A "standard" round bale of well-dried bermuda hay...

[whitewing]

How much would one of those things weigh....approximately?

 

[bigbull338]

lets go to school on the bale sizes an weights.1.a 4 by 4 bale is 600 to 750lbs depending on the grass.2. 4 by 5 800 to 1000lbs an im guessing a tad heavy on that.3.4 by 6 1000 to 1200lbs.4.5 by 6 1500 to 1700lbs.with some 5 by 6 balers putting up 1700 to 2200lb bales.but i havent seen those balers.

 

[Jim62]

Usually, I guess the weight of round bales by what the guy doing the rolling says they weigh.

Most of the time, around 60% of that........... :tiphat: :hide:

 

[bigbull338]

Usually, I guess the weight of round bales by what the guy doing the rolling says they weigh.

Most of the time, around 60% of that........... :tiphat: :hide:

but jim most people that sells hay bale the bales real loose.so you dont get much hay in a bale.the custom balers most all run 4 by 5 an 4 by 6 balers,so they can make more bales pre ac.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Usually, I guess the weight of round bales by what the guy doing the rolling says they weigh.

Most of the time, around 60% of that........... :tiphat: :hide:

but jim most people that sells hay bale the bales real loose.so you dont get much hay in a bale.the custom balers most all run 4 by 5 an 4 by 6 balers,so they can make more bales pre ac.

:bs: :bs:
Put that in your top 100 dumb things you have said this week

Most custom balers run 4x5 and 4x6 balers because that size bale is the easiest to handle for the customer and also the easiest to transport

and if the baler is a 4x5 the operator gets less $$$$ per bale to bale than an operator running a 5x5 baler

and their is NO way you can sit behind a computer and tell someone what a bale of hay will weigh based on the size of the bale because it depends on the crop, the moisture, the baler, the tightness of the bale and a few others things you apparently don't have a clue about
so it looks like YOU need to go back to school
if you notice the couple of guys on here that bale hay as a large part of their living never commented on what the bales would weigh

 

[whitewing]

Well, for what it's worth, I was trying to do some sort of a rough caluclation of how many small square bales there are in a single round bale. Yeah, I know, that's a tough one to nail down, but I was just trying to come up with an estimate. And when I say small square bales, I'm talking about those that are handled by hand, perhaps weighing 20 lbs or so.

 

[fargus]

When I do that estimate it is with our square bales and our round bales. The 4x5s we've weighed out of our baler, on our farm are ~ 800 lbs. Our squares are 40-50 lbs, so the easy math is 20 sq bales makes one round bale. That is generally alfalfa and cool season grasses... so yours will be completely different.

 

[bigbull338]

Usually, I guess the weight of round bales by what the guy doing the rolling says they weigh.

Most of the time, around 60% of that........... :tiphat: :hide:

but jim most people that sells hay bale the bales real loose.so you dont get much hay in a bale.the custom balers most all run 4 by 5 an 4 by 6 balers,so they can make more bales pre ac.

:bs: :bs:
Put that in your top 100 dumb things you have said this week

Most custom balers run 4x5 and 4x6 balers because that size bale is the easiest to handle for the customer and also the easiest to transport

and if the baler is a 4x5 the operator gets less $$$$ per bale to bale than an operator running a 5x5 baler

and their is NO way you can sit behind a computer and tell someone what a bale of hay will weigh based on the size of the bale because it depends on the crop, the moisture, the baler, the tightness of the bale and a few others things you apparently don't have a clue about
so it looks like YOU need to go back to school
if you notice the couple of guys on here that bale hay as a large part of their living never commented on what the bales would weigh

yeah your 1 of the so called custom balers on here,an the only the reason you answered his q was because i did.it wasnt because you didnt want to go on a limb an help a person because you could care less about helping any1 at CT.i know a guy that runs a 4 by 6 baler an he told me that they weighed 200lbs less than a tightly wrapped 5 by 6 bale.an i told him he was full of bull,an he is a preacher on top of that an 1 of my friends.his fil charges $25 a bale custom work.

 

[Angus Cowman]

yeah your 1 of the so called custom balers on here,
Yes I custom bale hay and I run several head of cows to make my living
an the only the reason you answered his q was because i did.it wasnt because you didnt want to go on a limb an help a person because you could care less about helping any1 at CT
I actually sent the OP a PM and explained a couple of scenarios to him.
i know a guy that runs a 4 by 6 baler an he told me that they weighed 200lbs less than a tightly wrapped 5 by 6 bale.an i told him he was full of bull,an he is a preacher on top of that an 1 of my friends.his fil charges $25 a bale custom work.
Just because he is a preacher doesn't make his word the truth or a lie either way he is still just a man did you weigh the bales ? if not then you don't know if he was lying or not!!! it doesn't matter what you charge it is usually based on bale size or tonnage if some idiot is willing to pay $25 for a 4x5 when they can get the same quality and quantity of hay in a 5x6 for the same money you can't blame the guy baling it for charging that it is the idiot paying the price when he could get more for his money

it is quite possible! there isn't that much more hay in a 5x6 bale than in a 4x6 bale for that matter a 4x6 bale will have almost as much hay as a 5x5 bales if you figure cubic ft someone who is better with equations could figure it but the difference will be minimal

 

[1982vett]

Well, for what it's worth, I was trying to do some sort of a rough caluclation of how many small square bales there are in a single round bale. Yeah, I know, that's a tough one to nail down, but I was just trying to come up with an estimate. And when I say small square bales, I'm talking about those that are handled by hand, perhaps weighing 20 lbs or so.

Whitwing...sorry to say but their is no "standard" because of all of the variables...The only way to say for sure is to weigh not one but several and average it out. Now if you know the type of baler and the advertised specs you may narrow the range down a little but it still depends on a lot of variables.

 

[agmantoo]

Put the hay across a set of certified scales and pay accordingly depending on weight. Fair to all!

 

[whitewing]

Thanks all for the information. I do appreciate it I also realize I may have been asking for a lot.....especially considering all the variables.

Further to my reason for asking the question is a comment made by someone in another thread I have running here. I'm on the cusp of entering the rainy season and when it arrives I'll be busy for quite a few months producing bermuda hay. I'm short on hay storage facilities and while nothing extravagnt is required to store square bales, I'm certain I'm not going to have the space I need to store them all.

Someone commented that I should consider just making round bales (since they store more easily outside or with minimum cover) and then convert them to square bales as I need them for my clients. That comment got me to thinking and then wondering how many square bales I'd get out of a "typical" round bale I might produce and put away.

 

[TexasBred]

Well, for what it's worth, I was trying to do some sort of a rough caluclation of how many small square bales there are in a single round bale. Yeah, I know, that's a tough one to nail down, but I was just trying to come up with an estimate. And when I say small square bales, I'm talking about those that are handled by hand, perhaps weighing 20 lbs or so.

lol, Whitewing you gotta watch those square bales too....they'll say 90 lbs. but you can throw it around like a 20 lb. sack of catfood. What I fed this year averaged a little over 1300 lbs.... 5x6 bales....straight coastal bermuda, 13% moisture when loaded and wound pretty tight.

 

[tsmaxx47]

i've always fiqured 15 small squares to a large round; again, just guess-ta-ma-ting...

 

[1982vett]

i've always fiqured 15 small squares to a large round; again, just guess-ta-ma-ting...

Doesn't sound like your "large round" isn't really all that large. :lol: Or maybe your small squares aren't all that small... :shock:
Perfect example why "bale" isn't a certified unit of measure... :tiphat:

 

[whitewing]

Guys, when I say small square bales, I mean small square bales.....the kind that horse people feed to their animals......what's the measure, 2 1/2 feet by 1 1/2 feet and about a 1 1/2 feet deep?

 

[bigbull338]

Guys, when I say small square bales, I mean small square bales.....the kind that horse people feed to their animals......what's the measure, 2 1/2 feet by 1 1/2 feet and about a 1 1/2 feet deep?

the sq bales weigh 60 to 80lbs.but since the horse people buy them they really dont want them to weigh over 60lbs.an some want them lighter like 40lbs.the lighter you go the looser the bale is.

 

[smuff76]

Lets see if I can post a picture.

That's from Southern Forages. Should only be used as a guide. As has been noted moisture and density will play a large part. Best thing to do would be to head to the scale if your buying hay and do it by the ton.

 

[Rancher]

Might not be of interest but up north we do Brome & Timothy grass with Blue grass in the fall. The "belt" vrs: "chain" balers can put out heavier bales of same 4x6 size. Mine average 1200lb on a 4x5 1/2. I have done 4x6 but worry 'bout the belts bursting, terrible racket Blue grass is prolly like bermuda, very fine & light stems. I can only get 800lb on them 4x whatever unless 22% mosture!! Most of my brome is 18% & under & very tight w/4inch twine spacing. Just food for thought :lol:

 

[Lon]

my dad bales alot of small squares. he tries for 50lbs on them but it can vary alot cause some of them have been over 90 and others sure lighter than 50. on round bales my dad and uncle try to shoot for 1200 on alfalfa and it varys from there based on everything.