Wheat Straw Farming?

[BPowell92]

I'm wanting to start baling and selling wheat straw. I would like to come in behind the combine after he threshes the wheat and lays it down in rows and then bale it into square bales. Just wondering what you all thought about this and if you think a farmer would even be interested in doing this? I've heard some good money can be made by doing this.

Another question.....Is there a big market for wheat straw? How hard would it be to sell and who would I sell it to? I could get close to 15,000 to 20,000 square bales.

Also, How big of an issue is baling behind a rotary combine? Does it chop the straw up too bad? Is there a way to take something off the rotor to help with this, such as the knives?

 

[AGRIMAN]

It all depends on the farmer. For me, when the price of wheat is down, selling the straw can sure help out, but it can also add a lot of extra aggravation to a already busy time. When the soybeans are high, I have rather chop/burn the straw and get my soybeans planned as quick as possible.

I have not baled any small square bales of straw in a very long time. Its just too slow of a process for that time of year. Our local buyer only wants 4x6 rolls, which is faster and easier for them to move and stores. He then runs them through a processor and makes squares as needed.

A rotor combine (per the design) will damage the straw and makes if difficult for a round baler to maintain a good tight roll. For this reason, a lot of buyers will not buy straw from behind a rotor machine. It' not as bad when going straight to squares, but again a lot more up front work to get it out of the field and stored until you need it.

The benifits of baling my straw didn't stop me from buying a new (to me) rotor combine this fail. The way I see it, if he needs the straw, he will buy it or I'm just as happy burning it.

 

[M5farms]

We used to bale the straw behind the combine and I've stacked thousands of bales. We used it to pack water melons when they were and stacked in trucks and box trailers. now they use the cardboard bins so the need for straw in that segment is diminished. There seem to be a need for it as animal bedding. Not sure if it would be worth it or not. I see a lot of wheat and oats cut and bailed but that is used for feed as it still has the seed heads on it.

 

[smstonypoint]

I'm wanting to start baling and selling wheat straw. I would like to come in behind the combine after he threshes the wheat and lays it down in rows and then bale it into square bales. Just wondering what you all thought about this and if you think a farmer would even be interested in doing this? I've heard some good money can be made by doing this.

Another question.....Is there a big market for wheat straw? How hard would it be to sell and who would I sell it to? I could get close to 15,000 to 20,000 square bales.

Also, How big of an issue is baling behind a rotary combine? Does it chop the straw up too bad? Is there a way to take something off the rotor to help with this, such as the knives?

Several issues.

Determining the potential market is going to be up to you. That market is going to be location-specific and the market in West GA is going to differ from Upstate SC, Piedmont NC, Nebraska, etc.

In my area, wheat straw is used by homeowners and landscape contractors as a mulch when seeding grass, and by dairymen as bedding material (and sometimes as a ration supplement).

Wheat straw contains nutrients and organic matter that are removed when baled. I don't think many farmers would be willing to let you bale and remove straw without being compensated for that loss.

I have noticed that many of the large-scale farmers in my area of NC have adopted stripper headers, thus reducing the supply of straw available for baling.

Steve

 

[D7E]

Straw here is worth about $10 a round bale and being in the baling business I charge $7 a bale to custom bale . We farm 1700 acres of grain and usually give the straw away or burn it to retrieve some nutrient value if weather permits . We run as most do these days for capacity and reliability rotary combines and baling behind them is a touchy business , if it is dry a rotary combine will smash the straw making it hard for some balers to process , some guys disregard rotary straw as winter bedding because it is crushed and holds less thermal value , yet certain people look for it for young stock , calves,lambs dairy cows because it is softer .

With straw being so worthless for us normally it is not worth the loss of nutrients or the compaction that the land gets from all the equipment harvesting the straw . With recent years of wet weather windows are small to get crop off and get land worked before winter so waiting for "balers" who have been given the straw but tend to be weekend warriors who have a week job tends to end in bad relations . I have burned a field with 300 round bales on it that I waited 2 months for the guy to get the bales off !

Rotary combines are very adjustable depending on brand but you can change gears to slow chopper speed / retract stationary knives and even if conditions allow slow rotor speed but if it's dry they will crush it , Best rotary combine I've ever baled behind is NH TR series because they have twin smaller rotors unlike IH or gleaner with single rotor and leave a wider swath .

baling case IH rotary wheat straw , as you see the swaths are crushed very small !

 

[Ed L]

IMO, Small squares behind a modern combine isn't going to work well. The windrow of straw laid down by a 35' header is huge! A friend bought the largest NH square baler (BigBaler 340) just for that reason.

I think you would have to let the farmer spread the straw and then rake it into smaller windrows, unless you found someone running an older smaller machine.

Buying the straw "in the field" is common around here, several dairy farms do it. They also use large square balers (3'x3'x8'). Some will cut the wheat lower also, increasing the "yield" of straw.

Ed

 

[oldballs]

As wheat straw user, I annually buy 10-15 bales for my strawberries and other garden crops. I also use it in the fall family hayride that we annually have. Most years the price creeps up. Not being a farmer and not in gardening for a profit, I just pay it. Right now, a bale is $7-$10/bale. Some one told me that the small rectangular bales are getting harder to find because the small baling is going out of practice.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[sixdogs]

The first thing you need a huge building to store it in. Buyers want dry, bright straw with no mold.

It seems like this is an astounding amount of work for an uncertain market and price. You might be better as a straw middleman, or broker and connect buyers and sellers for a fee. No heavy lifting and there always seems to be straw for sale. To put up 10,000 t0 15,000 bales, with kicker wagons, I figure you would need 3 dedicated family member workers and maybe 8-12 straw unloaders and stackers.

It might be a moot point because the trends in wheat now are for a much shorter crop that results in little or no straw left over to bale. A couple years ago it was a rare sight aound here and now it's more common than not.

 

[AGRIMAN]

Several issues.

Wheat straw contains nutrients and organic matter that are removed when baled. I don't think many farmers would be willing to let you bale and remove straw without being compensated for that loss.

I have noticed that many of the large-scale farmers in my area of NC have adopted stripper headers, thus reducing the supply of straw available for baling.

I agree and that's and another disadvantage of removing the straw. The local buyer pays $25 per 4x6 bale delivered to his place. I have never asked, but he probably buys 20k+ bales a year.

Tring to no till or strip till through heavy straw can be a real pain even if chopped by the combine. Stipper heads are become popular as they don't cut the wheat only stip off the heads leaving the straw standing, which makes it easy to plant through. They also allow for faster ground speed with the combine.