By Linda Geist
LINNEUS, Mo. – Missouri ranks eighth in the nation in hay production, producing 4.83 million tons per year, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Hay is a major feed for beef production and other livestock industries in Missouri.
“Despite the vastness of the hay industry, making hay can be an indicator of an unprofitable cow-calf enterprise,” says University of Missouri Extension state forage specialist Carson Roberts. “Every measure to improve profit margins should be taken to capitalize on the record-breaking cattle prices.”
There is a consensus that making your own hay is the cheapest way to feed cattle through the winter, Roberts says. “This couldn’t be further from the truth. Hay is expensive to make, expensive to feed.”
Roberts offers 10 key reasons why you should quit making hay:
1. Skyrocketing equipment costs. Inflation on machinery has outpaced cattle inflation over the past 50 years by a ratio of 10-to-1. In the 1970s, it only took 14 500-pound weaned calves to purchase a new round baler. Today, even with record prices, it takes 41 of the same calves to pay for a new baler.
2. Overequipped farms. A farm’s size should reflect the amount of equipment owned. Nearly all farms in Missouri with fewer than 400 cows would be more profitable if they simply sold the haying equipment and bought hay, says Roberts.
3. Haying takes time. Your most valuable resource is time. Roberts says he sees too many producers spending their day doing $15 per hour work making hay when they should be doing $30-$100 per hour work such as marketing, education, finance, improving efficiency and improving pasture.
4. Variable forage quality. How often does the hay crop get rained on? How often does harvest get delayed, thus reducing forage quality? With purchased hay, you can use a hay test to have complete control over forage quality. “You can 100% control the quality of the hay you purchase. You cannot always control the quality of hay you make,” says Roberts.
5. Haying removes nutrients. In general, 1 ton of fescue hay will remove 32 pounds of nitrogen, 12 pounds of phosphorus and 45 pounds of potassium, plus a whole suite of micronutrients. This puts the fertilizer value of hay at right around $72 per ton, he says.
6. Profitable alternatives. If you didn’t make hay, what could you do instead? Custom grazing, stockers or adding value to home-raised cattle by grazing excess springtime forage will often pay more per acre than producing hay. Preliminary MU research estimates that a 2025 stocker enterprise can make $200 more per acre than a hay crop.
7. Labor shortages. “It’s hard to find good help nowadays,” says Roberts. “Even if you can find help, it can be very expensive. Most hardworking young people are interested in making money, and they expect to be compensated for their marketplace value.”
8. Oversupply of hay. The past two years have brought good spring rains and good-yielding hay crops. This, coupled with a record low number of cattle, means hay is cheaper than usual.
9. Soil degradation. Next to tillage, haying is the easiest way to degrade the soil. Carbon is an essential part of soil function, so removing all the aboveground carbon sends the soil in a downward spiral. Fertilizers can help, but they cannot replace the benefits of returning some of the biomass back to the soil.
10. Cheap winter feeding strategies. Viable alternatives like milo grazing and stockpiled fescue reduce winter feeding costs by more than half. Roberts says he often hears people say, “Reducing hay sounds great, but you can’t starve weight onto a cow.” This sentiment is true, Roberts says. So why would you insist on feeding hay when stockpiled milo or tall fescue is often as good or better in forage quality than the average bale of fescue? Furthermore, these stockpiled forages can be produced for a fraction of the price.
Roberts says he regularly works with very profitable producers who do not make hay. “Not only is it possible, it is essential if you are serious about making money as a cow-calf producer.”