Making Gorgeous Alfalfa with my Dad (Step by Step Guide)

We had a short stretch of weather to make out favorite, close to home field. We tried our best to get a step by step guy of the processes we took and the timing involved in making this hay the best we possibly could. My dad has been doing this all his life and knows the best way to hedge our bets against the difficulty of Ohio's weather patterns.

[@jonbruce536]

Beautiful. Excellent job of drying and baling. Your father is a rock star of making hay.

[@FarmingInsider]

He is! Thank you Jon

[@gregjones3660]

He was almost named Alfalfa

[@jessiegoss3712]

My Dad is gone from this world but when I was a small boy my Dad raised alfalfa hay. I never seen any thing not eat it or like it. I helped haul it and stack it. People bought and had no problems. He used the old equipment of his day.

[@FarmingInsider]

It's a great crop to make. Hard in our area, but rewarding.

[@alicewilliams1311]

@@FarmingInsider hello and good evening .. would love a response too .. nice meeting you here .. I'm Alice

[@alexanderelnaggar3243]

Never too late I just turned 67 and I am learning how to plant Alfalfa

[@benburns5995]

Great video about Alfalfa. Really enjoyed the drone footage, very good.

[@FarmingInsider]

Thank you Ben!

[@EL-ru8nl]

Man, a baler that bales bales. Who would of thought. Looks like good stuff.

[@FarmingInsider]

The name checks out lol

[@mohammadlor719]

Alfa alfa man well done my man you are the man oohh alfaalfa man

[@nathanrobinson7715]

Your explanation was basically what happened. And it was easy to understand

[@FarmingInsider]

Thank you! That was the goal

[@CamaroSS215]

That’s a beautiful field

[@billdoerge6605]

Great video Jeff, Bo really enjoyed this one!

[@FarmingInsider]

Thank you guys for viewing!

[@frankscruggs4749]

Good video and really nice looking hay.

[@FarmingInsider]

Thank you sir!

[@swagzoneus]

When you finish bundling a field release the tension and drive around a bit and the last bundle will loosen up and some fall out. Also put the pins in the front holes next to the machine in the holding position. They do not need to be put in the slotted holes. We have had these balebarons since 2011 they work good and easy to work on.

[@guthriewhyte4395]

Really nice video & really informative! Great to see you work with your dad and the dogs enjoyed themselves too!

[@FarmingInsider]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!

[@peterfrebold]

.... have to say was rather impressed as to how fast you could move along with the bale accumulator ...... you were recommended by YT, am not a farmer but love seeing the goings on on farms ... have dine the suby, likey, belly, clicky, thingy ..... thx for the share .. as always .. never stop dreaming, just dream bigger .. have fun be safe, save our oceans ....

[@FarmingInsider]

Thank you for tuning it! We are all about the oceans

[@user-lv3sv1nn7i]

Good video and really nice looking hay.. well done !!!!.

[@JohnRobitaille-yq4qt]

As a kid I grew up on my grandparents farm in Massachusetts, my oldest sister my brother in law my 2 daughters and I just recently moved to oriant iowa. I'm on disability but would love to do farn work again.

[@andyrobinson339]

Did your dad say "translocate"? Jeesh! Now I need a dictionary to watch this channel!! Great footage and commentary!

[@FarmingInsider]

Haha he blew me away with that lingo too

[@Salty_TaterTodd]

Translocate: “The transferring of location” The more you know 😜😂

[@andyrobinson339]

@@Salty_TaterTodd Now look up facetious.

[@ryburnsjr]

well done !!!!

[@MBAZIIRALENON]

Thanks for the video

[@FarmingInsider]

Our pleasure!

[@tfisadog5260]

Fantastic video. So many videos are general in nature. You broke down the different processes and why you did each. I do small squares and have 10 A grass. I would like to see a video someday of introducing the Alfalfa and Timothy into the grass.

[@FarmingInsider]

Hey thank you for the kind words!

[@lucgagnon5241]

Well let's say that it's no shit you're bailing ! Alfalfa has a high protein level but boy it's an hard one to grow. Type of soil, proper pH level, proper drainage, high level soil minerals, winter (when it has to get thru it) and finally, harvesting it properly too. Hard to dry and very gentle to loose their leafs... That's a great bailing job you did. Your cows will thank you by giving more quality milk !

[@FarmingInsider]

Oh yes, we struggle with the drainage in most of our ground. Thank you!

[@williamjohnston580]

Well done video and commentary

[@FarmingInsider]

Thank you very much!

[@P3FARM]

Nice ❤❤

[@danielford1246]

I use Crop Saver from New Holland and spray on alfalfa at bailing. It preserves the product and allows increase in moisture. Do you use it?

[@rajibjoshi9647]

in India people take hand sickle and large tarp/cloth and go to fields almost everyday and hand cut feed / grass and carry it home in the tarp on their head and have a hand driven cutting machine and cut it into smaller pieces and feed the buffalo/ cow

[@jerimahjohnson8698]

Have the same tractor....getting ready to plant ☘️ alfalfa in ohio

[@FarmingInsider]

Good luck! It’s a great crop when it gets going well

[@jeffmiller9986]

Whoa! NICE hay dude, you didn't mention, did the hay end up curing out well?

[@FarmingInsider]

It did! I was planning on filming some of the batch until I realized it was already sold. No issues!

[@jeffstout6567]

After thoughts on the 21 bale pack, the center stack pushing 19% moisture, do you foresee issues when compressed and tied in the future? Tia.

[@FarmingInsider]

@@jeffstout6567 This stuff kept beautiful. We had some other woodsline stuff 22ish% that lost color with preservative

[@anthonystermich6735]

The Baron is an excellent machine, but I've always preferred ARCUSIN because of its simplicity and more forgiving on bale size as well as less hp to run it. How do you like the Baron?

[@FarmingInsider]

The baron has performed really well in terms of capacity. You're exactly right about the strengths of the Arcusin. Bale size is far less strict and it's smaller. This is the smallest field of hay we run and the baron was honestly a bit big getting started, the stories change a bit in larger, better running fields

[@richardmhalsall8367]

when your dad says he took it easy on the Alfalfa when Tedding and Raking, what RPM/Speed is he going or recommend?

[@coryfritz295]

Do you guys do any custom chopping of alfalfa for any of your neighbors or customers?

[@FarmingInsider]

We do not. Actually, we are getting out of chopping haha. Things didn't work out as well as we had hoped and are focusing more on dry hay

[@botolair-uu7nq]

hello, i'm from asia. you have such a great job, make a big family farm is one of my big dream. i have question, is that all machine, tractors, and trailer is by rent or your farm own equipment? thanks for attention.

[@bobmoroney3643]

You Needed "CARL" to pull that one out. 🧑‍🔬

[@FarmingInsider]

He can handle just about anything

[@linedallaire6637]

Here in Canada the weather makes it so difficult to do.

[@cowwhisperer8927]

Hey. Aren't you loosing much leaves when tedding twice with high RPM ?

[@ChrisDecker-dl8xt]

How do you transport the stack of bundles when they are done? what is the size of that stack?

[@FarmingInsider]

We grab 3 bundles of 63 bales at a time with the overhead grapple on the telehandler

[@KarensCookieJarCollection]

I see this was small bales but at times you make large bales then send them thru the re-baler. Can you tell us why its more economical to make large squares and then to re-bale later. Signed "Farming Insider Junkie" --- "Living vicariously thru others"

[@FarmingInsider]

Hey Bryan, we will run the large square baler when a large amount of hay is ready and at the maturity we want and there is a limited foreseeable weather window to make it, or it is really busy time of the year and we don't have enough available help to fully staff the small square operation. The small squares balers can only do so much, so the large square baler is a tool that just helps us get it baled and off the field quicker. If we didn't run the large square baler, we run the risk of hay getting too old and far less desirable and therefore, profitable.

[@KarensCookieJarCollection]

@@FarmingInsider Wow that makes perfect sense. All about time... and is why you baled early this alfalfa because of rain coming. Farming is so amazing..... love your channel!

[@a.l.l.firewood8883]

Speed I would think

[@iamentrepreneur6060]

approx how much alfalfa yield you get in kgs or tons out of 1 acre of land

[@Salty_TaterTodd]

Your PERFECT commentary throughout this video along with PERFECTION in bales made a follower outta me 🤌🏼🤩

[@FarmingInsider]

Welcome aboard! Thank you!

[@alexanderelnaggar3243]

Can you recommend a trusted source of premium quality seeds for arid climates. Thanks

[@geraldmiller4827]

Do you guys stay one step ahead of the equipment payments? I've never seen anyone trade as much equipment as you guys do.

[@FarmingInsider]

Yeah, we have a system that works well for us

[@hammerhayllc]

Now I am sweating because I am thinking I have been using "teddering" all my life..

[@FarmingInsider]

Hahaha this made me laugh. I find it such a frustrating term for what it’s trying to describe but it’s also not totally on par with the English language either. You don’t go hamming with a hammer, you go hammering on something. So in that sense, teddering is reasonable. On the other hand, you don’t go balering with a baler. You go baling

[@hammerhayllc]

@@FarmingInsider haha dang, these are very good points that I have not explored… “tedding”, “baling”, and “hamming” it is from now on. Consistency is key

[@bashirkhan3974]

It is amazing baler is small why you are not using bigger baler

[@FarmingInsider]

Our market wants the smaller bale

[@megaprocompta567]

Tanx for that informations I want to work with you

[@nebbarlamine54]

You got about 600 bale 😊 i guess

[@FarmingInsider]

I don’t think it was quite that heavy but it was excellent quality

[@craigslistrro709]

literally TONS and TONS of fertilizer used to grow it to that level.. Export level.

[@aaronjarvenpa1743]

Why don’t you double Windrow the hay ?

[@FarmingInsider]

It dries better in a smaller row

[@luizandredesouza6136]

Quantos kg da o fardos

[@geraldmiller4827]

Where's the chopper and 6 wagons?

[@FarmingInsider]

Gone!

[@gkmiller24]

Oh man. I was looking forward to chopping videos this fall. Did you not get enough jobs to make it worth it?

[@rexross7086]

Do you live next to a gun range

[@jerrylansbury9558]

Ouch ! 5:27 So many stems !!!!! A dairy cow would go dry eat this hay !

[@jesuscarrasco9324]

tiene humedad se ven los palos verdes;

[@jerrylansbury9558]

At 8:04 Preservative ? Most animal will turn the other way with the smell of preservatives ! It stinks ! Had a western outlet try to sell me a semi-load of hay. I asked if they used preservatives. He said no......so the deal was. I could remove one bale from the load and pay for it .........with the understanding if the cows would eat it compared to my own bales with out preservatives. The cows never even looked at the new hay. The went straight to my own hay. Thats like trying to get someone to eat onions and or garlic if they cant stand the stink ! Bale what animals will eat.......high quality natural hay ! This is the reason I switched to balage hay........... they eat everything !

[@rikilamaru]

whats funny my best friends horse is allergic to alfalfa lol

[@johnolive3377]

I’m glad none of my son’s call me the old man are my old man. Sounds very disrespectful to me are a lack of vocabulary and education.

[@FarmingInsider]

I know very few people with a relationship as close as my dad and I. It’s not lacking respect

[@MBAZIIRALENON]

Kindly support me expand my farm to ten acres

[@FarmingInsider]

How can we help?

[@jerrylansbury9558]

Make do with what we have ? 2:21 You have far more equipment then I ever grew up with ! Come back to reality ..........and moreover ........should be able to make 5 cuttings per year of prime alfalfa. Been farming for 50 years.......and nearly every year " in Iowa " we are able to get 5 cutting per year.

[@robthomas3968]

I don’t be horrible to you talk some crap

[@AgriFatech]

Great video about Alfalfa. Really enjoyed the drone footage, very good.

[@jeffreysimon2955]

When you finish bundling a field release the tension and drive around a bit and the last bundle will loosen up and some fall out. Also put the pins in the front holes next to the machine in the holding position. They do not need to be put in the slotted holes. We have had these balebarons since 2011 they work good and easy to work on.

[@FarmingInsider]

Oh nice, great idea. Thank you!