was a post the other day asking fuel cost of making hay. I cut 5 acres an hour with a 4230 JD tractor. Field is so ruff that I can only go 4.5-5.5 MPH I use 25 litres of fuel an hour =$31.50 an hour. Divided by 5 is $6.30 an acres. One field I got 3/4 of a bale = $8.40 a bale. Baling and raking is about the same as cutting. so double that and you get $16.80 a bale to make hay on that field. I pay $20 a bale rent. That leaves very little profit for my time. That was this year at 21 bales. Last year with the same cost, same field I got 50 bales. So that cut the cost per bale in half or a little better. So if you have a smooth field where you can go 10 MPH baling uses a lot less fuel per field even though by the hour it still costs the same. So there is no cut and dry cost per bale. My fresh field this year I silage wrapped 30 5X5 bales off of 6.5 acres. About 2.5-3 bales an acre if it was dry hay. Smooth field but could only cut in places in A2 Quad range because it was 5 ft high. Mostly wild mustered and oats. where it was not as tall could go faster. Baling with a 2394 Case IH tractor this year and fuel cost is half of what the 4230 JD uses baling. I like having 2 tractors now as I don't halve to unhook and rehook all the time. Cut another 25 acres of barley , under seeded in alfalfa yesterday. Looks like that field will be 2.5 bales an acre and should be able to bale dry tomorrow. We have 25degrees + Celsius. and 20-30 MPH wind so it is drying fast.