MO-Ruminants
Well-known member
Here's a radical idea:
Graze your hay land and purchase what little hay you still need.
Graze your hay land and purchase what little hay you still need.
TwoByrdsMG said:1982vett said:jltrent said:You might check around and find somebody to bale cheaper as $3 a bale seems a little on the high side.
Wondering if $3 a bale also includes putting it in the the barn using accumulators and equipment? Been so long since I've baled squares I haven't a clue as what is the going rate for squares.
$3 a bale does not include moving the hay into the barn. He would do that for an extra $1 a bale but we determined early on that we can move it off the field just fine. The 7 and 10 year olds fight over who drives the tractor and we have a bale elevator to get them onto the trailer so we just stack them and unload.
The cost of hay in our area for comparable hay quality and bale size is $8-12 per bale.
snoopdog said:Yeah , if your selling hay at 200% -300% profit, why are you bit@in?
snoopdog said:Yeah , if your selling hay at 200% -300% profit, why are you bit@in?
I apologize, Sometimes we forget, me especially, that the written or typed word doesn't have the properties of the spoken word. I think that if he is cutting, raking and baling, on a timely manner for 3 bucks a bale, that you better keep hold of him. Now , if he doesn't show up in a timely manner, that's a different story. And I believe you could make money investing in gently used equipment and doing it yourself, getting it in at the proper time and putting YOUR product at the upper end of the price range.TwoByrdsMG said:snoopdog said:Yeah , if your selling hay at 200% -300% profit, why are you bit@in?
snoopdog... I was not aware I was bit@in... ;-)
After all costs.. irrigation (yes we have to pay for the right to use the irrigation canals), baling, taxes, power for the irrigation pumps, tractor fuel and fertilizer (not including wear and tear on equipment or our time) we make $2.95-3 per bale when we sell the bales at $8 per bale.
I do keep pretty close track of our hours and the associated costs which is why we are asking for advise while shopping for haying equipment.
Also, grazing the fields and then purchasing hay would be foolish. There is a shortage of hay in our area which is driving the costs for purchased hay up ($8-12 per bale for comparable hay with small bales- our feeding area is designed for small bales).
A lot of the hay fields in this area have been converted to hemp fields (different subject altogether) which was the reason we were given for the rise in our baling costs-- he has fewer fields to cut and the same equipment payments.
1982vett said:Just wondering...do you get more than one cutting a year? If you end up doing your own would you knock it all out at one time or stagger cutting? Trying to better understand what you do.
Back in the day we square baled we would cut 8-12 acres at a time. Takes longer to get it all done but a lot of it was sold off the patch and Dad would plan around them being able to get it picked up off the patch. Simpler times back then.
He used a 530 Propane John Deere to run a 489 New Holland Haybine and 346 John Deere Square Baler. Used a 1941 John Deere B and 258 New Holland Side Delivery to rake with. Probably had less than $5000 in equipment but that was 40 years ago. Baled ~10,000 bales a year that way.
1982vett said:jltrent said:You might check around and find somebody to bale cheaper as $3 a bale seems a little on the high side.
Wondering if $3 a bale also includes putting it in the the barn using accumulators and equipment? Been so long since I've baled squares I haven't a clue as what is the going rate for squares.
chevytaHOE5674 said:If you think his price is too expensive you need to really put some numbers on paper to see if you can do it cheaper.
By the time you buy equipment, fuel, grease, oil, twine, parts, add in for your labor, wear and tear on equipment, etc I would guess you will find yourself over his figures....
chevytaHOE5674 said:People always say that but even if you do it yourself the day is only so long, the hay is only in its "prime" for so long, weather is what it is, and equipment breaks down. Sure you maybe able to get it in its "prime" but you can just as easy get "past prime" hay when doing it yourself as opposed to hiring it out.
Case in point my neighbor was making his "prime hay" in September because his old mower broke down in June he finially got that running and made a few rounds and the tractor quit and by the time he tracked down parts and fixed it all up it rained for 3.5 weeks straight and it was September. If that was a customer of mine I would have had my backup mower out there as soon as I knew my main mower wasn't fixable that day, and I have backup tractors for my backups. So his "prime horse hay" is going to end up being fed to somebody's cows all because some bad circumstances that are hard for a small venture to overcome.
If you want to make hay to get control over quality, or because you just want to do it then go for it. But I wouldn't do it trying to save money. Making hay especially with older used up equipment can be a hassle, headache, and heartache in itself.
1982vett said:chevytaHOE5674 said:People always say that but even if you do it yourself the day is only so long, the hay is only in its "prime" for so long, weather is what it is, and equipment breaks down. Sure you maybe able to get it in its "prime" but you can just as easy get "past prime" hay when doing it yourself as opposed to hiring it out.
Case in point my neighbor was making his "prime hay" in September because his old mower broke down in June he finially got that running and made a few rounds and the tractor quit and by the time he tracked down parts and fixed it all up it rained for 3.5 weeks straight and it was September. If that was a customer of mine I would have had my backup mower out there as soon as I knew my main mower wasn't fixable that day, and I have backup tractors for my backups. So his "prime horse hay" is going to end up being fed to somebody's cows all because some bad circumstances that are hard for a small venture to overcome.
If you want to make hay to get control over quality, or because you just want to do it then go for it. But I wouldn't do it trying to save money. Making hay especially with older used up equipment can be a hassle, headache, and heartache in itself.
Not advocating buying "used up equipment". Plenty of used equipment out their that isn't used up.... only piece of equipment I have that wasn't used when I bought it was the 1465 New Holland haybine I bought in 2001.