I should think you would need to locate your person first and then talk terms. Ad in your local paper or message on local bulletin boards might do the trick. If you stick to straight barter I don't think you will get ripped off. I think likely the person would cut and prep all the hay and then take a percentage of it as payment. Likely a fairly large percentage but it would solve the problem without having to put your hand in your pocket.

If your hay field is in good enough condition that the hay is worth anything, then the general rule of thumb around here is that the individual with the tractor and haying equipment takes half the crop, leaving the other half baled in the field for the landowner. That applies to native pasture, not improved pasture that could be worth considerably more per ton. If you wanted the bales picked up an moved to a storage area, that would cost extra, usually priced per bale in cash, but you could negotiate on trading more bales instead.

You'd usually be expected to pay cash for any improvements like lime, fertilizer, or seed, and a per hour or per acre rate on applying them, or for disking, bush hogging, or any other tractor service.

The place to start is with your local USDA office in the USA, I guess the equivalent would be Agriculture Canada in BC. They can give you an idea of what species you have growing, an approximate protein content, and roughly what your expected yield (tons per acre) might be. From there you can estimate its cash value or just ask the Ag agent if it's worth haying. The less value the hay has, the less likely you are to find someone willing to barter at all, or the larger the share they'll want.

In the USA, cost shares are available from USDA on pasture and hayfield improvements that have a soil or water conservation strategy behind them. You can get up to 75% back on the cost of tractor service, seed, lime, fencing, etc... provided you agree to a conservation plan. The plans are simple and amount to using a no-till drill as opposed to plowing or disking, and things like that. The plans are not the kind that require you to take land out of production or to go to extraordinary lengths to protect the endangered twinkle-toed swamp dove or whatever.

It wouldn't surprise me if Canada had similar programs. Getting a multi-year plan like this, even if you don't qualify for funds, is a lot less treacherous than trying to negotiate with local farmers on what improvements should be made and when and how. You don't always get the best advice from people who have a financial interest in your decision.

i have a neighbor who takes the hay off my field. i have no haying equipment and would otherwise just bushhog it. i get nothing out of it except maybe a bale once in a while to use for my chickens nest boxes. i dont feel like i'm getting ripped off. i feel like he's doing some work i otherwise would have to do and he's at least getting something out of it.
the hay isnt of very high quality however.

Thanks for the ideas here. Very informative. Randy that's generous of you, and also what many people in this area do. Which in my case may keep anyone from wanting to do some of my slave work. Hay here costs $4-5 a bale, but if you raise cattle you likely have extra fields for free hay.
I'll talk to a couple farmers and see what they think.

Been there, done that, and won't again!

Here are the problems:

1. farmer does your field when his are finished. So your hay is usually late, stemmy and of poorer quality.
2. Farmer cuts your hay, then doesn't come back, it rains and your hay is lost. Now you have hay down that acts as mulch and keeps new hay from growing back well.
3. If you are splitting the hay for payment, Farmer has someone in the hay wagon piling up his bales so he can fit 250 in the wagon. When he is baling up your half, he just lets it be thrown into the hay wagon, so you get about 2/3rds of what he got with it piled up neatly.
4. farmer bales his half from the field that is out in full sun so it dries well. Your half comes from the sides that get partial shade and aren't dried out so bales are damp and get moldy.

I finally fenced in my hay fields for pasture, and I now buy my hay. I control what hay I get and am able to pasture my horses for longer periods. Less agravation for me..

I've used 2 different farmers and got the same results.

Good Luck

M

The local "hay guy" gave me a list of reasons why I should not let neighbors that had horses on dry lot put them on my small pasture. I told him he could hay it and I only wanted enough to use for bedding for the dogs. It would at least get it mowed.

He mowed it and the young pine trees that had been planted for a dust break, baled it into large round bales instead of small square bales. Took it all and sold it to the people with the horses. :)

The pasture is way too small for the horses to be on full time, but they are close enough to be put on for short periods of time and have some fresh grass. Plus I could get to watch and pet them when they were here.

Now, the grass is tall again, I am out the pine trees and dragging in straw for the dogs. Live and learn.......

Sharon, wish you lived in my neighborhood!

I think I was just taken advantage of because I was a woman, and new to the area...enough said.

I went on for a number of years like that, then when I saw that they were piling up their bales, in some wagons and not in others, and I got the unpiled ones, that was the final straw. How dumb can you be to not see that they were taking more than the agreed upon share and that was probably what galled me the most, their thinking I didn't see what they were doing.

Anyway, I had a bad experience, I hope others are better. Its very difficult to wait for someone to do your hay, when you know that every day that passes, your hay loses quality. Or, because it was cut when it was, it is lost because the farmer you hired is putting in his own hay, and I understand that. I just couldn't wait any more.
M

Marquisella,
We had the same father/son team bale our hay for several years with us paying for the service.....they would not take half of the hay in payment. All went well for the first several years and then they started baling from extra wide windrows......this made the bales soft in the middle and caused them to rot quickly BUT made more bales (for us to pay for).

Lesson: There are many ways of being cheated in this process. And, paying (or fulfilling your end of the bargain faithfully is NOT a guarantee of good, honest service.) %

Thanks for all these stories. I have heard one of my neighbours does some of these things frequently. He leaves the hay in the field till the grass is 2' tall, doesn't show up, etc etc.
I'll chat with two other farmers I know and see what they think. I personally don't need much compared to what is out there. I think I was greedy thinking I could get some labour done for hay, seems many of the fields around here are owned by non farmers willing to get their fields mowed for free. Tough competition!

There is nothing "greedy" about giving something to someone who is going to use or sell it!!

Those people willing to give good hay away are ruining it for all people...............a man in the neighborhood runs nearly 400 head of cattle and expects people to give him their hay. Do you think he is going to GIVE his cattle to the meat producers???????????? NOT hardly.

Good call Judy. The neighbours definately are ruining it in that sense.

I need someone to bale my hay I'm in cleburne tx

A question I have is if somebody allows me to cut and bail their fields for free just so their fields stay cut and don't have to push hog it and don't have any need for the hay itself can I write them a donation ticket showing that they donated x amount of bales and put the current market rate on there for them to write off on their taxes? Is that possible?

I need someone to take over hay operations for my 15 acres in Kennedale. WE had a guy that we just split the net profits. It was a win win, but he retired. Still looking