Baling Hay

Fordflunkey · Feb 17, 2009

I am considering baling around 18 acres of hay this year for the first time. Going to take soil samples to determine fertilizer. Thinking of seeding with timothy and orchard grass. I have all the equipment except a baler. I have a place to store small square bales, round bales would have to be kept out. No stock to feed. I hope to sell the hay. I don't know whether to go with a square baler or round baler. Anything I buy will be used. I figure a square baler will be less expensive, but using it will be more labor intensive. Which would be easier to sell, round or square? Which would be more profitable? I would think $3 to $5 for squares would make more than $30 to $40 for 1000# bales. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

JMS/.MN · Feb 17, 2009

See if you can determine who your market is. What do they want? With little squares you also need wagons and help. Rounds, you can transport with a spear. Clearing 18 acres of rounds would not take very long, and the weather does not affect them as much. I modified a bale fork to fit the 3020 loader, and used another one on the 3ph- hauling goes pretty fast that way.

T-Rev · Feb 17, 2009

Great decision, I don't think you'll regret the experience of working your own small farm. Like I said on a previous post, theres no other hobby that I know of that carries the same level of pride and generally pays for itself.

hayray · Feb 18, 2009

I believe squares to generally be more profitable. Round bales take a while to get a market for whereas square bales you are able to store them for an indefinite period and hold your price because typically people are not storing the rounds under cover so that they do not deteriorate. Also, 1000 lb. rounds are for sure not profitable in comparison to the prices you mentioned. Making a 4x4, 500 lb. round would be more profitable. I would for starters plan on square baling for not only the profit reason but it also puts you into a more hands on level with your hay package to see how the crop is turning out, I see a increadable amount of poor round bale hay quality being produced, i.e. too wet, dusty, moldy, lack of leaf, etc. and in lot of cases the producer has no idea of the quality they are producing.

Negligence · Feb 18, 2009

For 18 acres, it's not worth it to buy a round baler. Get a small square baler with a thrower and 1-2 wagons and you'll be set.

Heck, it would be better to pay someone to bale it up for you. It would be hard for the crop to pay for the equipment over time with a lot that size.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 18, 2009

You may want to reconsider your mixture, use Orchard grass and Alfalfa or Tmothy and Alfalfa or a Clover mix -- it will make a lot better and more hay than a double grass mix with less fertilizer in the long run. Welter seed and honey has a web site and they sell several good hay mixs ready to plant.

Kelly MT · Feb 18, 2009

I put up small squares to sell and round bales for me. Most people can't handle big round bales so on a small scale it wouldn't pay. You can get a usable round baler for 3 to 4 thousand. It also takes a bigger tractor to run one. Labor is a big problem around here with small squares. Can't find any help, so all of my squares are sold in the field. PK

Fordflunkey · Feb 18, 2009

I appreciate all the input. I was leaning toward square baling. Had not considered hiring it done, probably a good idea but I would like to do it myself. All my equipment is paid for and I was hoping I could get a good square baler for under $2000. In the next 3 to 4 years was hoping to get my money back from fertilizer and seed and baler and maybe make alittle.

Thanks again

relaurain · Feb 19, 2009

You will recoop your money on the first cutting!
My soil was pretty good though too.
I have keep track of my expenses and that is how it is for me with only 7 acres. I got a baler with a kicker for $1200.00 but you have to shop around. Horse hay - talk to people to see what they want in their hay! Plant accordingly.
Alfalfa can bring in other problems to your field so be look into it to see if it is worth it. I did straight grass cause horses need grass for sure, not always alfalfa.

Fordflunkey · Feb 20, 2009

What types of problems can there be with alfalfa?

Larry NE IL · Feb 20, 2009

Not much, except that some horse owners think it's bad for their horses.

johns48jdb · Feb 24, 2009

don't cut all your hay at once and you might consider planting it in two different things to offer a bigger variety to buyers. i prefer using trailers not wagons to haul on. if you try backing a wagon load of hay up to a barn loft you'll see wy. put it on trailers and park it in the dry and wait until night to unload. advertise it for sale in the field and either make the people put up a down deposit or be prepared to haul all of it if they don't show. some people will buy it right off the trailer too. some people work and would be glad to come by after work and just hook up to a trailer already loaded and unlaod it themselves. hay on trailers can be parked any where to get out of the rain or tarped down over night. wait until late in the day or after dark to tarp them down and don't laeve it on the trailers more than 24 hours.

Farmallb · Mar 1, 2009

I put up hay for others from the time I was 9 till I graduated HS asnd went into the service. After that I only did my own. Dad had a dairy and grain farm. We had the biggest milk check on the route we was on. We milked 10/12 cows. Guit dairy in 60. I never worked in a field bigger than 14 acres, and I thought that was huge. Dad never had a field bigger than around 10 acres. Ive never had a field of hay 5 avres. Now you are saying 18 acres is dinky, and the cost of machinery wont justify returns from the hay. I think it will, many times over, but I cant prove it. BUT it justifies haveing the machinery in other ways. The pride of ownership is one. Not haveing to depend on others, and kiss their royals to get it done, ( and that on their own time, not yours) is another. Learning to handle and fix machinery is another. Maybe pride in these things is a bygone thing setting backseat to economy, as one sees it today

Ed S. · Mar 3, 2009

the cost of machinery wont justify returns from the hay. I think it will, many times over, but I cant prove it.

I'm starting my eighth haying season on about 10 acres (alfalfa), and so far, have made a profit one out of seven years. That sounds bad, but "the rest of the story" is that I had a young man cutting and baling for me the first five years, so I only got half the yield, and I would buy one or two pieces of equipment each year, which deducted me into a net loss all but one year when we had drought and alfalfa was the only thing growing.

I reseeded the field last year, rebuilt my 8N (more deductions) and ruined my last cut of hay putting it up too wet, so no profit last year, either.

Lord willing, and I don't mess up the hay again this year, I expect to begin turning a profit now that I'm past "acquisition mode" and am into "maintenance mode."

es

Baling Hay

Fordflunkey

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JMS/.MN

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T-Rev

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hayray

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Negligence

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Anonymous-0

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Kelly MT

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Fordflunkey

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relaurain

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Fordflunkey

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Larry NE IL

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johns48jdb

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Farmallb

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Ed S.

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