# One time cutting price



## Pro-soil (Apr 17, 2020)

There was a 40 ac grass hay field that recently sold. I was wandering what would be a fair price to pay if the new owner would let me make the first cutting? I'm thinking around $2 a small bale

Thanks for your input!


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## mstuck21 (Oct 4, 2019)

I've been wondering something similar. Depends on what kind of grass is in the field and what's it worth (in your area) once you have it in a bale.

I talked with one guy recently who said around here he's paid $2 to ss bale a cutting of straight alfalfa. I would pay that price for a later cutting of alfalfa if I could get it, but on the selling end 3rd/4th/5th cuttings of quality alfalfa fetch a pretty decent price around here to the horse crowd. There'd be little more meat left on the bone for me compared to grass hay,

Most pasture/grass fields around here are predominately fescue which may bring $3-4 a bale. Margins would be pretty slim at the price point for my taste.

One other thing to consider is how quickly would the owner want their $$. A 40-acre field could make quite a few bales, which is good for you but also increases the size of the check that you would have to write potentially before you sell any hay.


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## ttazzman (Sep 29, 2019)

in my area a lot of hay is cut on shares........and typically the maximum land owner share is 50% of the hay in a bale in the field.........and many times the share for the owner is much less......so if its $4 a bale hay selling price then 2$ a bale would be maximum in our area .......obviously the value would change with hay type etc

a more typical share here is 1/3 or 1/4 to the land owner ....so 50% is max


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## Pro-soil (Apr 17, 2020)

In my area $6 grass is common. The type of grass is unknow guessing fescue.

Edit this will be a one cutting deal going to be row cropped this spring.


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## mstuck21 (Oct 4, 2019)

If I had the potential for $6 a bale/the time/ the ability etc.
to do so I'd pursue it in the $1.50-$2 bale range. Use that as your ceiling. Still have your own costs to figure in so pencil it out and see where you end up.

Keep in mind if that the $6 price point may also be a best case scenario. At the local auction this past weekend ss straw bales brought a minimum of $3.50 and grass hay ranged from $1.70-3.00 a bale. Don't know what happened there but that's a bad day.

Start the conversation and see where it takes you. See if it's a possibility of you cutting it and see if they'd throw out a price. If they say $3 a bale, say thanks for your time, if they say just come cut it, smile and try not to hug them.


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