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Country Mile Farm is basically a hay producing farm. With 560 acres
of upland, eastern Ohio with a fertile un-glaciated silt-clay soil
type the production is channeled toward grasses and legumes. Eastern
Ohio is hill country known as "Pre-Appalachia" as it borders
the Ohio River and one can see the beginnings of the Appalachian
Mountains on the West Virginia side of the river. Agriculture of
the area is primarily Beef and Dairy with occasional sheep flocks.
Two years of corn with one year of oats as a cover crop for alfalfa,
clover, orchard or broome grass for a 5 year rotation is typical
for the area. However, the increasing wildlife population of deer,
raccoon, and turkey have significantly impacted corn and small grain
production in eastern Ohio. Hay on Country Mile Farm is mixed orchard
grass, or clover-timothy, or non legume grass hays of either broome
or orchard grass. 99% of all hay from this farm is baled in large
round bales. Square bales are produced only on demand of the customer
to be picked up in the field. Round bales are plastic twine wrapped.
Occasionally a neighbor will custom bale some 1,000 lb bales with
net wrap. Our old Vermeer 504C baler makes 4 X 5 foot bales that
weigh about of 600 to 650 lbs., bales are stored outside. Our New
Holland 560 also makes 4 X 5 foot bales and they are tighter and
weigh around 1,000 lbs. we sell by bale size, not weight, however.
Equipment: Of course we use a haybine as standard equipment that
cuts and crushes the stems for quicker drying. No chemicals are
used to preserve or treat the hay crop. We do not advertise our
product as organic but we do use manure and lime. Our neighbor has
a large dairy and needs to dispose of manure. This is a major component
of our fertility program for the grasses. We do not use sludge of
any kind or use herbicides for weed control. Since we cut early
and often the weeds are not a problem.
Our Vemeer 504C baler is an older model that will give the operator
fits if the hay is too wet so it is nearly impossible to bale bales
that are moldy. Mostly we have hay stored outside. Square bales
stored inside are all gone now. Our limited hay inventory consists
of All First Cutting.(except for some very nice Black Medic yellow
trefoil or hop clover . see the photo at top. Black Medic is a high
protein legume with great palatability).
During 2008, we ended up with a wet spring and hay conditions were
not good until late June and early July when we got finished baling.
Then it got dry and we have had very little rain since. We did not
get a single bale of hay wet between cutting and baling and that
was a great feat in itself! We watched the weather reports closely
and were pulling out of a field after baling when it would cut loose.
We had great luck in getting the best possible hay up that we could.
I do not like to get grass hay up in July but we had to do it this
year. This will be priced according to quality. I have sold all
of the 2nd cutting to our neighbor who has cattle here now. We will
have to save back some of our hay for them as we will keep them
over winter.
We hope you find our product useful for your needs. Questions can
be asked by e-mail at cmfarm@clover.net.
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