Re: Hauling Hay

Posted by Hal/WA on October 16, 2002 at 17:42:21 from (208.8.194.28):

In Reply to: Hauling Hay posted by Jef f Fisher on October 15, 2002 at 06:44:31:

I hauled a lot of hay as a kid 35 years ago. I think we got about a dime a bale to pick it up out of the field and stack it in the barn using the farmer's equipment and fuel. It didn't seem enough then...and sure wouldn't be now.

I would be asking where the hay is now, in a barn or in an outside stack, and where the delivery would be. I would charge less for delivery to an outside stack that I could drive right up to than to a barn where I had to manually move the hay very much. And I just would not be interested in EVER loading up to the peak of a roof anymore.

This is assuming you are talking the small, rectangular bales that I grew up with. Nowdays, most of the farmers I know that hay are using the large round bales that they move with machines. I don't think they ever actually touch the hay. Some store them outside and some stack in barns built to handle the large bales.

I have heard that it got harder and harder to get teenagers to buck the small bales and combined with the high wages they demanded and the insurance the farmers had to pay for on employees, it got necessary to mechanize haying or quit doing it. Most of the hay I see going down the road on semis are the very large rectangular bales with about 5 or 6 strings. Obviously all the handling of those bales is by machine. And you would have to have a capable machine at both ends of the haul. I see fewer of the round bales on semis, but more around farms where they are growing hay to feed their own cattle.

I am sure that someone has computed how much to charge for hauling, and maybe you could get information about the "going rate". You want to be competative, but not work for nothing.

Hauling hay was some of the hardest work I did as a kid. But it got us in good shape for football and was a job in an area where jobs were hard for kids to find. I don't think I would want to do too much of it now though!

Follow Ups:

• Re: Re: Hauling Hay Mike (WA) 08:57:09 10/17/02 (0)

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