# What is a fair increase in price per bale



## Haymaker74

I have a small hay operation I work As a tile setter and make hay to make extra cash . I make about 15000 bales a year I have one person that buys all my horse hay at $4.00 a bale first and $4.50 second . So with this client spending so much money and I know his fuel costs going up being that he brings 53 ft trailers to the feild . But the price of fuel is going up for me to . What do you guys think about a 25 cent per bale increase ? Do you think that's fair ? I would appreciate any help or insight to my question


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## J & G Farms

I would be careful about raising my price. $4.00 is not to bad a price for your area and if you get to pricy your buyer might start looking some where else. Try cutting bale size back just a little and look at an easier way to load trailers to save time. If fuel gets to bad then I would think about the alternative.


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## Haymaker74

What is the alternative?


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## haybaler101

Hey guys, the price of hay will go up this year, in some places dramatically. Corn was $4 last year, $7 now. I don't think $0.25 bale is out of line for an increase at all. I price all my hay on RFV points, last year was $0.95/point/ton. I am thinking at least $1.25 this year, maybe more. I have far more clientel to serve this year than I have hay to make.


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## J & G Farms

Is going up on price. It depends on the market in your area. A man buying 612 to 648 bales every time is a good custormer. Remember everyone is in a tight for money and you would not want him to go somewhere else, I live in an area were there is a lot of hay so speaking for myself I have to be carefull on what decisions I make.


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## Toyes Hill Angus

as far as what is fair depends on your relationship with your buyer, every other aspect of farming has seen an increase, even comodity prices have jumped. Fuel is more expensive, rising equipment costs... it all trickles down. You have to consider your current market position, and if you have a niche carved out for yourself. As a word of caution, you do not want to price yourself out of business on either end of the scale, selling for no profit will leave you broke, and asking too high a price will leave you with no sales. This will allso leave you broke, and possibly damaging your relationship with customers to the point that they will no longer deal with you. Every geographical area has a different price scheme, so ask the neighbors and go from there...


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## mlappin

Before making the decision you need to look at the fuel you intend to use this year and compare it to past fuel cost to get a solid baseline on a per acre cost. Then figure in how much extra it will cost you this year compared to in the past. Then you'll know if the increased fuel costs will uncomfortably cut into your profits, cause you to just break even or in the worst case scenario lose money.

If your comfortable with Excel then make some graphs or charts, then talk to your customer with hard evidence in your hand about the possibility of needing to increase prices. Sounds to me like if they have their own semi, their more than likely a broker although I suppose if a person had enough hay burners to feed a semi would be justified. If they are a broker then they can raise their sell price for the same reason.

One of my customers buys about three hundred round bales a year from me for horses, if fuel prices get too high he charges his borders a fuel surcharge for hauling hay from my place to his to feed _their_ horses.


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## Hayking

In our area last year we were selling our round bales for 115 per ton this year we will be asking 135 and wont have any trouble selling it our little squares we sold last were 6 on the field banded together and we loaded it this year its gonna cost them 7 handled the same way. Fuel prices are way up fertilizer is up the extra cost has to be added somewhere.


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## Production Acres

Inflation is a reality. We still see a lot of adds on craigs list offering hay for $2/bale - but you do that with daddys tractor on daddys land with daddys baler on ground that hasn't seen fertilizer in 20 years. It will be somewhat of a fight to raise prices accordingly to keep from going broke.


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## tnwalkingred

I have been debating this same topic as well with myself. Last year I sold mixed grass hay (small square) for 2.50 out of the field and 3.50 delivered. I sold EVERY signle bale of hay I baled. This hay was sprayed however it was not fertilized. While I think I may stick with the 2.50 a bale out of the field this year for mixed grass I'm going to go up to at least 4.00 a bale delivered as I now know what kind of problems you run into while trying to deliver (cost of fuel, the customer having ZERO help to unload, etc.) I also planted ten acres of orchard grass that will hopefully bring a much higher cost. I'm thinking a minimum of 4.00 a bale out of the field and possibly up to 6.00 or 7.00 a bale delivered. I think for any business to be successful you must be fluid so my prices during the year will most likely change in either direction in reagrds to supply and demand.

Kyle


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## Josh in WNY

Do you know how much money it's costing you to put up a bale? I've been working on keeping better records so that I can tell that exactly. Make sure to include fuel, twine, any hired labor, etc. Items such as fertilizer or lime get a bit tricky as you can spread them out over the year or years depending on your particular field maintenance program. Add some more in for regular maintenance of the equipment and YOUR TIME!

Personally, I would jump at the chance to sell hay at $4.00 a bale off the field, but I'm not doing quite the amount of hay your are (yet, anyway). Mlappin has a great point of talking it over with your customer with some hard data in your hand. If he's in the farm bussiness, he'll understand where your comming from and (hopefully) the two of you can come to a mutual agreement. Good luck.


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## scrapiron

Josh in WNY said:


> Add some more in for regular maintenance of the equipment and YOUR TIME!
> 
> Personally, I would jump at the chance to sell hay at $4.00 a bale off the field, Good luck.


Four dollars each for idiot bricks you pick up out of the field, not going to happen ,I will round bale it first then run it through my cows. Last year was $5.50 you pick up :this year at least $6.50 per bale IF I even hook up to the square baler !!!!

scrapiron


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## NCSteveH

I will tell you right now that this year I am not going to sell a single bale out of the field, It is all going to go into the barn's to be sold this coming winter. With the way row-crop prices are going I see a huge shortage of hay in my farms geographic region. Demand will be very high in the winter months and the supply won't be there.

It would not surprise me to see $9.00 idiot bricks and $250/ton rounds.


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## J & G Farms

Steve I am over here in duplin CO. I dont know what kind of hay you are going to bale this year and I know we have to go up but $9.00 is getting kinda stiff for my area. But then again who knows what is going to take place this year . GOOD LUCK.


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## Josh in WNY

scrapiron said:


> Four dollars each for idiot bricks you pick up out of the field, not going to happen ,I will round bale it first then run it through my cows. Last year was $5.50 you pick up :this year at least $6.50 per bale IF I even hook up to the square baler !!!!
> 
> scrapiron


Down where you are in FL, I can understand that price, but up here in western New York, the going price is around $2.50 to $3.00. I think the big difference is the geography.

I have been working with my dad to ship our hay into FL and sell it there, but the way the transportation costs are going, that's not going to last much longer. I got a quote yesterday for a van trailer from my place to Wellington, FL for just under $3,000. I know I can get a couple bucks more per bale shipping it to FL, but nobody is going to want to pay that kind of freight. Just to be clear, my customers pay the freight, not me. I always give them a price per bale at the barn. If they can find cheaper shipping than I can, I'll happily load their trailer.


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## NCSteveH

J & G Farms said:


> Steve I am over here in duplin CO. I dont know what kind of hay you are going to bale this year and I know we have to go up but $9.00 is getting kinda stiff for my area. But then again who knows what is going to take place this year . GOOD LUCK.


I agree that $9.00 may be a far reach in NC but my farm is in Maine and most everyone I have talked to is swinging heavy into row crops this year. A few of the dairy farmers in my area are already starting to sweat it because of the corn prices we are seeing along with the drop in hay acres. farmers I have never sold to are asking if I am still doing hay this year.


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## Guest

If I were you I would look into some markets in Florida----- 
your $4 hay could be bringing $16 in Miami.

Just a thought.


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## mlappin

Problem is guys and I'm living thru it now in my area, prices get too high and horsey folks get rid of the nags or start making their own hay. A lot of dairies in the area also started to make more of their own hay as they felt prices were too high. Doesn't take long to kill a market but it takes a long time to bring the hay market back up.


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## NCSteveH

I agree with it being easy to kill a market, that is why you need to diversify your marketing. 
I found a small niche market that I now sell in, it is not a very large volume but every month it has been increasing and I am getting $1000/ton for premium alfalfa.


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## mlappin

NCSteveH said:


> I agree with it being easy to kill a market, that is why you need to diversify your marketing.
> I found a small niche market that I now sell in, it is not a very large volume but every month it has been increasing and I am getting $1000/ton for premium alfalfa.


That's a hell of a niche. Making little bales for rabbit food, supplying TSC or Alpaca's would be my guess's. Niche markets can fall just as fast as the standard market or stay strong for a long time. Used to sell some hay to a guy that did nothing but exotics, said you have to have the money to jump into what looks to be the next hot thing and know when to get rid of it as well if it looks like that market is going to tank.


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## NCSteveH

mlappin said:


> That's a hell of a niche. Making little bales for rabbit food, supplying TSC or Alpaca's would be my guess's. Niche markets can fall just as fast as the standard market or stay strong for a long time. Used to sell some hay to a guy that did nothing but exotics, said you have to have the money to jump into what looks to be the next hot thing and know when to get rid of it as well if it looks like that market is going to tank.


Bingo, you have to know when to jump in and know when to jump out.


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## pengs68

I am in Albany NY area and sold my 1st cut last year for $4.25 per bale $5.25 for 2nd. This year its going to be $4.50. With the taxes we pay in NY we have to get that much to keep farming. Plus the weather here has been a struggle all summer to dry hay. I say raise it up because the person I sell to doubles what I charge and why should he get more than the producer of the product?


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## panhandle9400

all of the hay here has went from 105.00 per ton to 210.00 for grinding alfalfa . good hay gone up 225 to 250 last year 125 . hundreds of semi hay haulers coming thru here every week, never seen anything like it. cutting 4th now and it is sold to a big feedyard next to us for 235.00 to 250.00 so I guess price increase can go as high as the market will let it ? the demand is there but the hay is NOT. drought is key factor for this area. needs to be high for the the production lost this season.


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## covenanthay

Is anybody selling Teff grass hay? I am trialing a field next seanson.


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