Purchase round baler or not...

[RefugeRanch]

Is there a minimum amount of acres and or cattle one should own in order to justify purchasing a round baler???

 

[Aaron]

You buying new, used, or ancient?

New - 800 acres
Used - 300 acres
Ancient - 50 acres

This is assuming you already own a tractor that can accommodate a round baler.

Anything less than 50 acres and you might as well hire someone to do it. :cowboy:

 

[tncattle]

I have 12 acres of bermuda grass planted. I will be hiring someone to bale it for me. They will be charging me 11 dollars an acre. That is alot cheaper than me buying a round baler and doing it myself.

So they are cutting your hay for $132 and you get to keep it also? That sure seems awful cheap for their labor, fuel, wear & tear on equipment etc.

 

[Jogeephus]

I think it would depend more on your input costs. I found a good round baler for $900 last year. (product of a divorce) Mower - $300 and rake $150. I bought the mower and rake myself but gave the lead to a friend of mine who needed a baler. But if I could get my hay baled for $11/acre I'd definitely let someone else do for me. Heck, I'd even let them use my equipment.

 

[LaneFarms]

A lot of times you can get it custom baled for cheaper than you can afford to own, operate, and maintain the equipment. Check to see what rates custom balers charge in your area. Around here it is typically $15-18/roll. Figure out how many rolls you need per year and back into what you cn afford to spend.

 

[Kingfisher]

But if I could get my hay baled for $11/acre I'd definitely let someone else do for me. Heck, I'd even let them use my equipment.

Right........ Then I would feed em and talk to them about going to work for me haying others peoples property.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Net wrap and fuel costs $4 a bale. If your yield is 3 bales to an acre, the guy doing it for $11 an acre is losing money without even figuring in equipment cost.

 

[BC]

Hay cutting, raking and baling costs $19 to $22 per roll here in East Texas. I bet he meant $11 per bale.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Hay cutting, raking and baling costs $19 to $22 per roll here in East Texas. I bet he meant $11 per bale.

Not in my area it is a 20 dollar a roll on 4x5's and a 20 roll minimum. I can't bale my own for 11 dollars a roll.

 

[Beckett]

I cut and raked it myself and pay a neighbor bale it for $6.00 a bale. and is always on time when i call. Last year i small squared with a buddies baler and wagons. Never again!!! I did it by myself and my back is still paying for it.

Is it Bale or Bail? I have to go open spell check.

 

[LazyARanch]

it's BALE

a "bail" is the handle on a bucket ... I think.... LOL

or what you pay when you are arrested!

or what you do when you have too much water in a boat!! :lol2: :lol2:

edit: The year the gas & fuel prices were so high, our costs on baling were $19/bale for 1600 lb rounds

that's using an older Vermeer baler with a very well-used 966 IH, H's for mowing, and a small Massey for raking.
oops, had to edit again. We did pay some teen family members for running some of the tractors that year.

LAST year my husband and I did all the cutting, raking and baling ourselves. Kept our costs down, weather was good,
and I really enjoy the work.

 

[jerry27150]

if you can find a baler you can make better hay & at the right time & get three cuttings of great hay. usually if you hire it done they get to it when they can & usually you are not first on the list & get one cutting of hay that isn't worth much & you end up buying grain to compensate for the poor hay. if you have someone that is willing to drop everything & do your haying on time then go for it

 

[rockridgecattle]

You buying new, used, or ancient?

New - 800 acres
Used - 300 acres
Ancient - 50 acres

This is assuming you already own a tractor that can accommodate a round baler.

Anything less than 50 acres and you might as well hire someone to do it. :cowboy:

We do about 600 acres with ancient. An 850 NH round baler, manual tie. It is slow, but can be done

 

[Jogeephus]

if you can find a baler you can make better hay & at the right time & get three cuttings of great hay. usually if you hire it done they get to it when they can & usually you are not first on the list & get one cutting of hay that isn't worth much & you end up buying grain to compensate for the poor hay. if you have someone that is willing to drop everything & do your haying on time then go for it

That pretty well sums up my feelings. Personally, I like to be self sufficient. Doing it myself I know what hay is good and what is not and I no longer have to rely on someone else's word to fill my hay needs. Having hay equipment also comes in handy in a year like this when the grazing just didn't do too well because of the cold winter. Lots of producers are short. I sold 200 extra rolls today to a fella who is feeding 17 rolls per day. This will go a long way in handling my fertilizer bill for the year.

 

[novatech]

if you can find a baler you can make better hay & at the right time & get three cuttings of great hay. usually if you hire it done they get to it when they can & usually you are not first on the list & get one cutting of hay that isn't worth much & you end up buying grain to compensate for the poor hay. if you have someone that is willing to drop everything & do your haying on time then go for it

That pretty well sums up my feelings. Personally, I like to be self sufficient. Doing it myself I know what hay is good and what is not and I no longer have to rely on someone else's word to fill my hay needs. Having hay equipment also comes in handy in a year like this when the grazing just didn't do too well because of the cold winter. Lots of producers are short. I sold 200 extra rolls today to a fella who is feeding 17 rolls per day. This will go a long way in handling my fertilizer bill for the year.

I have to agree with this. But you also have make a comparison as to the economics of buying hay vs. raising hay. People also forget to place the lost value of pasture into their equation. I leased a place to bale hay. The plan is to sell enough to pay for mine. With my ancient equipment it works out on paper. With new or even late model equipment there is no way in hades it would ever (relative to my life expectancy) pencil out in a small operation.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

I usually bale about 40 acres of my own and custom bale about 30 for the neighbor. I have my own equipment because when it's 4-5 weeks old, I want it cut now, not in a month when the custom baler can come. At 4 -5 weeks on coastal I can get 12-14% protein but if I have to wait 2 months it might be 8% and fertilizer is too expensive to waste to just end up with 8% protein.