As a farmer that has been in the business for 25 years the best advice i can give you is find what works for YOU. What works for the neighbors down the road may not for you. Find your niche and make it work.

This was an EXCELLENT presentation. I like how you incorporated drone footage to help explain things. I am glad your field bounced back after that accidental poisoning. I wish you would have included that recovery in your final tally. You are doing very good. Keep this up. By the way, it is admirable that you keep such precise records. I have been watching you awhile and you always do such a good job at record keeping. You did this when you harvested your pigs and had the meat packaged. This way, you will always know where the money is going. It inspires others to do the same. Your channel is doing good things for people. thanks.

You could spend your winter months painting the old machinery, so when summer comes round, you'll have 'brand new' kit.🧐

Awesome job, bud! As a retired farmer, my best advice is to sell your sickle mower and hay tedder. You can get enough from them to buy a good 9ft haybine. Aside from preventative maint, you got a good baler and rake. For the type animals you have on the farm, I'd recommend red clover for your next field. Goats and pigs love it. Anyway, Great job on your first year baling. You survived! lol

I'm a second-generation farmer, (my parents started farming back in the late 80s.) We've been baling hay for going on 40 years now. In that time we've learned quite a bit, and there are a few things I would recommend to you going forward. First, ditch the hay wagons, and buy some hay baskets. You go from having to have an extra person on the wagon, to just one person running the whole show. My dad bought a pair of used one's about twenty years ago and he wouldn't trade them for anything, and you can easily hold a hundred or so square bales in them. Yes, you will have some warped bales and broken ones from time to time as they will just fall into the basket willy nilly, but when it comes to labor-saving, hay baskets just can't be beaten in my opinion. Another thing to look out for is when you're going around corners with the hay basket while baling, my dad puts chains on between the baler and hay basket chute opening to help keep the bales from popping out in a turn. Second thing, DON'T sell that tedder, my dad wishes he'd bought one years ago. It can easily shave a day off of the drying process, so instead of three days, you're done in two. Third, yes get rid of that sickle bar mower, haybines are better, but the discbine is obviously the best. The problem of course is cost, a used discbine will run you easily 7-8 thousand dollars, (that's what we paid for ours.) Plus, it requires more horsepower than a haybine, we have a 706 International, and it barely meets the horsepower requirements to run our discbine. But it cuts so much better than our old International 990 haybine. The main problem we had with our haybine was plugging, if you weren't careful, you'd plug it easily, especially if you ran over a previously cut windrow, the grass would collect under the skid plate as well, and then the machine wouldn't cut right. The conditioner was nice, but a haybine still uses a sickle bar to cut the grass, so you're not really getting too far from what you have right now if you go with a haybine. If you do buy one, make sure the wobble box is in good condition, that's what killed our 990, the wobble box just wore out, and it wasn't worth fixing it. I'd also recommend getting some high calcium lime down on your fields, this helps open up the soil and increase bio-activity. In addition, it helps the plants grow stronger stems. A lot of times and this is especially true of alfalfa, the stems will be hollow inside, due to lack of calcium in the soil, this makes the planet susceptible to being knocked down in a windstorm. High calcium lime helps the plant grow stronger stems that can resist high winds, plus you get more hay volume per acre if your stems aren't hollow. My dad told me a story about how one year he put lime down and the following year he said that the field looked like a giant hand had pressed down on it as the places where he hadn't spread the lime were shorter than where he had. Remember, your soil is like a bank account, if you only take from it, and put nothing back, then eventually you'll run out of nutrients, and then nothing good will grow. In my area we could get high calcium lime for free from the local city filtration plant, (till they started charging for it anyway), and all we had to do was pay haulage. If you spread twenty tons to the acre, you're pretty much golden and don't really have to worry about it for a good long while, but even just one to five tons to the acre can really make a difference in a year or two. My final piece of advice is to try and store your hay until winter prices set in, generally speaking, you can easily see a two to three dollar a bale increase in prices for 1st cutting going into November/December. I'd recommend keeping an eye on your local Craig's List and price it accordingly. This year was the worse year I've ever had for making hay, and the prices are already crazy, in my area, (North East Indiana,) 1st cutting is already 7-8 dollars a bale, and that's if you can find it. Last year it got upwards of 12-15 dollars a bale in late winter. It'll be worse this year and most likely next year as well. Keep that hay as long as you can, though try to make sure most of it is gone by February/March, as that's when hay prices tend to start dropping as farmers try to clear excess inventory ahead of spring. Hope this helps you going forward.

I've got a d 17 and love it. One neighbor pulled a new holland chain round baler with his d 17 with no problems.Sickle mowers,haybines,disc mowers,they ALL have their problems .haybines can clog too. Any "used" piece of equipment is going to be wore just in different and more expensive parts. You got excellent deals on all of your hay equipment!! You already went through the fixing up stage on it,just learn to master what you've got.Everything in life has a trick to it. You've just got to learn the trick!! A wise old farmer told me that.

You know, I’m really glad to see you started out with older equipment not because I want you to hate doing hay but you really get an appreciation for better equipment. Growing up I was always throwing bales on the wagon and stacking in the barn. I haven’t had to deal with square nails for over 10yr now but it really brings an appreciation to growing and evolving your farm. Congrats on your first year, hope to see you back with some upgrades next season!

You made your experiences, you learned from it and now it's time to improve...👍🏻😊

I think you did great on all of those prices. When you upgrade to a haybine, don't sell the sickle bar. It's a great time saver around ponds, and ditches. I paid $400 for a Ford 501 with a 7 ft bar. The plan was my pond, and 300 feet of road ditch. It worked so well, now I do my pond, two different neighbor's ponds, and about 1000 feet of ditch. That's not counting our drive, and 1200 feet of gas well drive that slopes away. I love that thing.

Well done, that's a big accomplishment. Thanks for bringing us along.

This is a great video, As a landscape gardener and farmer this is a great piece of education for younger people wanting to go into farming/smallholding.. It shows you don't have to splash the cash to make it... And farming is never easy.. Far from it, but it's the way of life that captures most people into staying with it... Great video. 👍👌

Good job documenting your efforts! I was basically in the same place you are 10 years ago. Farmall H, IH sickle bar, IH rake, Super 68 baler. I’m still doing hay with newer nicer equipment. Rule # 1. ALWAYS protect yourself!! No bale of hay is worth any injury. BTW gave this same advice to a young guy starting haying this last year, during a in field Haybine troubleshooting event the PTO shaft caught his shirt a ripped if off his body, luckily he was not injured but was very lucky. The worst part of making and selling hay is dealing with Customers, ( arriving on time, having money to pay for the amount of hay they want, wanting to return hay for various reasons or wanting $ discount) When you have a good Customer take very good care of them! 2nd worst part of baling hay, weather, as you know you need minimum 3 consecutive days of sunshine to get hay dry. It difficult to watch a perfect field of alfalfa hay $6 per bale get rained on and de valued to $3 after you rake it 2 more times to get it dry. DO NOT bale hay that you are not 100% sure it is dry. MUCH easier to tedd and re rake in field than to “in bale them” shake out in field or sell for a $1 bale because it is moldy bale. 3d, equipment failure, Specifically the baler. You will be never more stressed then when you have dry windrows ready to bale and you are unable to bale because of a broken baler, working on it/going to pick up parts. Rain forecasted (That is when rule #1 get into play) would highly suggest a second baler or a neighbor that you pay to bale the hay It’s a wonderful profitable hobby when everything is working, but believe me I’ve seen a lot from $ 15 a bale hay in a drought to burning bales in a pile couldn’t give it away, snakes in bales to dead deer in the Haybine, AND I’m happily married to one of my former Customers and we have 5 year old son together! It’s an adventure!, Work hard, Stay Humble!

I, for one, am highly appreciated of all the work you put into your videos. Your editing is top-notch and well planed. I was so happy that the repairs were not overly expensive and within your talents and experiences. You did one hell of a job on the hay season and I congratulate you on a job well done. Thanks for all you do and allowing me on your journeys...Peace!!! Bill

I’ve been putting up hay for quite few years and found that every season is a new and different challenge from the weather. Sounds like you have your stuff together and I hope the best for you and your operation.

Yes it would be good to see all the old hay equipment fixed up and painted, red and yellow to match your tedder ! Need that tedder - it can save your crop from going moldy or drying unevenly if you get a shower or two.

Enjoyed all the haying videos, brought back memories of driving the tractor as Dad and hired help stacked before storms.

Very good vidio, nice to see someone who doesn't think they have to take on a huge debt to start raising hay start small and work your way up to how ever much you want to do. I raised hay for many years with older equipment and it worked pretty well for me.

Evan,glad to see a smiling face, You and Rebecca was blessed big time this passed year ,I’m sure you can expect to have another year just as good if not better. Thanks for a great video.God bless and be safe.

Good to have you Evan.

Alway injoy your video Evan! I think you did very very well on your equipment cost! God-bless you and your family! Stay safe!

Evan, great job! Thank you for taking us along.

First time cutting hay??!! Awesome! Thinking of buying 15 acres and feeling overwhelmed!! Thanks!

Thanks so much for this video. My wife and I are slowly going to take over the family farm, and we have no equipment on the farm to use, except for a tractor. This was incredibly informative for us, to plan our steps to working the family farm. God bless you in your farming, and as always, we look forward to more videos from you.

Great job

Thanks for all the details and info! Just moved to our own 40 acre farm this spring and traded hay to a guy to bale it for us...while I figure out what I need to do it myself. Keep up the youtubin!

..GOOD ONE, STAY SAFE AND ENJOY..

Great job Evan..... Have a great 2021..... We all are looking forward to it coming, bringing us some joy and the time to spend with friends and family again. Hugs from Minnesota

I always looked forward to the hay videos, thank you for always being so honest with prices it really helps us out that are trying to exit the city for country living

I really enjoy your videos. You're very detailed and honest about what you're doing. Thank you for sharing all of your experiences with your property.

The hay cutting videos were amazing thank you for them.and this one man I really appreciate what you do!!! Stay safe and God bless you both!!!

Great job Evan, you laid it out really well and it was a great presentation. Thanks for sharing with us and for the great videos you’ve shown on KZfaq. They are appreciated. 👍👍👍👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Enjoyed watching the whole process, thanks!

Great job for a newbie. Nice to see all that you accomplished.

I lucked out with my sickle bar and paid £40 UK at our local machinery auction, replaced the pitman and sharpened the knife and it runs a dream.

Great video man. Very informative. Love to see you using the old equipment and your maintenance is top notch.

Very informative. Great down to earth manner. Love your presentation skills. Roji

Incredible video! So much value and well presented! Thank you so much for breaking it all down!!

Nice job explaining the cost breakdown.

Evan.... Really Nice job! Enjoy the videos you and your wife are doing...my very Best to you and your Family this Holiday Season.... Looking forward to seeing your future videos!

Thanks for the amazing video and the help

Very well done video

Thanks for sharing your experience with the sickle mower.

Excellent vid. Answered a lot of my newbie questions

I broke down this past summer and bought a haybine, I share your frustration with the ciclebar mower, mowed with it for years, but as you said the crop has to be perfect to get them to cut good... I paid 2500 for the haybine have put like 100 in it, but I will cut my acres in less than 1/2 the time and I'll have my hair left... it was worth every penny...

Great video ❤️👏👍 So happy you were able to accomplish all you did this year. Good job.

So Fascinating, Impressive!

You posted a awesome video, we would like to thank you for sharing your video... That's awesome 😎😎😎 we will be looking forward to see more videos in the future, thank you..

U did excellent.if u ever get to small discbine.get the fingers instead of rolls. Faster dry. Haying has evolved so much past my old equipment.jd round baler 435. 315 square w/kicker0 1990 kuhn disc. 2016 4 basket tedder .10 wheel v rake. And im semi retired 70. U must be fair mechanic keepin all going

A perfect presentation.....thank you from Canada.

Good presentation and money analysis

Great video, Evan! Really enjoyed that! 🙂

This was my first year in hay as well. Experienced many of the same things you did. Learned that there are so many variables in haying you can’t control, and you can’t rush it, so you do the best you can. “Perfect” is a rarity. Not too far away in Carlinville, IL. Thanks for sharing.

This is great, good for you guys! Loved the opening to this video.

Great job God bless you and I hope everything continues to work so that you might be blessed in the future

Great job 👍. I learned a lot from you. Thank you for sharing.

Hay videos are enjoyable to watch, thanks for the effort.

It is enjoyable to watch you cutting hay with the sickle bar mower.

My husband George said he liked a disc bind instead of cycle bind. You’ll be happy with this decision. We love your channel.

Really enjoyed your informative film of your costs on your equipment, you proved a very sensible purchaser who loves a bargain , good job 👍

Thanks for this video. I'm looking to start harvesting on my little ranch in Wyoming, and this told me exactly what I needed!

I'd love to see these old pcs of equipment refurbished. fun winter project

Nice summary Evan. I enjoyed the hay videos this year and look forward to the next chapter. Considering the issue you had with the fertilizer guy when you started this field, I'd say you did great.

A lot of people who try square bales and self baling are stupid and try to recoup the maintenance cost of the equipment in their sale price. The maintenance cost is compensated for by the bale production. You don't price a cookie sheet by how much parchment, soap, non-stick and scrub brushes its used, you shouldn't price a baler at resale over the cost of the parts you had to put into it because you wore them out. You've got a *VERY* honest friend.

It is interesting trying to use older equipment. It s not a perfect world either. I think ya did pretty well. It has accomplished your goal. Seems harder to find good working equipment. I actually found a cultivator tool bar cheap to mix other parts that I already have on hand. Which will help that i can just change cultivators and not have to mess around during planting season. I have found there is things I like about my tractor. Something's I don t. I keep swaying towards a narrow front a good three point with arms that extend for hookup. Also like you say with the draw bar. I would also like it to be 70 to 100 horse. I hope that you keep looking you will find what you really want. I think later on you will by a specific tractor for cutting and bailing hay. It always seems to a good idea to have several tractors. Have a great week.

I really did enjoy watching the Hay series up to this point. The ups and downs and seeing how you handled / learned from all of the different issues allowed me the opportunity to be a small part of your adventure, thank you. As I live in a concrete jungle in Tokyo Japan, I will never be able to experience farm life. Thank you for sharing yours, it has been a blessing :) Looking forward to continuing the series and all of your videos to see what the next year has to bring.

You are an inspiration!keep up the good work.God Bless

Great video.. greetings from England. Proof Cash is STILL KING buddy..

7x14 ' is the standard wagon size.Guys used to put sides on them and pulled them behind corn pickers and especially mounted ones the wagon would fit behind them to go through the fields. Should get at least 100 bales on it if you stack high enough.

Cool video thank you 😊

The sickle mower could be used for trimming ditches and get a mower conditioner

I have learned a lot from videos, keep up the great work man.

Your shopping skills are amazing! Equipment is so expensive. Great job!

You found some great deals on your equipment. Much of what you were using is what I learned on back in the 70s while working on dairy farms here in Maine. Anyone looking into doing their own hay can get an idea of cost of the equipment from this and also learn from trials and errors you shared. Many blessings.

Had to start somewhere buddy you gave you more ideas with my sickle bar thank you

You did great my first year in equipment was 15.5k not counting 7.5k in medium duty truck for delivery one tractor one haybine one tedder one rake one baler

Very informative. My cousins are all on farms and bale grass. The even collect tge seed from one patch. They drive through the paddock with a tarp over the front grill windscreen into the Ute tray. A round dryer in the shed. He said there is a demand for the seed too. Then they cut and bale the grass. Don't remember the variety. Other paddocks have mixed grasses to bale.

Thanks for sharing.

Evan the footage you’re getting from the drone is really getting better and better. Ive seen people with significantly more expensive gear not get that good of footage. I dunno if its the angles you’re filming at or the editing but keep it up whatever it is. Great job!

I enjoyed the video. The hay you were sitting in front of looks like good quality.

Excellent job!

Great review and presentation. 👍👍

I'd say you did great. Buying used equipment is always a crap shoot so no shame in repairs. Shoot, when the fellow I baled for bought his New Holland brand new in 1969, we had to haul it back to the dealership the first day in the field. It had either skipped time or was never timed correctly to start. It was going through one shear pin after another. To say my boss was upset would be a huge understatement. He was so funny. Totally transparent. When he'd start to get mad his face would turn red, first his cheeks then as it got worse, it would rise upward. When his red face reached his hairline, get ready to duck, because he was about to blow! Lol.

Great deal on the baler

Thank you for this video! I’m going to be a first generation farmer and I was very interested on how somebody on a small budget can still bail hay. I wish you good luck as the years go on!

on your hay wagon. I think the rear tailgate you built is definitely needed. we have exact same thing on ours except up each end we also have a 1x5, maybe 1x6 up each end to help stabilize it. it gets a lot of rocking back and forth in a hayfield and it will end up loosening over time and racking left or right on you. We did build our bed a bit wider. it is wide enough that we stack 1 long ways then 2x2 across. Then at second level, switch... 2x2 across and 1 long ways. our bales may hang over the edge a couple inches but we get 5 at each level. love your content because it reminds me of the same things we have done over the last 25 years.

You've put a lot of work into the equipment, next year should be much easier and a lot less expensive. Keep up the good work and l love your channel.

Thank you for sharing.

Nice video enjoy your channel. Your hay wagon I believe can be extended the pipe going to rear axle may have holes in it. You just slide rear axle backwards to make it as long or as short as you like. I could be wrong take a look.

I think you should spring for a disc mower. It is a lifetime purchase for you and will make your haying much more efficient and enjoyable. Spread it out over the years it is well worth the extra investment. I started haying at the same time as you and have good luck with my sickle but I live in a dryer climate. Good luck, really enjoy the content.

This is very helpful

Good actitude and great job

You did great👍👍👍👍👍👍.Like watching your video

You did good! Carry on.

Super interesting video I enjoyed it.thanks,👍

We have 11 of those 9x18 kicker hay wagons. If I stack them 8 high I can fit 240 bales easily

I think you have done well for the first year. 👍 👍

Evan! You forgot to mention them rolls of baling wire,and don't forget the roll that you had a little accident with. Lol

Haying are my favorite vids, lots more are in order.

Hi.... Evan nice to see you keep it up and keep smiling and keep sharing, thank you for sharing your video homestead chicken farmer garden 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 👕🐔🐓🐥🐕🐖🐈🌱🐐🎥👍👍👍

hey man i love the video! i’m a cattle farmer i have had some bad experience with haybines we have a new holland 9 ft mower and it breaks all the time all i’m saying is do research before you buy any hay new hay equipment