# hay retriever



## idahocattle (Jul 24, 2011)

I am thinking of getting a hay retriever. I am looking for information on starting this business as I am just starting out and need a plan. My thought is I work full time and need something else to do and I could do this on evenings and weekends. How much do they charge? what kind of income can i expects. I would hate for a piece of 20K equipment to be sitting idle and not making the payments so this is bare minimum. Is there usually room for additional retrievers. I know it depends on area but if I do a good job and a little cheaper hopefully I could pick up some clients, etc. Let me know your thoughts guys/ladies. Thanks.


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## maknhay (Jan 6, 2010)

It might be different in your neck of the woods, but I certainly would not wait on you till evening or the weekend to come pick up and haul in my hay crop, even if you did it for damn near free. You have to be Johnny-on-the-spot in the hay biz. You'd probably muster up more custom work with a baler.


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

I may be wrong but if you found a big time operator in your area and ran his for a while? You could get experience and connections also find out what problems to look out for. This could also help you establish your credibility in the area.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

The way the weather is so unpredictable around here anymore, soon as I start baling I have father or the hired man or both start hauling bales home. Even though they are round bales with as strange as the weather is if they aren't picked up asap, they could end up getting rained on for a week.


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## haystax (Jul 24, 2010)

Where are you in Idaho? No retrievers in my area but I do custom stacking and hauling. Generally a retriever comes out after the bales are stacked and roadsided out of the field so there isn't as much pressure as there is on getting the balewagons in the field. Retrievers work best when you have a relatively short haul, and mostly just let the balewagon stack bales and roadside rather than haul each block to the barn. For long hauls, you will lose money in time and fuel costs when it is generally easier to haul full semi loads. I am only familiar with squeeze block balewagons so the retrievers is a little more sought after when dealing with older balewagons. Some operations use retrievers to bring blocks to the barn from far off fields and save wear and tear on the balewagons and get the hay picked up out of the field ASAP.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

You could certainly do hay retrieving in the evening or weekends. Many small load hay haulers with just a truck and trailer do that around here. You just have to make sure that whoever you are buying from has good hay stacks to retrieve from.


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