# Rates for CRP grass



## ccellmer

Apologize in advance, but 1st time on the site. I can see it being very informative. This will be my 1st year doing custom work and while everyone local always throws numbers around I'd appreciate any input other members could share. I'm located in Northwest Kansas. A lot of CRP ground came out this year. A friend of mine who farms about 5,000acres of wheat has 1,000 acres (scattered) sites that I'm in the process of swathing of crp. We're doing it on 50/50 shares. As this isn't the best grass, would anyone have an idea what to ask for this to say a feedlot? Any other ideas how to market or get rid of these bales as I wouldn't use in my operation.
Once I have this crp up we will cut the fields again later and at that point I'll have good clean grass. I'll need about 400 bales for my own farm, but any idea as to what an average fair price to charge per ton or bale would be as I sell the rest.
For custom work I had planned to charge 15/acre to swath and 8/bale to net wrap and I don't charge to rake. Am I leaving a lot on the table? 
I put up 5' x 5' bales usually around 1,200 #'s.
I use a pull type 16' swather
Any input is appreciated.
Thanks


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## anokes

we put up crp grass almost every summer. if you were getting 2 bales to the acre from the numbers you gave your production cost would be about $25 +/- per ton. so if you are doing it on shares you would need at least 50 in the field to come out ahead. at 1 bale per acre your production cost would be $38 per ton, or $76 per ton on 50-50. you have to be careful with crp you can get a lot more money in it than it is worth. one more thing is with light bales your freight cost can go up quite a bit.

we usually just cut crp grass once a year because the amount of grass you get from the 2nd cutting is usually pretty small, but each field and year is different. we work in central kansas and in our area the low land areas produce big rank grass that has low feed quality. but the grass on hill sides can have old growth in it and if it is cut at the right time of the year it will rival most good prairie hay. so you give up quality for quanity.


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## ccellmer

thank you, we're getting between 1 1/2 to 2 bales per acre. It's been idle for 10 years so once we get this dead stuff off we're expecting the clover and extra grass to be much better toward end of season.


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## dalli

yeah ccellmer you have said right at this point about your rewiews Rates for CRP grass

all the beat!!


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