While cost is the primary factor, there are several reasons to choose buying hay or growing it.
Buy hay
- Limited land resources to use for hay production
- Busy, limited time to devote to hay production
- Short on labor
- Must purchase hay equipment, update old equipment
- Setup to handle byproduct/alternative feeds
- Have access to reliable hay source
- Limited market for excess hay
- Unable to store and carry over hay with little waste
- Low acreage in hay that cannot self-support investment in equipment
Grow hay
- Land available for hay production
- Adequate time and flexible schedule to accommodate hay production
- Labor needs are adequate or labor can be sourced economically
- Some equipment costs can be shared with other enterprises
- Absolutely need to control harvest time and hay quality
- Lack of flexibility in feeding setup, infrastructure is geared toward feeding hay
- Good demand for hay, potential diversification of farming business
- Can store excess hay, carry over hay with little waste
- Hay acreage supports equipment payment and regular update of equipment
Even in cases where some aspects of the farm may support growing your own hay, the opportunity cost is too high, and buying hay can allow for better use of time and equipment to focus on more profitable portions of the farming operation. Farming practices such as spraying or fertilizing row crops may be more economically important when compared to baling hay.
If you are purchasing hay, the fertilizer value of hay is important to consider, realizing that if these nutrients are evenly spread over pastures during winter feeding, the benefit could be quite large to helping distribute additional nutrients to poorer fertility sections of a pasture. With a little thought and management when feeding hay, producers can build pastures up, reduce manure handling and help make the most out of purchased hay.
Land price and availability are big constraints on herd expansion. Diverting hay ground to managed pastures can be beneficial. Managed pastures allow longer grazing seasons, can allow increased herd size or stocking rates, and can result in lower fertilizer and fuel needs to support the cattle operation.
Hay storage and feeding can be wasteful. Studies have shown over a third of harvested forage is wasted during storage and feeding. One of the best ways to limit hay waste is to not have to feed it. Thus, more grazing days equals lower feed costs.
Every farm is different. Take a look at what your farm does best and what synergies may exist with harvested forages and your cattle operation. The ability to market extra hay at a premium and share equipment with another farm enterprise is likely needed to make it profitable on your farm.
