price of round baled hay

[rws]

MikeC, I agree with you on the selling your machinery and buying hay. When my machinery wore out 7 or 8 years ago, I started buying all my hay. I bought 5x6 bales of orchard grass, fescue, clover for 15 dollars this year, last year I got some good 4x6 bales for 10 dollars. I dont mess with 4x5 bales because they are too small for the money and too much percentage waste. The 4x5 bales of alfalfa mentioned earlier sound like a great deal, though. I buy 1200-1500 round bales per year and feed around 15 large round bales per day most of the winter. The only machinery I use is a Long tractor with front end loader and 4 wheel drive and my old beat up farm pickup with a bales spike. I dont have a 50 thousand dollar john deere or 50 thousand dollars worth of hay equipment or 2 or 3 tractors. Machinery is eating up alot of people with the payments and most of it isnt necessary for the amount of cattle that they have. Also, machinery breaks down and is expensive to fix. If you buy the hay in June, you can usually get a reasonable deal on all the hay you want here. If you wait until a drought or big snow fall, it will cost considerably more

stocky what type of bales spike are you talking about on your old pickup truck i saw someone else post about this earlier and im wandering how it works does it raise and lower if yes how

 

[stocky]

rws, there are several different types of bale spikes available to set in the back of the pickup. Mine is hydraulic and everything sits under the bed except 2 spikes that are side by side that are about 2 feet apart and 3 1/2 feet long that come out just above the bumper. this works great and raises and lowers, it is heavy duty so it has no problem with a 2000 lb bale. there are self contained units that you bolt into the back of the pickup and the spikes rest on a bar on the edge of the pickup bed and the motor sits in the pickup bed and is hooked electrically into the truck battery. This also is hydraulic. It will handle 1200-1500 lb bales at most. there is an electric winch unit that sits in the back of the bed with the spikes resting on the back edge of the bed and it is the cheapest as it uses a 1/4 inch calble to raise and lower the bale with an electric motor. the cheapest is a 3 prong spike on the back with a cable and hand winch. this has an anchor in the middle of the bed and the spike in the back and you get up in the back of the pickkup and hand winch it with a comealong to lift. this is for people who feed a bale a day, more or less and the smaller bales. your local farm store has the units for sale or a local welder can make the unit cheaper. bales spike and hydraulic cylinder and you can run it through your pickup engine or put a motor in the back to run the electronics. It is reasonable simple and really is good to have, especially if your hay stack isn't in the same field where you are feeding

 

[rws]

thanks stocky i sure would like to see some pictures of the hydrolic model or maybe get some building plans this sounds like just the thing i been looking for

 

[stocky]

here are a couple of pics of a style for a flat bed and a style for a regular pickup bed. there are many other types, but at least it gives you an idea of what one store brand looks like


http://www.turnoverball.com/truckbeds/baleloader.htm

 

[stocky]

here is another one that is simple

http://www.heftyproducts.com/BaleSpike.html

 

[Daybreak]

Daybreak, Who buys the little 4x5 bales of grass hay? Is it horse farmers or is it hobby farmers with only a few cows? That is certainly an incredible price for 4x5 bales of grass hay. Here, you can get 5 dollars per bale for square bales to horse farmers and some of them will also buy the small 4x5 bales for as much as a big bale will bring. To alot of people a round bale is a round bale and if they arent cattlemen, they will pay the same for a 4x5 that they will for a 5x6 and the 5x6 has at least 2 times as much usuable hay in it. Hay certainly does vary in price by region. I just cant imagine how a person can afford to feed cows 40 dollar 4x5 grass hay. Like I said before, around here, if you cant buy the 4x6 for 20 or less, you arent going to come out financially on the cattle

Howdy Stocky,
In Virginia, its illegal to travel on major thoroughfares with a 10' wide load (unless you buy a special permit) I can load up 24 rolls on my trailer and take it wherever I need to. A 5' wide model is not to popular around here if your going to sell some. 5' rolls just do not travel and load well here. Usually dairy's at the hay auction buy my load. Not to many smaller places want 24 rolls at a whack. Seasonal prices vary. Last year I could get $170 a ton alfalfa. I was selling as much as I could. It helped pay for a lot of things. Mixed grass was around $125 a ton.

 

[stocky]

daybreak, sounds like you know your hay business and are good at putting it up for quality and what the customer wants---congratulations, sounds like a job well done

 

[Dave]

The 4' by 5' bales are by far the most popular in this area. First because you can haul than easier as stated earlier in this thread. But it is get to the point where nearly everyone around here puts up the first cutting as haylage. By wrapping up the first cutting in May in plastic insures getting a second cutting and maybe even a third. If we have to wait for hay drying weather it can easliy be July and the grass is all over ripe. There just isn't going to be a second cutting after a July first cutting.
I get my hay, all second or third cutting, from a dairy farmer up the road. It is 4' by 5' bales that weigh 800 pounds off really well fertized ground (almost too much manure). The price is $15 a bale. Works out to less than $40 a ton. It is mostly ryegrass, orchardgrass, and some clover.
Dave

 

[krusader]

Down in my country this year I'm paying $26 for a 5x6 delivered. Thats good bahia hay and they bring it too me which safes me a bunch of trips with my 20' trailer.

 

[polledbull]

I get 25.00 for a 4X5 roll(875lb.) out of the field . 30.00 from the barn on Coastal bermuda hay. we went up 5.00 on both from last year. we use net wrap , (everybody likes and wants it). With the price of Farm fuel at 1.82/ gal. here. I felt I had to go up.I will deliver a load for that price locally. I roll 3000 rolls per year and sell and 5000 sq. bales. I tend about 200 acres of my hay and custom bale another 100 . I do produce top quality hay and we call It "Horse Hay". I use 500 rolls per year for my cattle operation. I dont think you can produce hay and make a profit at anything under say 19.00-21.00 range. I fertilize all my hay and keep the weeds sprayed .We have the reputation for the best hay in my region. I also sell every bale that I dont feed to my cows . In fact I ran out of hay for sale in Feb. this past year. I do have some locals that will sell thier hay for 13 , 15 or so. But I dont think they realize that when its time to buy a cutter or baler that they aint going to have any hay money to buy it with.

 

[bigbull338]

when hay is sold for $10 to $15 a bale most ppl want if you priced hay for what you really had in it it would be $50 a bale so you gotta eat alot of expenses to sale hay scott