# Prices for bailing small square hay bales



## big_country

I have been baling small square hay bales for several years for myself. One day while I was baling a guy stopped and ask me if I could bale his Bermuda hay. There will be about 10 acres and it is about 20 miles away. He said that he would cut, fluff and row the hay up. The only thing I have to do is bring my tractor and baler and start baling. I never baled for anyone before. What would be a fair price to bale that hay. What about the twine will I add it to the price or just let the guy get it. Just wondering what is a fair price


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## Thorim

What's the current price for a sm sq bale of Bermuda hay going for in your local? I'd charge about half the price of a bale.... times the number of bales


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## big_country

Small square bales are going for 5.00 to 6.00 in the field


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## hog987

I just had the same situation. Did some square baling for a neighbor lady. They cut 2/3 of the field. I cut the rest and raked the whole field. I squared baled it with my tractor but their baler. I charged her$1/bale on a thousand bales and she thought that was high. I thought that was fair almost on the lower end of things. The good thing is its only 2 miles away.

Got to figure out a per bale charge or a per hour charge from the time you hit the road till you get back home.


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## somedevildawg

$1.20 a bale 100 bale an acre minimum.......you just drop em on the ground

That would be "fair" but I would rather be at 1.50-$2 a bale If having to drive 20 miles.....


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## 8350HiTech

Thorim said:


> What's the current price for a sm sq bale of Bermuda hay going for in your local? I'd charge about half the price of a bale.... times the number of bales


Yikes! Baling is worth half of the hay? What percentage would he take if he mowed and raked it? All of it?

...

I agree the baling is a $1-1.50 but there are always variables specific to your situation. For the twenty mile trip to do only ten acres, I think I'd charge a flat rate for the road time instead of trying to add it to the cost per bale. Twine, on the other hand, I would provide and charge accordingly, unless they wanted something that I don't use. In that case they can go buy their own.


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## IH 1586

I charge $1 plus fuel for sm. sq. baling and that is dropping on the ground.


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## Tim/South

I doubt you could go half the price of a square bale. That would mean cutting and raking were the other half and that would not leave anything for fertilizer and land/grass ownership.

20 miles is a long way for me to move a tractor and baler, especially if it is an offset baler and not an inline.

Would you be hauling the tractor and towing the baler? Two trips there, two trips to get back home?

Charge a price that will make it worth your while. It is one thing to help out a neighbor, another to break even for someone 20 miles away.


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## Thorim

8350HiTech said:


> Yikes! Baling is worth half of the hay? What percentage would he take if he mowed and raked it? All of it?
> 
> ...
> 
> I agree the baling is a $1-1.50 but there are always variables specific to your situation. For the twenty mile trip to do only ten acres, I think I'd charge a flat rate for the road time instead of trying to add it to the cost per bale. Twine, on the other hand, I would provide and charge accordingly, unless they wanted something that I don't use. In that case they can go buy their own
> 
> To haul my equipment twenty miles to a field that I have no knowledge about for I man who says he'll cut fluff and row it who I don't know the quality of his work, or if his word is good, more then likely on a rare day off taking me a way from my family to two to three dollars a bale depending on the price of what the bale is selling for if they are getting five dollars the two fifty if six dollars then three dollars sounds like a bargain to me.
> 
> Which brings up the question why does a man have to travel twenty miles to find someone to bale his hay for him. I am sure there most be farmers closer??????
> 
> If I didn't make my self clear it ain't worth traveling twenty miles to bale ten acres of a strangers hay.... that being said if it's dire circumstance life or death then I'd probably do it for free but from what big_country said that doesn't appear to be the case....


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## Lostin55

Interesting thread. Around here it is 65 to 70 cents/bale flat rate and dropped on the ground. I would charge enough to pay time and fuel for transportation.


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## deadmoose

Speaking of travel, I saw something interesting today. Driving home from my brothers I saw a semi with a big JD (rear duals, mfwd, would guess 7xxx) but didn't catch it. With a roll belt 460 on trailer. Could tell a Bobcat was with it lining up bales. Got home, hooked up baler, headed to my hay field. Same rig went from baling alfalfa to straw at second place (miles away). Had wi plates. Had to be at least 50 miles from home. Looks like they had travel figured out.


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## 8350HiTech

Lostin55 said:


> Interesting thread. Around here it is 65 to 70 cents/bale flat rate and dropped on the ground. I would charge enough to pay time and fuel for transportation.


I would say that's probably closer to what the job is actually worth. Here, I have to estimate higher because of inefficiencies in small or awkward fields. If I could go somewhere and put 400 on the ground in an hour, I wouldn't complain one bit about grossing $260 an hour to run a square baler.


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## Thorim

8350HiTech said:


> I would say that's probably closer to what the job is actually worth. Here, I have to estimate higher because of inefficiencies in small or awkward fields. If I could go somewhere and put 400 on the ground in an hour, I wouldn't complain one bit about grossing $260 an hour to run a square baler.


How do you figure its an hour worth of work? you have to either load tractor and baler onto a trailer or two or drive the equipment there that takes time, repeat the process for the return trip best case that's at least another hour worst case your maybe talking two hours, so know your up to 3 hours so know your down to close to eight six dollar an hour, you haven't even begun to figure in what you'll use in fuel for the tractor pulling your baler or the truck used to haul your equipment or the other miscellaneous expense, expenses I've mentioned just covers equipment, how much do you value your labor at? lots of things to factor in and your hoping that everything goes perfectly with no problems, I guess it comes down to what you value more a couple extra dollars, or the time that could be spent with your wife and kids, take it from someone who once valued the almighty dollar the time spent with family is far more valuable then that two hundred sixty dollars you think your making, your kids will be grown and living there own lives before your know it and you'll never be able to get that time back, there's always an opportunity to make and extra buck......The man who has family and the wisdom to realize that time with them even if just an day make him more wealthy then Donald Trump....just my humble opinion from a man that valued money over family and learned the lesson the hard way.

What you gross doesn't matter what you net does...


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## 8350HiTech

Thorim, you're mixing two of my posts. I never said it would take one hour to do the job in the original post. I'm saying that a rate of $.65 is perfectly reasonable for a "good" job. More acres, bigger fields, hopefully closer to home. So in good hay in that case you'd be looking at grossing $260 per hour. I know what my expenses are and I'd be making good money if my gross per hour would be $260. It's not a matter of worshipping money or whatever it is you're suggesting.

In the original case, I did say that charging a fee to drive twenty miles would be appropriate for a small job. The small job is also why I suggested a higher rate per bale. If that's too far or someone wants to spend time with their kids, that's fine. I don't, however, understand why you would give the person a half-the-price-of-a-bale rate. Wouldn't it be easier to just turn it down?

Regarding travel, there has to be some road running time expected for every job. It's pretty hard to get work a mile from home. So anytime someone is determining their rates, travel should be included in your flat rate. It's much less confusing to prospective clients that way. Jobs that are disproportionate in size versus travel would have to be looked at on a case by case basis.


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## Lostin55

When running the stacker I have been charging by the bale and 2 bucks a mile for anything over 1 mile to the stack. 
I don't think that it is very difficult to figure out a mileage rate for a tractor and baler that pays the bills but is fair. It really doesnt matter if you road the tractor or load the whole shitterie on a trailer and haul it. At most it should take just over an hour to road it, around here, or 45 minutes to an hour to load and haul it. 6 on one side half dozen on the other.
I didn't even consider the small and inconvenient feild angle. I don't do any work in feilds like that. I did once, a 6 acre peice, as a favor but because of the distance didn't go back. It was a little over 10 miles away. I couldn't make it pay. I was roading a swather, baler, and stacker.
You are right, it is a heck of a lot easier to make a feild pay when you can run for two or three hours straight.

edit. Spelling


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## Thorim

8350HiTech, your right it would be easy to just turn the man down but I've always believe in giving some one a choice might not be a very good choice, but its the man's decision to make not mine I get turned down no hard feelings, man accepts my offer no matter how outrageous it may appear then we are both happy. He can always make a counter proposal then its up to me make my decision... you caught me on a day that I just felt argumentative If you told me the sky was blue I'd find some way to try and argue it wasn't just the mood I was in that day.. The job is only worth what someone is willing to pay. I don't do side work unless a neighbor or friend needs a helping hand then I'll drop what ever I am doing and do what needs doing usually for just being fed. Way I was raised. I don't know you but from the post you make here you seem like a good person and I don't want to get into a pi$$ing contest with you over something that's not worth arguing over.


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## 8350HiTech

No worries, I just wanted to make sure that I had been clear about what I was getting at. You know, just in case the OP comes back to read this thread


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## bbos2

My only advice is definitely bid on the high side or everyone in the county will be calling . I think I might quit custom work. I already don't do much. But think how much your product is worth? Do you want to be 20 miles away making 500 dollars when you have 5000 dollars in the field back home.
Please don't get me wrong it can work and sometimes creates opportunities. I just made the mistake of trying to be fair and I got more calls then I'd care to do.


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## whitmerlegacyfarm

I ran into a similar job last week. My first one, being almost 9 mi away and 5 of that being along a main 4 lane highway. I cut,raked, baled, n stored away for $2.50 a bale. I use the Custom rate for my state and went higher then avg. I hav older smaller equip and took many trips. I even took elevator over to allow um to use. I told um initially 2.75 a bale n dropped to $2.50 cause i made more bales then expected. Ended up with 730 bales. They are also ppreviouly paid me to brush hog and spray herbicides. I had way more time in then i wanted either hauling or pulling equip there. I ended up mowing 13ac in 2 different fields only baled about 8ac just one field was way to weedy.


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## Hayman1

interesting thread. I was getting ready to start one myself due to a situation that came up the other day. A farmer down the road discovered that I would bale by accident this year. I had not done any custom work before that. He had an emergency and a friend of a friend , yada, yada so we got together and I baled for him using my kicker wagons. Then he wanted me to sq his second cutting alfalfa. 4-500 bale job. Then another field of mixed grass, for 400 bales. The other day, on third cutting in a new field, I spent an hour and a half (total time, hookup, travel, bale and return and put baler away) for 64 bales.

All of the baling is within 1.5 miles from the house. Getting 1.50 a bale and he is using my wagons. The fields are too rough to bale over 3.5-4 mph. So at 400 bales, I am doing all right, not making a killing. but I am going to have to come up with a minimum I think. Is that reasonable thinking for those of you who do a lot of this or do I just suck up the occasional clean up job as part of the mix?


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## deadmoose

Gotta do what is right for you. Someone trying to make a living starting out should maybe be more apt to suck it up when trying to build a reputation and client base.

I don't think that is you. If you want a minimum, just state it up front.


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## MFMan

I'll add my 2 cents. ....

Several years ago I set a minimum fee or $1,500 to mow rake and bale anything...... and $4/bale if the yield exceeded that value.....because that is the very lowest price that hay can be purchased out of a field for around here....

Did I lose customers? sure. Did I stop paying people for the privilege of using up my gear and time on their places?...maybe almost.


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## hillside hay

A minimum is proper I believe. Haulers, dirt workers, and cranes all have minimum charges.


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