Cost of Hay

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I finally sat down with my hay guy and paid for our 2nd cutting. We had 80 acres mowed, tedded (sp?), raked, baled and moved. They baled 2 wagons of dry square (285 bales) and made 226 round dry bales.
Ended up costing $3.79/sq bale and $20.78/round bale - 50-52"
Sure came out good prices, especially compared to having to buy hay last 2 years - and the hay is excellent. Got a window with no rain. Didn't think we were ever going to get dry hay this year.

 

[Ebenezer]

What do you estimate it cost to grow it? Fertilizer, herbicides, land use...?

 

[Brute 23]

That's a really good price on the big bales. All the custom baler guys are over $30 here and some are pushing close to $40. That's not stacked or moved... thats where they land.

 

[Caustic Burno]

What do you estimate it cost to grow it? Fertilizer, herbicides, land use...?

50 dollars a roll minimum with today's fuel and fertilizer prices. We haven't even got into maintenance oil and filter have gone super high.

 

[Lucky]

Here the custom guys are $35 to bale 4x6 rolls. Rolls typically weigh 1,000#. Allot are adding an hourly charge if the feild makes less than 1.5 rolls to the acre too. We buy all our hay every year and always have. I'm getting worried about finding hay in the years to come. Might be time to set aside a hay meadow or go to straight feed.

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

I finally sat down with my hay guy and paid for our 2nd cutting. We had 80 acres mowed, tedded (sp?), raked, baled and moved. They baled 2 wagons of dry square (285 bales) and made 226 round dry bales.
Ended up costing $3.79/sq bale and $20.78/round bale - 50-52"
Sure came out good prices, especially compared to having to buy hay last 2 years - and the hay is excellent. Got a window with no rain. Didn't think we were ever going to get dry hay this year.

Nice !.
Did you have $ in fertilizer, herbicide etc ? Just wondering what total cost was for the year.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

MCR - absolutely. I was just referring to the "hiring" costs. We don't own any hay equipment except the spears on my tractor. We fertilize 80 acres - 30 owned and 50 leased. No herbicides - other than running around with 4 wheeler with a sprayer once in a while. Mostly that is just used on fencelines and pastures. Hay fields stay pretty clean - except for Queen Anne's Lace. Getting bad. Doesn't bother baleage just the dry hay.

 

[BFE]

Hay is the most expensive "cheap" thing there is.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Here the custom guys are $35 to bale 4x6 rolls. Rolls typically weigh 1,000#. Allot are adding an hourly charge if the feild makes less than 1.5 rolls to the acre too. We buy all our hay every year and always have. I'm getting worried about finding hay in the years to come. Might be time to set aside a hay meadow or go to straight feed.

Custom bailers here are 76 and 80 . Hay is definitely the issue here!

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I quut about 99% of my custom baling this year. The 40 bales I did were at $35 for a 4x5.5 roll weighing about 1150lbs average.

The way equipment/fuel/parts/everything prices a have inflated the last few years it is really a money losing endeavor.

If your hay guy is cutting/tedding/raking/baling/hauling bales for $~21 I would bet my farm his costs are more than that. If he likes operating for free and losing money then I would be hiring him to do my hay as well.

As the owner of 100% paid for late model hay equipment if somebody would bale my hay for less than probably $35 per bale I would park mine and watch them work.

 

[Springfieldsimm]

We do some custom hay for guys. This was our first year. what we came up with that we thought would be a fair price and still make money for us was $65 an hour for mowing tedding and raking and $7.5 a bale for a 4x5. I did some figuring and if the hay was thick it cost them about $20-$25 a bale if it was thin up to $40 a bale since it takes as long hourly to make thin hay as thick hay.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

So at $65 an hour take a small $20 per hour wage our for yourself (that's what the local gas station pays). So for $45 an hour you can own and operate the equipment? Insure it? Save money for its replacment? Etc?

I won't start up any piece of equipment with an operator for less than $100 an hour and it goes up from there.

You charge $7.5 for a 4x5 bale?

On a 4x5 bale I have about $1.50 in net wrap alone. So for $6 you can operate the tractor and baler? Maintain them both? Save money for a replacement? As well as pay yourself a wage?

As a custom operator myself I would park my equipment and watch you work and actually save money by watching mine sit.

Don't think I'm picking on you. I was you 10 years ago with paid for equipment and charging $26 per 4x5 bale. Then I wrecked a $2000 tire and a $1500 gearbox in a short period and I sat down with the pencil and got an education real quick. I was basically running all over the county baling hay for free when I got honest with myself.

 

[Brute 23]

So at $65 an hour take a small $20 per hour wage our for yourself (that's what the local gas station pays). So for $45 an hour you can own and operate the equipment? Insure it? Save money for its replacment? Etc?

I won't start up any piece of equipment with an operator for less than $100 an hour and it goes up from there.

You charge $7.5 for a 4x5 bale?

On a 4x5 bale I have about $1.50 in net wrap alone. So for $6 you can operate the tractor and baler? Maintain them both? Save money for a replacement? As well as pay yourself a wage?

As a custom operator myself I would park my equipment and watch you work and actually save money by watching mine sit.

Don't think I'm picking on you. I was you 10 years ago with paid for equipment and charging $26 per 4x5 bale. Then I wrecked a $2000 tire and a $1500 gearbox in a short period and I sat down with the pencil and got an education real quick. I was basically running all over the county baling hay for free when I got honest with myself.

100hp tractor with a batwing is $100/hr low end and as high as $120. They charge haul in and haul out, also, which most guys baling do not.

The guys baling do have a flat minimum to come out. I can remember what it is but I know it's too cheap.

 

[Dave]

I got out of the hay business in 1998. Been buying ever since. Lots of hay made for sale around here. 2021 there was a shortage of water which caused a shortage of hay. That caused prices to go up. 2022 the prices started out high but dropped later as the hay farmers could see they were going to get stuck with hay. Last year Grass hay started at $220 a ton in the fall and got down to $170 by the end of winter. Alfalfa was over $300 a ton and got down to $220. There was a lot of hay left over by spring. This year there is lots of grass hay available at $110 a ton. And I know B bought alfalfa for $155 a ton delivered.

 

[WFfarm]

We were able to buy 4x5 grass/clover round bales for $40 and $45 each. Bought about 96 bales in June when we thought it would be a dry summer and we'd be short on hay. Then the July rains came and we got more second cutting bales then we've every baled. We are more than set now. I say hay is like firewood and ammo, you can never have too much.

 

[Springfieldsimm]

So at $65 an hour take a small $20 per hour wage our for yourself (that's what the local gas station pays). So for $45 an hour you can own and operate the equipment? Insure it? Save money for its replacment? Etc?

I won't start up any piece of equipment with an operator for less than $100 an hour and it goes up from there.

You charge $7.5 for a 4x5 bale?

On a 4x5 bale I have about $1.50 in net wrap alone. So for $6 you can operate the tractor and baler? Maintain them both? Save money for a replacement? As well as pay yourself a wage?

As a custom operator myself I would park my equipment and watch you work and actually save money by watching mine sit.

Don't think I'm picking on you. I was you 10 years ago with paid for equipment and charging $26 per 4x5 bale. Then I wrecked a $2000 tire and a $1500 gearbox in a short period and I sat down with the pencil and got an education real quick. I was basically running all over the county baling hay for free when I got honest with myself.

I enjoy this discussion. So this was the first year for us to do much custom and it wasn't much. I probably custom baled 200 bales and most of those was baling only the customer did the rest. We made about 250 bales for ourselves. We had a good year with very few repairs.
So Dad owns the equipment and I work for him. He pays me $25 an hour. We discussed some what we want to charge and we probably aren't charging enough but for the custom we did this year we probably make enough to pay for our out of pocket cost (fuel, wrap, parts, etc.)for all the hay we made this year ours and custom included. So we have our own hay for no out of pocket cost (just depreciation of equipment) to feed our cows plus we will probably have 100 bales to sell that we don't need. So I feel we did fine but I also understand we didn't have any big break downs.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

At those rates one breakdown will bankrupt you. You need to be charging enough so when something breaks or is slap worn out you can replace it without a struggle.

If your baler burned up?
Tractor engine blows?
A big tire gets wrecked?
Etc?

Where will the money for those repairs come from.

So you charge 65 an hour, subtract out your 25 wage and your at 40 an hour for the equipment. Burn 3 gallons of fuel an hour @4.50 a gallon and your down to 26.50 an hour to keep up with the normal maintenance like oils/filters changed, greased, tires replaced, etc. As well as pay for insurance on that piece and be saving money for major repairs or replacement when it's life is up.

For reference I just finished up an engine rebuild for a customer the bill was just shy of 10k all said and done.

Also as an FYI I charged 13 just to bale 4x5s about 6 years ago when fuel was $3, and a new baler could be had for 30k, not today's $4.50 fuel and 50k+ for a baler.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I put down same amount of fertilizer each year, pay same rent on part of hay ground, and supply the gas. The money quoted is just the cost of getting it done. That cost fluctuates a lot depending on how many bales/acre. I don't have the figures in front of me, but 1st cutting was much more because bales/acre was terrible. Our hay guy is very fair.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Jeanne so on top of your quoted hay prices you provide the fuel?

That would add a bit to the cost.

Your hay guy is more than fair. He is operating a charity prices. I wish I could find somebody like that here I'd park my hay equipment in the shop and watch it appreciate in value as time goes on. Lol

 

[504RP]

I quut about 99% of my custom baling this year. The 40 bales I did were at $35 for a 4x5.5 roll weighing about 1150lbs average.

The way equipment/fuel/parts/everything prices a have inflated the last few years it is really a money losing endeavor.

If your hay guy is cutting/tedding/raking/baling/hauling bales for $~21 I would bet my farm his costs are more than that. If he likes operating for free and losing money then I would be hiring him to do my hay as well.

As the owner of 100% paid for late model hay equipment if somebody would bale my hay for less than probably $35 per bale I would park mine and watch them work.

I don't think you was making any profit even at $ 35 a bale were you ? I don't think $ 50 a bale would be profitable.

Clutch went out on my 90 hp that I bale with. Dealer ship say's it is going to cost me $5 to 6,000 to put a new clutch in it. That doesn't include what it is going to cost hauling it 120 miles there and back so they can work on it. Then from past experience there could be more wrong than just a clutch.

I had about 40 acres left to finish with my hay for the winter. I had a 65 h.p and a 7 foot rotary mower so I was able to cut and rake what I had left. Was lucky my neighbor let me swap me help him with raking his in return he would bale mine. He is a great guy and am very appreciative he let me work out a deal like that with him.

But I am having physical therapy for back pain, limping on my left leg. Feels like a knife stabbing me in my lower back every step I take. Am scheduled for a MRI on my left shoulder October 5th for a suspected torn rotator cuff.

So in the last couple of days I have raked so far about 30 acres for my neighbor, my 40 acres and from what my neighbor told me we are just getting started on his. He has baled 1200 bales so far this summer. I use my tractor to rake for him which is still a good deal for me and am greatful for him
helping me out.

I tried to get him to let me pay him to bale my 40 acres but he didn't want to do that. Said he had a little hay that I could rake for him
Instead. Well I thought that sounded like a bargain. I didn't realize he had that much land. I think in the end he is going to get the best end of the deal and from now on
When someone tells me I can rake a little hay for them baling my hay in return. I am going to get them to be a little more specific as to what they're calling raking a little bit in return.

Man I don't slow poke along when I take and still don't stay very far a head of him baling. The guy is an expert. Should have known anyone born and raised on a cattle ranch that is 60 years old knows what he is doing.

Should be laws against someone like that horn swaggering a hobby farmer like myself. Hope he is getting close to running out of paster needing raked. Lol !