# Hay Hauling Costs



## downtownjr

Got another question guys...as I prepare my plans for my operation expansion, I will need 3 x 3 bales moved about 150 miles one way. How much is usually charged to take a trailer load of hay? I would load at the field. The delivery point has a scales to weigh the load. Would it worth my while to buy my own trailer and just hire the tractor and driver? or will it make a difference? Thanks in advance for the input...will help me as a start checking around.


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## haybaler101

I checked with a local carrier last winter. They wanted $3/loaded mile for a 200 mile one-way trip. They run 75+ flatbeds all over the country. They did bring hay in from Kansas 2 years ago on a backhaul at $1.70/mile


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## Production Acres

very few otr truckers will want to pull your flatbed as they don't know how the tires are, how the brakes are, etc. they want their own equipment. They also want to pick up a load at the destination when they unload - can't do that on your trailer! Local hauling is expensive as you are paying a day rate - takes too long to load and unload - so you pay $2.50 - $3.00 mile for anything less than 250-300 miles. Get up to 500-600 miles, you can get freight for $1.25-1.75/mile depending on what part of the country you are in adn the current demand. For local hauling, we come out much better owning our own trucks, for longer pulls - we hire it done!


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## swmnhay

Maybe buy your own semi & trailer than you would have it when you need it.Hire a partime driver if need be,maybe a retired truck driver that just wants a little extra cash.Depending what you wanted you could be setup for 20-30K if you don't need a new Peterbilt.LOL

I wouldn't want to load a trailer that wasn't hooked up to semi I think you would be asking for trouble.


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## Production Acres

> Depending what you wanted you could be setup for 20-30K if you don't need a new Peterbilt.LOL


$7-10K will buy a good enough truck - our first trucks were $3500. As stated, brand new pete's don't pay the bills - they are a bill. Cheap flatbeds can be had for 5-7K depending on the rubber. If you are driving the rig, 10K would set you up good enough - want to hire a driver, you had better spend 30K - they don't understand why the a/c don't work or the passenger window don't roll down, or the whole truck wasn't waxed last week ;.) In all sincerity, I started with older cabovers that were good trucks, but until I bought a conventiional truck, I could not get a driver hired, drivers just don't like being SEEN in an old ugly truck.



> I wouldn't want to load a trailer that wasn't hooked up to semi I think you would be asking for trouble


We load trailers unhooked all the time on concrete - not a problem! BUT - we have rolled a couple over sideways in the field where one jack went down 2' and we have had the front jacks bury up clean to the stabilizer several times. You could weld a c channel upside down on the bottom of the jacks clean across like they do the log trailers and be pretty safe, but dropping and loading in the field is risky as stated.


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## SidecarFlip

Couple of comments. I've been trucking for over 40 years, our own stuff and contract hauling. We also haul grain and field crops for other local farmers and we don't turn a wheel for less than $2.50 per mile.

I disagree with buying cheap equipment for a couple reasons. One, it's going to break and breakdown time is expensive. Most cheap used outfits are just that USED and used hard. It's like used farm equipment and tractors. There are some good ones out there but most stuff is run hard and the maintenance program becomes tenuous if the owners is thinking about selling anyway. Besides, most farmers I know don't know what a grease gun is.









In the old days, you could get away with poor brakes or a leaky exhaust or faulty lights or poor tires but today, operating on public highways, there is a Barney Fife (law enforcement/motor carrier officer) just around every curve, just waiting for you, the borderline operator, with his ticket book, creeper, brake gage and most likely portable scales in the trunk and believe me, the violations (especially overweight) will quickly add up to the cost of good equipment and...most equipment violations now come with an on the spot shutdown until the violations are corrected and that means hiring someone because you can't or are not allowed to correct the violations yourself. That's how the law is written.

Our equipment isn't new, but it's maintained on a very strict maintenance schedule and our trailers are all field loaded which brings me to another point. We load our trailers in the field and have never, I repeat never, had a rollover problem and I'm totally against welding any cross channel between the landing gear pads. We use oversize 'sand pads' that replace the landing gear (dolly) feet. They are 14x14 and pivot just like a normal shoe.

You can buy cheap equipment but in the long run, spending some extra money will pay back in spades.

I know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm a State (Ohio) and Federally Licensed Commercial Driving Instructor and I'm intimately familiar with DOT regulations in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.

My final comment is if you want to haul large squares a short distance and have a piece of equipment that's versitale. Get yourself a tandem axle (8 tire) gooseneck and hitch it to a one ton pickup. You have the pickup for farm stuff and the trailer for everything and most come with ramps. A Tandem axle goose with a properly rated pickup will GVW around 20,000 pounds.


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## Production Acres

We tried the ton truck and gooseneck routine. Bought a new 2000 model F-450 with a 40' gooseneck. Nice rig - pulled very well - went through first clutch at 36,000 miles. Had plenty of pull - never enough brakes! Leaned over very bad around curves. Don't ever want another trailer over 20' long that rides on a ball!

We own a couple of flatbeds that we use for short pulls that are 82' model trailers - yes they have current dot inspections, good rubber, lights and brakes, and are rated for 80,000 GVW. Bought one of them for $2500. Any day of the week that is a safer trailer for putting 20 ton of hay on than any brand new 10 ton gooseneck with 10 ton of hay on it and its electric brakes riding on a ball with the hope that the electric battery will activate the brakes if it came loose from the truck. Additionally it will have a full set of 4" ratchet straps for the load with 2 straps per unit of big bales instead of 2" portabales on a gooseneck.
We had a truck deliver us a load of hay from SD last year with a 71' model kenworth with 2.9 million miles on it - nice looking old truck. Did that mean it wasn't safe - no!! 
Are goosenecks fine for pulling a 50hp tractor, probably, but farmers overload them everyday with hay, 150 hp tractors, dozers, backhoes, etc. I would lay a $100 bill down that 2 or 3 to 1 goosenecks have their brakes improperly adjusted or they aren't working. We load customers goosenecks here all the time and it would amaze you how many come in and don't even have the pigtail hooked up!
Why pray tell is a c channel stupid and oversize pads superior? Adams fertilizer tenders come from the facorty that way. All the log trailers around here are factory made that way! We haven't done that to our trailers, but there is nothing wrong with it on soft fields.


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## sedurbin

P.A. I agree with your post. To say that all old stuff is going to break down is like saying that newer stuff won't break down. Neither statement is completely true.


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## haybaler101

PA, I agree with your post. I have a 24' gooseneck and a 2008 duramax. Plenty of power, not enough rubber or brakes for 10 ton of hay. Also, duramax with 10 ton of hay will get about 7 mpg loaded, 89 Volvo with N14 cummins will get about 5.5 mpg with 25 tons of hay with a 53' drop deck (an 87 model). Semi and trailer are both DOT inspected, brakes and tires are in good shape, and perfectly road legal and safe and the package deal ran me about $16,000.


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## downtownjr

Thanks everyone, you gave me alot to think about. I had toyed with the 1 ton dually gooseneck as an option, but you guys got me thinking more toward the tractor and trailer idea...although the short term may be hiring until I have few more bucks to invest. The ttractor/trailer would have to be used, but in the long run it may be the best best. I have a farmer friend that gets his for grain from a guy the buys them and works them over to sell, maybe I can get a decent deal. I appreciate the input very much, this is a big step for me and I know many of you have been there and done that...thanks again.

Jim


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## SidecarFlip

The reason why I say a channel welded across the dollies is bad is because it's another thing for the DOT to look at if and when you get pulled over and I agree that lots of folks don't hook up the pigtail, why, I have no idea other than people are people I guess.

I have a Kaufman tandem axle behinnd my F350 and I routinely deliver 15-20,000 pounds of round bales stacked double high to my customers without and sway or problems. Your Cg is lower on a gooseneck because the deck height is lower. So long as it's sprung properly and you don't drive like a stock car driver, sway shouldn't enter into the equation.

Brakes are brakes and a full size outfit with air brakes stops no better than a goose with electric or electric over hydraulic, especially when S cam air brakes aren't adjusted properly, and with manual slack adjusters, most aren't.

Most of my customers would one, have a very hard time unloading rounds from a standard deck height trailer (the drop deck allows a much easier unload at a customers and two, it's easier to manuver verses a full size rig. We did modify the pickup and goose right away. The Kaufman got weldments added to the spring mounts because the mounts tended to flex when loaded and climbing over berms such as exiting fields and the pickup received 2 transmission coolers and a full Gale Banks upgrade plus a full set of EBC sintered pads and shoes, something I do to all my vehicles anyway. I've had zero problems with the pickup or the goose other than normal maintenance.

You can disagree or agree that isn't the point. What is, is the maintenance factor. We also own 2 International conventionals and a Kenworth, a Fontaine 42' single drop a Wilson 42 foot hopper, 2 Etnyre shot gun stainless tandem axle 28 tanks and a 48 foot tandem axle Fruehauf high cube van and I can honestly say that the maintenance on any of those units is at least 10 fold higher than the pickup/goose combination...and yes, we overload everyone on ocassion. I can go down the road with the gooseneck and pass by a DOT inspector (and there are plenty out there) and not think to myself...'is this guy going to stop me or not' whereas, in any of the outfits, that's always in the back of your mind. Finally, it's much more economical to plate and pay taxes on the pickup/goose comination than the commercial outfits. Insurance is less as well and you need a Class A CDL (which I have anyway) but you don't for a pickup/goose combination.


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## Production Acres

1. Per ton hauled, a semi will outdo a ton truck any day of the week - on milage, on repairs, on time, etc. My f-450 got 6.5 miles to the gallon loaded with 10 ton, my big trucks will do that with 22 tons on. Which is cheaper? If ton trucks were superior and better for hauling goods, there would not be any semi's on the road, they would all be ton trucks!!
2. Most farm insurance is much cheaper than regular otr insurance maybe $1900 vs $6000.
3. Farmers are not required to have a CDL in most states for hauling their own goods to or from the market.


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## haybaler101

Insurance on my rig runs me $500 per year, plates are salty at a $1000 and repairs are not an issue. Yes semi repairs are a lot more expensive, but those repairs run a bunch more miles than a pickup. Tires, for instance--pickup tires @ $150/each and last for 40,000 miles, semi tires at $300/each--will dry rot before we wear them out. DOT in Indiana is starting to pay attention to goose+pickups and if they want to get [email protected]@ty, need the same creditentials, numbers, and inspections as big rigs. More than once I have electric brake failure due to wire malfunctions, air brakes are there if the guage says you have air.


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