The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[Hay Dude]

I never knew those ran so much.

Maybe I should be paying my neighbor to hay my meadows, instead of just letting him take the hay.

Capital intensive business.

We all need this to happen.
About 10 years ago, I wrote my last hay land rent check.
If things keep going the way they are, with farming input costs going up and hay prices mostly flat, landowners may be paying hay farmers.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Large square balers and their bales are really common here since it’s very hilly and a lot of hay is made in my area.
Round balers are less common as the bales want to run away when you dump them.

Interesting how different things are from region to region.

Around here it is almost exclusively round bales, the oil fields buy round bales by the semi load.

 

[Hay Dude]

I bought my Krone square baler from a dealer in Idaho

 

[LouNY]

Quite a mixture up here, lot's of small squares, a few big squares and lots of rounds. Many of the rounds get wrapped, both dry and haylage.
Much of the hay is this area is also chopped as haylage, probable the majority of it's chopped.

 

[Hay Dude]

Quite a mixture up here, lot's of small squares, a few big squares and lots of rounds. Many of the rounds get wrapped, both dry and haylage.
Much of the hay is this area is also chopped as haylage, probable the majority of it's chopped.

Is that because you have colder/damper climate?

 

[LouNY]

Could have a bit to do with it. But mostly because of the big dairies (2500-5000 cows) now. They don't use much baled hay mostly haylage in big bunker silos. A few years ago (15-20) it was numerous small to mid sized dairies (as few as 40,mostly 60 to 120 cows) and they almost all had silos for corn silage and haylage. With many using the ag bags for more silo space. At that time most of the dry hay was small squares. Many of the barns had mow conveyors to make handling small squares a bit less work along with mostly kicker rack wagons.
In the current time most of the round bales are for beefers with some dairys buying or making some round bales to mix into the mixer wagons for a touch of dry hay in a mixed ration.
Also many of the fields up here are also smaller then many places, some as small as 4-5 acres. On hillsides that round bales are all set on the few leveler spots in a field.

 

[Molalla1]

Could have a bit to do with it. But mostly because of the big dairies (2500-5000 cows) now. They don't use much baled hay mostly haylage in big bunker silos. A few years ago (15-20) it was numerous small to mid sized dairies (as few as 40,mostly 60 to 120 cows) and they almost all had silos for corn silage and haylage. With many using the ag bags for more silo space. At that time most of the dry hay was small squares. Many of the barns had mow conveyors to make handling small squares a bit less work along with mostly kicker rack wagons.
In the current time most of the round bales are for beefers with some dairys buying or making some round bales to mix into the mixer wagons for a touch of dry hay in a mixed ration.
Also many of the fields up here are also smaller then many places, some as small as 4-5 acres. On hillsides that round bales are all set on the few leveler spots in a field.

Now Lou, that is small.

 

[LHF2019]

Now Lou, that is small.

Same here. My cousin who runs 30ft mowers and mergers will still take crops off less than 10 acre fields. One that I think he quit using was less than an acre. Growing up our largest field was 12 acres with the average at 5 acres. Some were fenced around within the pasture and created 2 - 3.5 acre fields. Since All I do is make hay I have removed fences and dead furrows combining fields where my smallest is now 5 acres all the way up to 50 acres. Ours were all small for crop rotations. Other areas are not so lucky. Their fields were just cleared out area in the woods. I feel fortunate that I don't have to make hay on 250 acres doing 5-10 acre fields at a time.

For instance I have 20 acres split up into a 12 acre field and a 8 acre field because of a road that goes through to the woods. Wide open and we can bale that all in one day if we wanted. Growing up it was a 10 acre field and 2 - 3 acre fields completely enclosed by fences.

 

[paulsharvey]

Large squares have the advantage in shipping. Think either exported to Persian Gulf, or think Horse. Alfalfa and stuff, thats got to move half way across the country, and its cheaper/more efficient to do that with large squares than rounds.

I saw someone doing super bails for export, basically 8x8x? ft; for export to the Saudi; but thats starting with normal large squares, and ultra compressing them, to fit in containers for export.

 

[Hay Dude]

Large squares have the advantage in shipping. Think either exported to Persian Gulf, or think Horse. Alfalfa and stuff, thats got to move half way across the country, and its cheaper/more efficient to do that with large squares than rounds.

I saw someone doing super bails for export, basically 8x8x? ft; for export to the Saudi; but thats starting with normal large squares, and ultra compressing them, to fit in containers for export.

I think my baler will do up to a 10’ long bale. They would weigh 2,500lbs, depending on the pressure setting.

Large squares ship better locally, too. I can fit 13-14 tons of square bales on my trailer, but was never able to do better than 11-12 on the same trailer with round bales I used to make. Round bales have air gaps. The higher density of the square baler I have has something to do with it, too.

There’s little to no air gaps with squares compared to rounds.

 

[Hay Dude]

Same here. My cousin who runs 30ft mowers and mergers will still take crops off less than 10 acre fields. One that I think he quit using was less than an acre. Growing up our largest field was 12 acres with the average at 5 acres. Some were fenced around within the pasture and created 2 - 3.5 acre fields. Since All I do is make hay I have removed fences and dead furrows combining fields where my smallest is now 5 acres all the way up to 50 acres. Ours were all small for crop rotations. Other areas are not so lucky. Their fields were just cleared out area in the woods. I feel fortunate that I don't have to make hay on 250 acres doing 5-10 acre fields at a time.

For instance I have 20 acres split up into a 12 acre field and a 8 acre field because of a road that goes through to the woods. Wide open and we can bale that all in one day if we wanted. Growing up it was a 10 acre field and 2 - 3 acre fields completely enclosed by fences.

I have some annoyingly small fields that would be great to get rid of, but with profits at all time lows, it’s unwise to get rid of them.
I just acquired another 8 acre field, but luckily it’s attached to a current 135 acres, so that’s easy.

It’s the small fields that have no other larger fields nearby that are a PITA

 

[Hay Dude]

I might have to buy a used round baler as a backup someday.
My square baler is still down, awaiting parts.

Going back to round bales for me would be a big step back, but in an emergency, at least you finish.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

There's nobody around you that would trade you doing some of their mowing for them "bailing" you out? That's how it would work around here, but there are tons of little hobby farms around.

 

[paulsharvey]

There's nobody around you that would trade you doing some of their mowing for them "bailing" you out? That's how it would work around here, but there are tons of little hobby farms around.

Ive seen this brought up time and again; but considering 5 trips to the field (cut, Ted, windrow, bail, and pick up), i dont see how shares would work on anything under atleast 50 round bails?

 

[Hay Dude]

Most of us around here are good sized commercial farmers. We do help each other out from time to time.
"Hobbies" around here mostly consist of golf, tennis, etc. not hay baling lol

 

[Hay Dude]

A little hay trucking this morning. Ram pulled 48,800 LBS on the scale this time.

And some field mowing while I await baler parts. The plastic bin I got free from someones trash works great for Stihl blower and DeWalt battery grease gun and a few other items (grease rags, etc)

 

[EddieWalker]

I think I remember you saying that you have a leaf blower somewhere handy to blow off your batwing when you are done mowing. Where do you keep that at?

 

[gsganzer]

I was driving by a place the other week and I saw mini round bales. I never knew such a thing existed.

 

[civilian]

I think I remember you saying that you have a leaf blower somewhere handy to blow off your batwing when you are done mowing. Where do you keep that at?

I think he said it goes in the plastic bin. Jon

maybe wrong mower. ooopppppssssss!

 

[Hay Dude]

I think I remember you saying that you have a leaf blower somewhere handy to blow off your batwing when you are done mowing. Where do you keep that at?

In the plastic box on top of the mower.