The little tractor that could!
- Thread starter MFL
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pharmer-phil
New member
Here in Texas, $40 for 900- 1000 lb bales is CHEAP! We're going through a 2 year drought....I've heard of fertilized coastal 900 lb bales going for as much as $125.
Enjoy the "cheap" hay!!
Pharmer Phil
Enjoy the "cheap" hay!!
Pharmer Phil
Phil,
I have to say, we're pretty lucky. We had a really dry summer here also, and a lot of horse owners are having a hard time finding hay at any price. I've seen small squares of not great grass going for as much as $7-8 a bale. Figuring about 15 50lb. squares per round bale, $125 is about what people are paying for an equivalent amount of hay when bought in squares. The gentleman we get our hay from lets me help out when he cuts (I tedd and rake, he cuts and bales), so he gives me a good price on the rounds and I'm assured all the hay I need for the winter.
Like I said, LUCKY!!
I have to say, we're pretty lucky. We had a really dry summer here also, and a lot of horse owners are having a hard time finding hay at any price. I've seen small squares of not great grass going for as much as $7-8 a bale. Figuring about 15 50lb. squares per round bale, $125 is about what people are paying for an equivalent amount of hay when bought in squares. The gentleman we get our hay from lets me help out when he cuts (I tedd and rake, he cuts and bales), so he gives me a good price on the rounds and I'm assured all the hay I need for the winter.
Like I said, LUCKY!!
Marcussen
Gold Member
Round bales are nice and easy, around here they are $70 plus if you can find them. My regular hay guy has not been able to deliver because of dry weather. Hopefully I can find somebody else. I just put 50 square bales of grass in the barn @6.50 each. But thats all I have found so far.
fishpick
Platinum Member
How many acres - roughly - does it take to produce 1 round bale?
More precisely - whats the bale to acre ratio for the round guys?
(Ohh, nice set up too!)
More precisely - whats the bale to acre ratio for the round guys?
(Ohh, nice set up too!)
rosey
Silver Member
fishpick said:
I'm not a farmer, although my house sits adjacent to roughly 15 acres of pasture which my neighbor (farmer) bushogs for me as a tradeoff to keep it cut. To answer your question the ratio depends obviously on how tall the fields are when they are cut....I've seen him bale as many as 45 and as few as 20 depending on how much rain that we have had.
GreenLaw
Member
Wow! Different parts of the country is crazy. Whoever pays $70-$125 for a round bale and thinks they have a good deal should check around. I thought that sounded pretty high when I first read it. There is an ad in todays paper for Red Clover, round bales for $15 each or $20 delivered. That is the going price around here.
RobJ
Elite Member
GreenLaw said:
It's a long way to Kentucky.
I'm surprised anyone can make any money at $15 a bale. Fertilizer, weed control, diesel, equiptment. Getting into the hay business ain't cheap.
DelfinoTX
Bronze Member
On the bottom of this page is a DIY bale spear i started on last weekend.
http://www.cbgts.com/
Delfino
http://www.cbgts.com/
Delfino
Fishpick,
Difficult question to answer. The four guys I know that cut hay try and look at acreage yield on a yearly basis. The yearly count will depend on rain, temp., improvments to the field, etc.
If an acre will produce 4-6 rounds, 3-4 times a year, that pretty good. In this part of Georgia, a lot of guys have been lucky to get two cuttings and only harvest 2-3 bales per acre this year. Typically, the guys that have the gear to cut and bale hay usually also keep cattle. This means that whatever hay they cut will first go to feed their livestock and IF there is any spare, they'll sell it. This puts a lot of small acreage horse people (me) at the bottom of the totem pole for good quality hay.
Robj is right. I'd be suspicious of a $15 round bale. If it's good quality, fresh baled hay, anything under $30 means the guy is losing money. I've seen rounds that have been sitting out for a year and that are made up of mostly weeds that go for $10-15 but I wouldn't feed that stuff to a goat!
Marcussen, good luck with your search. Same to anyone else looking for quality hay this year. It's going to be rough!!
Difficult question to answer. The four guys I know that cut hay try and look at acreage yield on a yearly basis. The yearly count will depend on rain, temp., improvments to the field, etc.
If an acre will produce 4-6 rounds, 3-4 times a year, that pretty good. In this part of Georgia, a lot of guys have been lucky to get two cuttings and only harvest 2-3 bales per acre this year. Typically, the guys that have the gear to cut and bale hay usually also keep cattle. This means that whatever hay they cut will first go to feed their livestock and IF there is any spare, they'll sell it. This puts a lot of small acreage horse people (me) at the bottom of the totem pole for good quality hay.
Robj is right. I'd be suspicious of a $15 round bale. If it's good quality, fresh baled hay, anything under $30 means the guy is losing money. I've seen rounds that have been sitting out for a year and that are made up of mostly weeds that go for $10-15 but I wouldn't feed that stuff to a goat!
Marcussen, good luck with your search. Same to anyone else looking for quality hay this year. It's going to be rough!!
fishpick
Platinum Member
Thanks for the info - my interest really kicked in from the "is there money to be made here" when I started reading the $100+ per bale numbers.
Not that I'm making any money doing it - just thinking in general, what's the yield per acre and COULD you make money... which would, of course, require a bigger tractor, more attachments...
"Honey.. . I have this sure fire way to make money... all i need is..."
Not that I'm making any money doing it - just thinking in general, what's the yield per acre and COULD you make money... which would, of course, require a bigger tractor, more attachments...
"Honey.. . I have this sure fire way to make money... all i need is..."
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