Round Hay Bale Prices

[plumboy]

One thing that is going to be happening since tobacco is gone is farmers cattle inventory is going to increase.With the small farms here in ky the farmers are going to run out of rolls quick.My neighbors are already running low in the winters.Not sure what will happen but I wish rolls went for more around here cause I'd much rather fool with them than squares.My neighbors are rolling my first cutting of alfalfa on halves,I'm not sure what I can get for them even tho alfafa retails for upwards of $260/ton,I'll probly just keep them and trade with the farmers here this winter.I'm hoping some other people around here can chime in on their rolls vs square prices.

 

[Cabinholler]

plumboy

Although, you live Northeast from me a little over 100 miles, it seems like hay prices, and getting hay baled is about the same price as in my home county. My neighbor is cutting, raking, and baling my hay in round hay bales for half of the hay. I don't need my half of the hay, because I don't have any livestock to feed it to. So, whatever price that I can get out of it, I guess I will sell him my half in the field, so that he can haul it away the same time he hauls his half of the hay away.

Cabinholler

The water will never clear up until you get the hogs out of the pond. (You got to find what the problem is, and eliminate it).

 

[cowboydoc]

The reality is that very few cattle ranchers are going to buy hay. They will usually just grow their own. You can't make money buying hay to feed your cattle. Someone said roundbales are not fed to horses but they are. The problem is that most horse people do not have the equipment to feed round bales. The market for round bales then is not very high and the market for square bales is very good. Also with round bales if you don't feed it properly there is alot of waste.

 

[Cabinholler]

cowboydoc

It might be cheaper in the area of the country where your live growing your own hay, but here in Kentucky it would be cheaper to buy round hay bales to feed livestock, instead of raising it. A person can't raise and sell 1,000 to 1,200 round hay bales, and sell it for $10.00 to $15.00 a roll. You would go in the hole big time doing this. If a farmer doesn't have all the equipment here in Kentucky to make round hay bales, it will cost him at least $10.00 a roll to have it cut, raked, and baled. Forget about the rest of the expense that you would have raising this hay, paying $10.00 a roll to have it baled. The reason that I think that round hay bales are so cheap here now, is that we have had a lot of rain in Central Kentucky this spring, and there is hay all over the place. I look for the price of hay to go up in the fall and winter, but I could be wrong. A person never knows what farm prices will be in a few months. One thing else that might cause hay prices to go up in this state, is that farmer's tobacco base is gone now. By less farmers growing tobacco in this state this year, I look for more farmers raising more cattle, IF the bottom doesn't fall out of the cattle market.

Most all cattle farmers in this state feed round hay bales to their livestock, because they got the equipment to feed it. Square hay bales are about the thing of the pass in this area, because of the price of labor to put hay in the barn. Although, there are some older farmers that still bale hay in square bales. I would say that the percentage of hay baled in square bales in this state is for horses.

Cabinholler

The water will never clear up, until you get the hogs out of the pond. (You got to find what the trouble is, and eliminate it).

 

[Cliff_Johns]

OK, so here's the plan.

You use the round baler to get the hay out of the field thus you can run the operation with one or two people if you need to.

Then you set up your square baler in the barn next to where you want to stack the hey (use a kicker if you want it in the mow). You use an unroller to unroll the round bale and feed it to the square baler then stack the result directly.

Oh, and in the case being discussed, you buy the round bales so you don't even need much land, just a big barn.

Cliff

 

[MotorSeven]

When i bought my place someone was haying it in wheels and the guy was giving the original owner $5 to 10 a wheel. Since i didn't have a tractor, i thought this was terrific. Then for whatever reason, the guy quit taking the hay(Mostly fescue and clover), so i searched around for over a year looking for another person that was interested. Didn't have much luck, and after paying someone to 'hog my pasture(3 times), i bought a tractor. It seems that currently in E TN, there is a large surplus of hay. Also my pasture got pretty weedie when the cutting stoped which made the hay that much less desirable.

I look at this differently. If someone wants to cut hay from my pasture(assuming i don't need the hay myself) then he is doing me a favor, so i would let 'em have it for free. Saves me the time and eqipment it takes to keep the pastures looking decent.

RD

 

[Ken Fohn]

WOW! I live on a small farm in Geronimo, Texas that is basically between Austin and San Antonio, Texas. Just finished having my mixed grass hay bailed at $28.00 a round bale. Bales weigh around 1200 lbs. and are 4X5-1/2! They consist of Hybrid Bluestem, Tiffton 85, Tally Green, Jigg and Johnsongrass. Everything around here sells for $65.00 to $75.00 a bale. Depends on pickup of delivery. I don't know any Hay Bailer that would bale for $10.00 a bale except back in the 1990s. I haul most of my hay to our ranch near Hondo, Texas and my Mom's farm in Cedar Creek, Texas where I have cattle at both locations. Sell some to friends.