# how much to stack hay



## 1chevy02

I recently bought a stinger stacker and have been trying to figure out a fair price to stack 4x4 and round bales. Some of it i haul up to 4 miles other times i roadside it to the edge of center pivots. Some local guys charge $4/bale to roadside but when i have to haul them or weigh every load it slows me down so much. I was wondering if $.50/mile/bale was resonable.


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## chadl

I stack small squares and some request hauling. What I do is charge current freight rate. A month ago here it was 3.60 a loaded mile.


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## HALLSHAY

When I used to custom stack a few years ago with my stacker it was 3.50 a bale to the edge of the field. I could easily average 50-60 bales an hour if the bales were accumulated =$150-$200 per hour. Start stacking across the road and watch your average go to 40 bales an hour. Go down the road 4 miles and weigh and good luck getting 3or4 loads or 24-32 bales an hour. Just based on time, it should be double the price, but you take the good with the bad sometimes. I always did my best to suggest a spot on the edge of the field so I could complete the job in 1 day not 2, or I hit them with $150 per hour flat fee and I would haul them wherever within reason. Most of the time they magically came up with a spot on the edge that would work when they did the math and realized it would cost 6 or 7 ber bale to get it down the road. I would also cut the rate a little bit if they would provide stacking spots on 2 sides of the circle. 70-80 bales an hour x $3.25 made more money than 40-50 x $3.50. All that person cares about is dollars per bale, not the time it takes you. 
One summer when I did a bunch of stacking, I picked up 15,000 bales that were in a 45 mile radius of the house and put less than 300 total hours on the machine.


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## 1chevy02

thanks that helps but using stackers are relativly new to our area seems like people would rather get their hay rained on than pay a few buck per acre to stack it.


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## 1chevy02

what brand of stacker did you run


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## HALLSHAY

We built a stinger replica, only better


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## 1chevy02

really! I have a friend who did that but i can outstack him I think his problem is more the truck than the stacker though. I have thought about doing that also. Do you have any pics of that you could pm me or post online


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## saviorjesus

I would love to take a look at your big bale stacker, if its better than my stinger than I would want one! Holler at me if you would. Erik Johnson 509-521-6300


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