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Depending on location this can be right lucrative. I've been toying with the idea myself. Right off the top a 1000# round bale which will bring $25 here, stored inside will unroll into 20, 50# small squares worth $3 (and up) each for a net gain of $35 for the same amount of hay. At an effective processing rate of 250 small squares per hour (capacity of the baler I was looking at using) thats an $875 per hour return to labor, management, and equipment. Fully automated with a conveyer back to the barn using an existing baler was going to take about a $20,000 capital investment in my case (prorated over a 7 year life for about $7000 per year in capital costs). With an hourly operating cost of something like $100 (2 hired men, electricity (looking at an all electric system), and parts). Including profit, I would need to run the system for about 5000 bales a year to make an acceptable return. Advantages, round bales, my daily capacity is about 110 round bales rolled and stacked in the barn with 2 men. Square bales is around 1500 in good timothy but about 1200 in alfalfa. A net gain of about 1000 square bale equivelents per day. Also makes things a lot simpler, there are plenty of custom round balers here, hard to find help to load small squares if the bale wagon breaks down and I've got the only baler around close with a 1/4 turn bale chute. Would spread out work load into the winter months enabling more effective use of good drying weather. Plus there is a plentiful supply of roundbales to be had cheap here in most years if one wants to increase market. Its a lot like the double compressed market for export. I would have never considered taking small squares, double compressing them and tying with plastic bands, then loading into an ocean going container for export. But some folks in Canada sure did and it looks like they are doing well with it.
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