Grains, Seeds, and Hay Farming Simulator 17 Guide

Wheat and Barley

Wheat that is ready for harvest

Grains are a basic crop, available at the beginning of each playthrough. However, it is not a good choice for a start-up. Why? It is constantly in abundance. As a result of unfavorable prices, you need to store it in your siloes, and you'll always be transporting large quantities of it, which involves buying new dumpers. Additionally, you'll often have to clear out the harvester. You should always have one grain field by your household to receive hay, but you shouldn't focus on large scale cultivation.

Uses:

• It can be sold (average gain on the normal level [with regular fertilizings] with a price of 12 000$ for 1ha; you'll get more crop out of barley, but the price is lower, resulting in similar average price.
• As a feed of poor quality for pigs
• Only grains can generate hay, which is required for successful animal husbandry
• Grains can be processed into chaff

Hay

Unfortunately, hay needs to be gathered manually - however, you won't have to do it very often.

Hay is created as a side product from reaping the grain seeds - remember to enable the option in the harvester so the hay is left out for collection. It can be stored anywhere, and gathered using loading vagons. Other storing options: in barns and in the shape of Hay is in abundance, so you don't need to constantly sow grains to have a steady supply of it. At the beginning of the game, storing it is also not recommended - it's not profitable considering the time you need to put in.

Note - Your employees cannot gather hay - you need to do it yourself

Uses:

• Padding for cows/ pigs - results in natural fertilizer.
• A ingredient of mixed feed for cows.
• Yields chaff for ensilage.

Rape and Soy

The rape field on the right is ready for harvesting

Rape and Soy should be grown in the initial phase of the game. They yield less harvest than wheat and barley, which makes them easier to transport, and you don't need to empty the harvester so often. However, Soy is a better choice from these two, as the price of seeds is lower (in case of rape, it's around 1500$, while soy stands at ~650$. You can store them in your silo.

Uses:

• Sell (average profit on the normal difficulty level [with regular fertilizings] for 1ha: rape - 12 000$, soy - 12 500 - 13 000 $)
• Rape can be processed into chaff,
• It can be used as a poor feed (20%) for pigs

Corn and Sunflowers

You'll need a harvester with different extension to be able to harvest corn and sunflowers

Both crops can only be gathered after modifying your harvester. You'll need a proper header. You'll also need a new seeder, so it is not the best solution at the beginning of the game. There are two types available: universal, for both corn and sunflowers, and a specialized one for sunflowers (using it, the harvester can maintain 15km/h, which is an exception from other plants). However, buy the extension only when you are planning to invest more money into sunflower cultivation. Corn yields a large harvest, requiring either instant sell, or buying more dumpers (or one bigger) specially for this crop. The price of corn seeds is kinda steep (~850$/1ha; sunflowers ~600$/1ha. As these are also seeds, store them in your siloes.

Uses:

• Profit (average profit on the normal difficulty level [with regular fertilizings] for 1ha - corn - 13 000$; sunflowers - 13 500$),
• Corn can be processed into chaff for ensilage.
• Corn is the most efficient feed for cows, while sunflower is not recommended;
• Sunflower can be harvested faster, thanks to a special harvester extension (15km/h).