Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

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Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

Having seen others post their journey here in this format, I thought that's a nice way to let you in on my style of playing.

I've been wanting to do a relaxed, start small gameplay, but with a kinda realistic, or at least relatable scenario.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts, and hope you enjoy to follow along.

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Let's assume an elderly couple ran the operation, but with time they had to scale back, sold the valuable arable fields, then had to give up the cows. I began to be too much for them. They had made it a rule to remain debt-free, and while the equipment may be small, and often old, they kept it in good condition.

Long story short: We're on Calmsden, own the cow barn, and three smaller meadows, as well as equipment for making (baling) hay, and producing grain. We even have a decent 100 HP tractor with a frontloader. What we're missing though are a cultivator, a bale stacker, a forage wagon, a tank trailer, and maybe a belt system. More below.

I chose "Start From Scratch", paid back the loan immediately, figured out a way to get my hands on the equipment for about 75k, and bought land from the rest. There's 18k left in the bank.

How will I do this? Making the leap from the small meadows to the larger fields on Calmsden will be interesting. Also I guess I'll usually wait for used machinery offers for a long time at the beginning. I'll let the used machinery offers guide the direction, I guess. But part of me is interested more in grain than hay. But we'd need hay for the cows, and maybe silage later.

Here's my "plan" for the first year or so:
  • I'll mow the meadows in August and November, but then prepare parts of it for seeding grain in the spring. We have everything for grain.
  • Maybe I'll store bales of hay, and get a few cows soon. But I'll need a tank trailer to sell the milk. A what about the slurry?
  • Or maybe I'll try to get my hand on a forage wagon and a belt system, and make silage from the meadows to sell it for a good amount of money. I think that's worth doing some math.
  • Later it'd be nice to use straw from the fields for the cows, and slurry and manure for the fields. Makes sense, right?
Will it be tedious to handle lots of small bales and stuff? Sure, but I use FS to decelerate. I use this time to think, or listen to podcasts. I kind of look forward to some monotonous work.

The mower seems to be the most modern piece of machinery, and next to it sits the likely cutest piece: An old tedder and windrower in one machine. The rest I'll introduce later.

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humbe
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:33 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by humbe »

Nice harvester ;D.. Sadly mod didn't come in, in time for my game.. What's the little red thing with 2 lids in the picture below the seeder?

Good luck on your game...
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

humbe wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 8:31 am Good luck on your game...
Thanks :)
humbe wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 8:31 am Nice harvester ;D
The engine sound is superb! :D
humbe wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 8:31 am What's the little red thing with 2 lids in the picture below the seeder?
That's a spreader for lime and solid fertilizer. Costs 3500.
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

After giving it one night's sleep, I think I'll hold off on cows. Too much of a commitment to start with.
  • Cows cost money
  • They need a constant supply of (small) bales of hay
  • I'd need to buy or lease trailers to sell milk and slurry anyway
  • The return on the investment will take some time
Silage on the other hand can be sold already during the upcoming winter. Maybe even the November grass harvest will be ready to sell in February. I need to check the usual February prices.

Since I have all for growing and harvesting grain (except for a weeder, I forgot about that!), I'm kind of looking forward to the rewarding feeling to get out the old harvester next year, and sell during the winter after that.

For seeding grain in spring we're limited to oat, soy beans, and sorghum, I think. And I'm not sure if we can actually sell all of these in the area. I heard some can only be used in production chains later.
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

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Coming back from mowing the meadows. I'm going with the silage idea.

The silage pit next to the cow barn won't get very full, I'm sure, but with my low-powered tractor I won't be able to climb massive piles anyway to compact the chaff.

Of course this takes time with the small equipment. But it's the only thing to do around here. So time is not an issue.

Mowing, windrowing, collecting the grass with a forage wagon, and compacting the silo will most likely take up all of August.
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

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This little windrower requires me to do a few rounds more, but the better I collect the swaths, the less money the forage wagon lease will cost.

Did I mention that driving in circles on a field almost has therapeutic effects, and helps me relax quite a bit? :)
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

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Bringing the cut grass in is well underway.

I'm very curious as to the final cost to lease the forage wagon. I'm positive we will make at least some profit off the silage.

It's the smallest forage wagon available, but still our 100 horse-powered tractor has to pull hard to get the filled wagon up the hill.

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DEERE317
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Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by DEERE317 »

Your neck must hurt after all that mowing backwards with a front mower!
FS15 & FS19 Platinum Edition PC (and War Thunder, Gaijin is way worse than GIANTS ever has been accused of being)
FS Comunity Trader: https://fs19communitytrader.freeforums.net/
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Deere, Fendt, Claas, and sometimes the rest of Agco.
Zero76Gaming

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Zero76Gaming »

DEERE317 wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:43 am Your neck must hurt after all that mowing backwards with a front mower!
Lol🤣 yeah if he used it on the front (where it belongs) he could've used the windrower/tedder at the same time at the back lol.
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

Zero76Gaming wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:59 am
DEERE317 wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:43 am Your neck must hurt after all that mowing backwards with a front mower!
Lol🤣 yeah if he used it on the front (where it belongs) he could've used the windrower/tedder at the same time at the back lol.
Right, I can double-check, but AFAIK this tractor can't attach at the front.
Zero76Gaming

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Zero76Gaming »

Detourist wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 7:54 am
Zero76Gaming wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:59 am
DEERE317 wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:43 am Your neck must hurt after all that mowing backwards with a front mower!
Lol🤣 yeah if he used it on the front (where it belongs) he could've used the windrower/tedder at the same time at the back lol.
Right, I can double-check, but AFAIK this tractor can't attach at the front.
Ah that might be it yeah, sorry lol didn't think of that.
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

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It's compacting time!

Some stats:
- 13.3k left in the bank
- 2200 lease for the forage wagon
- 202k liters of cut grass
- that's off about 2.5 hectars of land
- 340 yearly peak price for silage

Will I get the same amount of silage from this amount of grass, that is 202k liters?

If I were to sell the silage at the peak price in February, I could make about 60k off it. :shock:

I still need to lease a belt system, and my trailer takes about 11k liters, so I'll be driving to a sell point about 18 times.

Silage prices ususally drop in March. I could cut grass again in November, and that silage should be ready in February. Problem is: I only have this one silage pit. I already covered the silo in case I'm in need for money by the time it's ready. That should be around November. But I won't have the time to clear the pit, AND cut grass in November. I could still just add new grass in November, but then I'd have to drive about at least 35 times to sell silage in February. Ideally I would be able to use January already to sell silage that's ready. But I won't be able to put it aside until then.
Last edited by Detourist on Thu Jul 07, 2022 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

I need to correct something I stated earlier:

We are NOT very restricted to seed certain grains in spring, and there are sell points for all of them.

I started this gameplay on an updated version of the maps. But I remembered how it used to be before.
Detourist
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by Detourist »

My silage plans just hit a little bump in the road:

To make good use of the waiting time, I took my old Soviet trailer to the lime station. Turns out they wouldn't load it with more than about 1100 liters. Lime is heavy. They're afraid to cause damage to the trailer.

So I quickly ran the numbers: This trailer could hold up to 11k of silage, but can carry only about 3000 liters, given the particular density of silage.

This makes my estimated number of runs to a sell point now roughly 70. :frown:

Do I want to rush it? No. But I'll have the belt system lease breathing down my neck. Should I lease a larger trailer? – I hope for an attractive used machinery offer. A trailer is a basic piece of equipment. I'll need it for grain as well. If the silage pays for a trailer, then I'm fine with it.
humbe
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:33 pm

Re: Starting Small on Calmsden – Hay, Grain, Cows, and Maybe Silage

Post by humbe »

Ouch.. 70 runs to sell it ;).. I'm in my first game where I've enabled max weight on trailers, but it hasn't hit me yet..

And yeah.. Silage is very good income.. But on the other hand, quite a bit of manual labor working grass.. Easier to automate grain bits with helpers if you get tired.. Take care not to get your tractor stuck in the pit ;)
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