A little while ago, I purchased a small parcel of land, just under 20 acres. This was a big deal for me, as my whole life I have pretty much banked every single penny I have ever made, preferring to “live small”. On this parcel are a few buildings, one of which we are rehabbing (the old barn). Oh the surprises you run into when rehabbing an ex-dairy farm. But those stories are for another day.
Approximately 15 acres or so will be farmed as hay. We expect 2-3 cuts this year. The entire crop is pre-sold. We are paying a local farmer part of the crop to cut and bale the hay. I quickly have found out that a lot of bartering is done in the world of farming. “I will do this for you in exchange for that” goes on quite a bit – and neither “this” nor “that” are actual money. Typically these are labor for product exchanges. As a matter of fact, my hay crop is being sold to a person who we are not receiving money from. We will be receiving services instead.
I like these sorts of transactions, since it takes me to places where I normally don’t go – in my daily life, it is all about exchanging product for money, or money for product. Both types of transactions (money for product and labor for product) are interesting informational exchanges.
It has always been important to me to have my house looking top notch outside. Now that I have fields, I want them to look top notch too. I contacted the UW Ag College here in Madison to get information on my hay fields. After getting footballed around a bit I was finally referred to a local expert on these matters, who agreed to meet me at the farm (I almost hesitate to call it a farm, it is so tiny) and look at my fields. As a great bonus, he will be writing up a report for me, and this activity is all TAXPAYER FUNDED. He is going to list the different types of species of grasses that I have, recommend fertilizers if needed, and suggest other field management techniques.
My alfalfa hay is a typical hay/grass mix and I was told that it looks pretty darned good. The mix is alfalfa, orchard grass and Kentucky bluegrass. I was amazed that there was Kentucky bluegrass, but apparently it is very common in hayfields in this part of the state.
That mix covers about 12 acres of my production, and I have a pure grass field (no alfalfa) on the other 2-3 acres. I was not sure what to do with this as most cattle farmers/horse people prefer alfalfa hay. I was very interested to know that my options are many with this grassy area. I had a great conversation with the “hay dude” and he informed me that most horse owners are under the impression that alfalfa hay is the bomb for their horses, when grass hay, like I have a couple of acres of, will do them just fine. The problem is convincing the horse owners of this. Beef cattle eat grass hay in and around this area as well. The hay dude told me that there are farmers that would probably do a “come and get it” bargain, where they would harvest the grass hay and take it away in exchange for the product (labor for product, again). It really isn’t worth much on the open market. The alfalfa hay is worth a decent amount.
So, in the end, there are a lot of things I can do with my grass hay area, from finding people who want it for horses or cows, to having a controlled burn, to managing it as a birding/wildlife area. This idea is appealing to me as I love birds and know that I have pheasants on the land as I have several photos of them on my wildlife camera.
For those who don’t know, a wildlife camera is one that you mount to a tree or something, and takes photos activated by motion. I usually leave it out there for a week at a time. Wildlife cameras are also good for monitoring activity on your property and it is good to get the license plate numbers of those who trespass.
I can also “nuke” the whole grass hay field with a chemical like Roundup and plant an alfalfa/grass mix there for more income. Time will tell.
I also mentioned to the hay dude that I have seen many farms cutting their hay already for the first cut – he said that they were nuts. The alfalfa he looked at on my farm was a good 7-10 days from maturity. Those who cut already have lost a lot of tonnage. But if you wait too long, the alfalfa is harder to digest for the horses, who apparently have weird digestive tracts anyway. Oh well, I will leave it up to the farmer I have hired to harvest it to do it right, and I am glad that he hasn’t harvested yet.
I am very grateful for the time that the hay dude took to educate me on the species on my land. He was a great guy and had a lot of good advice – I think he was happy that I was taking such an interest in doing things correctly. And what the hell, I am paying his salary anyway, I guess he should be nice to me.
Also on the ag front, I was perusing the weekly Moo and Oink ad and noticed that they had “Danish” spare ribs on sale. I thought this was some new marketing technique so did some digging. No, they are really from Denmark. I did a little more digging and found out that the Danes have an immense pork industry and that they export all around the world. This is a short writeup by some folks from Iowa State University that visited there. I may have to give the Danish ribs a try just once to say I have had them, if I can find them around here. I would bet dollars to donuts that the difference in taste (if any) won’t justify the trouble, even though they look to be .30 per pound cheaper. Odds are I will need to go to the Moo to get some.
Cross posted at LITGM.
Dan, where do you find the time?
Please, please tell us about rehabbing the old farm. Thing I’d love to do myself, after working on a 1903 Brooklyn rowhouse.
I have tons of photos Tatyana but it isn’t done yet, far from it. I will put a few things together as it comes along.
As for finding the time, I don’t sleep much, just ask any of my friends.
The process is more interesting to me than the result – it’s a professional quirk; the “before” pictures contain more possibilities that “after”.
About your grass problem: have you considered to breed rabbits? And then export them to rabbit-eating countries, like Quebec or France?
Good suggestion wrt rabbits, but I really don’t want to get into raising animals of any sort – yet.
Raise llamas. A breeding pair of Giant Norwegian llamas will generate a wool ratio of approximately 2300 skeins/hectare if not more. Plus, llamas are incredibly intelligent and loyal and will protect your property from marauding elephants.
…and you already have your first guaranteed sale of llama wool – I’ll buy a ton!
Oh, wait. Llama wool is not the same as alpaca? never mind, then.
..and if you decide on alpaca, make sure to select only finest Switzerland breeds.
Swiss alpacas? I would need a bigger grill.
The Norwegian Blue is renowned for its fine meat.
Well, if you hesitate to invest in large-sized equipment at the moment, your second choice might be a mountain alpaca breed from Holland. They are notorious for jumping over those dams – and never losing an ounce of precious wool!
Tatyana, upon doing some preliminary research, the Dutch alpaca doesn’t seem to have as well marbled meat as the Norwegian types. Looks like Jonathan was correct.
Damn it, Jonathan stole my sale, once again!
Some ag agents and some local garden stores will have or know where you can get a Tall-grass prairie mix. Do a controlled burn of the grass field, plant some native brush and trees around the edge of the grass field, and make the center of the field goto tallgrass praire. You will get the native birds, wildflowers, and whitetails back. You could also raise a bison or two. Generally, if you give them what they want – and you would be with Tailgrass prairie mix and water, especially if you meet their social needs too – they can be held by ordinary barbwire, and if you don’t, you need a fence that would hold a D-2 cat. You can take a bison with a crossbow; see the Excalibur site; Troubridge did it. And bison (market it it as Organic Native Grass-fed Bison) can sell well to local farmer’s markets and restaurants. For the matter of that, bison is worth eating. Really worth eating. (If you think I am dropping denigrating hints about eating alpaca and llama, I am.)
O no!
[taken from a totally unrelated but fascinating post @Atomic Nerds]
Simon – great suggestion on the Bison, I absolutely love Bison meat. We have tons of whitetail up here already though, they are absolutely everywhere. I have a lot of photos of does from my wildlife camera on my land, but no bucks yet – they gotta be around.
I don’t know your sequence up there, but in general spring moves north about 15 miles a day. I’m near Boulder CO. Around here the least-advanced bucks have swollen pedicels, and the largest, most advanced have about 6″ velvet. Check your photos again and you may find some of the does are bucks starting to swell. If you need a hand with a downed bison think of me. Better yet, think of a dedicated small chain saw using vegetable oil as chainlube. I had boned 3 moose and a number of elk with a 2.75″-blade Spyderco when I heard of this canadian technique, and by God! it sounded effective.
Simon – thanks again, I will re-check the vids. As for carving up a downed Bison, I am most certainly going to hire that out if/when the time comes as I would have no clue what I would be doing.