Round Bale Weights?

Hay Dude · Mar 22, 2023

Tx Jim said:
Hay Dude
Yes hay is still in short supply in Texas. Feed stores & other people are selling rd bales for $150-$160. I held my prices down well below that level due my hay has mixed grasses. Although I owned horses for over 40 yrs & my daughters horses eat my hay I dislike dealing with the majority of horse owners therefore I don't attempt to raise hay that's 100% Coastal Bermuda. I sold a local young couple in the beef embryo transplant & show calf business nearly 100 rd bales this Winter. I'll bet your family wouldn't enjoy Texas this July & August when it's normally very hot & humid.

I love the people, the lifestyle, the politics, the patriotism.
Yes, I bet it gets pretty damn hot!!!

5030 · Mar 22, 2023

I need to come to Maryland and get my ORD. It's still north of 3 bucks a gallon here. Net is up 20% here as well (over the edge that is) Here you don't use sludge on any crop for human consumption, it's illegal.

Hay Dude · Mar 23, 2023

ddbackhoe said:
Im at a loss here. Net wrap and twine is at last years price, fuel is down $1.35. Fertilizer is still at stupid price , but tweaked our desires and made it work. Going old school on a 20 acre piece this month with liquid manure from a neighbors cows. Chicken litter is relatively easy to get but the horses don’t seem to like hay grown that way. Some of the other hay guys in the area are relying on class a and b sludge.

That sounds like a plan on the liquid.
My dealer told me the foreign made net wrap & twine usually comes over on the big container ships in February.
Have you gotten any recent pricing? I was over $35 on 440/4000 last year. Redickuluss.
The drop in fuel price is a little bit helpful, but a return to pre 2020 prices would suit us all better.
Fertilizer? Forget it, but it’s easy for me to say since I can get spent mushroom compost free. I’m doing lime and compost until sanity returns, and maybe I might just stick with it for good.

ddbackhoe · Mar 23, 2023

5030 said:
I need to come to Maryland and get my ORD. It's still north of 3 bucks a gallon here. Net is up 20% here as well (over the edge that is) Here you don't use sludge on any crop for human consumption, it's illegal.

We are over 3 also, but its still down from last season. Sludging is on hay fields.

ddbackhoe · Mar 23, 2023

Hay Dude said:
That sounds like a plan on the liquid.
My dealer told me the foreign made net wrap & twine usually comes over on the big container ships in February.
Have you gotten any recent pricing? I was over $35 on 440/4000 last year. Redickuluss.
The drop in fuel price is a little bit helpful, but a return to pre 2020 prices would suit us all better.
Fertilizer? Forget it, but it’s easy for me to say since I can get spent mushroom compost free. I’m doing lime and compost until sanity returns, and maybe I might just stick with it for good.

Doing away with fertilizer for good is our new plan. Think we can market our hay at a premium price because it’s ”organically grown” ?

Hay Dude · Mar 23, 2023

ddbackhoe said:
Doing away with fertilizer for good is our new plan. Think we can market our hay at a premium price because it’s ”organically grown” ?

Theres a sucker born every minute!

But seriously, I do have a small, loyal group of feed hay buyers who won’t buy any hay thats been touched with chemicals for 5 years.
Nobody can make really clean hay without broad leaf herbies, so I just settle for making “organic” hay when it’s clean enough. The buyers don’t care about minimal weed content-they just want their organic hay.
It’s about 15-20% of what I make (about 100-125 tons).

I think it’s a growing demand, though. The “organic” hay demand is surging in my area. People are eating organic, and the ones that own livestock are now demanding the same. I could see a day where the demand for organic hay is bigger than hay soaked in cancer causing chemicals.