# Custom rates for small square



## 4020man

I was just wondering what you guys charged for a custom rate for small square baling. Thanks


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## downtownjr

I come out to about $1.85 per bale minimum to make some profit for your time. That includes insurance, machinery costs, twine, repairs, parts, fuel, labor, etc. I think in the long run, anything from $1.50 on down and you are working for free or your spending money to bale hay that belongs to someone else. I know people that do that and believe they making money. Also, depending on travel time to a job this could go up. Many in the central Indiana area (north and west of Indianapolis) are charging $2.00 per small square bale to put it on the wagon, extra to unload (.25 a bale). When you do your figures it depends on what you have in the equipment and need to make to pay the bills...also family, friends and neighbors may get a discount, but you still have to cover your costs.







I used the Iowa State sheet as a foundation and added a few extra costs I am not sure are covered in the Iowa state sheet as well as they should be (my opinion)-- http://www.extension.iastate.edu/publications/FM1698.pdf and added the costs for fuel per this sheet -- http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM709.pdf

Curious to see what others think...


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## Lazy J

I am in an interesting area and just lost all of my custom work that I had scheduled for this year. I am charging $14/acre for mowing, $7/acre for each rake pass, and $0.75/bale for small square bales.

I lost my custom work customers to a "retiree, hobby hay maker" that is charging $8/acre for mowing, $3 for raking, and GET THIS $0.30/bale. Apparently the social security check is subsidizing his hay operation.

Oh well, I will continue to work to get more custom work. I have done some soil sampling and collect hay samples for forage testing of some potential customers' hay. I know we produce a quality bale and offer a good service, we just need to get the word out. Getting some new equipment may help with our image.

Jim


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## downtownjr

of costs if they are not careful about what they have invested. Some do not know what they have in a bale or acre of work. Many do not even think about insurance, twine, repairs, etc. I have not charged my mowing, raking per acre...yet...just lumped it into each bale. The small places we do average about 4 tons a year...so I base the price calculations on 40x50 lb bales per acre average for the year of 4 cuttings. Little better at the begining and drop down toward the end of course, but it averages. However, as people cut the fertilizer (due to costs), the acre charge would be much better since there is less hay being harvested. I do very little custom work anyway...just a couple of 3-5 acre small patches. But I am probably going to start doing some work in the Indy area in the next year or two once I get a base set up. I am finding an abundance of folks looking for hay or custom help down here. I imagine charges per acre for mowing/conditioning, raking, and tedding if needed will be the way to go. Using my formula for the little I do, that little hobby guy gets .58 per bale... wow...he is a bargin...almost half of that is just fuel, grease, and twine. Not much left for new sickle blades, oil changes, belts and chains if needed, new tires if needed, new tines, insurance, just regualr upkeep and preventive maintenacnce...etc...


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## OhioHay

Lazy J,

Those are the same costs we are charging in central Ohio, other than only $.70 for small squares dropped with accumulator. We run into the same problem in selling hay. Retirees or hobby farmers that sell hay way to cheaply, just because they don't have to make a living from it. It sucks, but we just have to produce a better, guaranteed product that shows its extra value. I think you can do this with your custom work too.


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## Lazy J

OhioHay:

I agree that we can do it with our Custom Work.

I impressed several potential customers when I pulled out my Farmex moisture tester and the forage sampler I purchased from Star Samplers in Canada. They had never heard about pulling hay samples or conducting nutrient analysis on hay.

I did get a call from one potential customer that asked if I had "one of those chemical sprayer thingies on my baler" when the thunderstorms were brewing last week. Of course I have a preservative applicator but I was already booked so I couldn't help him.

Jim


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## JM in Merit

Around here in North East Texas most baling is going from 1.75 to 2.25 a bale for cutting raking, and baling a 50 to 60 lb wire tied bale. Depends on field, distance of travel and how thick the hay is.
Not been allot of hay here this year but got allot of carry over from last year.


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## Erock813

We're charging eveything by the hour here..if they have good hay then they get a good price.If the field is thin then i covers my cost.They probably wont call me next time,but thats ok,cant wear out my equipment. I understand about these parttimers always under bidding us.Around here they have balers with more rust then metal and break down everyother bale...lol


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## 4020man

Thanks guys, I was figuring around $2.00/bale. This is just for a neighbor who wants me to bale some of his wheat straw. I have thought about charging by the hour if I did any custom baling for someone else. I don't do much custon right at the moment just because I have too many irons on the fire right now.


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## erancher

I'm one of the "part timers" or "Hobby farmers" you referred to that have balers with more rust than metal. I only got into baling hay because I could not get anyone to bale my property. I immediately picked up several small properties around here with owners with the same issue I had. I enjoy working on the equipment but I have a lot to learn and I know it. My wife (the Operator) and I charged $1.75 per bale last year and we raised it to $2.00 this year to keep up with fuel cost. We run 24 and 38 hp tractors to help keep the fuel cost down. I have a couple of 24Ts and we have not lost a single bale to down time except on the first year while I was trying to figure out how the baler worked (It was the first one I'd ever seen. I grew up in tobacco country.) In fact, the only downtime we've had was due to wrapping the pickup reel with poly twine.

We fertilize and we sell at market price because it is in our best interest to keep prices up. Being new to this, I have a lot of questions and I hope you don't mind me hanging around here and asking a question or two. We just finished our second cut for this year and only got about 300 bales which is down from last year. Too much rain last year, too little this year.


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## 4020man

Welcome to the forum erancher. Feel free to hang around and ask any questions you may have.


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## Indy Farmer

$2.00 a bale and put it in the barn for a quarter a bale. Charge 2.50 a bale if the field looks thin. Going to an hourly scale for mowing, raking and tedding next year plus a per bale charge. Seems to be the new way to go. Others in the area are doing so around Indianapolis, especially north of the city.


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## chetlenox

ERancher,

I think you'll find that there is no bias against little operations like yours (and mine). I've found everyone here to be quite friendly and helpful no matter what size operation you have.

As for the "part-timer" references, I don't think that has a significant impact on the custom market rates. Every part-timer I know in my area (including myself) sells his hay and services at going market rates. I mean, who wants to throw money away by working for less-than-nothing? Even if somebody did that, I imagine it wouldn't last long, as the "new" wore-off and they are fixing their broken equipment for the umpteenth time (like we all do).

For the record, the custom small square bale rate around here seems to be similiar to JM's experience in East Texas, about $1.50-2 per bale. I actually prefer the per/bale pricing myself (both as a consumer as well as a provider), mainly because it keeps the math simple for somebody considering using custom baling. As in: "Let's see, no matter what my yield is, I can pay Chet $2/bale to get it off my field or go pay $6/bale to buy his hay from his barn and watch my grass go to waste in the growing season... which one am I going to do?" They don't have to wonder how long it's going to take you and what their yields are going to be (two things you don't know until you actually do it!)

Although I can see where people are coming from on the thin fields being a bummer by the bale... I know, I've had a thin field most of the year!









Chet.


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## Guest

I suggested one customer needed to fertilize after I did the first cutting. the yield was half of normal. They did take my advice and second cutting was more than first and back to normal yield. Not all will do that, especially this year with high fertilizer cost.

I guess charging by the hour might motivate them to be a better steward of the land.

I do believe the days of just ordering a load of fertilizer after a cutting of hay without a test doesn't make sense, but the land owner needs to understand that as we remove the hay from their land we are taking the nutrients with it and ignoring it because of the high price of fertilizer will only cost everybody more later.

HHH


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## Itsalwayssomething

Lazy J said:


> I am in an interesting area and just lost all of my custom work that I had scheduled for this year. I am charging $14/acre for mowing, $7/acre for each rake pass, and $0.75/bale for small square bales.
> 
> I lost my custom work customers to a "retiree, hobby hay maker" that is charging $8/acre for mowing, $3 for raking, and GET THIS $0.30/bale. Apparently the social security check is subsidizing his hay operation.
> 
> Oh well, I will continue to work to get more custom work. I have done some soil sampling and collect hay samples for forage testing of some potential customers' hay. I know we produce a quality bale and offer a good service, we just need to get the word out. Getting some new equipment may help with our image.
> 
> Jim


I can't imagine he can afford to keep those rates, especially with fuel prices.


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## BCFENCE

Around here we charge .60 to bale, 8.00 to acre to rake, 14.00 to cut,some You all are charging what you can allmost buy the hay for, dont get me wrong i know what it costs to but machinery ive got close to 200,000 tied up in my operation but around here you just cant charge that much, dont get me wrong its worth it, i know were you all are coming from and i wish you the best of luck.


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## 4020man

I like your rakes, how you have different rates for everything. It sounds like you might make a little more charging everything separately rather than trying to fiugre everything into a per bale price


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## hay wilson in TX

Charging by the hour is the best option. 
First off you need to know what your cost is by the hour, and add on your profit margin. Most do not really want to know what their actual cost really is. (Don't Ask if you can not stand the answer)


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## SouthField

OhioHay said:


> Those are the same costs we are charging in central Ohio, other than only $.70 for small squares dropped with accumulator. We run into the same problem in selling hay. Retirees or hobby farmers that sell hay way to cheaply, just because they don't have to make a living from it.


They might be doing it cheaper but look at it this way - they can't afford to do large operations and their impact is fairly limited because there aren't enough hours in a day. Even if folks lose a customer to the hobby guys there is a pretty good chance that the customer might return since the hobby guys usually bite off more than they can chew and start missing deadlines.

I'd just thank the customer for their business and tell them to give me a call when doesn't work out and I'd see if I could fit them into the schedule. If you want to get them thinking remind them to check to see if the hobby guy has fall-back equipment in case of mechanical failure or maintenance issues.


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## Dwain Hammond

JM in Merit said:


> Around here in North East Texas most baling is going from 1.75 to 2.25 a bale for cutting raking, and baling a 50 to 60 lb wire tied bale. Depends on field, distance of travel and how thick the hay is.
> Not been allot of hay here this year but got allot of carry over from last year.


Hi JM in Merit,
I live in Lucas, TX. Do you know anyone who bales small properties in my area? I sure could use a few names to give a call. I have a guy who gets around to it eventually, but every year he comes later in the summer (like after the 4th of July last year). I'm looking for some other options.
Thanks


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## rob_cook2001

Depending on the field I charge 15-18acre to cut. 10-12 to rake .55-.65 to bale and .45-.60 to stack. A little higher than some but I do not see the point in working for nothing. I love putting up hay but with the stress involved i should be making some money lol.
Robert


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## customhaystacking

we are charging $50-55 ton from cutting to stacking, it breaks down to $15 ton swathing, $8 ton for raking (2 times), $22 ton for baling ($1.00 bale), and around $10 ton for stacking (.45 bale) and if they want it stacked away from the field its $7.50 mile. Most of the bales weigh approx. 85-100lbs. There is also a 1 ton/acre minimum.


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## maknhay

^^^^^ I just ran through my figures from the neighboring bull collection facility that we put up their 70 acres of grass hay and compared it with you per ton basis. At $10/acre for cutting, .95/bale for baling, .95/bale for retreiving 10 packs and hauling and stacking in their barn (same quarter section) I came up fairly close to $55 per ton. We did not have to rake or turn windrows this year. I've been charging $3/acre for that......maybe I need to go up huh? If we have to turn windrows because of rain or weather will not allow to cure I will charge. If we turn them to gain a day on curing to keep on schedule with my own hay I do not charge. I'm going up on baling next year and the figure for hauling and stacking was derived from keeping track of the time it took and based on $75 per hour. I might be going up on that too. I'm not too concerned about pricing myself out of the work because we are usually knee deep in first cut alfalfa and there's virtually no one else around here that puts up small squares on a large scale.


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## HWooldridge

Interesting thread...especially since I'm one of those hobby farmers everyone complains about. I initially bought the machinery to bale my own place because the full-time custom baling guys never could get to my pasture on-time and/or were plagued with breakdowns. Word got out and I started cutting for my neighbors because they were having the same problems I'd experienced. I'm now cutting 60-70 acres, 2-3 times per year and have been charging $1.25 flat rate per bale. I just put up 512 bales off my neighbor's place and it took 7 hours of tractor work; that's a little over $90 an hour for cut, rake and bale (no pickup or stacking). These bales were about 50 lbs so that equals 12.8 tons or $50 per ton.


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## hay king

Dont be affraid to charge if you can get the job done well. I charge $11 per ft per hr for mowing 8ft = $88/hr rakeing depends I have two rakes a 15 ft rotary and a 28 ft as well. Its $50/ hr for the single and $100 for the twin. I square bale for around 50cents/ bale and round bailing varys form $16-$20 per bale knifes in burns more fuel and if wrapped in plastic it costs more hope this helps


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