DAPNET Forums Archive › Forums › Sustainable Living and Land use › Sustainable Farming › Alfalfa??
- This topic has 7 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 1 month ago by
TBigLug.
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- October 1, 2009 at 1:25 am #40900
James
ParticipantIs it worth it?? To grow?? I can buy 10 acres of level irrigated farm land for $80,000.00 An theres the potential for 10 cuttings per year. I Am thinking that it would be A five year, return on A investment. As this would be A way to get off the road. Anythoughts?????????
October 8, 2009 at 9:33 pm #54358TBigLug
ParticipantWhat area of the country are you in? 10 cuttings a year seem pretty extreme. We get 3 at best in MI.
October 9, 2009 at 1:28 am #54352ParticipantHildago county Texas 15 minutes to Old Mexico, A hour and A half to the gulf.. This is the tropics. We have A 300 plus day growing season.. We have irrigation, And machine leveled land here, That can be rented or bought.. Of course there planting Onions next week. In jan they’ll be planting Watermelons.. And the Grapefruits and Oranges start next week on harvest.. And theres even Avacodo Orchards here too.
October 9, 2009 at 7:04 am #54355near horse
ParticipantWe need more information (at least I do).
What’s your alfalfa market like? Price solid year ’round?
How about irrigation cost? I assume you get water rights w/ the
property or is that leased?
Expected average yield? How much yield change over 10 cuttings?
In fact, how well can an alfalfa stand tolerate 10 cuttings per year before it needs to be reestablished?So do you really only need to net $1600/cutting to clear $80,000?
My calculation after expenses $1600 x 10 cuttings = 16,000
16000 x 5 years = 80,000.1600 per cutting = $160/ac (again, after expenses).
Sorry I was of little help but it was fun to do the numbers. I my opinion the concern(s) are related to initial establishment cost and subsequent yields.
Good luck.
October 11, 2009 at 5:45 pm #54353ParticipantIrrigation, cost about $175, per. Its thru the irrigation co. And theres 2 months you don’t cut , Heat stress.Most folks here who used to raise it cut every 28 days on avg. and that was 70 # bales 5 yrs. ago the price was $5.00 A bale now it can run up to $10.00 The market is strong. The preacher is bringing bales in from Ca. at A cost of $2,000.00 for shipping. and he can’t keep them in stock . He sells the bales for $30.00 each. And is making A decent profit off of 125# bales. the 70# bales can avg 100 per acre per cutting.
October 12, 2009 at 2:42 pm #54356ParticipantHi James,
The numbers you have are pretty impressive and would suggest that it is certainly doable. That said, agricultural markets, as you probably know, can be fickle and swing wildly – EX – over the last 2-5 yrs, the dairy market, grain prices and even hay. So, if you choose to make this move, try to factor in some “worst case scenarios” to give yourself an idea of how much market change you could handle. I’ve never used them but extension offices or some other agency (farm credit services) do offer information about “risk management” worth checking into. I’m not trying to push you either way but you need to go into these things with “eyes wide open”.
I know of guys that went into grain farming, made a couple of miscalculations and an untimely war – they were done in one year – and now are still paying on the debt.
Best of luck to you and I hope you can make it work.
Geoff
Also – throw your question out to the guys over at haytalk http://www.haytalk.com
October 12, 2009 at 4:05 pm #54357OldKat
Participant@James 11571 wrote:
Irrigation, cost about $175, per. Its thru the irrigation co. And theres 2 months you don’t cut , Heat stress.Most folks here who used to raise it cut every 28 days on avg. and that was 70 # bales 5 yrs. ago the price was $5.00 A bale now it can run up to $10.00 The market is strong. The preacher is bringing bales in from Ca. at A cost of $2,000.00 for shipping. and he can’t keep them in stock . He sells the bales for $30.00 each. And is making A decent profit off of 125# bales. the 70# bales can avg 100 per acre per cutting.
James is that Rio Grand water you would be using to irrigate with? What part of Hidalgo county are you in? Are you close to the Valley, or are you up toward the north end? Are blister beatles a problem in alfalfa down there?
It is too hot and humid to grow alfalfa in my part of the state, I guess you don’t have that problem. I suppose the drought has really pushed prices up down there, too.
One thing you could do, and you probably have already thought of it, is to sell truck loads of small bales to the horse markets in and around San Antonio/Austin and Houston. I would think you could get freight up to Houston for $600 or so, if you could find someone that needed a backhaul out of the Valley. I might even be interested in buying some myself.
October 15, 2009 at 12:50 am #54354ParticipantI Am looking into trying to get things rolling after the 1st of the year. As it’s no fun running the roads, day in and day out. I Am at this time crunching the numbers to , How much. I need to work next year .
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