fair price for cutting hay

[Billy_S]

I would pay him $50 an hour. To me, what the hay is worth is not the issue. You are paying him for his work.

 

[slowrev]

I don't charge good neighbors and friends for my help. I do like it if they pay me for my gas used , feed me if there during lunch and keep the beverages coming
Going to mow a friends lawn this evening about 1.5 acres. He is down from heart surgery. I know he will find a way to return the favor someday, if not no problem.

Now this is for occasional help, if it became a regular thing, well that is an entirely different matter. But if they are a friend and or good neighbor, it would still be cheap.

btw, what happened to your cutter ? A serious crash or just down for a while ?

 

[HammerFour]

I checked the numbers for mowing hay here in Missouri, I was suprised at how low it was actually.

Mowing hay was from 5 - 10 dollars per acre....mowing + conditioning hay was from 6 - 10 dollars per acre.

I am glad to hear you got it all baled up.

He most likely is a bit awkward about telling you how much he thinks the cost is, but if you hand him a nice envelope with some cash in it when you ask him to come do your second cutting he most likely will accept it. I would guess you had about 10 acres cut? If so, 50-100 dollars will cover his fuel cost and time nicely I would think. And give him a little spending money to take Momma out for dinner one night.

 

[Tim_in_IA]

HammerFour,

I think the 6-10 sounds about right. He did use a mower conditioner. I'll figure out the size and I'll probably have him do it again so I'll double it.

The sickle wobbled itself apart and the end on the drive snapped in half. Really bizarre. I wasn't operating it so I couldn't say how it happened. I'm not even sure what the model is as it is quite old and there are no markings on it. It is IH though since it is fast hitch. That's all I know. No cylinder, just a chain to raise and lower with the pivot of the fast hitch. It has never worked quite right and tends to drag the grass along and get clogged often.

I am looking for a good used haybine. The conditioned hay is just so much easier to work with at each step. I know I have a small operation but doing it yourself is cheaper in the long run. Plus in a couple years when the CRP expires I will be set for a larger production.

 

[HammerFour]

We have been using an IH 100 balance head mower, finally got it adjusted to cut well this year ( after 2 years of fighting with it ).

We will also have a mower/conditioner for next year, along with a round baler, I have had enough fun wrestling several hundred square bales, haha.

I would like to find a good deal on a disc/conditioner, but that may have to wait.

 

[neverenough]

(small rectangular bales). I'm not sure how many of those make up a big round bale.

27 for a 5x6

 

[neverenough]

My sickle mower exploded while cutting this year so I had to hire it out to the neighbor. It is nice to have people that can help you out in a pinch. I asked him what he wanted for the work and he always said he needed to check. It has been a month or so and I'd like to have him back for the 2nd cutting. It is grassy stuff.

My question is, what would be a fair price per acre if I wanted to just write him a check. I don't want any hard feelings so I want to be fair, but I can tell I'll never get an answer from him. It is a small job that he can get done in half a day. Maybe 14 large 5x6 round bales out of the 1st cut.

Thanks!

If he isn't giving you a price, then he's not interested in money. He did it just to do it, or he may call on you some day for help. Find the value of a same size bale of straw or meadow hay and offer him 20-25% of that value times the 14 bales. Say 5x6 straw bales are selling for $20, offer him 14x$5=$70. I've sold fields-you cut and bale, and I've sold bales, but I never had to deal with a partial job like just paying for cutting, so the above is just a suggestion.

 

[scesnick]

If he isn't giving you a price, then he's not interested in money. He did it just to do it, or he may call on you some day for help. Find the value of a same size bale of straw or meadow hay and offer him 20-25% of that value times the 14 bales. Say 5x6 straw bales are selling for $20, offer him 14x$5=$70. I've sold fields-you cut and bale, and I've sold bales, but I never had to deal with a partial job like just paying for cutting, so the above is just a suggestion.

I think this is the way to go. I would be sure and tell him whenever he needs help you will be there. I would consider paying for the fuel though.
My neighbor and I always work together on small things like this. We live on top of a mountain and we have a 2.5 mile road to our farms. A few years ago we got 51" of snow in one shot. We both bailed out to our in laws house after bringing our tractors down off the mountain.

We started digging on a tuesday and finally got him into his farm first on friday evening. I did the majority of the snowblowing since I had the week off of work. He had calfs he had to get to.

So once I got to his house I went back to my inlaws and was going to hit it again saturday morning. When I got up there my 1 mile drive was already done by him !! No money was ever exchanged and that is the way we like it. I think once money comes into play in situations like this the friendship will start to go away sooner or later...

 

[AndyMA]

I would pay him $50 an hour. To me, what the hay is worth is not the issue. You are paying him for his work.

All of the other suggestions are fine. I stand by my original post and agree with Billy that $50/hour is a very low but fair rate. If you factor in the "friend" helping out a friend factor that $70 to $100 would cover fuel costs. The numbers the AG agencies give, I suspect are for cutting large fields with decent size eqipment.

I know myself after 40+ years of owning tractor, it costs me about $25/hour just to run a machine. This includes depreciation, fuel, maintaince and other upkeep. No a penny of that goes into my pocket.

Andy

 

[JerryG]

Tim,
Your neighbor may be the kind of neighbor that we all should be. He may think that neighbors should help neighbors. I know when we moved back to this area after several years away, the neighbors all thought that they had to pay me for any help. They have since found out that it doesn't work that way. Now, I don't know your neighbor and I know that until I did that I would try to pay him. But, If I tried to pay him again and he wouldn't take it I would then know what kind of neighbor he was. If he wouldn't take it that time, I would make it clear to him that if he needed anything that I would be more than willing to help.