# Question about hay on shares



## pes1183

I am new to this message board and the industry -

I have 12 acres fertilized (some required seeding) and sprayed to cut hay this year and use for pasture the following years.

I have located a gentleman that will bale my hay, but states due to his increasing costs wants $18-20/acre if I keep it all or a 75/25 split with me getting the short end.

I had planned and expected to do 50/50 and found this offer to be a little steep given my investment. These pastures had to be resurrected from being over grazed and untreated for some time.

Looking for advice - located in the North Alabama area near Huntsville.

Thanks


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## barnrope

If you expect to have much yield at all, 18 to 20$ per acre per baling seems very reasonable to me.


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## Tim/South

If you fertilize and are a good stewart of the soil then it should be 50-50.

If he will cut,rake and bale for $20 an acre then you should come out well. Not sure if you are square baling or rolling, but say you are rolling and get 3 rolls per acre. You would be getting hay done for less than $7 per roll. Very good deal on your part. I can not do it for that.

I only do one field on shares, it is 50-50 because the land owner pays to lime and fertilize. Some of the criteria will depend on the yield. He can not make any money if you only harvest one roll per acre.

You will not make any money paying for seed and fertilizer and getting 1/4 of the hay.


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## somedevildawg

Tim/South said:


> If you fertilize and are a good stewart of the soil then it should be 50-50.
> If he will cut,rake and bale for $20 an acre then you should come out well. Not sure if you are square baling or rolling, but say you are rolling and get 3 rolls per acre. You would be getting hay done for less than $7 per roll. Very good deal on your part. I can not do it for that.
> I only do one field on shares, it is 50-50 because the land owner pays to lime and fertilize. Some of the criteria will depend on the yield. He can not make any money if you only harvest one roll per acre.
> You will not make any money paying for seed and fertilizer and getting 1/4 of the hay.


Welcome to haytalk, would you put your location in your profile? And Roll - Tide...

He will not be doing it for long or in a timely manner for $20 an acre......he is losing money....whether he knows it or not....


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## somedevildawg

Ya know i got to thinking.....this may be the same guy with the ad on Craigslist for $20 a roll, net wrapped and fertilized Bermuda grass, stored in dry......purty sure his kin folk live down the road from me, morons...


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## pes1183

Thanks for the responses - I see that I made an error in my post - $18-20/roll not per acre - sorry, that was a mistake.

I will update the profile.

It appears that hay around here is selling for 20 - 30/roll....


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## Tim/South

$18 to $20 per roll is still a good deal for you if he makes decent sized bales. Profit margins in hay are slim. Especially when compared to the input involved in creating the finished product.


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## somedevildawg

Tim/South said:


> $18 to $20 per roll is still a good deal for you if he makes decent sized bales. Profit margins in hay are slim. Especially when compared to the input involved in creating the finished product.


Amen


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## hayward

Farmers buy everything at retail sale everything at wholesale, pay for shipping both ways. Welcome to haytalk pes 1183. With high prices of fertilizer and equipment 12 ac will be hard to come out making much profit for you and/or custom guy. I'd take the 20 a bale (cut,rake, bale) if he has some experience at it?Hope you get 6 bales(RB) per ac


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## pes1183

Thanks for the advice - it appears I have found a neighboring Angus farmer interested in the hay for 50/50 - 4 x 5 round bales.. almost perfect arrangement for me at this time. I will let you know how it goes after first cut. -

We've had a slough of rain - hayward hopes for 6 bales/ac - what is a reasonable expectation under good conditions given I have limed, fertilized, sprayed etc...? do you all normally express yield in per cutting or per year.

My first offer wanted to cut twice this year - I realize a lot depends on rainfall but what is the norm? 2 or 3 cuts per year, again under good conditions?


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## Tim/South

Good job on shopping around and finding a 50-50. It would be hard for me to over seed and fertilize then give up 3/4 of the hay.

You should easily get 3 cuttings. The yield will depend on the type of grass you have and how heavily you fertilized.

When the weather breaks I will cut 30 acres of thick fescue/clover that will probably make 6 rolls per acre on the first cutting.

I have other fields of Bahia that will only make 3 or 4 rolls per acre.

I have never been able to make money selling hay for $20 or $30 per roll on fertilized hay. Your will be competing with the locals who do not fertilize and get $20 and think they are making good money.

Welcome to the world of haying in the deep south.


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## pes1183

My neighbor is cutting; it appears we will get ~4 bale/ac on maybe 9-10 of the acres. Once he laid it all down some of the less productive areas didn't appear to have enough to rake.

Next question(s) -

1) in the less productive areas (I had seeded) it appears the Co-op may have missed treating it for weeds and Nitrogen (about a month to 6 weeks ago) - I plan to look into this. Given we're headed into the dryer, hotter months shortly is it worth treating this area specifically and try to bring it along with the rest for the next cutting? Or,

2) Treat the whole area again? Primarily N or weeds too? - a small area would need weed control it appears (mentioned above; the remainder is very clean).

I've mixed opinions about providing more N after this cutting.

Thanks again for your help.


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## mlappin

Tim/South said:


> I have never been able to make money selling hay for $20 or $30 per roll on fertilized hay. Your will be competing with the locals who do not fertilize and get $20 and think they are making good money.
> 
> Welcome to the world of haying in the deep south.


I can send some of our BTO's down that pay $400-500/acre in rent if you want. That'll force people to find ways to make hay ground as productive as possible or it will quickly turn into row crops.

Some guys are just plain getting nuts in our area. There is a buyers group around that has 20,000 acres and looking for more. They buy it, add irrigation if needed then the renter is responsible for the cost of maintaining the pivot, well, any drainage including cost of keeping the ditches clean, any mowing, and maintaining any drives. A property in town they bought rented out for $425 an acre x 190 acres with a five year lease.

Must be a sign of the times but when we were renting irrigated ground the landowner was responsible for maintaining the wells and the pivot if they owned it.

I figured with those kind of stipulations plus the rent a guy might as well own it himself and least have the equity to work with.


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## Tim/South

Trucking costs would not make it profitable for people to come in and pay much for hay ground. Plus all hay here is grass, not alfalfa.

Newer strands of alfalfa created for the south may work but traditionally it has been a flop.

Supply and demand is what drives our market here. The number of hay customers has dwindled over the last 20 years.


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## C & C Cattle and Hay

Devil Dawg, I believe we have a lot of those road side baler operators who bale black berries, thistle and what not and then turn around and sell it for 18 a roll. Oh and it's supposedly horse quality hay that has been sprayed and fertilized!! Then everyone wonders why I charge so much for my hay at 35-40 a roll!! The Alabama hay business is tough.


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## circlehfarms

somedevildawg said:


> Ya know i got to thinking.....this may be the same guy with the ad on Craigslist for $20 a roll, net wrapped and fertilized Bermuda grass, stored in dry......purty sure his kin folk live down the road from me, morons...


Wait a minute..... I know that guy too. Guess that's why he still has a barn full of 2012, $20 "Hay" and my, once full barn of $50 Hay is long since empty with plenty of room for the new crop.


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## pes1183

An update from my on-going hay adventure. After cutting the 9-10 (this is an estimate; could be 11-ish) ac that had enough hay to rake, my neighbor rolled 37 4 x 5 bales.

So I gave him 19 and I took 18 - it seemed to work out. We had some rain - the forecast when we started was 'dry for several days' - not quite.

So once everything is good and dry I intend to palletize and cover. Is it worth it to buy 'hay tarps' from a place like TSC? Are they any better than Harbor Freight 'good' quality tarps? I did see some moisture on the top of my bales from last year as if the tarps had seeped somewhat. Opinions?


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