New considering custom bailing

[Cline bailing]

Im considering custom baling. I can get most of what I want for about $75,000 basic. I need a 40ft flatbed with dovetail a tractor preferably 4X4 cab front end loader around 100hp. A HI-Cap rake 6-wheel and 7-10ft disk mower and either a 4x4-6ft or 5x5-6 bailer not sure of the best way to go. For an additional $15,000 or $20,000 I can also get an International and a 53ft step deck:thumbsup:.
I also considered a three-point mower conditioner and a tractor and baler to make one trip on a 40ft trailer but can't find a tongue less mower conditioner anywhere close.
What size hay bales are people buying I know I like 5x5 but I've heard a lot ore going to 4x6 due to DOT.

 

[sweettractors]

How far from your home base are you planning on doing custom work? Ken Sweet

 

[Bird]

I worked a couple of summers for a friend and neighbor doing that kind of work. We did most of it with 5 x 5 bales, just a few 5 x 6 for customers. A friend in the hay business did 4 x 5 bales because he delivered with his own 18-wheeler and didn't want the load to be too wide. And he had quit baling for anyone else; just his own crops. The friend I was working with soon learned why.

Your potential customers will assure you that the field is nice and clean and you'll have no problems. However,

1. They forgot about those half dozen 6" tall stumps left when they cut down the trees.
2. When they took down that old fence, they thought they picked up all the old steel t-posts; don't know how they could have missed one.
3. I have no idea where that roll of barbed wire could have come from.
4. The last time the field flooded must have washed in that log.
5. They knew the electric (or telephone) company replaced some poles but thought they removed all the old ones; don't know how they missed that one.
6. Those feral hogs must have dug that hole.
7. My goodness, where could that piece of railroad track have come from?

I was just very lucky, I guess, because I never damaged any of the equipment, but the guy I worked for wasn't so lucky.:laughing: He learned the hard way why our other friend quit baling for other people.:laughing: And of course I did get some experience helping him repair the damage.

So, if you go into that business, Good Luck, be sure you charge enough, and consider some kind of contract to protect you when you find something they assured you wasn't going to be there.

 

[sweettractors]

Bird, I have some friends that when going into a field for the first time, doing custom work,charge more, if there is debris in the field and charge less if the field is clean as the customer implies. This approach works good for them and the second year they go into that field, a custom operator pretty well knows what to expect and charge high. low or reject outright. Ken Sweet

 

[Bird]

Yep, Ken, that sounds like they know how to do it.

 

[Cline bailing]

I might be in the area of 60 miles away. I think $18 a bale for good tight net wrapped hay about 1100lbs is fair I know a few guys in the area charging $21 a bale for 900lb bales that are loosely wrapped.I know a lot of people are going to 4x5 bales. What size is best for consumers? We generally buy 5x5 but fewer people are dealing that size bales.

 

[sweettractors]

I might be in the area of 60 miles away. I think $18 a bale for good tight net wrapped hay about 1100lbs is fair I know a few guys in the area charging $21 a bale for 900lb bales that are loosely wrapped.I know a lot of people are going to 4x5 bales. What size is best for consumers? We generally buy 5x5 but fewer people are dealing that size bales.

When I did custom corn work in the early eighties, I would move into a area with all my equipment and take care of all customers that wanted my services before I changed locations. Will you be able to do something like that to keep from moving equipment so many times? That seems like a price per roll that will make you money, Will you offer conventional as well as haylage rolling? If they want you to roll high moisture, those bales are very hard on the baler, even those designed to take the added pressure and I would charge a little more for those. Ken Sweet

 

[Cline bailing]

I wouldnt do a high moisture bales due to I dont want there hay burning to the ground. I live in oklahoma and figured I would go to an area and pick up jobs in that area then move once I'm done with several customers.

 

[LoneCowboy]

First and foremost
The word is bale, not bail. You bale hay, you bail water.

Two, you will now be commercial
commercial insurance, auto (truck), liability, property (tractors, equipment, etc)
FMCSA, learn it. CDL, USDOT, inspections, etc

taxes
commercial plates for trucks. licensed tractors, self-employment tax, sales tax (some states do tax services), etc.

Maintenance.
nobody sees the time involved in getting and keeping your equipment running. Lots of time and expenses. And hay waits for no repair.



hope that gives you some things to consider before building your business plan.

 

[Cline bailing]

First and foremost
The word is bale, not bail. You bale hay, you bail water.

Two, you will now be commercial
commercial insurance, auto (truck), liability, property (tractors, equipment, etc)
FMCSA, learn it. CDL, USDOT, inspections, etc

taxes
commercial plates for trucks. licensed tractors, self-employment tax, sales tax (some states do tax services), etc.

Maintenance.
nobody sees the time involved in getting and keeping your equipment running. Lots of time and expenses. And hay waits for no repair.



hope that gives you some things to consider before building your business plan.

DOT number i know but I will mention you are one of the few who knows about the motor carrier number and it's under 150miles so its not commercial it all falls under farm use (farm tags, farm insurance) I know there's self employment tax I have payed it before and guy your not the only one who knows service is required I worked for a guy bailing for a few years I've seen equipment break down but if you take care of it early it saves time and money. And a misspelled word who cares when its always spelled bail then it comes first hand you don't always catch the small things.

 

[jenkinsph]

I know all that but I will mention you forgot motor carrier number and a misspelled word who cares when its always spelled bail then it comes first hand.

Cline bailing, I can picture you getting a lot of late night phone calls from thugs wanting your services.:laughing:

Seriously admit your mistakes, I learned a long time ago in business IT IS CHEAPER

 

[Duffster]

I might be in the area of 60 miles away. I think $18 a bale for good tight net wrapped hay about 1100lbs is fair I know a few guys in the area charging $21 a bale for 900lb bales that are loosely wrapped.I know a lot of people are going to 4x5 bales. What size is best for consumers? We generally buy 5x5 but fewer people are dealing that size bales.

Go large square, more demand.

I would double check your interpretation of "farm use". You have to be a farmer to fall under farm use, at least that is the way it is here.

Good luck.......

 

[Cline bailing]

To anyone who lives in Oklahoma or a surrounding state what size bales are becoming more common 4x5-6 or 5x5.

Thanks Bird and Sweettractors for your input.

 

[D7E]

It's getting hard to sell round bales at all here , Sold 500 big squares by feb but still only half way through 550 rounds.
I will be going to a smaller 4x6 round baler this year , Always got my eye out for a cheap big square on an auction but otherwise hay just aint worth enough .

 

[Duffster]

I wouldnt do a high moisture bales due to I dont want there hay burning to the ground. I live in oklahoma and figured I would go to an area and pick up jobs in that area then move once I'm done with several customers.

I have never heard of silage bales burning to the ground around here, is that a problem in OK?

 

[sweettractors]

I have never heard of silage bales burning to the ground around here, is that a problem in OK?

My family and neighbors put up couple thousand high moisture bales per year and have never had a fire or smoke. I am confused as well? Ken Sweet

 

[Bird]

We don't want to confuse "silage" with "hay" bales.

 

[D7E]

My family and neighbors put up couple thousand high moisture bales per year and have never had a fire or smoke. I am confused as well? Ken Sweet

I've seen several hay barns burn from high moisture hay . One was my grandfathers back inthe 80's .

 

[sweettractors]

I've seen several hay barns burn from high moisture hay . One was my grandfathers back inthe 80's .

High moisture hay and Haylage are 2 completely different things. I have had regular hay rolls smoke a couple times myself. Keep in mind that for a fire to start, there needs to be oxygen, Haylage has the oxygen cut off by the wrapping of plastic or sliding in tubes of plastic. Ken Sweet

 

[Bird]

High moisture hay and Haylage are 2 completely different things.

That's what I was talking about when I used the word "silage". I never forgot seeing a hay barn, or shed, burn when I was just a kid, before I was 10 years old. There was a rather large shed (poles and roof; no sides) in Purcell, OK, full of hay and on fire when we drove by on the highway. A week later, we drove by again and it was still smoldering. Of course, in the late '90s, I was a member of our country volunteer fire department. Hay fires are tough to extinguish, but "silage" or "haylage" was so uncommon in the neighborhood that I had no experience, and of course never knew of any to burn.

But here's a couple of pictures of the best silage I've seen. That's 100% corn, cut and ground up, stalks, cobs, and all; ground or crushed so thoroughly there's not a whole kernel of corn anywhere. This sure beats wrapping and baling.