The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →A hay business is shaped as much by harvest timing, customer relationships, and available labor as by acres in the field. A 2018 profile of the Michaelson family farm near Crookston, Minnesota, offers a concrete example: it describes a large, family-run alfalfa operation and the decisions behind keeping it running. Its numbers are a case study, not a forecast or a typical-farm benchmark.
How the Michaelson farm was organized
In a March 18, 2018 profile, Successful Farming reported that Josh Michaelson and his wife, Meagan, were 50-50 partners with Josh’s parents, Jerry and Kim, in the family farm near Crookston, Minnesota. Josh’s role grew through hands-on experience with his father; he summed up that learning simply: “I learned from Dad.”
The profile presents the enterprise as a family business, not just a crop operation. Jerry, Kim, Josh, and Meagan discussed decisions together, including equipment purchases or trades and hay pricing. When they disagreed, they worked toward agreement rather than treating decisions as one person’s responsibility.
What the operation produced and how it found buyers
Successful Farming reported that the family harvested alfalfa from about 3,000 acres, with three to four cuttings and a yield of 4.5 tons per acre. The farm sold hay to dairies in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. According to the profile, 95% of sales went to repeat customers.
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- 20" Deep Probe for Bale Checks: Long metal probe helps reach deeper into round and square hay bales for internal moisture and temperature readings
- Monitor Stored Hay Conditions: Helps check moisture buildup and internal bale heat during routine storage and harvesting inspections
- Fast Backlit Readings: Displays moisture from 8%–45% and temperature from 32°F–210°F on a clear LCD screen for field use
- Built for Routine Farm Checks: Supports testing in multiple bale locations for more consistent field reference readings
- Calibration Clip Included: Includes calibration clip and auto power-off function for routine agricultural use and periodic checks
Those figures describe this operation as reported in 2018. They do not establish current regional yields, customer demand, prices, or the economics a new entrant should expect. The profile does not provide startup costs, equipment prices, profit margins, or a quantified return from expansion.
Why harvest timing drove the work
For this farm, harvest timing was tied directly to hay quality. Jerry Michaelson told Successful Farming: “Getting alfalfa harvested in a timely fashion is probably the most important factor in getting hay of high quality.” The profile explains that relative feed value declines as alfalfa matures, making the timing of cutting and baling consequential for the product they sold.
Rank #2
- Deep Core Testing - 20" Reinforced Probe: Push the reinforced stainless steel probe into dense square or round hay bales to check moisture below the surface after baling, before storage, or before transport. Built for alfalfa, forage, mixed hay, and routine harvest-season checks
- Moisture & Temperature in One Meter: Reads hay moisture from 8% to 45% and temperature from 32°F to 210°F, helping you monitor bale conditions before moving hay into the barn, shed, trailer, or storage area
- Clear Readings in Farm Conditions: Backlit LCD display helps you read results during early morning work, inside darker barns, or out in the field. Large glove-friendly buttons support easy operation, while the 3-minute auto-shutoff helps save battery life between checks
- Calibration Clip Included: Use the included calibration clip to help verify readings before testing, with a reference value of 24.7% ±1.5%. Handy for quick checks on a truck tailgate, workbench, barn shelf, or near your hay storage area
- Farm-Ready Kit with Carry Bag: Includes the hay moisture tester with attached 20 inch probe, calibration clip, and carry bag for keeping the meter in your tractor cab, pickup truck, barn, or tool area. Powered by 1x 9V battery, not included
Weather and crop conditions could leave little room to wait. Josh described occasions when “Sometimes, we only have a four-hour window of optimal weather or the right hay conditions for baling.” That four-hour example is his account of the family’s experience, not a universal scheduling rule. The family relied on the partner who was available to make decisions in the field when the other could not be there.
How the family managed fields over time
The profile says the Michaelsons kept fields in continuous hay for about five years, then rotated them into wheat and soybeans before reseeding alfalfa. This sequence is their reported practice; the article does not establish it as a prescribed rotation for every farm or soil.
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Rank #3
- Probe Length: 20"
- Includes calibration clip
- Above and below moisture limit indications
- Illuminated LCD display
- Moisture range: 8% - 44%
What expansion required them to weigh
When the family considered adding acreage, the key question was whether the operation could handle the added work on time—not simply whether more land was available. The profile describes them considering whether their machinery line could manage additional acres and whether family members and current employees could supply enough labor during demanding harvest periods.
- Machinery capacity: Could the existing equipment handle more acreage without slowing harvest?
- Labor availability: Could family and employees cover the added work when conditions called for it?
- Harvest window: Could the operation still cut and bale promptly enough to protect hay quality?
- Customers: Was there a market for the additional hay? The profile establishes the family’s existing dairy customers and repeat sales, but does not quantify demand for expanded output.
- Family agreement: Could the partners reach a shared decision about the added responsibility and investment?
The profile does not quantify the cost or expected return of expansion, so it cannot show whether adding acreage would have been profitable. It does show why capacity, labor, timing, customer demand, and agreement belong in the same decision.
Rank #4
- 【Professional Tester】Our TK100H portable hay moisture tester has a wide measurement range (0-80%) through the temperature and humidity compensation technology, high accuracy (±0.5%n), fast measurement speed (1 second), stable performance, convenient and efficient. hay moisture meter sensors quickly measure moisture deep inside the material. PLEASE NOTE that this product can operate at temperatures ranging from -10 to 60 degrees Celsius, but cannot measure temperature.
- 【Wonderful Use Experience】The backlit digital display provides accurate and clear readings even in dark environments. Our hay moisture tester probe have the freedom to choose between manual and automatic shutdown, which is important to maintain battery life and ensure reliable performance.
- 【Excellent Capability】This hay bale moisture tester is small, lightweight and includes a tote bag for easy carrying. With temperature and humidity compensation technology, this hay moisture probe has high measurement accuracy and good stability. The moisture measurement time is shortened, the entire operation process is less than 1 minute, and the measurement value is displayed in real time.
- 【Generally Applicable】Use this moisture meter for hay to detect the moisture mass of hay and quickly obtain an accurate percentage of water. Suitable for testing alfalfa, leymus, forage grass, orchard grass wolftail or other hay. If you're a rancher, farmer or hay producer, by using our hay moisture tester, you can effectively monitor and manage the humidity of your hay and improve the quality of your hay.
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What this example can—and cannot—tell a prospective operator
The Michaelson case illustrates how production and business choices connect: customer relationships matter, but meeting quality expectations depends on coordinated work during narrow harvest windows. It also shows how a family partnership can distribute field decisions and business discussions among several people.
Because the profile was published in 2018 and concerns one farm, it should not be used as a current budget or benchmark. It offers no present-day hay price, startup budget, equipment quote, margin, or general return-on-investment figure. Anyone evaluating a hay enterprise would need local, current costs and market information for their own acreage, crop, machinery, labor, and buyers.
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- 【Precise and Fast】Our upgraded TK100H portable hay moisture tester has an error range of only 0.5%, provide accurate and fast readings within the moisture range of 0-80%. Hay moisture meter can ensure that your hay is baled at the correct time, avoiding situations where the hay is not dry enough or too dry when baled, making it very suitable for farmers, ranchers, and hay producers.
- 【Upgrade Temperature Detection】Compared to the old version of the hay moisture tester probe, the screen automatically detects real-time temperature, helping you better monitor the hay status. More professional design hay tester to help you determine the best hay quality and ensure it meets the expected standards for storage and feeding.
- 【LCD Backlit Large Screen】Our moisture tester for hay has a clear LCD backlit display screen, even in dim barns or in sunny pastures, the readings on the hay moisture tester screen are still clear, making it easy for you to read accurate moisture readings.
- 【Professional Level Sensitivity】The working principle of this hay moisture meter is conductivity, with automatic temperature compensation function, making the measurement results faster and more accurate. Whether you are packing, feeding, or selling hay, use this portable hay moisture tester to ensure that your hay meets safe storage and feeding standards.
- 【Generally Applicable】This moisture meter for hay suitable for all common hay types (alfalfa, grass, orchard grass, sheep grass, etc.) and related materials such as straw, wood fiber, and bran. When using this hay tester probe, please insert the probe straight into the haystack. The deeper the probe is inserted, the more accurate the value will be.
Read Raylene Nickel’s Successful Farming profile of the Michaelson family for the original case details.
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