Price of custom baleing this year

Rooster in Tenn · Feb 20, 2011

I do custom bale work in middle tenn,I know that fuel and part and twine are all high. I do about 100 arces of my own hay to sale, and about the same for my customer. My bale are 5X5.5 rolls. I know cattle are up, but I think my customer are going to be in for a surprize on the price of hay this year. What do you think the going rate is going to be for baleing this year? My fuel man said fuel is going to be high this spring. 4.00 dollar fuel may put me out busniess. What do ya"ll think is going happen this year?

DBAF · Feb 20, 2011

Cut rake bale is going to be about as much as you can buy hay for.I don't do much custom baleing except for a few older neighbors kinda as a favor, I don't really want them to stop running cows but it wouldn't bother me if I didn't have to bale there hay.

flying belgian · Feb 20, 2011

I'm leaving my prices the same for custom baling again this year. $65.00/hr. Some of my customers try changing me every year to ----per bale, by acre, by ton. My answer is always the same. $65/hr. do you want me to come bale it or not. You will not hurt my feelings if you get someone else. I have plenty to do. Some may get another next time but they all come back after they see what other price structures really cost. I think others may be cheaper but I give them a good job and give them an hours worth of work for an hours pay.

Roy Ward · Feb 20, 2011

I sell a lot of hay (Angleton) last year sold 5X5's for 45.00. With equipment repairs ETC and fuel I'am going up this year to 55.00. My customers are going to raise cain. They just don't realize what it takes. Most of them are operating at what it cost 10 years ago. Here is the big problem. I don't like to have hay from last year still on hand when I'am cutting new hay. So what do you do. You have to lower the price and get it sold.

Rooster in Tenn · Feb 20, 2011

Flying Belgian if told my customer it was going to be 65.00 an hr. they would laid down die. It's going to be bumpy ride. I was thinking about going to 25.00 dollars a bale. If I cann't make money at that I will just park my machiney in the barn and call a year. I'm not in the business to lose money. But people in tenn will not pay by the hr.

Rooster in Tenn · Feb 20, 2011

Roy you are right, 10 years ago we selling hay for 20 dollars a roll. They want their hay put for nothing,when you brake down and tell them how much it cost, they say that only X number roll.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 20, 2011

What happens in my area is folks do their own cutting, tedding, and raking. Then there are a few that have round balers that will drive over and spit out rolls for a price per roll (6-7 bucks). Myself and a couple others have small square balers. I baled a little this year for a couple folks but didn't charge anything don't know what the others charged.

We pay $8.00 a gallon for fuel.

Dave

showcrop · Feb 20, 2011

I think that prices will have to go up. On the news recently they said food has gone up, what 30%? Fuel is way up. Insurance is way up. Everything else that we have to buy will be following.

Tx Jim · Feb 20, 2011

(quoted from post at 14:32:59 02/20/11) I'm leaving my prices the same for custom baling again this year. $65.00/hr. Some of my customers try changing me every year to ----per bale, by acre, by ton. My answer is always the same. $65/hr. do you want me to come bale it or not. You will not hurt my feelings if you get someone else.

Is $65 per hr just for baling or the complete job? I charge $20 for cutting,raking & baling. I'm going up to $22. This for a 4X5.5 bale that will cross the scale at 1000-1100#s. Parts,equipment and fuel just keep going up so I'm going up in price or keep my equipment in the barn.

JWalker · Feb 20, 2011

I usually charge $25 per acre to cut and rake then $5 per roll. Granted I am only rolling a 4X4 roll. I price it this way to encourage the neighbors to take care of their hayfields and cut them only when there is enough hay to justify cutting it.

M Nut · Feb 20, 2011

Is that just for baling round bales? I charge $8 per bale, planning to go up to $10 if fuel goes as high as they say it will. In good hay I can dump 20 bales an hour. At that rate, I'm getting $160-$200 an hour. I sure won't do it for less. You are very reasonable if you are making close to that 20 bale an hour number.

hayray · Feb 20, 2011

I just have to play the by the bale deal, my one large customer won't pay by the acre or by the hour. I am getting $18.50 per 4x4 roll and $1.95 per small square off the wagon. I need to be careful not to squeeze the customers too much. In 2008 things got crazy and customers found other alternatives, most of them are on life support anyways. I never got my round bale market back after not lowering my prices enough following the boom of 2008. Good article in the last Hay and Forage Grower about this and the export alfalfa market.

kyhayman · Feb 20, 2011

I'm going to 20 this year on a 4x54 inches or 70.00 an hour to cut and rake (each) and 85.00 to bale. 10.00 if I just roll it. 40 bale minimum any way I do it.

For me its take it or leave it. Last winter I ended up for the first time ever with inside stored rounds left over, over 200 of them. This winter those are all gone, and down to the last 25-30 of this years crop. Plus I've bought up every bale I can find cheap.

There will always be somebody out there trying to do it cheaper but I think people locally are going to be in for a big surprise. Nearly all the custom operators either went out or passed away in the past 2 years.

As to carry over, all mine is stored under roof or in plastic. I made a decision last year that I wasnt coming down in price and I wasnt discounting. People can pay me what its worth or I'll had cows and boarding horses and feed it myself.

Price of custom baleing this year

Rooster in Tenn

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DBAF

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flying belgian

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Roy Ward

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Rooster in Tenn

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Rooster in Tenn

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Anonymous-0

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showcrop

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Tx Jim

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JWalker

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M Nut

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hayray

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kyhayman

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