Lucky_P
Well-known member
Sold the cows last fall. Have pulled
Neighbor expressed an interest in cutting hay off our pastures.
Probably should have worked out all the details with him earlier, and I told him I'd do whatever he thought was fair, but I'm beginning to feel like he's taking undue advantage. He's a good friend, but...
There's about 80 acres here that are clean/smooth enough to mow, rake and roll without any danger of tearing anything up; 40 of that is flat, bottomland ground, taken out of corn/bean rotation 20 years ago. Pastures are a mix of novel-endophyte (MaxQ)fescue, orchardgrass, Ladino clover, with crabgrass, johnsongrass, and various other grasses/forbs mixed in. Not fertilized in several years, but we've been doing intensive rotational grazing for 25 years and kept the clover/lespedeza populations high.
First cutting yielded somewhere between 200 & 300 rolls, he sold most of it to our next-door neighbor, who loaded and hauled it out. Paid us $10/roll; claimed he had $20/roll in it by the time he cut and raked and paid a guy to roll it; not sure what he sold it for.
He's getting ready to make a second cutting, but he's indicated that this time around, he's got another guy in the community to cut, rake, roll, and he's gonna split it with them... and I don't get anything this go-round...if I understood him correctly.
Just sort of wondering what's routine, so far as 'cutting on shares' are concerned, or leasing out hay ground.
I know it's worth something just to get the pastures mowed (so that I don't have to bush-hog them), and understand that fertilized ground will produce more and should command a higher $$ or %. Just wanted some input on what I should be expecting or demanding going forward... have had 2 or 3 other folks express an interest in haying the place, so I'm not long-term committed to this one fellow.
Neighbor expressed an interest in cutting hay off our pastures.
Probably should have worked out all the details with him earlier, and I told him I'd do whatever he thought was fair, but I'm beginning to feel like he's taking undue advantage. He's a good friend, but...
There's about 80 acres here that are clean/smooth enough to mow, rake and roll without any danger of tearing anything up; 40 of that is flat, bottomland ground, taken out of corn/bean rotation 20 years ago. Pastures are a mix of novel-endophyte (MaxQ)fescue, orchardgrass, Ladino clover, with crabgrass, johnsongrass, and various other grasses/forbs mixed in. Not fertilized in several years, but we've been doing intensive rotational grazing for 25 years and kept the clover/lespedeza populations high.
First cutting yielded somewhere between 200 & 300 rolls, he sold most of it to our next-door neighbor, who loaded and hauled it out. Paid us $10/roll; claimed he had $20/roll in it by the time he cut and raked and paid a guy to roll it; not sure what he sold it for.
He's getting ready to make a second cutting, but he's indicated that this time around, he's got another guy in the community to cut, rake, roll, and he's gonna split it with them... and I don't get anything this go-round...if I understood him correctly.
Just sort of wondering what's routine, so far as 'cutting on shares' are concerned, or leasing out hay ground.
I know it's worth something just to get the pastures mowed (so that I don't have to bush-hog them), and understand that fertilized ground will produce more and should command a higher $$ or %. Just wanted some input on what I should be expecting or demanding going forward... have had 2 or 3 other folks express an interest in haying the place, so I'm not long-term committed to this one fellow.
