Wesley Kraemer

thanks again
I have lots of experience farming, that is planting and growing the crops, but not making hay. I have tractors, grain drill, cultimulcher, mower, chisel plow, disc, tiller, bottom plow. I just don't have a haybine, tedder, rake, or baler. so I know how to plant and grow good hay, but I'm just learning how to make hay now. In the past, my "hobby" farming has just been for the wildlife, to give access to healthy food since we enjoy seeing and hunting deer and turkeys which spend more time on our property because of the "food plots".

I've just been watching the craigslist ads for a few days and looks like I should be able to pick up equipment for about this price: haybine, $1200 to $1500, tedder $800 to $1200, rake $800, baler $500 to $1200

R Ranson, thanks so much your post was very helpful. I"m interested to hear from others as well, but I was kind of leaning towards doing the hay and not the silage. just from the research I"ve done and from talking with others who live around here who have goats. I'm just getting into this so I"m trying to decide on what kind of equipment to buy. For making hay, I will need a haybine, tedder, rake, and baler correct? If I'm missing anything please let me know.

thanks

HI,
I hope someone can share experience with feeding goats silage versus hay. I'm in southern Wisconsin where the winters get pretty cold and snowy. My question is could I replace hay with hi quality silage made from good grass, alfalfa, and red clover? I would use this seed mix for the silage, with maybe some alfalfa seed thrown into the mix as well: http://sucraseed.com/sweet-silage/ read more about it here:http://sucraseed.com/products/dairy-products/

I know special care needs to be taken so that the silage is high quality so it does not cause disease from mold/bacteria when feeding it to goats. Can a goat be fed and kept healthy with only silage and no hay? the goats would also have access to brush, browse, and whatever they can get at as long as they will roam and forage if the snow does not deter them. I could also feed minimal amounts of a grain ration, but I'd like to keep that at a minimum. Or should I feed hay instead of silage? Would they make more milk on silage or hay, assuming both are made hi quality? I'm getting a few dwarf nigerians for milking.

thanks!