How We Help Lower the Cost of Beef
How Fordyce Fields helps lower the cost of grass-fed beef
Throughout Tennessee, livestock producers often ask, “Should I buy or grow hay?” and there are various factors that must be considered to determine your solution. Both options come with their list of pros and cons.
Buying Hay
Pros
Utilize land for other purposes (increasing grazing acreage)
No additional labor required
Eliminates the need to purchase and maintain hay equipment
Flexibility to purchase hay that suits the nutrient requirements of animals
Cons
Possibly limited access to a reliable/consistent hay source
Limited price control
Limited control over the volume/available bale size in the market
Unknown hay quality
Hauling hay cost
Growing Hay
Pros
Have controlled access to reliable/quality hay source.
Set-up to handle by-product/alternative feeds
The producer has more cost control
Cons
Must purchase and maintain hay equipment
Might need additional labor
Not enough acreage to support investment in equipment
Busy/limited time to devote to hay production
Weather risks affecting hay production and harvesting
In addition to the reasons mentioned above, certain economic factors of the hay market come into play. Hay prices have been on a downward trend since October 2022. However, with the recent upward trend in the interest in homesteading and raising livestock, technological advancements in hay harvesting, and an increase in new to market beef producer entries could force those prices to surge in 2025 and beyond as the demand and cost of production will increase.
Our solution
When looking at the pros and cons list provided earlier, Fordyce Fields can help maximize the pros while minimizing/eliminating the risk of the cons in buying hay. First, let’s look at the pros of buying hay.
PROS
When purchasing hay from Fordyce Fields, you can maximize your land for other uses (grazing acreage, residential/commercial farming, etc.). There is no additional labor cost for you since you won’t need to hire additional workers to harvest your hay, and Fordyce Fields does not pass on our labor costs to our customers. We see hay production as an opportunity to be outside in the sunlight, getting exercise. Next is the cost of purchasing and/or maintaining hay equipment. Depending on the size of your property, purchasing a tractor, disc cutter, rake, and baler (at the minimum) could range between $90,000 and $200,000 not to mention the maintenance costs. Fordyce Fields has all new 2025 equipment which virtually eliminates maintenance costs. Because we use our equipment for multiple purposes, the cost of equipment is not included in the cost of hay production, thus saving you money.
Finally, the flexibility to purchase hay that suits the nutritional needs of your animals. Fordyce Fields grows a blend of Timothy and Bermuda grass to make it suitable for many types and classes of animals. One grass is easily digestible, promotes dental health, and digestive support, while the other is high fiber, low-starch, less expensive, and good for horses that don’t need a lot of protein and calcium.
CONS
When reviewing the cons list, Fordyce Fields can all but eliminate these concerns for our customers. While we don’t boast of having hundreds of acres for hay production, we produce roughly 80 4’x5’ round bales of quality hay per cut, with three cuts per season (depending on weather). This provides consistent, reliable hay availability to our community without you having to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a hay hauler.
Also, price control is something YOU have a say in at Fordyce Fields. As we mention on our website, we are not looking to be millionaires from this. We keep prices below market value to help keep your meat production costs low. We do this simply to help our family eat for less. It’s a win/win. If our customers have their money tied up in other assets or projects, we can trade hay for beef. This helps you save cash while helping to keep our family fed.
Hay quality is often a gray area. Some hay producers performed a soil and/or nutrient test several years ago and just use that same result year over year even though their hay has changed. At Fordyce Fields, we do a soil test three times per year and make adjustments to improve our soil health for our next harvest but we don’t use pesticides or herbicides. We also test every hay harvest for moisture, crude protein, fiber, and more. This ensures you get what you pay for.
Finally, hauling costs. We aim to service our local community (up to 30 miles away from Bolivar) and we don’t charge for delivery. We don’t have a big semi-truck to haul 20 large bales at a time so it might take a couple trips to deliver your hay, but isn’t that worth it to save delivery fees?
In the end, Fordyce Fields produces hay for the purpose of helping our community maintain their farms and ranches for less and in return, we get the satisfaction of knowing the beef we eat, and our neighbors eat, were fed with quality hay for less.
