# Custom Hay Cutting



## 8gross

Had a person come in and do some custom cutting. A 30ac field with a JD 946 mower. What the going rates would be for a job like this?


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## NCSteveH

I'd get $100/hr should take around 4-5hrs depending on field conditions.


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## Teslan

Around here swathing hay is about $12 an acre no matter what size or type of machine. If a guy owns a sickle machine that can cut only 4 mph or a disk machine that can cut at 10 mph it's still $12 an acre as the results (hay in a windrow) are the same. No way would I pay hour for a custom hay cutting. Say the sickle guy breaks some sections and it takes 20 minutes to get going again I wouldn't want to pay for that time.


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## mlappin

For the most part everything here is still by the acre.

Now when I mow for somebody I always go and look at the field first, oddball fields or a lot of obstacles and I charge em more. If it's rough and I have to drive slower I charge em more. Normally I charge between $12.50-$15 /acre.


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## hay wilson in TX

First off we all must agree that all equipment and labor cost us by the hour. 
With a new machine that is run 300 hours a year the depreciation and money cost will be more expensive while the fuel and oil and labor cost will be the same by the hour. 
This says there will be considerable differences between farms on the hourly operating cost for each piece of equipment.

Mowing is where we see the most variability in efficient use of time.

For ease we will say the tractor, operator, & machine cost for mowing is $200/hour. (Big tractor & MoCo or self propelled. 
Turns and End Rows all cost us time. Point rows really cost us with dead head time.

So we will mow mile long fields. We will suppose we are mowing leveled, graded, & smooth fields.

A sickle machine can reasonably cut at 4.5 mph. Well tuned machine may do a good job at 7 mph. 
A disk machine does well at 7 mph, had little problems at 11 mph and may do a reasonable job at 15 mph. 
With a hydro drive we do not even have to down shift at the ends. (at 15 mph I have to down shift two gears at the turn.)
Then lets say we loose 30 seconds or running time for each turn. (with down shifting I loose even more when going too fast.)
Each Point Row cost us dead head time.

I will let each of you do your own math.

Now why would we want to pay by the hour or charge by the acre or by the bale, other than tradition?

It is to someone's advantage or it is the way we always have done it?

Using my phoney figures,
Charging $15 /A and we mow 13.333 acres an hour there is no advantage. 
Mowing 20 acres an hour and charging $15 /A it is to the harvesters advantage.
Mowing 10 acres an hour it isto the land owners advantage *and the harvester may be operation in the red. *
*HERE:* I can on first year alfalfa cut with a NH 411 Diskbine mow at 16 mph. Second and third year I am happy with 11 mph due to the rough ride. For the 6 th year I am luck to cut alfalfa at 7.5 mph. 
Bermudagrass on really smooth ground I am happy to be able to cut at 7 mph with really sharp knives. 
To be sharp the knives will be ok after 5 acres, after 10 acres the knives have lost some of their edge. After 15 acres it may be wise to turn the knives over. 
Add to the mix three of my coastal bermudagrass fields have point rows.

I charge my self harvesting cost by the hour so I can better estimate my break even for the hay. 
For any custom work I add at least 20% to the cost.

I have worked as a charity. In those cases I charge enough for the friend to keep his self respect.


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## Nitram

This fall (oct 1) I asked a friend to cut 50 acres of ex-crp just removed from program his asking price was $6/A. I suggested $10/A would be fine with me which he agreed to. Afterward he said 10 was much better as the fields beat the hell out of him and his disc cutter. I think it was nice of him to do me this big favor but next year I think I will ask him to charge me more. A Little off subject but how does one smooth out a established grass field?


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## Teslan

I don't really do any custom work except for my cousin once in awhile and I rarely hire custom work done. I always like paying per job rather then per hour for anything. I feel it motivates the person doing the job to get it done as fast as possible and if they happen to be a slow worker or have slow equipment that's on them and I won't be fretting over paying them per hour more then I think they are worth. I haven't asked my cousin to pay per hour and I won't. I prefer being paid per acre or by the job. So I won't get accused of being slow or something like that. I suppose if my living was based on doing custom work or paying for custom work I would go into it more in detail like you have Hay Wilson, but for now I would rather not make my head hurt figuring all that out then trying to sell that idea to people over the traditional way.







And man Bermuda grass must be really tough on knives to have to turn them over after only 15 acres.


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## Texasmark

Nitram said:


> This fall (oct 1) A Little off subject but how does one smooth out a established grass field?


I wait until it has rained sufficiently in the fall of the year (when grass is going dormant) to soften the upper couple of inches then disc lightly 1-2-3 times and then spike harrow, or drag a rig I made from cattle panels to smooth it out. Idea is to level the soil, not uproot your grass. Grass loves it. Spring would be ok too as grass would be over the cold weather and ready to get going, but weeds will beat it to it.

HTH,

Mark


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