$10 small sq bales of Coastal

[Tx Jim]

I just sent the last of my 1st & maybe last cutting of this yr down the rd harvested on 15 acres. I calculated how much $$$$ I made subtracting fert, weed spray, liming & baling. I cleared $475. Woo-Hoo .

 

[sea2summit]

How much profit did you expect off a 15 acre field? Not poking, serious question as I’m still trying to dial in my pricing.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hopefully more than $475 on 15AC…..
Jim, did you have to unload, store and reload? Or sell out of field?

 

[Tx Jim]

Due rain being forecast 200 bales were sold out of field & 200 were mechanically loaded on trailer & put in barn overnight. No rain developed & trailer was off loaded by hay purchaser. 10 acres next to the 15 thats difficult to access with a trailer in tow I rd baled. It made nine 4X5.5 bales. I had $1550 in fert/weed spray/lime with $270 baling added in then subtract 9 X $100 for rd bale income that's a loss of ---$920. These fields normally make 2-3 rd bales per cutting but not without sufficient rainfall. I've had 7.41'' of rain since JAN 1. May is normally the rainiest month of the yr here.

 

[newbury]

Nothing for equipment maintenance, repair, depreciation? Free fuel and labor?
Or is this just a tax write off?

 

[sea2summit]

Due rain being forecast 200 bales were sold out of field & 200 were mechanically loaded on trailer & put in barn overnight. No rain developed & trailer was off loaded by hay purchaser. 10 acres next to the 15 thats difficult to access with a trailer in tow I rd baled. It made nine 4X5.5 bales. I had $1550 in fert/weed spray/lime with $270 baling added in then subtract 9 X $100 for rd bale income that's a loss of ---$920. These fields normally make 2-3 rd bales per cutting but not without sufficient rainfall. I've had 7.41'' of rain since JAN 1. May is normally the rainiest month of the yr here.

Well, you made me feel better anyway. But I need to do another 1800 in fertilizer before my next cut. We got 348 off our 16 acres for squares, like you it’s been dry here this spring….and no one pays $10/bale here it’s all $4-7 for grass, $15 for perineal peanut, or imported alfalfa.

 

[Hay Dude]

$4-$7 for grass hay?
No way anyone’s making money off that price, unless your pappy left you a farm, all the equipment, plus enougha money in a bank account to afford all the $6 buck diesel, insurance & repairs for the next 20 years, THEN MAYBE you could make some money.

With fuel prices the way they are, I would think maybe $10/bale hay could pencil out.

 

[5030]

Maybe, just maybe. Right now, I'm looking at 30 per for first cut and 30-40 on second and third and whatever is left will go on Michigan Hay and be gone in a flash. Already told my big customer what the per bale price 'might' be and he's good with it. He's a realist just like we are. 30 per is just break even here. Strange time we are in but cattle have to eat or should I say pure bred bucking bulls have to eat. I do get free tickets to the rodeo and I have a nice jacket from him too that says on the back, proud sponsor of Lost Nations Rodeo Company with my name on the front pocket.

He does Rodeos all over this part of the country. Has nice bulls too and I feed them. Amazing how docile they are. I can walk right in the pens with them and scratch their ears, no issue. They don't get rowdy until the cinch goes on and then get outta the way...

Don't have a clue what 'Coastal' is. Here it's alfalfa-timothy with some orchard grass mixed in of first and subsequent cuts will be more alfalfa than the other.

I lucked out on fertilizer, bought excess tons last year and it's in the barn on skids. Far as chemicals, all I spray is 2-4-DB. and maybe for potato leaf hoppers in the late summer. I was using a foiliar innoculant for a while but switched back to 46 Urea in granulated clay coated prills.

46 went up like an atomic bomb. I paid 19 a sack (50 pounds) last year, it's 50 bucks a sack presently if you can even get it. I buy all my amendments from Wilbur Ellis and the only way you can hope to get 46 is special order.

I keep the barn padlocked btw.

 

[Gee Ray]

In the Tampa area Coastal has been over $8 per small sq. bale for months. Anything else is even more. As stated earlier I believe the glue factories will be very busy very soon.

 

[Tx Jim]

Nothing for equipment maintenance, repair, depreciation? Free fuel and labor?
Or is this just a tax write off?

My simple calculations didn't include equipment maintenance,repair,depreciation. I paid my neigbor for cutting & sq baling & I showed $270 for my rd baling.

I guess it"s a "non planned tax write off" due to my filing income tax return as a farmer & lack of normal rainfall amount.

 

[Tx Jim]

Don't have a clue what 'Coastal' is. Here it's alfalfa-timothy with some orchard grass mixed in of first and subsequent cuts will be more alfalfa than the other.

I should have included Bermuda Grass in my title Many different varieties of hybrid Bermuda grass are grown in Texas. To my knowledge no Orchard or Timothy grass is grown down here. Very small amount of Alfalfa grown in Texas compared to other crop acreage

 

[Hay Dude]

In the Tampa area Coastal has been over $8 per small sq. bale for months. Anything else is even more. As stated earlier I believe the glue factories will be very busy very soon.

Yep, gonna be a lot of horses going away.

 

[5030]

I guess it"s a "non planned tax write off" due to my filing income tax return as a farmer & lack of normal rainfall amount.

That won't make the 'Big Guy' happy. He wants your pound of flesh no matter what. Interesting it's dry there and wet here. been getting an inordinate amount of rainfall the last moth or so. Not many fields fitted here and even less finished and planted. Have not even tilled my garden, just too wet to work up the soil. I did spray it with roundup ultra however. I could cut anytime but like I said, just too wet.

 

[shooterdon]

Sounds like a lot of hay farmers are in for a rough year. But that could be a good thing. Once the marginal guys get out of the business, the bigger operations can get the prices they need to stay profitable. I expect the small acreage guys will stop losing money and wait it out. Hay was not how they made their money anyway and was more of a side business.

There is a family hay operation that farms over 2000 acres and they send some bales all the way to Florida with much going to Kentucky/Tennessee area. They service a "high end" market. It will be interesting to see how they do this year.

There is some demand that will never dry up. Many dedicated horse people are silly rich and will spend what it takes. For the average family of the 12 year old girl that wants to ride horses, high hay costs is just one more nail in the inflation coffin.

 

[5030]

Yep, gonna be a lot of horses going away.

Don't know. Most 'horsey' people around here are pretty upwardly mobile and can well afford them. Around here, the majority of them board their horses at boarding stables which appear to be doing just fine.... so far. If any 'go away' will probably be to Canada where horse meat is served in fine restaurants. I believe the old term glue factory is long gone. No animals left here except the dog and some cats. Sold the cattle early last year.

 

[5030]

You are here in Michigan... Check out the prices on ALLHAY.com I sell my excess rounds on there every year (if I have any).

Last year after I sold off the cattle, I removed all the fencing, pulled all the posts ( have a large pile of pressure treated 4x4 and 4x6 posts stacked behind the Clearspan truss arch building that I'll give away for free if anyone wants them), chopped all of it close, ran the tine harrow over it and over seeded it with vernal alfalfa and orchard grass and presently, it's a forest of hay out there. Picked up another 10 acres and no more being 'married' to the cattle. Sold both of my grain tanks as well. Still have a couple bunk feeders that need to go (free too) and some odd ball stuff like electric fencers and fence tools. Getting too old to deal with herd animals. Like I said on the past, I have a very stable buyer for all my rounds, very turn key for me and if I do have any left, I have no issue with selling them as I store them inside and they are net wrapped so it stays nice and fresh with no rain on them. Years past, I might wind up with 2 dozen rounds left over.

 

[Bobrown14]

I just sent the last of my 1st & maybe last cutting of this yr down the rd harvested on 15 acres. I calculated how much $$$$ I made subtracting fert, weed spray, liming & baling. I cleared $475. Woo-Hoo .

Try planting hemp... skip the ferts and weed spray. You should be way ahead of hay. My neighbor gets $370 for hay on like 5 acres. But that was because the buyer doesn't know how cheap hay can be bulk.



I her an old saying:
"if making hay was easy, everyone would do it"

 

[Tx Jim]

My hay I was referring to was harvesting from property that belongs to my neighbor so planting Hemp is not going to happen. I've been custom baling hay since '87 & I need to see the ""light at the end of the tunnel"" & QUIT

 

[Tx Jim]

I don't classify my as a marginal hay baler owner & I certainly don't intend to sell my hay at bargain basement prices. My squares sold for $10 & my rd will be priced at $100+ each this Winter. I just like making hay but I'm getting closer to quitting baling every time my baler enters the field.