Square Hay Bales Fish Scales......

Bill VA · Dec 4, 2014

Probably get my head chopped off for this question, but - here goes.....

Reading a lot of posts about square bale weight. Some bale 35-40ish lbs and others 60+ lbs. Do you folks weigh your bales or is it a wild guess or something in between?

When selling to a customer, ever have them weigh some of the bales so they know the actual weight - or when you buy squares, do you sample weigh them?

I know of some guys that bale and the weight depends on their fish scales. A light bale really weighs 65 kbs - LOL or the guy setting on the tractor all day long cranking out 40 lb bales, but the hired hands know they are 60+ lbs based on how much their back aches!

Wild guess, years of experience or a set of scales - how do you know how much your square bales of hay weigh?

Surely no one is using fish scales.... LOL!

Just curious?

hd6gtom · Dec 4, 2014

We used to load them on the truck and run them across a certified scale. Divide by the # of bales on the load gives you the answer.

flying belgian · Dec 4, 2014

I sell by volume not by weight. Customer comes look at bales, I tell him it is $5/bale. If he thinks that is a fair price he buys them. If not he goes elsewhere. Same as when I buy a tractor or car. I am buying by piece not weight. If I think that is a fair price for that tractor, I buy it. I don't care what it weighs.

John_PA · Dec 4, 2014

Grain scale in the barn. I thought all farmers had a grain scale? It's the only fair way to weigh a bushel, if selling sacked grain by the bushel.

JRSutton · Dec 4, 2014

same here - it's basically buyer beware. To us, a bale is a bale, it's $5.00 first cut, $6.00 second cut - take it or leave it.

We know what feels right to us, and that's how we bale them. Sometimes they're heavier because they're not as dry - more weight doesn't always mean you're getting more hay.

retired farmer · Dec 4, 2014

Run a load of them across the truck scales.

sotxbill · Dec 4, 2014

hay is a screwed up market.. no comodity here. Not by weight..

So... you have wet hay, dry hay, loose hay, tight hay, fertilized hay, not fertilized hay. You have coastal, johnson, rye, kline, tifton, alfalfa, grazer, stuble, and pure weed trash hay,,, and pretty much no quality control..

As said,,, its a screwed up market when a bale of weeds sales same fertilized hay.

most balers here charge by the bale to cut and bale your hay... some even have a setup charge and then by the bale if the fields are light

squares, short, long, rounds small large,, then loafs... a small round has less than half the hay a large round does by weight, but cost 2/3s a much...

as said.. screwed up market.

John_PA · Dec 4, 2014

agreed.

Bill in IL · Dec 4, 2014

We try to make the bales to the lighter 40lb side. The horse people around here that buy the hay want the bales light so they can handle them easily and will pay more for light bales than heavy ones.

jlewis457 · Dec 4, 2014

I worked on a race horse farm and the owner always wanted to buy by the ton he said that way no one ever felt like they were cheated.

Kerry50 · Dec 4, 2014

My grandfather carried a set of scales in the twine box on his baler. He knew what it was like to handle to heavy a bale all day and he didn't want his haulers mad cuz the bales were to heavy. He would get off every lil bit and weigh a bale or two. He liked for his bales to be at 50 pounds.

JBDyer · Dec 4, 2014

Yea, I use a portable hand held scale, I weigh after the first ten or so bales then once or twice during the day. I shoot for 60-65 lbs. My scale goes from 0 - 100 lbs. Seams to make a nice bale for me and customers. Would be kinda inconvenient to haul a bale or two back to the barn at the beginning of the day. The nearest truck scale is ten miles away. I tried some 50 pounders once and couldn't sell them, I priced them cheaper but folk thought they were getting cheated, so I returned to 60 pounds. Coastal Bermuda and Tifton here. Johnny

vscummins · Dec 4, 2014

Weigh the truck load it weigh the truck pretty simple actually

vscummins · Dec 4, 2014

So if you were selling grain and the elevator said 500 a truck load you would be fine with it if they paid you 500 and you had semi with two trailers loaded to 105000. and they paid me 500 and I had 1956 1.5 ton truck loaded to 12000?

Square Hay Bales Fish Scales......

Bill VA

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hd6gtom

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flying belgian

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John_PA

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JRSutton

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retired farmer

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sotxbill

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John_PA

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Bill in IL

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jlewis457

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Kerry50

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JBDyer

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vscummins

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vscummins

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