The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[Hay Dude]

Another load delivered to “Hay Bale Heaven”. This one was 13.5 tons.

 

[EddieWalker]

Do you tell them what you want for those bales and they agree to your price, or are they a big buyer and they have a set price that you know you are going to get when you get there?

 

[Snobdds]

Do you have a CDL...I assume with those loads.

 

[Rustyiron]

Might be a farm exemption.
HD what's your empty weight? That's a big boy load there.

 

[Hay Dude]

Do you tell them what you want for those bales and they agree to your price, or are they a big buyer and they have a set price that you know you are going to get when you get there?

They dictate prices to farmers.
Basically “take it or leave it”.

 

[Hay Dude]

Do you have a CDL...I assume with those loads.

I got my CDL about 30 years ago. I also have a 42,000 GVWR air brake dump truck. I have no choice but to have a CDL. Also do some driving for others when they need help.

Might be a farm exemption.
HD what's your empty weight? That's a big boy load there.

I didn’t do farm exempt on either truck since I do a lot of “off-farm” work with them. Some guys push it and get away with it, but I never felt it was the right thing to do.

My empty weight is 20,500 truck & trailer empty.

That load was about 48,000 gross.

 

[Hay Dude]

Another load delivered this morning. You can see the Cat FEL off to the side. That big old Mack has a live floor and unloads loose hay & straw that has been piled up from bales and left outside for a few weeks. They do that to get the ”green” out of the hay, so it’ll break down better. The process of making mushroom soil begins here.

 

[Hay Dude]

I still have 400 bales of mushroom hay to bring in. Business was slow this year. Usually I will haul 4 days a week from September to January.
Due to this bad economy, hay is in less demand, so I can only haul 2 days per week (not including feed hay sales).
So my money is tied up longer, which I dislike just like everyone else.

Kiss of death would be early snow and trying to get bales out of fields and to the truck/trailer without getting stuck.
I hope the next 6 weeks they can allow me to bring a little more in each week, or snow holds off well into January (which it usually does).

I get lots of free fresh mushrooms. I’ll make mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat with this 3LB box from one of my growers.

 

[Yander]

That's a nice perk, love mushrooms. Mushrooms are also really good for you.

 

[Hay Dude]

You guys wouldn’t believe how many millions of pound of mushrooms are grown here and the millions of tons of hay needed to grow them.