# Mow and rake



## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

8 acres


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

And??


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

I'm in the custom harvest forum... I figured it was pretty straight forward. How much would you charge to mow and rake 8 acres?


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

$250 minimum per tractor that enters the feild, but that is me.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

So for 8 acres you'd charge $500?

$250 for mowing 
$250 for raking


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

I charge $10 per acre to mow and $5 per acre to rake and/or ted... but I only accept work for people that I like and are close to my farm...it's worth more I think.

73, Mark


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

I'd put typical mowing and raking at $15 and $7 or 8 but that's for a good, efficient job that's a good use of travel time and provides a good work day. For a nuisance job like 8 acres (on acreage alone, could be even worse if multiple fields or rough ground) it could easily climb closer to $25 and $12.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

2 fields flat land. Anyways I'm asking to figure out if I'm paying a fair price. Farmer 2 miles away.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

The fairness of price also hinges upon local competitors for small custom jobs. If there are many, a fair price would be on the low end as the people are probably competitive to gain work. If there are few, the person doing yours could nearly name any price and still be considered fair.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Whoops. Double post.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

He wants hay as payment. So I'm trying to calculate how much is fair.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

I'd prefer to sell as much as possible instead of letting him take it home.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

MyDaughtersPony said:


> So for 8 acres you'd charge $500?
> $250 for mowing
> $250 for raking


As a matter of fact I would. I don't need practice and neither does my equipment. If I don't make money why bother? 
Example. I have to pay someone, either myself or am employee, to fire up a machine and go do the job. Let's say it is 10 miles away. He drives it there and back so let's say 2 hours each peice. He does the work, let's say 1/2 to 1 hour each. Now we have six hours labor. It costs 18.45/ hour to pay a man 15/hr. 
Now we arrive at fuel and depreciation. Granted, not much but still some. 
Now we arrive at profit margin. 
What would you charge?


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

I didn't see the 2 miles away comment until after my last post.
I still charge a minimum. 
If it was a neighbor I would still charge 25/acre to cut and 10/acre to rake, and that is if it was on my way by. 
Bear in mind that I am talking about here, not there. There are a lot of large feilds and small stuff is more headache than it is worth usually.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

I think $20/acre to mow $10/acre to rake is adequate. I understand as with anything hay related it's largely regional. The farmer lives less than 2 miles away. My field is flat... I think a fair price is any price agreed upon.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

MyDaughtersPony said:


> So for 8 acres you'd charge $500?
> 
> $250 for mowing
> $250 for raking


Yep I charge a minimum of $500 per job or $50 per acre minimum which ever is greater per customer. I agree with Lostin55 if a little profit can't be generated I don't need the experience. Around me people $35 or more per acre just to mow weeds & grass with a rotary mower(brush hog type) and that's for one pass over land not several passes.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

I understand that you big timers don't want to spend the time on an 8 acre field... And I wouldn't want to pay your prices. I'm looking for a logical option. Thanks for your information.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

MyDaughtersPony said:


> I understand that you big timers don't want to spend the time on an 8 acre field... And I wouldn't want to pay your prices. I'm looking for a logical option. Thanks for your information.


Being big time operator or small operator doesn't matter much The cost of owning equipment plus parts,labor & fuel add up quickly.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

Then why such the disparity in prices? Can't all be regional issues.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

$14/acre to mow with a 13 foot discbine

$6/acre each time it needs tedded

$6/acre for raking with 25 foot v-rake

$9/bale for round baling

No minimum if I'm already driving past it anyways, however if its X miles out of my way I most likely won't mess with it.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

Thanks mlappin. I suppose the guys with higher prices don't want to mess with a small field... And I don't want to mess with there prices.

I'm thinking something between $14-$20 per acre to mow and $7-$10 per acre to rake is reasonable.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Using your highest price per acre comes to $240. Unless you find a very close neighbor I think it will be difficult to find someone that wants to make 2 trips for $120 each trip. With a 9 ft cutter & rake it will take close to 4 hrs to cut & rake not including road time.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

We are a very small operation. Unfortunately, it takes the same equipment to farm 5 acres as is does to farm 50, or 500 for that matter. 
I understand where you are coming from, and why. The bottom line can more or less be summed up by saying that there are two types of people that will cut your hay. Those that will do it for a profit and those that do it for a hobby. Ie. Friends, neighbors, family.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

He's a friendly neighbor. He's less than 2 miles away. I appreciate all of the opinions and information.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

MyDaughtersPony said:


> Thanks mlappin. I suppose the guys with higher prices don't want to mess with a small field... And I don't want to mess with there prices.
> 
> I'm thinking something between $14-$20 per acre to mow and $7-$10 per acre to rake is reasonable.


Small fields are a pain.

I do 4 acres for our commander at the VFW, 2 acres at his house which I can drive right past, the other two acres at his sons house which is barely a mile from another of my fields. I should add his sons 2 acres is two fields, one narrow short one that 4 rounds and its done, the other is wider, 6 outside rounds and two passes in the middle, the commander is a hell of a nice guy and his wife is a sweetheart anybody other than them that asked me to make four acres in three fields I'd tell em to take a flying f*ck at the moon.

I get the most done when I'm doing my own, my two smallest fields are a 10 and a 12, but they are less than a quarter mile apart. When I go to the one I have 50 acres, it's a 19 a 16 and a 15, but the ends of the fencerows are cleared, so the two I can open both of them at the same time, the 15 acres butts right up to em, but was planted later so even though the old fencerow is gone, its still a little rougher than I want to drag my equipment across repeatedly, three fields but I can knock fifty acres out without ever roading anything.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

MyDaughtersPony said:


> He's a friendly neighbor. He's less than 2 miles away. I appreciate all of the opinions and information.


It's nice to have a friendly neighbor so that each one can perform favors for the other neighbor.


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## discbinedr (Mar 4, 2013)

$100 an hour to cut and $80 an hour to rake sounds reasonable to me. Road time is minimal in this situation.


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## gearhartfarms82 (May 10, 2015)

Smaller acreage gets a higher charge. Your efficiency is trashed in small fields. Its not that some one dosent want to mess with it, it just cost more to do small lots. The problem is some people have a hard time grasping it. Think about it. If your going to mow 3 ac and charge 13 ac but it takes u 2 hrs from hook up to unhook is it worth it?


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## OER510 (Jul 4, 2016)

We share a lane with the neighbor and drive past his 12 acres to get to a field. We charge him 10 to mow, 7 to ted, 7 to rake, and 12.50 for 6' bales out of 605N Vermeer.

Might have missed it but what kind of hay is this?


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

Orchard grass, Timothy, and Clover


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## duramax (Dec 18, 2010)

I've done my good neighbors fifteen acres for nothing a few times. A friendly neighbor, I'd want half the hay. A not so good neighbor I'd take 60 percent. But I'd be doing all of them a favor.


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

If you don't like the service fee, you can always buy the hay. Remember, a good 4x5 costs $40, then you have to burn fuel both ways. That adds up fast.

If you have strong yields (say 4 bales an acre) pay the man! Paying 25% of the market value to get the job done is a no brainer. If you only get 2 per acre, that's still half the cost or market value.

*disclaimer: price of bale is my sale price


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

BWfarms said:


> If you don't like the service fee, you can always buy the hay. Remember, a good 4x5 costs $40, then you have to burn fuel both ways. That adds up fast.
> 
> If you have strong yields (say 4 bales an acre) pay the man! Paying 25% of the market value to get the job done is a no brainer. If you only get 2 per acre, that's still half the cost or market value.
> 
> *disclaimer: price of bale is my sale price


If the option is to buy hay (and it often should be), you have to also factor in the income, if any, from renting one's fields and not just look at the cost to have hay made on those fields.


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## Wethay (Jul 17, 2015)

I have charged "friend" rates and done well, and done not so well. Maybe you make cost, but when you're in a pinch they are right there to help. Then again you might make cost until you find the stump, engine bock, fence post, chain, whatever it is in a guaranteed clean field and they are more worried about getting your equipment out of the field so somebody else can do it than even asking what happened.


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