# What to charge for small square baling???



## samueller

Hey everyone I am new to this page and I am looking for some advice.

I have done some custom baling for my neighbors the last few summers and I am looking at expanding my operation. I have older equipment, but it is well maintained and does a nice job. I have a gas 3010 I rebuilt and restored, a 706 with an engine I completely rebuilt this winter, 24T baler, 896A rake, and Kuhn 5 disc mower. I am from South Eastern South Dakota so there isn't a ton of available jobs but it would make a nice side income.

What does everyone one else charge to disc mow, rake, and bale with the customer picking up the bales?

Do you charge by the bale or by the acre?

What do you figure your expense are per bale small square bale to cut rake and bale? (We figure around $0.90 to $1.00 for cutting, raking, and baling with gas at $2-2.15 and twine at $50 bundle without figuring our time.)


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## 8350HiTech

I'd determine how many bales you expect to make per hour and how much you and your equipment are worth per hour. You per hour + equipment wear per hour then divide by bales per hour. Add that to your fixed cost of $1/bale and see what you come up with.


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## hog987

On the bit of custom square baling I have done for cutting raking and baling I figure $1.50/ bale they pick up. Or a minimum charge of $90/acre if they are close by. If you have to travel any distance this will have to be added.


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## Tx Jim

I charge $2 per bale to cut,rake & bale a 55-65# bale left on the ground for customer to pick up with a $80 per acre minimum charge.


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## IH 1586

This year I am charging $2.05/bale plus fuel to cut, rake and bale.


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## somedevildawg

I don't do small squares for other folks but for round baling it would be $85 an acre and square baling would be $100 an acre and they move bales. (Probably why I don't do much)


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## Tx Jim

IH 1586 said:


> This year I am charging $2.05/bale plus fuel to cut, rake and bale.


I'm curious as to why you charge for fuel when today that's a small % of operating cost? If I was going to charge extra it would be for PARTS. What method do you utilize to determine your fuel cost per customer or job?

Thanks,Jim


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## mlappin

I strictly break it down into each operation.

This year gonna be $14/acre for mowing with a 13 foot discbine.

$7/acre for tedding with a six basket tedder

$7/acre for raking with a 25 foot v-rake

$9/bale for round baling with net wrap and *I* rake the hay.
$11/bale if *they* rake the hay.


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## glasswrongsize

I do like Mlappin, but a little cheaper with cheaper equipment

$10 acre to cut with Gehl 1162

$5 acre to rake

$5 acre to ted (each time- if more than once)

$1.00 per bale small

$10. per bale 5x5

Different large geographic areas will demand more or less, as will smaller micro-areas (10 mile radius from you).

A good place to search is your State's University web site. A lot of (or most) states have a range-scale for each operation updated on a yearly basis.

I don't rely on my hay work, as I have a day job...on the other hand, I'm not gunna cut the throats of those that do rely on custom work just because I can. Basically, I want to charge similar to their established prices, so that IF a customer wants me to do the work, it's because they want ME to do it. Right now, I get along great with the locals that rely on farming (haying being a part of that) for their livelihood. l've taken a smidgen of the work that they used to do, but at a fair price. A lot less hard feelings within neighbors if no one is cutting throats just because they can.

73, Mark


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## IH 1586

Tx Jim said:


> I'm curious as to why you charge for fuel when today that's a small % of operating cost? If I was going to charge extra it would be for PARTS. What method do you utilize to determine your fuel cost per customer or job?
> 
> Thanks,Jim


I charge fuel separately because I can establish my price early in the season and my price will remain the same all year. I will not have to compensate for drastic price fluctuations if there are any. The method I utilize is filling the equipment out of the back of my truck and using the number of gallons on the meter.


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## IH 1586

I am curious how you guys track acres. Do you trust your customers to be honest, go home and map them yourself, or have radar/gps on your tractors. I charge by the hour. It is easier to track and if I have to go slow they have to pay more. I'm sure it's easier when your dealing with larger fields but here I could mow ten different field and none of them be over five acres. The only thing I charge by the acre is plowing.


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## Tim/South

IH 1586 said:


> I am curious how you guys track acres. Do you trust your customers to be honest, go home and map them yourself, or have radar/gps on your tractors. I charge by the hour. It is easier to track and if I have to go slow they have to pay more. I'm sure it's easier when your dealing with larger fields but here I could mow ten different field and none of them be over five acres. The only thing I charge by the acre is plowing.


I use this google tool to calculate acres. I works well on my computer. Some of my friends have trouble getting it to work correctly.

https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm


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## Lewis Ranch

I use my measure, can't recall the price but I've had it for probably 6 years and it's great for measuring fence lengths and acreage.


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## Redbaler

I agree with a flat rate per acre on the cutting and raking. But baling should defiantly be by the bale. Pretty sweet deal if you can just drop them on the ground for somebody else to mess with as long as you don't run any over.


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## Redbaler

One more thing if you use the acre calculator. If there are some steep hills it will short you. Satellite can't see the slope.


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## IH 1586

Tim/South said:


> I use this google tool to calculate acres. I works well on my computer. Some of my friends have trouble getting it to work correctly.
> 
> https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm


I use soil map when I want to figure acres. On my own fields I can get within .5 of an acre so would be comfortable in using it for pricing if I had to.


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## somedevildawg

Idk how some of you guys can do any custom work without minimums.....if you charge a minimum, I suppose you could just as well figure it by the acre and work out to about the same? Just seems much easier to do it by the acre......I could care less what it yields


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## hog987

IH 1586 said:


> I am curious how you guys track acres. Do you trust your customers to be honest, go home and map them yourself, or have radar/gps on your tractors. I charge by the hour. It is easier to track and if I have to go slow they have to pay more. I'm sure it's easier when your dealing with larger fields but here I could mow ten different field and none of them be over five acres. The only thing I charge by the acre is plowing.


I use the gps on my tractor. I have also used the acme plainmeter to get a good idea of how big a field is.


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## Tx Jim

I've corrected several of my baling customers inability to correctly state how many acres are in their fields by utilizing Google Planimeter. I look up acres and then print them out a map of their field with acres included. I can also measure acres with my baling tractor by utilizing the Intelletrak in the dash by setting it to raking width.


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## swmnhay

IH 1586 said:


> I am curious how you guys track acres. Do you trust your customers to be honest, go home and map them yourself, or have radar/gps on your tractors. I charge by the hour. It is easier to track and if I have to go slow they have to pay more. I'm sure it's easier when your dealing with larger fields but here I could mow ten different field and none of them be over five acres. The only thing I charge by the acre is plowing.


Here most fields have a FSA measurment.And you pretty much trust them on the acres.If they try screwing you they can do it themselves next time or get someone else.


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## bglz42

I charge a flat $2 per bale, picked up by customer.


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## cyclonic

Good topic.

I've been thinking about this for this coming year, as I'm getting a few more requests for custom baling small squares.

I like doing a crop share. I'm used to the arrangement already with some past deals. But I'm not sure if 50/50 is enough.

Last year, for a family friend, I did 65 acres of straw for him. The deal was I rake it, bale it w/ accumulator, my trailers/hauling, haul it 3 miles to HIS shed, and unload it with grapple. He stores it, and I'm in charge of selling it ALL. We split 50/50.

I made about $5200 on the sales of my share. I'm feeling like it wasn't a great deal for me. However, I do think I am a good marketer and I have good luck selling.

I'm thinking about charging a custom rate instead. And maybe just charging a brokerage fee to sell it.

Otherwise, maybe a $1 per bale to bale it and stack it on there rig in field, and an additional .50 to haul it in myself.

Thoughts?


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## somedevildawg

50/50 ain't a good deal for you.......


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## glasswrongsize

I agree that 50/50 doesn't sound too good, but not so far apart that it cant be negotiated. The responsibility of selling his would be the main part. I bale some 50/50 hay; some of the customers sell me their half and some I leave on the field. The benifit of your deal over mine is you don't have to mow the crop and you get free storage for your 1/2. It sounds like a deal that I would take with the exception of the responsibility of selling his straw...unless I needed his 1/2 to fill an order of a large account. If it is multiple small sales, the time/money that it takes to make each sale is fully realized by the owner, but only 1/2 realized by you. ...then again, you are getting free storage. 
Bottom line question would be: did you realize enough money to pay equip, fuel, and your wage? And is that "normal" for your area?
You may be able to buy his half right out of the field at a lesser price than you can sell for at a later time, which would skew the 50-50 to a 70-30 or so, but then you may have to haul farther and store. 
73, Mark


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## 8350HiTech

It's hard to tell what percentage is fair without knowing the value of the crop/year. It's possible that in a high value situation you'd actually make out better taking a 50/50 deal than charging a typical custom rate. In a low value crop/year you'd wish you could take a check for the work and leave the customer with their straw to deal with. However, that still means that charging a custom rate is most fair year to year because that way you're always getting a fair price for your work and the grain grower is getting whatever his straw is worth. Whether he'd want to switch is a whole different issue.


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## cyclonic

Yes, I've been thinking of seeing if he might let me purchase his half of the straw, and still let me use his storage. One way to price it to my advantage may be to take the average "per ton" or "per bale" of big rounds or big squares in my area, and pay that. I think I can double my money selling squares vs. rounds, so I could take that markup from him.

Or, the best bet may be to just charge a custom rate.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread from the OP, but I thought it may be helpful to share experiences.


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