Initially last year I’d risk the farmer that we were not interested in having him cut any more. But he gave a sob story and I felt bad and let him cut 3/4 of what he normally does and he gave me a 200$ farm share to his stand (for 25 acres of hay). He told me that’s all he has had to pay for hay and the ground wasn’t worth more than that (although he acted pretty desperate). He hasn’t put any fertility into the farm in over 10 Years. The ground we left un cut I worked and planted some food. And it was amazing, deer, Turkey, song birds etc.
I’m thinking about either kicking him off this year or greatly reducing what he can cut again. My vision isn’t a hay farm, it’s a small sustainable farm that is also teeming with wildlife. I’m thinking of turning the field into “meadows” with more native plants.
Have any of you guys cut ties? Did you feel guilty for doing so?
My 130 acres had 30 tillable with 18 in grains and the rest in hay. I turned all 30 into preferred food including beans, corn, brassicas, and all the hay fields into clover. You guys have seen the results. Hay is basically useless. If you bought the property to hunt deer on then plant a preferred crop. It's not hard to turn those into big clover fields, or combination of clover, chicory, or alfalfa.
The first year expenses may be a bit high, you may have to amend the PH and buy some fertilizer. But it will pay dividends for deer attraction and nutrition.
I let a cousin cut about 11-12 acres for free, but he fertilizes, he keeps the thorns down, most of it's too rocky to row crop, and this year he's going to sow some more native grasses in it too, which I like. I'm also gonna have him disk up about 4 acres down low that isn't as rocky, and I'm gonna put in a game bird plot and see if I can't hear and see some quail again.
Out here, we fertilize every year, usually one application of herbicide, irrigate and get 2-3 cuttings at our altitude. Fertilizer, diesel, twine, parts and labor are all pretty expensive this year.
You might consider keeping them in hay, working out a soil/over seeding plan to get the fields healthy and having him leave a perimeter strip of the field untouched. If you are heavily wooded it can make nice edge areas that get used.
You may want to look at your land from a hunting perspective and decide if you want a 25 acre crop field there. Does it create the huntable travel routes with good access and bottlenecks? I find it every hard to hunt a field that large but I love the morning hunts if can access good bottlenecks between the field and bedding areas.
I grew up on a different farm and it was always “you don’t mess with the hay.” I’m changing my paradigm to understand that this is a blank canvas that I can do what I want with. If I didn’t have such extensive plans, I’d probably let him keep cutting.
I am exploring tree growth, open space, etc to reduce tax burden
But here in much of Maine and New Hampshire we do not have enough density of agg to keep demand for land in line with supply. There is a reason why we have lost the majority of our commercial agg. Most of the fields with productive soils are too small to crop efficiently. But we do have a long history of farming, a fair number of hobby farms and lots of people who enjoy the views offered by the fields. So with no agg demand to pay for the rent, the land owners are now in the position of paying for the service of getting their fields cut every year. So most people are pretty damn cheap. Hence the tradition of giving away your crop for the maintenance of the field/view. It is the reason why all the fence rows and obstacles are being removed to make bigger fields in the mid west. The level of inefficiency is an expense born by the land owner and drops the value of their resource to nothing. Combine that with just one or a small hand full of hobby farmers that opportunistically do the haying puts the seller in a bad place, especially when they are the only one trying to dig their heels in. So that is why you are mostly stuck giving hay away, economics and a local tradition/custom that has been in place for at least 40 years. So Julious, figure out what you want to do with land and how your going to accomplish it. It is either the cost of your own equipment or bartering land use for some equipment use. I am confident you didn't buy the place to maintain the status que. Erik
"My vision isn’t a hay farm, it’s a small sustainable farm that is also teeming with wildlife. I’m thinking of turning the field into “meadows” with more native plants. "
Here's some ideas on moving your Ag into something in line with your Vision. Not spot on but there's some nuggets.
when you purchased the property you would know if it was in current use. It is disclosed on the title transfer form. That is the way it works when the land is in Tree Growth, current use for forest.
Based on most of the hay deals, they are informal hay as payment for the service of mowing the field. So you are not kicking someone off a lease. Your canceling a service contract.
when you purchased the property you would know if it was in current use. It is disclosed on the title transfer form. That is the way it works when the land is in Tree Growth, current use for forest.
Based on most of the hay deals, they are informal hay as payment for the service of mowing the field. So you are not kicking someone off a lease. Your canceling a service contract.
just to be clear, you would have qualified for agg under the previous hay deal. Your land likely produced 500 bales at $4/bale generating the $2,000 thresh hold. Now I understand that is not your goal and I am not trying to talk you in to it. The thing to take into strong consideration before you get in to any current use in at least Maine or New Hampshire. It is like joining the mob. It will cost you dearly to get out! If you are 100% confident you never want to change the use of the land or at bare minimum 20 years, then it is a reasonable option for reducing your real estate taxes. To take land out of current use generates a penalty. it is 30% of the difference in assessed value for the first 20 years of enrolement. From year 21 to 30 the penalty drops 1% per year to just 20% at year 30. It sounds like a reduction in penalty but inflation of land prices over that time in all likely hood keeps the penalty equal or makes it bigger.
There are a whole pile of incentive payments you could sign up for. Delayed mowing on fileds greater than 20 acres for bobolinks, mowing to maintain grassland habitat, plantings/manipulation for pollinators. Invasive shrub and vine control or other plants, precommercial thinning in your forest to maintain good vigor/growth, crop tree release to maintain good growth/vigor of larger trees which would also improve mast crop production, pruning and release of apple trees, etc etc. they also like to spend money on soil and water protection. Do you have any woods roads or access trails with bad water crossings or ruts ? now probably the best thing you can do to promote deer and other wildlife habitat is creating early successional habitat. Basically 5 acre or larger patch clear cuts that are allowed to grow back up in thick young growth. If you are in southern cumberland county or any where in york county there is a snowballs chance in hell there might ne an endangered cottontail rabbit. NRCS will bend over backwards to give you money to make some 5 acre clear cuts. If you have big trees you can accomplish the by selling the wood to a logger and still get the payment from NRCS. On open fields they can give you money directly because farmers are the chosen ones. If you want to work in your forest, you first must get a forest management plan done to their spec(prepared by a forester such as my self). This plan will then identify all your goals and all their money/projects you want to apply for and a time line to do it. Once the plan is done you keep applying for the funds until you get them. It is a competitive application process. Some times you just have to wait out some other "higher conservation need" projects. Those are the kind of things they cant spend money on fast enough.
If you are going to sell wood to improve the growth and vigor of your forest and/or improve the quality of habitat I urge you to hire a forester that will act as your fiduciary agent. They will ensure you get top dollar for the wood you want to cut that will best meet your management needs. They can also set you up with a depletion account/cost of goods sold for your timber. In all likely hood you will get positive cash flow from just decraping your wood lot (the trade name for thinning and improvement cutting) and letting your best trees grow while at the same time generating a paper loss to use against other sources of income. No need to pay more taxes than necessary.
If it were me, I’d take a hard look to see if cutting some of it would benefit hunting access before I kicked him out completely. Leaving tall standing grass would obviously create bedding and if your stand is on the other side of that bedding you’ll regret having it.