Some of the best fertilizer you can put on your hay fields is to let cattle run on the ground for 6 months of the year. If you do that and in my area put on some lime every three to five years you get a lot of good results.
I am going to be doing 3.2 acres of hay, and that spreader seems a bit overkill for what I have. I wonder if the fertilizer can be purchased bagged for the 3PT spreaders. I second wonder if the cost for coop bagged would be less expensive than prepackaged box store fertilizers.
Fertilizer can be purchased bagged but is very expensive compared to buying it bulk…almost twice as much. Fertilizer costs around $100/acre on average in normal years (prices are extremely high right now), and bagged fertilizer is even higher. Pull behind spreaders like this do a much better job spreading the fertilizer more uniformly. I used to have a 3 point spreader and it was nowhere as good as a spreader like this. When I used the 3 pt spreader I would buy in bulk from Coop in dump trailer and fill spreader with 5 gallon bucket. The other part to it is it’s much easier to calibrate the buggies and you get more accurate spread rate. With fertilizer costs as high as they are you don’t want to spread too much on first half of field and then don’t have enough left to finish. Suffice to say I sold my 3 pt and went back to pull-type buggy.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer I will keep that in mind provided the local Coop ever gets back to me on the soil samples I dropped off. Been three weeks now, and not a word. Without that, wont know what fertilizer to put down. The good news is the place the fertilizer is stored is not far from me and I can tractor it over instead of driving the truck. The one issue I will have is getting lime, for 3 acres, it would have to be coordinated with my neighbors plots, or they won't deliver and spread it. Thats what I got from the local FS, but my confidence in him is quite low as I got the impression he would rather not be bothered with a pittance deal.
Your lime will just require one application and will last 5 years or so. You will acidify the soil faster with the more nitrogen you put down. Or you could look into liquid lime like Super Lime Plus. It has its own advantages and drawbacks. Or you could see if there’s a big farmer in the area that can apply some for you while they’re out and about. The hard part about only farming three acres is nobody wants to give you their time because you’re too small for them. I’m fortunate that I’ve got a good Coop here who know me well.
You would be amazed at the number of "Hay Farmers" think that just because it is a field of Hay either grass etc that they can get away with just harvesting........Remermber anything alive and growing needs to be fed.................... I do not push my channel, so there aren't any requested obligations....... You are free to come and go as you please........
Nice work your now “official” ! You should do a video once a week or every other week just on random projects.
That’s the plan!
Some of the best fertilizer you can put on your hay fields is to let cattle run on the ground for 6 months of the year. If you do that and in my area put on some lime every three to five years you get a lot of good results.
What months do you let the cattle out
I am going to be doing 3.2 acres of hay, and that spreader seems a bit overkill for what I have. I wonder if the fertilizer can be purchased bagged for the 3PT spreaders. I second wonder if the cost for coop bagged would be less expensive than prepackaged box store fertilizers.
Fertilizer can be purchased bagged but is very expensive compared to buying it bulk…almost twice as much. Fertilizer costs around $100/acre on average in normal years (prices are extremely high right now), and bagged fertilizer is even higher.
Pull behind spreaders like this do a much better job spreading the fertilizer more uniformly. I used to have a 3 point spreader and it was nowhere as good as a spreader like this. When I used the 3 pt spreader I would buy in bulk from Coop in dump trailer and fill spreader with 5 gallon bucket.
The other part to it is it’s much easier to calibrate the buggies and you get more accurate spread rate. With fertilizer costs as high as they are you don’t want to spread too much on first half of field and then don’t have enough left to finish.
Suffice to say I sold my 3 pt and went back to pull-type buggy.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer I will keep that in mind provided the local Coop ever gets back to me on the soil samples I dropped off. Been three weeks now, and not a word. Without that, wont know what fertilizer to put down. The good news is the place the fertilizer is stored is not far from me and I can tractor it over instead of driving the truck. The one issue I will have is getting lime, for 3 acres, it would have to be coordinated with my neighbors plots, or they won't deliver and spread it. Thats what I got from the local FS, but my confidence in him is quite low as I got the impression he would rather not be bothered with a pittance deal.
Your lime will just require one application and will last 5 years or so. You will acidify the soil faster with the more nitrogen you put down.
Or you could look into liquid lime like Super Lime Plus. It has its own advantages and drawbacks.
Or you could see if there’s a big farmer in the area that can apply some for you while they’re out and about. The hard part about only farming three acres is nobody wants to give you their time because you’re too small for them.
I’m fortunate that I’ve got a good Coop here who know me well.
You would be amazed at the number of "Hay Farmers" think that just because it is a field of Hay either grass etc that they can get away with just harvesting........Remermber anything alive and growing needs to be fed.................... I do not push my channel, so there aren't any requested obligations....... You are free to come and go as you please........