# Exactly what is "custom baling"?



## whitewing

And hello everyone. New here but expect to find lots of interesting and helpful information at this site.


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## haybaler101

Welcome aboard. Custom baling is baling for someone else for hire.


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## whitewing

Ah okay. Well then, I'm a custom baler. Thanks.


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## Nitram

Welcome to Haytalk. What types of hay do you have over there?


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## whitewing

Nitram said:



> Welcome to Haytalk. What types of hay do you have over there?


Thanks for the welcome. At my ranch I bale bermuda. I've got about 30 hectars (roughly 75 acres) that's producing now with more coming on line this year. I use an irrigation system on part of that acreage. A few years back I built 5 ponds on the place and they've been a real life-saver.

Outside of my place I bale a bit of bermuda, a grass called "swasi" (Digitaria swazilandensis), which is basically #2 behind bermuda, "humidicola" (Brachiaria humidicola), "estrella" (which is the same genus as bermuda but thicker and less palatable for horses, and "decumbens" (Brachiaria decumbens) which is really more suitable for cattle than horses. These latter grasses were all imports of African varieties....which bermuda may be as well.....don't really know.

Here are a few pics of my place and some of my work off-site.

Some of my cattle feeding on decumbens with water being applied to my bermuda in the background.









A few shots of my bermuda during a typical Venezuelan "winter" or rainy season.

























Since it seems we're limited to 4 photos per post here, I'll add some posts with more shots of my work for you guys who might be interested.


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## whitewing

Baling bermuda at my place.

















Applying water to a just-baled section.









Custom baling a bermuda mix in the pueblo.


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## whitewing

Custom baling swasi and loading for shipment.

















Custom baling humidicola.


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## whitewing

Custom baling estrella.

















And finally, a view of my place from a few years ago during a very dry summer....pre-irrigation system. Summers can be brutal in my zone.


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## Tim/South

Nice operation you have there. It is always nice to see pictures.

Welcome!


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## swmnhay

Welcome to Hay Talk

Cool Pics.

You could use a accumalator!


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## Nitram

Wow that's beautiful set up. Nice to see other lands and how they do it. You have some beautiful land to work with and your dry times look like the Texas/ Oklahoma situation this past summer. Yes an accumulator would save you a LOT of work!!!


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## NDVA HAYMAN

Welcome. Very beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing. I have been to your country several times and really have enjoyed it. Your wine is the BEST. Tell us about your cattle and their breeding? TIA Mike


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## LeadFarmer

Thanks so much for sharing these pictures. Beautiful land!

Your place looks amazing. Awesome set-up and so gorgeous.


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## whitewing

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I have been ranching here for a number of years and got into the baling end of things late last July. A neighbor had bermuda established, I needed to establish some pasture, so, bermuda it was. I have found that it is not only a high protein pasture for my cattle, but the horse folks really seek it out.

In answer to the comments about an accumulator, yep, I know. I need a lot of things....most of which are almost impossible to find here. Ranching and farming here are not like what is enjoyed in the States and Canada where there are not only all the implements one needs, but a lot of choices amongst the brands as well. Fortunately for me, labor costs are quite low and fuel is almost given away. I pay about $0.03 a gallon for diesel and about double that for 95 octane gasoline.

My cattle consist of some purebred Charolais and mestizos. Mestizos are mixed blood animals, for the most part with strong brahman influence. I have been crossing my mestiza cows with a couple of my better Charolais bulls and have been reasonably pleased with the results.

Anyway, if you guys are interested, when time permits, I can post some more pics of my place and some of the other farms and ranches where I have been baling these last few months.


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## Nitram

That would be great!!! And send some of that fuel up here!!! LOL Martin


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## whitewing

Okay, here is a linky to a thread I posted on a cattle forum that I frequent. I hope linking that thread is not against site protocol here.

Cattle Forum & Cattle Discussion Boards at Cattle Today

In that thread I posted a number of photos of the local countryside and some photos of a ranch called La Gloria where I have been baling for a short while. La Gloria is actually a mango and lime plantation.....interesting place.

Lemme know what you think.


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