Starting on my own!

This will be a little bit of a long post, so bear with me. I’ve had two dream jobs since I was a boy. I wanted to be a soldier and a farmer. I have spent the last 15 years on active duty and now have only 5 to go till retirement. After I retire I plan on getting some land back in my home area of Central Texas (Temple area to be exact). I want to get into the haying business because nothing brings back childhood memories for me like the smell of fresh cut hay, the sweat and grind of working long hours in the field stacking square bales, or the sight of green rolls of hay as far as the eye can see.

Here’s my plan. Starting out I only intend to have about 40-50 acres in hay production. I’m going to buy very basic used equipment starting with 4x5 rounds. After 5-8 years of working my own land and gaining the experience I want to start branching out and doing custom work in my area. I plan to have a full time job in those years to keep a decent cash flow coming in to help myself build up and use what little profits if any I can get off my land to start upgrading and adding to my equipment for when I go into custom operation. If I have enough customers on a regular basis I hope to go full time custom work.

Now I know there will be a lot of nay sayers out there to this, but hear me out. I love to work. It’s just what I do. I currently work another job other than the Army mowing the RV campground where I live and also doing the golf course and horse stables on base with a 20’ batwing. I’m so dedicated to this it has actually made me quit smoking so I can turn that extra money into more capital when I go to purchase equipment and land. I grew up working on a 5,000 head pig farm during the school year, and worked a 500 acre tobacco and dairy farm up in Kentucky with family during my summer breaks. From the age of 7 I was the one usually cutting and raking hay up in Kentucky. I wasn’t allowed to run the baler.

I have been researching everything I can from this site and others to broaden my education and general knowledge on producing the best quality hay possible and where and when to sell said hay. I plan to use the next 5 years to continue to expand my knowledge of soil management, fertilizing, creating good stands, and ensuring that I cut, ted, rake, and bale in the most efficient and productive way possible to hit the ground running as best I can. As of now this will be a solo operation. I don’t have a wife or kids. Never had the time or the right woman to get married. I will have a few friends from the army in the area that have already volunteered to help me as they can while I get my business up and running. Plus I will have 7 nephews in their early to mid teenage years I’m sure I can have come out during the summers and help as needed. Doing squares solo will be no picnic, but I figure with a little more upfront cost of an accumulator and grapple with some extra time thrown in I can make it happen.

I have a few questions for y’all to start off with. Does anyone know if there is a decent market for a custom operation in Central Texas? I know doing 50 acres of small squares is a tall order, but would I turn a better profit and have a broader market doing small squares? Would there be any benefit to doing large squares versus rounds? Why don’t more people do large squares? I know the upfront cost and maintenance cost of a large square baler is more, but it seems to me it would save a lot of time in the field which over time could turn into profit by reducing labor, raising production, and being easier to load and stack than rounds. What would be some good warm climate grasses to start with in my region? Mostly I see coastal Bermuda. Is this an easier one to produce? Alfalfa seems to be king of the hay world if you can grow it and bale it well. Is Alfalfa ok to do in my climate? I was thinking I would start with a more basic grass mix for my first 5 years or so and then transition over to Alfalfa as I gain experience.

Sorry for the long read and if you made it this far thank you for sticking with it. All tips, tricks and advice are welcomed and encouraged. You can try to talk me out of it, but I’m in this for the long haul.

Starting on my own!