Cost of baling hay

[Silver]

I've never used a "silage special" baler, or one with a silage kit. Just a regular baler. John Deere and Vermeer have worked fine for baleage.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Parked the rake, called around, and rented a wrapper. Legume mix hay won't go below 35% with our current humidity and a couple rains per week. Will be baling at 35 to 50% moisture with a nothing special Hesston.

Neighbor baled all his grass/red clover hay before the last rain. Now you can smell the stacked round bales when you drive by on the road... Costs a lot to roll up junk.

 

[gcreekrch]

Parked the rake, called around, and rented a wrapper. Legume mix hay won't go below 35% with our current humidity and a couple rains per week. Will be baling at 35 to 50% moisture with a nothing special Hesston.

Neighbor baled all his grass/red clover hay before the last rain. Now you can smell the stacked round bales when you drive by on the road... Costs a lot to roll up junk.

Agree with you, plastic and a little extra time cost less than turning good feed into $h!+.

You wrapping individually or in-line? Pros and cons to both but the in-line is more economical.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Gcreek- I agree - in-line is cheaper - and you have less throw away plastic in the end. The "only" advantage I see in the marshmellows, is that they are more saleable. Buyers "think" they keep better/longer than the in-line when they take them home, but reality is when you pick up/move a marshmellow, it is almost like breaking it open. You do break the seal and it breathes.

 

[gcreekrch]

Gcreek- I agree - in-line is cheaper - and you have less throw away plastic in the end. The "only" advantage I see in the marshmellows, is that they are more saleable. Buyers "think" they keep better/longer than the in-line when they take them home, but reality is when you pick up/move a marshmellow, it is almost like breaking it open. You do break the seal and it breathes.

Marshmallows take less space if you stack them also. I found that a big advantage in smaller hay yards.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I grant you that one. Have a friend that always did marshmellows, got an in-line and hated how much space it took.
But, I would be concerned with breaking the seal if they are stacked. Does this present any problem?

 

[gcreekrch]

I grant you that one. Have a friend that always did marshmellows, got an in-line and hated how much space it took.
But, I would be concerned with breaking the seal if they are stacked. Does this present any problem?

It never did, we always stacked as we were wrapping and didn't touch them until we fed them out. We use an in-line now, waaaaaaay less handling and time.