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Author Topic: Cost of making hay.  (Read 36486 times)

MarvinH

  • Joined Oct 2011
  • England
Cost of making hay.
« on: June 24, 2012, 07:02:06 pm »
As a rough guide what should I expect to pay per acre (1 1/2) in total for my field to be cut/turned/baled etc for hay? either per acre or per bale ?Location west midlands. Though if no replies for west midlands what is the cost further afied?
thanks
Sheep

Factotum

  • Joined Jun 2012
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2012, 07:52:38 pm »
Hi

Last year we paid about £6.68 per bale for a neighbour to make large round bales. We had about 25 acres of hay mown, turned 3 times and then baled.

The breakdown shows mowing as £12/acre, raking was £5.75/acre and baling was £2.05/bale.

Price for Moray, North East Scotland.

Sue


lachlanandmarcus

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2012, 08:02:14 pm »
I have heard said that for small bales the bare cost in terms of string, fuel etc is about £1.50, then you can add travel to and fro, profit margin, etc.
So I would say anything lower than £2 a small bale being charged to make it and stack it, bite their hand off. We make our own and I would never sell it off the field for less than £3 a bale simply cos of the work involved in small bales.

Sudanpan

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • West Cornwall
    • Movement is Life
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2012, 02:03:24 pm »
We made enquiries for our 2 acres to be cut for small bale hay last year - price on initial talks was £2 a bale BUT when he found out it was only 2 acres he said it really wasn't worth his while and there were other people needing his services with bigger acreages - and with hay cutting everybody needs it done at the same time!


We had to leave it and just top the field. This year we are attempting it ourselves having invested in a finger cutter, haybob and small bale baler (£1000 in total)


BTW we are in West Cornwall

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2012, 05:56:25 pm »
Sudanpan,
Our land is about the same size. I would be interested to know how may small bales you get when the time comes.
Sally
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

lachlanandmarcus

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2012, 07:13:29 pm »
as another comparison to Sudanpan's, we are in NE Scot and we get roughly 100-150 small bales an acre, depending on when it is cut and the weather etc. eg last year we only cut in August as that was when OH was around enough and so it was more like 100). Im sure it could be more down south tho.

Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2012, 07:24:06 pm »
We made enquiries for our 2 acres to be cut for small bale hay last year - price on initial talks was £2 a bale BUT when he found out it was only 2 acres he said it really wasn't worth his while and there were other people needing his services with bigger acreages - and with hay cutting everybody needs it done at the same time!


We had to leave it and just top the field. This year we are attempting it ourselves having invested in a finger cutter, haybob and small bale baler (£1000 in total)


BTW we are in West Cornwall

I think you may find you struggle with the finger mower especially if the grass is lush. Keep your eyes open for a second hand 2 drum mower, much faster and it also lays the cut grass in nice swathes.

Just my suggestion.
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robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2012, 07:55:19 pm »
depends on what make it is and how old :farmer:

TheCaptain

  • Joined May 2010
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2012, 11:07:53 pm »
£10/acre to cut, £5/acre to turn it (3 times), £3/acre to row it up, £0.36/bale to bale it. We took 570 bales of 5 acres (ish) last summer.


North dorset

Odin

  • Joined Oct 2011
  • Huddersfield
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2012, 07:14:25 pm »
Before you purchase an hay baler, find a man that can fix them first, see what he recommends. I picked up an International B440T, swapped it for an old Land Rover engine. I have just managed to get the baler working and tying knots,. but it is still not quite right. Some of the parts are very expensive.
When this rain stops I am right looking forward to using it.  :fc:
A man who cannot till the soil cannot till his own soul !
A son of the soil .

Bramblecot

  • Joined Jul 2008
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #10 on: July 05, 2012, 07:46:06 pm »
We are using a restored 1958 Massey Ferguson baler.  Slow but fairly sure!  We cut early so do not get as much hay as a later cut, and average about 150 small  (and light - for me) bales from 2 acres.

smudger

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • North Devon/ West Exmoor
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2012, 09:12:21 am »
We make haylage as we have no where to store hay. Our costs (Devon, 15 acres cut) were:


Grass costs:

£10/acre cutting grass/conditioner
£5/acre turning/tedder (3x !)
£5/acre raking grass
Total c £500


Baling costs:
large square bales £2 each
Wrapping £5 each
Total £1350


Spiking and stacking £150


(all plus VAT of course)


We made 190 bales (4x4x5l)


Our biggest cost is the wrap, but even with that not sure its worth building a hay barn for the quantities we produced (although will be less as we are only cutting about 10 acres this year, now we have livestock :thumbsup: [size=78%]).[/size]
Traditional and Rare breed livestock -  Golden Guernsey Goats, Blackmoor Flock Shetland and Lleyn Sheep, Pilgrim Geese and Norfolk Black Turkeys. Capallisky Irish Sport Horse Stud.

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #12 on: July 06, 2012, 10:06:25 am »
the baling is very cheap  compared to what it was in 1985 with a round baler        £11.50 a bale what price does that bale sell for or you would have to pay for  the equivalent :farmer:

smudger

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • North Devon/ West Exmoor
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #13 on: July 06, 2012, 03:57:57 pm »
I'm not sure what people are paying, certainly good quaility (horse) square bale haylage (larger than mine) delivered was quoted about £45/bale. I heard people say £25 for a round bale (presume hay or silage). I worked it out as £15/ bale cost to me (excluding land of course...) and I sold to contractor for £30, so it covered my costs.  It could have been cheaper I suppose if I had stick with 6' long bale but wanted smaller so could use it up within 3-4 days.
Traditional and Rare breed livestock -  Golden Guernsey Goats, Blackmoor Flock Shetland and Lleyn Sheep, Pilgrim Geese and Norfolk Black Turkeys. Capallisky Irish Sport Horse Stud.

Sudanpan

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • West Cornwall
    • Movement is Life
Re: Cost of making hay.
« Reply #14 on: July 06, 2012, 04:54:18 pm »
We got the finger cutter (it is a Bugler make and looks pretty ancient!) as it was recommended to us over the drum mower by 3 separate people.


The baler is a Banford (?) 58 - our farmer neighbour used to have one many moons ago and is up for helping us out if needs be - OH is very handy at getting machines etc going and the farmer had a look over it before we parted with any cash and he was happy with its condition.


The hayzip we got for £50 in ridiculously crap condition (piccies are elsewhere on the forum) but OH has done a brill job in stripping it down and getting it going  :D


When we finally get round to cutting (if ever with this sodding weather) I will certainly post our results  ;D
 :fc: :fc:

 

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