Adding; we don't sell round bales for $30 either... or the small squares for $5... The custom work we do is by the acre for cutting, raking, and tedding if needed.. and he charges by the bale to roll it.
We fertilize to specs and make a good amount of hay off the good fields... double crop any "crop fields" (like corn in the rotation to reestablish orchard grass) with cover crops, and make good use of the sorghum-sudan with 2 cuttings...
We will often buy hay that is $30/roll off friends if we know it has not come from a crappy field of half weeds...because we cannot make it for that...
@Silver ; yes son has gotten close to what he has paid for his discbine when he turns it in every 5 years... that is why he does it, plus they start to get too much wear and start needing work... like I said, this next time it will be a big bite even with the trade in; but we aren't making as much hay on rough fields, so not quite as much wear and tear on it... and will probably try to get a couple more years out of it... unless he finds a deal or something.
@Dave there are some dairies around here that make the "big squares" but the thing here is you HAVE TO be able to store them under cover... not the same weather y'all have there... and most people/places cannot handle them unless they are "bigger operators" = bigger tractors than the small 25-45 hp Kubotas popular on the small "mini farms and estates... I am not against them... just not practical for us personally.
We both work, although my job has slowed down... but our hay making places are also spread out so we are limited to how much we can do after work and where the fields are. We often will move equipment after dark or early in the morning before you can get on the field...
It is not perfect... but the cows in the end are paying for the 2 farm mortgages as well as covering the "costs"...
@Caustic Burno ; We are figuring that with all things figured in, it is costing us right around $750/yr to keep a cow...
