I'm late to this thread, but I'm in a similar situation with 15 acres. My uncle put me onto a fellow that bales small fields. Our arrangment is great. He gets the hay and I only mow the edges and around trees. Saves me time, and Somebody gets some use out of the hay. I hated to see it wasted, and the grass looks healthier.
Apparently, he has no problem selling it, unlike another fellow down the way. He still has hay from the first cutting in rounds. In the spring, I may try to pick some of them up for compost.
That's about how it worked for me, though the fella who cuts mine uses it for his own cattle. The only problem for me is that some of the small corners and such that he doesn't cut get pretty high, and I don't have a bush hog, only a finishing mower. Mostly, these are out of my way areas, so I'm not too concerned. It was really nice this year not to have to cut so much grass and watch it go to waste.
Chuck, cutting the whole 10 acres shouldnt take you more than 4-5 hrs with a bushhog. I cut 16 acres (1/2 of it full of trees) in about 8 hrs on Saturday mornings at my place. I use a 5' mower and it really goes pretty quick. But yes, it is better if you can get it baled, but I wouldnt let it get so high that you couldnt mow it while waiting for the hay guy!
Where in middle Missouri are you? I am in north middle Missouri. 10 miles east of Macon. If you were within tractor driving distance I would jump on your hay field. I have been looking for up to 20 acres for hay local.
I'm just outside of Columbia, probably too far from you to make the small acreage worthwhile. I don't recall how many bales the fella got...10 to 15 maybe....but he's just down the road from me so it makes sense for him. I've only been through Macon a couple of times. That is on 63, isn't it, north of Moberly? You might try advertising that you'll cut small acreages for the hay, on shares perhaps. I bet the number of folks like us who have small acreage they'd like to get cut is increasing. Lots of folks buying their ten acres and then finding out just how much mowing that can be!
He was probably happy to have the extra hay this year with the hot and dry weather we had. I guess the second cuttings were pretty slim. Our place was only cut the one time.
Chuck
P.S. I read my earlier posts and see that he got 11 bales.
Yup, we're just east of macon,but you're right macon's north of moberly and south of kirksville.I planned to put an ad in the adfinder closer to spring. I used to live outside of fulton,and I worked in Columbia at MBS. As a matter of fact ,I'm going to Columbia in the morning to homedepot.
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