# Customer wants to buy all my hay



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

OK, I advertised "hay for sale". A guy calls me asks if he can see my fields. I showed them to him. Honestly, I don't think they're anything that great. After looking at all the stands, he offers to buy all of it off the ground in piles (he just wants it rounded up into an area from which he can put it on trailer) for $3/bale. 
Little disappointed in per bale price, but I don't have to accumulate, ship, unload into barn, risk barn fire/collapse, then reload and ship to customers throughout the season, deal with weekend phone calls, picky horse people. I actually dislike that part of the hay bidness anyway. 
He wants to put my hay in his barn himself, then resell for probably $6+/bale. 
Need to reiterate with him I want cash or wait till check clears until hay is picked up.

What do you think? Is $3 too low for mid-atlantic avg quality wholesale grass hay (no alfalfa-mostly orchard)?


----------



## GeneRector (Jun 4, 2008)

Howdy! Don't know about the price; however, make sure you get "cash" or pre-payment before any hay leaves your field. Always, Gene


----------



## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Is he still going to buy the hay for that price even if it gets rained on?


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Probably not. If it got rained on I was thinking of round baling it.


----------



## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

One other consideration: do you have regular customers who buy from you every year? If so, how would this deal affect them? A good customer base takes time to build and if you don't have hay to sell them, they will go elsewhere.

You know the old adage about putting all your eggs in one basket....


----------



## OK Wheat farmer (Aug 30, 2011)

RockmartGA said:


> One other consideration: do you have regular customers who buy from you every year? If so, how would this deal affect them? A good customer base takes time to build and if you don't have hay to sell them, they will go elsewhere.
> 
> You know the old adage about putting all your eggs in one basket....


Second that. I'd also add, what if this guy finds cheaper hay next year? Now you have fizzled away your usual customers and don't have the new one. Also, I would never let anyone chisel me down on my price AND let them pick and choose. If he wants a cheaper price to take it all, I'd require he takes it ALL. I make the guys who want to pick through the bales in my stack pay a premium over my asking price.


----------



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I don't think $3 is enough.That is 50% of the value of the hay.

You are supplying the land,fertilizer,machinery costs of cutting -baling plus gathering bales in a group.

He is just hauling it off and putting it in barn and then reselling it.

I think 75-25% would be alot more fair.


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Would like to get more, but I've found that is also the price others have offered me. One guy offered me $4 but he only wants maybe 200/cutting and will come pick them up. I will set aside the 200 per cutting for him. He's just an end user guy with a few hay burners to feed.


----------



## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Is he going to be there to pick up bales as soon as you get them baled. Who is responsible if he doesn't and you get a 3" toad strangler later that night? Like swmn said, $3 is dirt cheap, I think I would stick'em in the barn and start building my own customer base.


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Yes, he said he'd come get them while I'm baling.
Would like to keep and sell from barn, but lost my "go to" (big barn) this year. Only have access to a couple little barns. Maybe can only store 500 bales, if that. Looking for another barn as we speak, but I think you're right. I sort of thought "what if I can't find a barn"? I never agreed to selling him anything yet, just more looking at it as a last resort......


----------



## steve IN (Jan 13, 2010)

Remember the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true it usually is." This guy sounds like a broker with alot more attitude than cash. Get cas before you even mow. If he wants it all then get paid for all upfront right now. That will usually put his nuts back where they belong. The price also seems very low. Why not do the work yourself and reap the rewards?


----------



## jdhayboy (Aug 20, 2010)

Diddo on the broker thing. $3 is WAYYYY cheap! Don't trust anyone that wants or says there going to buy your hay until they prove themselves as loyal, repeate customers. Even at that point its hard, its happened to me countless times. As someone stated on here in another thread "as soon u promise to hold hay for someone, they never come back or even call. "
Base your price against your risk. Example of what I have going on 
Today I applied fertilizer at around $88 an acre (I bought it 2 weeks ago and now its higher than that). Thats just for fertilizer, not my time and equipment to spread it. (for reference, that was a 20-4-16 at 350 lbs per acre). Lets assume it rains and we have hay ready to cut... and it will make 60 squares an acre. For easy figures, that's 1.50 in just fertilizer. Remember fertilizer is an investment, just like buying a stock for instance. You expect a high return because its a high risk betting against the weather and the unknown. I'm not sure on custom square baling rates but I assume between2-3 bucks for hay baled and stacked in barn. Say 2.50 a bale, just because its your equipment doesn't mean it only cost 1.25 to get it done. 
your equipment has to eat as well. Now your at 4.00 a bale. Without return on fertilizer and all the other countless unanticipated costs. Spraying for weeds, breakdowns, times u applied fertilizer without getting any rain, etc. 
Now u cut it, and it rains! And u have to roll it up. For me give or take 5x5 roll is 20 squares. So 3 rolls an acre, 30 a roll in fertilizer and 25-30 to bale it up. 
Is that rained on round bale worth 60 on the market?? I'm not sure but the only thing that $3 a bale guy has to say is... DANG SUCKS TO BE THAT GUY! 
Thats close to maybe the worst scenario but a very real one.


----------



## jdhayboy (Aug 20, 2010)

Side note... it appears from your post that your new to the business and maybe your thinking..." I dont have a whole lot invested in this business" so u think maybe you can have a smaller return on your hay. Don't sell yourself short, use that to your advantage get that extra dollar the market is willing to offer. Your time and effort is worth it. Put the hay in the barn, in the winter time when all the cheap hay is gone you'll have yours asking the deserved price. Quality is key here!
In my opinion, these things I stated are a big reason the little guys never stick around. They undersold themselves or baled crap hay.


----------



## shaunbaker (Feb 28, 2009)

Quality is definitely key if your putting it in the barn to sell 5-6 months down the road. I think with diesel @ 3.50-4 and fertilizer prices sky high it will help the guys who have been in the game awhile. No one in there right mind would want to get into this business right now or even have the funds and want to roll those dice around Texas coming out of the drought we just experienced they would probably be better off taking that money to Vegas...


----------



## Bob M (Feb 11, 2012)

Really depends on size of bale, and quality of the hay. Pretty good price if bales are 30 lb and avg quality hay.


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I'm looking at average quality hay here, cut and baled by a green horn. You're right, I shouldn't sell myself short, but I also don't have a place to store hay (yet), so it's nice to have a guy make that offer as maybe at least some sort of insurance.

I do agree it'll be nice to have some stored over the winter. I pay nothing for land rent and paid very little so far to fertilize & spray for weeds (maybe $2,200). I do agree strongly that equipment eats the bottom like like a bulldog. 
I really appreciate all your suggestions. I have to say, the hay guys taht hang out here are some of the most helpful people I've ever encountered.


----------



## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

I'd say you are the best judge of that. If you are comfortable with the price for what is required of you then that's all that matters. Just because somebody says hay is going for $20 a small square doesn't mean that you should get in on it. That's what is wrong with the price of fuel nowadays....speculators.

On payment, we hear all the time that some counterfeit checks clear your bank only to be rejected a week later by the issuing bank as bogus. I'd take the "used" $100 bills.

My 2c,
Mark


----------



## country boy (May 27, 2010)

I had a guy offer to buy my whole field when I first started baling , talked for two weeks before I cut showed up the day I started baling and decided he was going to pass on it and left me scrambling to get enough help to pick up 1200 bales before it rained that night , lesson learned get a big cash deposit if you decide to go that way , and if he balks tell him cash talks bull**** walks , I have ended up tarping my equipment to make room in the barn for my hay, It just my 2 cents worth


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

You guys are great. Thanks for the advice. I do want to make money in the hay bidness. 
Strange twist of fate happened today. 
The barn I lost over the winter, just became available to me again.
Through persistence, I convinced the owner that having hay stored in the barn wouldn't make the property less sell-able to prospective buyers. 
He agreed and gave me access again. Probably didn't hurt that I told him I do a day of repairs for him








I can't store it all in there, but sure can store a lot. 
I feel a better knowing I can store some and quickly sell some, too. 
Now I gotta get it baled dry. Overly worried about the dreaded barn fire.


----------



## blueriver (Oct 19, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> You guys are great. Thanks for the advice. I do want to make money in the hay bidness.
> Strange twist of fate happened today.
> The barn I lost over the winter, just became available to me again.
> Through persistence, I convinced the owner that having hay stored in the barn wouldn't make the property less sell-able to prospective buyers.
> ...


Good for you that you got the barn .... I also agree that $3 is waaaaay to cheap.


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

How about $4/bale and customer gets it out of the field?


----------



## pengs68 (Jul 3, 2009)

$4 a bale sounds a lot better and your taking any kind of stress of storing and market uncertainty over the winter out of the equation. My policy that I stick to is, I dont put strings on any type of hay for less than $3.00 per bale. Thats what I sell mulch hay for. I store it and have been empty every year for the last 15 years by June.


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Top dollar for hay here is 3$ a bale, and I have to deliver to get that. Out of barns is 2 to 2.50$. Our diesel is 30% higher too.


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

What state are you in Slowzuki?

Regards, Mike


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

slowzuki said:


> Top dollar for hay here is 3$ a bale, and I have to deliver to get that. Out of barns is 2 to 2.50$. Our diesel is 30% higher too.


WOW that sucks. Alaska?


----------

