The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: richardtheboffin on July 08, 2013, 05:26:41 pm
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I have about 4 acres of meadow that has yet to be cut this year.
What should I expect to get for it as standing hay? It's thistle and ragwort free.
I have been offered £25 an acre but I think it should be nearer double that?
Cheers.
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I've got no real knowledge of prices but would say:
4 acres is more trouble than it's worth for a lot of people and many would work on a barter system such as exchanging a small amount of hay for hedge cutting later in the year..
Is the land flat, has it been top dressed, has it been rolled (broken blades cost time and money)?
Of course if you don't get it sorted in the next few days (should this weather break) it will be worth nothing with the whole country making fine hay at present. It may then be a case of what will it cost me to get my field tidied up?
Personally I'd see if I could get a few quid more and say 'thank you very much'.
Just my 2p
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I would probably agree its worth more than £25, but I think this year hay is going to be in abundance, so for a small area such as this you might have to settle for it......in normal years there might be other people competing so the price would be more market but this year there won't be so much demand.
I would try and get a few more quid and then settle for it. But ....taking the hay off will remove some fertility so if wanting to do it year on year you might want to see about getting someone to apply some muck or get some sheep on it in the winter as a seasonal let (some grazers can bring their own fencing) - again unlikely to get paid much if anything for it but will benefit the land.
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we are getting £2.50 - £2.75/bale and expect about 75 - 100 bales /acre! We 'pay' 80 bales to have the three fields (about 6 acres) cut turned and baled. So I would store or put the word out a bit more - ;last year when we needed to shift before rain we priced a bit lower and people came flying from all over!!! at least with the weather this year you have a bit of leaway. good luck
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Whatever you do - do it quick or it'll be worth £0.