Cost per bale

[powerscol]

Thanks. Other than my head exploding every time I fill out the Sch F (lousy line by line instructions and no IRS help) when it comes to the bottom line helping on my tax bill it helps.

And I agree - most important I know what my horses are eating and so do the few customers I have. They see the fields it cam out of and so far are happy.

My biggest lesson learned was in the choice of the equipment. Folks said to start with the older stuff and work out of them. For the funds I have put in to the old stuff I could have bought new, or near new out of rental fleets. I am so glad I got the newer baler.

As for the exercise, yes I need it, but I hope to put the hay grapple to work this year to at least save my back a bit.

To get back on track, what are other folks costs to produce a bale of hay. I know it varies from one part of the country to another, but it would be worth knowing.

 

[tessiers]

I hesitate to calculate it but my father says we make about 65c per hour if I don't count his time (he's retired). We do all squares and I figure I'm under $2 per bale with all old equipment, and light to moderate repairs. This year I spent 3k on a tractor upgrade so it will be closer to $3, but last year we had a good year and were about $1.50 per bale with high fuel costs. If your making only a couple thousand bales per year, 1 repair can skew your numbers a lot, and if you bought a 30k modern tractor you can't make those numbers work. All that is not counting labor.

 

[powerscol]

Yep I work cheap too - for the grins
Sometimes I think I retired too early, but the stress of working with the new generation of engineers that took no pried in their work was causing health issues. I supervised 57 1/2 employees in the design and construction of public works projects, and between Contractors that could not read and understand the contract they signed and some of my engineers making calls it was close enough (costing us millions down the road) I threw in the towel. I know am in better health and enjoy, just being me. I hay to stay busy.

 

[joeu235]

We bale coastal bermuda rounds for ourselves and sell squares to horse owners. First cutting with winter grass goes into rounds for the cows. After that its all square bales. The 2nd, 3rd, & 4th cuttings are highly fertilized to get the right protein content. Lots of expensive herbicides. 1500# round bales have about $25 - $30 in them, squares have $2.50 plus $1.00 in field and stacking labor. Years that we irrigate the cost of a square can get up to $4.00, but the irrigation pump can burn 50 gallons of diesel a day. This year we sold squares for $7.50 out of the barn, $6.50 in the field. There are about 25 squares in a #1500 round bale so a round bale has $190 of square hay in it. That's why we never sell rounds unless its really sorry hay that only a goat would eat, like the year it rained for 3 straight weeks right after we cut. Some years we have even bought rounds for the cows and still sold our squares.

 

[AKfish]

We do around a thousand small squares each year. One cutting. Seasons are short up here and the latter part of summer can be cool and wet. I have baled 2 cuttings but only a couple of years out of the past 8.

Wife and I are both retired now. Got into this to get good hay for our horses. But, it's also good old fashioned work, that we both enjoy.

Just our input costs - fuel, herbicide, twine, grease, seed, fertilizer - works out to about $5/bale. 20-10-10-8sulfer is $825/ton this year; FOB Soldotna, AK.

Good, quality horse hay is around $12/bale for a 50lb bale. Twenty bucks for the same hay in the local feed stores.

I don't factor in the purchase cost of my equipment as the re-sale of well maintained quality machinery up here is darn near what you bought it for! As I have upgraded through time, the sale of my older equipment has enabled us to step up to the newer implement.

AKfish

 

[bigbull338]

you guys are way over thinking owning your own hay equipment.the fact is most of yall here have small places you bale for hay.that means 1 thing its hard to get a custom baler todo the job.even if you could find 1 with a small square baler.plus your at the mercy of the custom baler.who may not get to your hay on time.

 

[powerscol]

338 - pardon my thoughts here,but your missing the point. I am a small custom baler, just starting out, going into my second year and trying to be a sponge on the steep learning curve. I am retired with a good retirement income, so the hay business is to keep me busy and active, and is actually somewhat fun.....Stacking by hand does S....! After doing my Sch F for the year and backing the cost out per bale, I was surprised. It was more than my business plan had estimated, but I did not count on the number of repairs that I had to do to the older equipment. I started the thread to find out what others were experiencing to see if I needed to change my plans any.

I got into baling for your exact reasons - the custom baler quite the area. I have small equipment, so I am trying to fill the gap, and get hay for my horses and feed a few select costumers needs. Goal is to reduce my property taxes, and possible break even or make enough to take my fantastic boss unit out to dinner. After reviewing my costs I was doing a gut check with others here to find out what their costs were running compared to mine.

Now if I can find a cheap way to ship to Alaska, I am all in. Years ago I thought of moving there, until I figured out the real costs, and the fact that as I get more wiser in years the more I know I am getting more allergic to snow.

Thanks for your input though

Keith

 

[oldballs]

It's interesting to read this thread. I don't know anything about haying and don't intend to start. On the other hand I do buy 10-15 bales of wheat straw for gardening and for the fall "Hay" rides. Sometimes even straw is hard to find and runs 7-10 $ per bale...I guess you'd call it two string bales.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[Bigfoot62]

What are others producing standard hay bales at.

About 5 years ago, when the drought was at its worst here, my total summer hay crop was 26 rolls (4x5) from 52 acres. Figuring lime and fertilizer, twine and normal maintenance costs, I think it was around $400 per roll!!!

 

[charles todd]

About 5 years ago, when the drought was at its worst here, my total summer hay crop was 26 rolls (4x5) from 52 acres. Figuring lime and fertilizer, twine and normal maintenance costs, I think it was around $400 per roll!!!

Heard that! That was the year we resorted to baling milo stubble. I don't know how many acres we had to rake, but we made about 300 4x5 milo stalk bales. If you haven't ever cut, raked, and baled on top of row crop hills... Its an experience!

CT