# Mowing for a Friend



## DLCC2 (Jul 12, 2016)

I've got a friend that just lease 150 acres and has about 60-70 acres of it he is going to cut for hay. We loan each other equipment and have never had a problem with any thing we have helped each other with in the past, genuinely a stand up guy. The point of this though is he needs to upgrade mowers to a larger one but hasnt yet and asked me to help him lay these fields down. Mowing is all I would be doing and with my new Krone 3200 it'll be fairly short work. I am ok with him just paying for my fuel bc I might need help one day but he is insistent on paying me for my time. I have never charged someone just to mow and I don't want to twist his arm. Any suggestions?


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I had the exact same situation happen this spring, I looked up the local custom rates and took the lower end of them, and billed him with a receipt. I showed up exactly when he needed me and got the job done.

If the roles were reversed I would be happy to pay lower end custom rates to have the work done on time when I wanted it and get a receipt I can write off.

I should note I've done a couple of thousand in free work for him previously but it was little things here and there.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I'm charging $13/acre to mow with a 13 foot discbine, some in my area are charging up to $15/acre.


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## DLCC2 (Jul 12, 2016)

Another friend/fellow farmer told me that he got $20/acre to cut with a 13' MoCo and with a 10' disc mower I feel like $15/acre is more than fair but for someone that lets me borrow some equipment occasionally, (he also borrows some of mine) I would hate to cut my nose off to spite my face. Ya know ?


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## Widairy (Jan 1, 2016)

In my area guys are charging 15 dollars an acre. One cuts with a selfpropelled disc machine and the other has a tractor with the front and side mowers. The real question you have to ask yourself is how much will it cost to cut for him, and is it worth risking pissing your friend off over a bill for cutting. I'm sort of a similar situation. I have a neighbor, great guy easy to get along with. I have done a bunch of custom work for him over the past 5 years. He lets me barrow whatever if I'm in a bind. The real issue and it will sound terrible is that my neighbor is paralyzed from the waist down and basically went from bartering or flat out hiring work done to just expecting everyone to just give. He has been paralyzed for almost 10 years and 6 years ago when I bought my place he was much better at keeping things in the area of somewhat even. I don't mind giving a helping hand here and there but after filling his silo with silage, his corn but my equipment and fuel, and making a couple hundred round bales and planted his corn. At the end of the year I stopped through his place to straighten up for the season and he told me we were even so I basically got nothing. I let him keep stuff tallied up because after talking to my other neighboring farmer that is on his "shit list", they basically got in a disagreement over 1 bale one the round baling bale count. So this year I didn't plant any corn for myself halfway in any effort to have an excuse not to plant his. If I'm not going to get the planter out and ready and dirty for my corn I figured he shouldn't expect me to do it for his. He was not happy about that but got over it. Hasn't had me round bale any this year yet, and I'm ok with that too. We still get together and have a few beers and get along great, I know there would have been hard feelings if I'd have given him a bill.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

DLCC2 said:


> Another friend/fellow farmer told me that he got $20/acre to cut with a 13' MoCo and with a 10' disc mower I feel like $15/acre is more than fair but for someone that lets me borrow some equipment occasionally, (he also borrows some of mine) I would hate to cut my nose off to spite my face. Ya know ?


Know exactly how you feel. You have a relationship that is becoming more rare every day....I would definitely charge him on the lowest end of the spectrum....you will more than make it up someday when you have a dire need and have a friend that you can count on like him. Your fortunate.

Regards, Mike

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AgriculturalEconomics/pubs/CustomRatesKY.pdf


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Just out of curiousity why should the per acre cost be different for 10 or 13 ft? The hourly cost yes but why if per acre?



DLCC2 said:


> Another friend/fellow farmer told me that he got $20/acre to cut with a 13' MoCo and with a 10' disc mower I feel like $15/acre is more than fair but for someone that lets me borrow some equipment occasionally, (he also borrows some of mine) I would hate to cut my nose off to spite my face. Ya know ?


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

If your buddy CAN afford to pay you for this, he probably WANTS to pay you for it for his own peace-of-mind.
My uncle called me for help one time; I often help my uncles and they help me with no thought of monetary compensation... but this time I was busy and didn't really have time. Still, I dropped what I was doing and took an hour or two out of my day and fixed his problem. Knowing that I HAD been busy with my own stuff, he demanded to pay me...it was important for him to compensate me. I declined and he said that if I didn't take his money, then he wouldn't ever feel right about asking me for help again as he was fearful that it would appear that he EXPECTS me to help for nothing. Being a smidgen hard-headed, I told him to get bent and I wasn't taking his money. I told him that if he demanded to pay me, then I wouldn't help him any longer as it could appear that I expected to get paid.

There was a compromise; I told him that he COULD take any money that he had intended to give to me and give it to the Church that way we could BOTH be doing a little bit of good without expectation.
For the most part, a few bucks here and there are not "worth" what they cost. It may not fit y'all's deal, but it might? ...or he could pay your actual cash outlay (fuel etc) and give any over and above to his (or your) charity of choice.

...just a thought in the event that you really don't care about the pay.

73, Mark


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

slowzuki said:


> Just out of curiousity why should the per acre cost be different for 10 or 13 ft? The hourly cost yes but why if per acre?


looks like the $20was for a mower conditioner,the $15 for a mower


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Ok that makes sense. I think the 2015 average for Ontario was 18$ cdn per acre mowed with moco.


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

Since fuel is taken care of and you don't expect hourly pay or don't want it, tell him to tip you what he sees fit.


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## The saint (Oct 4, 2015)

I do some work for one of my neighboring farmers mostly irrigation and running his equipment in return he gives me some hay and access to his equipment when he does not need it just a thought


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

glasswrongsize said:


> If your buddy CAN afford to pay you for this, he probably WANTS to pay you for it for his own peace-of-mind.
> My uncle called me for help one time; I often help my uncles and they help me with no thought of monetary compensation... but this time I was busy and didn't really have time. Still, I dropped what I was doing and took an hour or two out of my day and fixed his problem. Knowing that I HAD been busy with my own stuff, he demanded to pay me...it was important for him to compensate me. I declined and he said that if I didn't take his money, then he wouldn't ever feel right about asking me for help again as he was fearful that it would appear that he EXPECTS me to help for nothing. Being a smidgen hard-headed, I told him to get bent and I wasn't taking his money. I told him that if he demanded to pay me, then I wouldn't help him any longer as it could appear that I expected to get paid.
> There was a compromise; I told him that he COULD take any money that he had intended to give to me and give it to the Church that way we could BOTH be doing a little bit of good without expectation.
> For the most part, a few bucks here and there are not "worth" what they cost. It may not fit y'all's deal, but it might? ...or he could pay your actual cash outlay (fuel etc) and give any over and above to his (or your) charity of choice.
> ...


That was my thought. Sounds to me like a couple of neighbors who want to help each other. And neither wants to take advantage of the relationship for personal gain.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

I don't know what kind or amount of work you usually trade, but what should be nearly $1000 worth of work might take awhile to balance out. I wouldn't be afraid to take more than fuel as payment. It's not like he has an emergency, he just hasn't updated mowers.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I would do it and let him pay me when he can (or gets around to it)....I helped a fella out a few years ago, didn't ask for anything but he offered....... at Christmas he gave me a little Taurus .380 with holster and ammo.....it all works out


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## DLCC2 (Jul 12, 2016)

I'm obliged for the advise. I haven't talked to him since Saturday and nothing may come of all this because he is still working out some kinks in the lease, but i wanted to at least get an idea of what its worth.

Y'all have a good one,

Tyler


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## danwi (Mar 6, 2015)

If you feel its all going to even out in the wash but he wants to pay you, I would tell him fuel plus maybe $200 or $300 for your labor and let him decide if he wants to pay you more. There are some people out there that feel they have to keep their debts paid up.


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## Mouse2003 (Aug 1, 2016)

Where do I find local custom pricing new to custom work?


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## DLCC2 (Jul 12, 2016)

Mouse2003 said:


> Where do I find local custom pricing new to custom work?


Mouse from what I've gathered from this post and others I've read the state department puts them out. I haven't had any luck finding rates for Alabama but we are probably behind the times as usual.


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## Against the Grain (Apr 12, 2016)

If you can't find a custom rate guide for your state I'm sure one of the neighboring states would have one that would be just as good.

One thing to remember is that these rates are provided for just the situation stated above, farmers helping out their neighbors. Around here custom operators will charge more than the guide rates because they aren't wanting to just cover their costs, they want to make money.

Time was, when the guide rates first came out, nobody got anywhere near that for custom work. Everyone thought that they were way too high. But gradually we became more business-conscious and realized that we need to cover all our costs, not just fuel. Fast forward to today and the custom rate guide is considered the bottom end of the scale.
Things aren't like they used to be! 
Jim


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## Thorim (Jan 19, 2015)

DLCC2 said:


> I've got a friend that just lease 150 acres and has about 60-70 acres of it he is going to cut for hay. We loan each other equipment and have never had a problem with any thing we have helped each other with in the past, genuinely a stand up guy. The point of this though is he needs to upgrade mowers to a larger one but hasnt yet and asked me to help him lay these fields down. Mowing is all I would be doing and with my new Krone 3200 it'll be fairly short work. I am ok with him just paying for my fuel bc I might need help one day but he is insistent on paying me for my time. I have never charged someone just to mow and I don't want to twist his arm. Any suggestions?


If your as good as friends as it sounds I'd ask for a cold case of your favorite brew and have your friend help you drink them. When the job is done lol


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## Mouse2003 (Aug 1, 2016)

Thanks guys


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## DLCC2 (Jul 12, 2016)

Thorim said:


> If your as good as friends as it sounds I'd ask for a cold case of your favorite brew and have your friend help you drink them. When the job is done lol


Thorim. I like your style. Sounds like a d*** fine idea to me


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