# Corn Stalk Rates and Bale Value



## onecincyfarmer66

Ok got my uncle wanting some corn stalk round bales put up this year. I know Purdue says custom rates are about $12 a bale. That seem right? And I havn't seen what guys are charging for bales yet? Does $35-45 a bale sound right, for this year in my drought area? He wants to do it on the halves but this year don't need the bales but if they are selling right I'd take them.

What would you do? Halves or $12 a bale.


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## swmnhay

_First of all,what size bale and wt?_

_And,is there a market for cornstalks there?Here if eveyone gets their own baled the market gets real cheap._


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## onecincyfarmer66

5x5 bales at 1000#'s. I've had a few guys ask if I was going to have any, and around my are there a alot of guys that don't farm any ground and just have some cattle. So, they will be looking for feed.


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## jtpfarm

Here in MN we get $13 per bale for raking and baling. Just my opinion but i would not go halves because then you are going to end up having to worry about moving the bales too.


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## Nitram

HERE C/Stock is going 50$ ton I charge family 10$ to bale grass hay. Paid 5$ per bale to field owner sold @25$ includes loading on their trailer 5x5 bale 900+lbs. Everyone was happy. Martin


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## Chessiedog

I baled couple hundred last year on halfs , sold to mostly 2 guys for bedding 30 a bale was what we seltted on . I sure don't like baling them, I think they are hard on every thing . 5 x 5 bales don't know what they weighed, I dout they weigh like hay to bulky .


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## T & R Hay Farms

I baled 600 cornstalk bales this year. 5x6 ad weighed 1500#. Sold all of them for 25$ a bale. And I could have roughly sold 3000-4000 bales this hear. There was a high demand and I'm from the Fargo, ND area.


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## swmnhay

richardtlewis said:


> I baled 600 cornstalk bales this year. 5x6 ad weighed 1500#. Sold all of them for 25$ a bale. And I could have roughly sold 3000-4000 bales this hear. There was a high demand and I'm from the Fargo, ND area.


You maybe need to raise your price a little.If you figure your ferilizer removal value and cost of baling $25 a bale is not enough for a 1500 lb bale.

The last time i figured it out fertilzer removal is about $20 per ton of stover removal


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## barnrope

richardtlewis said:


> I baled 600 cornstalk bales this year. 5x6 ad weighed 1500#. Sold all of them for 25$ a bale. And I could have roughly sold 3000-4000 bales this hear. There was a high demand and I'm from the Fargo, ND area.


How do you get a cornstalk bale to weigh 1500 lbs. consistantly?


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## T & R Hay Farms

swmnhay said:


> You maybe need to raise your price a little.If you figure your ferilizer removal value and cost of baling $25 a bale is not enough for a 1500 lb bale.
> 
> The last time i figured it out fertilzer removal is about $20 per ton of stover removal


I do not farm the land. My boss does and he has talked to his Agronomist, he says the corn stover is basically justs removing Ash from the soil. I asked my boss what he would like to charge me for the corn stover and we worked out a pretty good deal.


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## T & R Hay Farms

barnrope said:


> How do you get a cornstalk bale to weigh 1500 lbs. consistantly?


I bale with a JD 568 baler and had the density set as high as it would go and I got a 1500 lb bale. Next year I plan on backing that off a little, since there was some parts on the baler that looked a little worn when doing the post-baling inspection of the baler this year.


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## Nitram

T & R Hay Farms said:


> I bale with a JD 568 baler and had the density set as high as it would go and I got a 1500 lb bale. Next year I plan on backing that off a little, since there was some parts on the baler that looked a little worn when doing the post-baling inspection of the baler this year.


Yes that was my consern this yr. my first time in the corn. I tried to keep the density low enough to avoid tearing up belts etc as the landlord didn't want the time taken to cut with the disc mower before baling (which I thought you did to get that much wieght) Martin


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## swmnhay

T & R Hay Farms said:


> I do not farm the land. My boss does and he has talked to his Agronomist, he says the corn stover is basically justs removing Ash from the soil. I asked my boss what he would like to charge me for the corn stover and we worked out a pretty good deal.


Here is a older post where we discussed nutrient removal.With a link to a study.

http://www.haytalk.com/forums/topic/14493-a-guide-for-nutrient-rmoval-of-cornstalks/

I'm quite surprised a Agronomist would say that stover is just ash.I'm kinda wondering where he got his degree?

HERE we see yield improvement by baling of stalks to get rid of the trash.Soil warms up better in spring.I'm thinking maybe the agronomist is thinking that?But you are taking P&K off if you bale it.We replace it with manure to keep the P&K levels high.


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