# Is it actually Profitable.



## Febrink (Feb 15, 2012)

I posted under Alfalfa and Grass Hay about 90 acres of Alfalfa I may have a shot at. I can see the profability in that case. I dont however see how if you rent the ground at 175 a acre and seed it at 2000 for say twenty acres you are already at 5,500.

If you average 2 tons to the acre your looking at 40 tons of hay. Forty tons broken into sixtey pound bales equals 1,667 a cut.

I average three cuts here. I may be able to get more but that is a big chance. That equals out to five thousand bales a year if everything goes right. (not possible in the Hay world) five thousand I am going to say five dollars a bale just to be on the low side. equals out to 25 thousand dollars.

Once you factor in your fuel equipment wear and tear and time do you really break even? are my numbers right? How much on average will this cost me for fertalizer?

I realize I would only have fertalizer/ potash after the first year but thats not cheap? Maybe I should stay with my free grass hay and very small profit margins? I am still trying for the deal on the 90 but wont know until this winter if I got it.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

For some very. For others no. If you are doing small squares of alfalfa for $150 a ton probably not. If you are doing rounds your cost goes way down. If you have no premium for idiot bricks why make them?


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I just came in from a 14 hour day so I know Iam tired but it looks like a math error to me. Average 2 ton per acre over 90 acres that is a 180 ton. Now is that 2 ton over the whole year or just the first cut? But even with a 180 ton that will give you 6000 bales. At $5/bale that is $30000. Someone correct me if iam wrong but I think I found you another $5000


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Even if he got more per bale (I would think $5 for a bale of alfalfa sounds light) he's still going to need to do something else to make more money if we're talking about supporting a family type income.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

A typical sm sq bale weighs 50 lbs.And a lot that sell to the horse market make them closer to 40 lbs.Alot of women feeding there own horses can't handle 60 lb bales.Selling to the horse crowd they will pat same per bale anyway no matter what it weighs.Well most will anyway!

So.if you make 50 lb bales - 40 bales ton x $5 -$200 a ton
40lb bales- 50 bales ton x $5 - $250 a ton

6 ton yr x $200 a ton - $1200 per acre x 90 acres - $108,000 gross income

this would be if everything clicks,you will have weather damaged hay you will have to sell at a discount.This will also be a lot of sm sq to handle and store.Its also a lot of hay to market and to actually get sold.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

swmnhay said:


> A typical sm sq bale weighs 50 lbs.And a lot that sell to the horse market make them closer to 40 lbs.Alot of women feeding there own horses can't handle 60 lb bales.Selling to the horse crowd they will pat same per bale anyway no matter what it weighs.Well most will anyway!
> 
> So.if you make 50 lb bales - 40 bales ton x $5 -$200 a ton
> 40lb bales- 50 bales ton x $5 - $250 a ton
> ...


I am glad that we sell by the ton. I would go nuts and my equipment would revolt if I put up 40 pound bales. I shoot for an 80 pound average.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Lostin55 said:


> I am glad that we sell by the ton. I would go nuts and my equipment would revolt if I put up 40 pound bales. I shoot for an 80 pound average.


I'm attempting to get some people to buy some of my 3x3s by the ton. They just don't like the idea for some reason. It's more of a hassle for me then them, but they still won't......


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

I am still trying to get my mind wrapped around people buying by the bale. It is a foreign concept to me. I understand the aspect of packaging it up in the most profitable way, but man how can folks be that dense or naïve?


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

It important to look at an alfalfa/hay crop over the long term, the life of the stand. Alfalfa has a high start-up cost year one, but that evens out over the life of the stand, as you don't pay that seeding cost each year, and fertilizer expenses will shift as well.

That $2000 you quoted to seed 20 acres equals $100/acres in seed cost year 1.. With a 5 year stand life, that's $20/acre which is a whole lot different.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Lostin55 said:


> I am still trying to get my mind wrapped around people buying by the bale. It is a foreign concept to me. I understand the aspect of packaging it up in the most profitable way, but man how can folks be that dense or naïve?


Lack of brain cells?
Some smaller hay auctions here sell by the bale.A 35 lb bale will bring the same as a 60 lb bale sometimes.

Or a 4x5 soft center bale will sell $60 and a solid 5x6 bale will sell for 70.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Lostin55 said:


> I am glad that we sell by the ton. I would go nuts and my equipment would revolt if I put up 40 pound bales. I shoot for an 80 pound average.


 80 pound square bales.....don't think I would want to pick those up out of field by hand all day.....I know the little help I have would never come back. Are those 14x18 bales?


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

yep, reminds me of NH super 77 wireties in the 50s. I have no yearning to go back


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Nope. It is a 4655 Hesston pulled by a 4440 JD. 16X18. Picked up with a 1069 New Holland and loaded out with a Bobcat and hay head. Other than what we feed our own stock, also mostly using the hay head, we never touch a bale. the only time we try to touch a bale is when we put a little stack by the corrals for the Mares. It is easier to get 3 rations out of a bale than less than 2. We feed 24 to 26 pounds/day including a few extra pounds for good measure, by official guesstimate, to each critter in the winter. Not at all uncommon in this area. Bale length is 39 to 41 inches btw.

Another thought on the subject is that the more weight per bale the fewer trips around the field and to the stackyard with the wagon. that equals less road time and less travel in general. Totally different here than what I read from most places. We are playing with 3X3's a little bit this year. Of course we aim for 900 #'s on those. 1st cut we only averaged 808/bale. They were a little light.

.....and you are talking to the only help that I have.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Thinking back, we have always made 16 X 18 bales and I grew up throwing those onto a trailer out of the field. Later on we got a bale elevator that pinned to the side of the trailer that lifted them up to about 4 or 5 tiers high on the trailer. We never had it so good, at that time. Later we went to a PT 1033 and the work was over, and we only hauled out of the stack by hand at that point. All of my spending money when I was a kid, other than from riding colts, came from hauling hay for other folks at about 3 or 5 cents/bale. I made a lot of money on the evenings and weekends and through the summer.

I later went to the Left Coast and ended up hauling 3 string bales that averaged 135 to 145 #'s by hand. I thought I was weak. It made for guys being in pretty good shape though.

The point of all this is that I think a guy goes with what he knows, and until reading this forum, I never knew anything different. Looking at it with the benefit of hindsight, maybe it is no wonder that I have had two back surgeries. It is hard to say if the hayhauling did it or wearing too many horses, as they get heavy after a second or two.


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