a year alot of work but we enjoy making Hay. We do sell some, the rest is for are Horses and Donkeys. Take Care and be Safe Bud👍

Great video

It is nice that you make those points at the end. I would love cutting hay and round baling too but squares are a LOT of work...Been there, done that as a farmhand for 5 years in my late teens and early 20's. I am way past my 20's now, too.

Thanks for the tour.

What a terrific video! Thanks - much appreciated…

You did a very good job making this video and explaining. Thanks

Bang as usual, coming from a practical fellow,doing what you enjoy,is practical mental health,enough said!

I just found your channel, I really like how informative you are, right down to the Letter. This is Exactly the kind of Thing I like to watch, as I Also have numbers running through my head daily trying to expand my farm. I'm Subscribed Now, and wish I had been Earlier!

i love your channel and love the logical knowledge . awesome bud : )

This should be mandatory content for every agriculture class.

Great information on hay . I started out with 2 cows 2 years ago & have 8 now . I have started cutting my own hay last year . I have to work on equipment every summer , but I still come out a lot cheaper than buying 75 round bails for winter. I just found your channel a few days ago . I have enjoyed watching your videos. Stay Safe @ GodBless 👍

This so valuable knowledge, thanks for your program. God bless.

Great content, very informative thanks!

Hi All, I just wanted to answer a question many people have asked, so it doesn't get repeated over & over again. The question is, "why didn't you include the cost of land and fertilizer in the costs of making hay?" In this video, I went over my specific costs as an example, and I don't really have land or fertilizer costs. We own our land, and yes I have to pay taxes on it, but our land is multipurpose; the same fields get used for pasturing poultry and cattle as well as making hay. So it's tough to tease out land costs, and I tend to view them as one of our farm's "infrastructure costs" for doing business, as it's spread out among many farm enterprises. If you rent land or have a mortgage, then your situation would be different. Regarding fertilizer, I do not buy fertilizer for our fields. I've found that by pasturing our livestock correctly and composting their winter bedding packs and spreading them on our fields, our fields remain fertile and hay crops remain steady. I spend about 3 days per year composting & spreading manure and you can figure in the cost of this if you'd like, but I would be spreading that compost on our fields even if I didn't make hay. I do apply lime to adjust the PH every 5 years or so, at a cost of about $1,500, but this cost is spread out among all our farm enterprises, as the fields are multipurpose. Again, you should figure in fertilizer costs if your farm operates differently. I hope this helps clear up any confusion and thanks for watching! -Pete

thanks for straight to the point information. very good.

Great advice! Thank you and best wishes.

Great video Pete, thank you!

Fantastic articulation.

Great video! I like the way you explained that. The only thing is you can't really count all the tractor cost against hay making because they have a lot of other uses around the farm.

This video is so informative I had to subscribe 👌🏿!

You just answered a lot of my questions. Thsnkd

More great information! Thanks

I don't know how I ended up here, but I like it. Very few people out there take the time and have the skill to explain like you do. Not sure I'll ever get into hay with our 27ac, but I might actually be able to survive it after these videos. It does look like fun, I don't have a need for it though and haven't looked into the economics of selling it.

Wow thank you for all the info!!

A real good simple breakdown of cost to make hay. One thing though personal labor cost must be added to have a true comparison of making or buying hay.

Great video, thanks for posting

Brilliant video. Cheers from Australia 🙂

Very informative and great filmmaking.

Knowing the quality of hay is my biggest reason for wanting to make my own. It's the same reason I do most of my own repairs and maintenance on my vehicles and house. But, I'm starting out small and will slowly try to transition to making my own. Thanks for the breakdown of the costs.

You used good logic in you choices. Nice job thanks

Thanks for the video!

I have a small herd now. But grew up put up square bales all summer for our farm. I like the mowing and baling hay, even do some custom baling. All my equipment is old stuff I've bought for cheap. Like your accesment of cost