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hay delivery

B

BIG RUH

Member
Sold 20 small square bales of alfalfa to local person with horses. He wants it delivered and stack in his born. Lives about 10 miles away. How much should I charge foe delivery?
 
I always added at least 10 bucks a ton but that was using a bale wagon that held 4 1/2 ton a trip, but then I do not care for handling small squares any more than I have to lol
 
A flat rate of $25 per hour including your drive time both ways should be fair to both parties.
 
Ah, another horse hay thread. ;) I enjoy them....

I see on Craig's list, amongst the many ads selling hay, every couple of months a horse person wtb horse hay, needs to be delivered and stacked, and wondering where to find any? Once they had a price in their ad what they would pay, it was a buck a bale less than all the ads selling hay. They wanted it delivered and stacked for a buck less than the going hay price.

While it doesn't hurt to ask, the funny part of the cheap hay ad is how it is worded, very demanding tone. Bargin hunting with a bully attitude!

Horse folk tend to pay a premium and keep hay folks afloat (anyhow those that do pay....) but also lead to some good head shaking and long lasting stories about the 'special' ones.....

Paul
 
an extra dollar would be $20. now, IF he wants it upstairs in the hay mow, or you can't get the truck within 50 feet of the barn because of mud, too much junk in the driveway, etc, or as my neighbor would say, he wants it in the armpit of the barn, $20 wouldn't cover the time, gas, and aggravation for me.
otoh, $2/bale would probably kill the deal around here (hay around $2.50-3/bale for grass hay)
i'd consider the PITA conditions vs potential for later sales, and start with $1.50/ bale delivery fee.
 
If you were close around here my son has friends who would love the work for $20, they cannot find anyone who makes small squares to work for.

Joe
 
I would not sell hay to someone that bought 20 bales and expected it delivered and stacked.

Charge $4 per bale plus $100 delivery and stacking fee.
 
Buck a mile round trip.. extra 20.00.. not sure I would charge any for unloading and stacking if its a straight shot from trailer to ground and 20 bales wont take you long to unload.. I charge 5.00 a bale for grass hay.. picked up or delivered.. if delivered then I add the mileage which really you dont make money on but pays gas...and what the case is for stacking.. One place I had to throw off trailer then pick up bale and go through a walkin door around a corner and stack..I told them would charge more next time as this was above and beyond the call of duty..
 
I normally tell people I don't deliver. Been put in the trick bag too many times. I do have a couple people I do deliver to, but they buy large quantities and always have help to unload. I charge them $2/loaded mile and add.$25/bale, but they buy 100+ squares at a time or full trailer loads of rounds. It seems like the people that really want you to bend over backwards for them are not good customers in the end.
 
I'm not in the business, but just a couple thoughts:

1. How well do you know the person? Is he a good friend or some local jerk?

2. Has a bought from you before or is this a one shot deal?

3. Since the price was not set in advance, and since it's only 20 bales, I'd probably cut him some slack and charge him a minimum amount with the understanding that any future deliveries would be at a set price and delivery at a set price and all the terms would be set up and agreed to in advance. That way everybody knows where they stand.

I have a friend who sells hay to horse people, and I know he unloads and puts it away for them. He never told me what he charges, but did say that he gets paid pretty well for doing that.
 
After explaining to them the special skills and technique needed to properly relocate such fine feed without loosing too much of the leaf matter that has all the essential nutrients required for the optimal growth and performance of there pampered princess pony (aka swaybacked old nag) that they have the privilege of owning, let them know you will cut them a deal on the first load and do it for a mere $5 a bale.
As a one time only offer tell them you will also be willing to share with them your years of knowledge and show them how to properly handle equine feed but they must be properly dressed and be prepared to take constructive criticism from you while you sit on the lawn chair that they are to provide while you are instructing them. :D
 
Well these folks could be the "other" kind -- people that have horses and NOT horse people. My wife and I are the former -- we are people with horses. We have paid the same price for hay the past four years. We show up when we say we will, we help load from their wagon to a trailer (we are 50 miles from the seller) and have always paid. The seller also will work with us on hay that we don't like or bales that are wet. In fact, as we load, he often will set hay aside if HE doesn't think it is a bale that will work for us. Our animals get straight grass hay, no need for any alfalfa. If we find bales as we use them that are not "good," he always has done right by us. Seems like a pretty good deal for both of us. So before lumping all us folks into that "horse people" group, remember there are others who are not that way! Yes there are those that are difficult and our seller has told us of "those" people. But we buy 300-400 bales of hay per year -- we have a dry lot and don't have pasture ground.
 
I'm too good hearted to answer this one. My wife says I get taken advantage of alot but someday it will pay back. I'm really easy on folks that are my mom and dad's age. Will bend over backwards to help em. Usually forget to add anything to the bill. Oh and young couples just starting out and.........lol. Do what feels right when you get there
 
Horse hay buyers are why I no longer sell hay. Their schedule is all that matters. It's got to be dirt cheap. And one way or another the hay is never good enough. Of course, they won't buy their own hay equipment and invest their own time
 
We will have the capability to do our own hay next year -- using the baler I baled with last in 1981, a McCormick 46 baler. We typically have had the neighbor cut and bale in big rounds the grass hay we have had, but having moved a lot of dirt we will be putting in new grass, hopefully enough to take care of our small herd (2 horses and a mule). But again, as I noted below... not all of us are "horse people."
 
(quoted from post at 11:56:13 07/18/17) Well these folks could be the "other" kind -- people that have horses and NOT horse people. My wife and I are the former -- we are people with horses. We have paid the same price for hay the past four years. We show up when we say we will, we help load from their wagon to a trailer (we are 50 miles from the seller) and have always paid. The seller also will work with us on hay that we don't like or bales that are wet. In fact, as we load, he often will set hay aside if HE doesn't think it is a bale that will work for us. Our animals get straight grass hay, no need for any alfalfa. If we find bales as we use them that are not "good," he always has done right by us. Seems like a pretty good deal for both of us. So before lumping all us folks into that "horse people" group, remember there are others who are not that way! Yes there are those that are difficult and our seller has told us of "those" people. But we buy 300-400 bales of hay per year -- we have a dry lot and don't have pasture ground.
Click to expand...

farmallsandcoops my post was not meant to offend people with horses, I wrote it fun as I felt it reflects the many stories/horror stories that get posted on here about people dealing with a certain kind of folk that because of there own actions get labeled as horse people.

I like the distinction you use; "people with horses" total different meaning.

I suppose we could be called horse people ourselves, we have a dozen of them out back, but we have a cattle ranch and the horses are tools of the trade as much as tractors and quads are.

Makes a person wonder what horse people say about cattle people and hay people and people with horses for that matter. :D
 
I prefer not to deliver so I tell them $1.00 a bale extra for delivery. Probably not worth my time but it's something. Usually the Amish that want it delivered and that changes their mind. Only have one regular customer my wife made the deal with, $10 and she gives us a couple dozen fresh eggs but lately not even the eggs. And it's a pain. She takes 54 bales and we have to stack it in a 2-car garage with one side converted to stalls. Lots of junk in the way and have to stack up to the ceiling. Spruces with low branches all along the driveway, up hill back to the road and she can't keep it plowed well. Overall PITA. I pull them off the truck and let SWIMBO who made the deal help her stack.
 
I had a guy complain to me once about $5 a bale hay. I told him all he had to do was buy some land for $5000 an acre, buy tractor, swather, baler, and some trailer s to haul it on, a good enough pickup to tow the trailers then build a shed or two to store it in then he too could get in on the cheap hay business.
 
Buyer has agreed to 50% of the price he paid for the hay. $7.00 per bale plus $3.50 per bale delivered. There will be a pallet for me to stack at the back of my truck, if not it goes on the ground. Buyer is noted for being rather demanding with his hay he buys. I'm setting my ground rules at the beginning. I figure he is buying as a testing of the hay. Other people who have sold to him in large quanity say he will send his own crew and trailer to get it. If he does not add me to his buying list, that's 500-600 bales I don't have to worry about baling.
 
Well If I could get $7.50 a bale I would think about delivering it. LOL I sold a fair amount of horse hay 30 years ago. At the time I was getting $2.50 a bale and $.50 per bale to deliver on loads 100 bales or larger.

Quit about 15 years ago and had gotten it to where I only delivered semi load lots. Had three large horse barns that had hired Mexicans an they did all the work. I just backed into the barn. Then they thought that they could buy hay out of the Dakotas cheaper. So I just cut the hay acres back to what I needed and crop farmed the rest. Made my life ten times easier.

P.S. The next year after the big horse farms all went together and bought Dakota hay, one of them came to me "offering" to take my hay off my hands for a $1 a bale less than they had given two years before. LOL I walked him around the house an pointed to the "new" contour strips with corn and soybeans. I told him that was his former hay ground and it was not going back to hay for at least five years on the current rotation. I guess he figured I would keep making the same amount of hay and just storing it for him to come along and buy/steal. LOL
 
Glad you like my distinction!! My response was "general" and not directed at you, but at those who think anyone who owns horses are "horse people." I don't consider someone who uses horses in a working fashion as "horse people!"

I have known "horse people," mostly when I lived out east. Ex and I had a horse at a self-care barn. By the time 6 months was up, I was stacking every one elses hay because my stack in the haymow was nice and square while all the others weren't. Kept me in beer for weeks at a time! Grew up baling hay on moderate rolling ground on a flat bed -- no rack on the back. Never lost a load. ;)
 
I always charged a buck a bale for smaller loads like that to deliver. If you're doing everything including stacking in the barn, I'd consider more.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
I usually figure $0.25 per bale per time handled: out of your barn is one, on your trailer is two, off you trailer is three, in his barn os four, so add a buck a bale to the price.

Neighbor lady wanted some of my leftover hay, hired a couple of young guys to bring it out and over to her barn and stack it. Paid $10 per hour per guy, and it came out almost exactly the same as $1 per bale. But, my barn is a pain to get hay out of, unless feeding it to my cows.
 
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