# Hay Production cost



## Small Haymaker (Apr 24, 2012)

Hello. I am new to forums and farming. I hope I don't mess either one up to much. We are make hay on about 60 acres for our animals, and we sell the rest. The previous owner made hay here too. The fields are decent mix of rye grass and orchard grass with some other grass mixed in here and there. I added up our fuel cost and fertilizer/weed spray cost and repair cost and twine from last year and ended up with about $90 per acre which works out to about $36 per ton of hay. Does this seem right? I know there are more costs with depreciation and our mortgage payment but I haven't added that in. I probably should have told you we only fertilizer once and we only make one cutting. Does that make more sense?
Thanks


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## country boy (May 27, 2010)

in my opinion if you can get it done for those figures your doing good . my fertilizer cost is more than that.


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## dubltrubl (Jul 19, 2010)

country boy said:


> in my opinion if you can get it done for those figures your doing good . my fertilizer cost is more than that.


Us too. Our production costs before insurance, depreciation and maintenance run about twice that amount.


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## terraceridge (Jul 21, 2011)

I am looking at spending $430 per acre this year just for fertilizer. That works out to (hopefully) $75 per ton. Include spray, labor, and equipment maintenance and we are well over $110 per ton.


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## Small Haymaker (Apr 24, 2012)

I probably should have told you we only fertilizer once and we only make one cutting. Do my numbers make a little more sense?


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## terraceridge (Jul 21, 2011)

Your numbers make a lot more sense now. Today I priced ammonium nitrate at $660/ton and potash at $738/ton.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

we only fertilizer once and we only make one cutting.

I have a friend who contends we just feed our soil and it is the soil that feeds the crops.

HERE anything you add to the soil will persist for years and years. Go to East Texas and they claim their fertilizers can disappear in 3 to 6 weeks, regardless of quantities.

I know of an alfalfa grower in Alberta who is happy with one cutting a season.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I was talking to my fertilizer dealer yesterday and he said urea has jumped $200/ton (up to $880/ton) in the last two weeks because India jumped in and bought up all the supplies. He said there is absolutely none to be had in this area.

Ralph


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## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

Oh yeah. From my first load to my last load this spring. It is up almost 1/3 from what I started paying. But....I still contend that it is cheaper to spend money on fert. and run less acres then running more acres without fert. Hopefully Nitrogen comes back down. If not, we all better be looking for alternatives.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I put some anhydrous on some mixed grass hay in some lowland.I was knifing in some for corn next to it so I thought i would give it a try.I put 80 lbs of actual N on.I was surprised it work well.Just a few small clumps of sod came up.Anhydrous was running 66% of cost of urea when i put it on couple weeks ago.

Wonder if I got the nieghbors talking?Running a 17 knife anhydrous applicator threw a lowland slough


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

terraceridge said:


> I am looking at spending $430 per acre this year just for fertilizer. That works out to (hopefully) $75 per ton. Include spray, labor, and equipment maintenance and we are well over $110 per ton.


Wow you must beable to get a good price for your hay there. Around here the last few years its been hard. My best prices is just over $100 per ton. Too many people around selling hay for $50 per ton just to get rid of it. Its crazy cause thats straw price.


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## jdhayboy (Aug 20, 2010)

Dang swmhay! Let us know how it works out compared to regular fertilizer. That's interesting to me, I always like trying something new.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

hog987 said:


> Wow you must beable to get a good price for your hay there. Around here the last few years its been hard. My best prices is just over $100 per ton. Too many people around selling hay for $50 per ton just to get rid of it. Its crazy cause thats straw price.


What state are you in hog and what type of hay do most folks grow in your area?

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

jdhayboy said:


> Dang swmhay! Let us know how it works out compared to regular fertilizer. That's interesting to me, I always like trying something new.


Someone on here has a special anhydrous applicator made for knifeing into grass.It has little press wheels to press sod back down.He had pics posted a yr or 2 ago.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

swmnhay said:


> Someone on here has a special anhydrous applicator made for knifeing into grass.It has little press wheels to press sod back down.He had pics posted a yr or 2 ago.


Check the thread on Anhydrous I started a couple of weeks ago. I think the applicator it was a Waco(?)

My test strip on OG is noticeably better than where I applied urea. I'm a little shy on rain so I can't really tell what all is going on.

In the conversation with my dealer, we talked about knifing in liquid 28. He did some quick calculations and said that 28 was running $.71/unit and urea was $.96 (If I heard him correctly--I was driving and listening and not doing a very good job of either!).

I think I'm going to go to 28 on one of my bigger OG fields as a test. Don't have to worry about getting a rain, can put it on in the fall, cheaper, and I'm thinking knifing it in will open up the soil and root system.

Ralph


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## terraceridge (Jul 21, 2011)

hog987 said:


> Wow you must beable to get a good price for your hay there. Around here the last few years its been hard. My best prices is just over $100 per ton. Too many people around selling hay for $50 per ton just to get rid of it. Its crazy cause thats straw price.


I can get about $200 a ton for square bales of coastal bermuda in NC. There are farmers just up the road selling hay for $2 a bale. I don't understand how anyone can afford to do that.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Vol said:


> What state are you in hog and what type of hay do most folks grow in your area?
> 
> Regards, Mike


Iam in central Alberta. Most people grow a grass mixed hay and I grow an alfalfa mixed hay. 1 to 2 cuts per year depending on the weather and how much or how little rain we get. I seen an add about a week ago where someone was giving away 3x4 squares just to get rid of them. People in the area are just about giving there hay away. Working up there hay land and seeding canola. Should be a good thing for someone like me with a lot less hay around this year.


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## OK Wheat farmer (Aug 30, 2011)

We're using compost because it's considerably cheaper than commercial fertilizer. It came with a nice sales pitch but the price is what sold us. We should have about $90/ton in irrigated alfalfa.


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