Cost of having hay made?

[Andalucian]

Hi, can you give me an idea of what farmers charge to cut, turn and bale about 5 acres of hay, small bales.

 

[twiggy2]

depends where you are, the acerage, who many bales per acre, weather and how many times it needs to be turned, also whether you agree to pay per bale or for the 'job'

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Be careful of payment per bale as you might get a lot of small bales, but that might suit if you are a small person!
In one way the best agreement is to allow farmer to have maybe half the hay, then he has an interest in making it as good as he can, the danger is that he will be too busy to make your hay when weather is ideal.
I think you have to ask neighbours/contrators if they can do it, and then get quote, I assume you want it brought inside not left on field, stacked or otherwise.

 

[twiggy2]

Be careful of payment per bale as you might get a lot of small bales, but that might suit if you are a small person!
In one way the best agreement is to allow farmer to have maybe half the hay, then he has an interest in making it as good as he can, the danger is that he will be too busy to make your hay when weather is ideal.
I think you have to ask neighbours/contrators if they can do it, and then get quote, I assume you want it brought inside not left on field, stacked or otherwise.

good advice

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Last summer we baled about 5-6 acres into small bales with a local man, not that many have the small baler machinery now. It was very good weather, nice & hot &Y dry, hay was turned twice I think & then baled. We collected & stacked the bales. The hay worked out at 70p per bale to cut, turn & bale. It was hard work collecting & stacking but we had about 560 bales & they've lasted well through the winter & still have plenty now.

 

[popsdosh]

Budget on a pound bale for decent bales done properly and carted in but not stacked! We charge 55p/bale just for baling. We tend to charge for the job (£80-85/acre) as it takes just as long to do a thin crop as it does a thick one.I will do it on a crop sp[lit basis but at 60/40 with me taking the 60 the economics do not add up otherwise

 

[Dry Rot]

Don't. Lease it for cutting or grazing (assuming you have water in all fields and good fencing) and buy in.

I have a modest acreage, the time to do it, and all the machinery but there is no way I would make hay for others. Far too much hassle. The only way I would do it is after I had all mine made and it was in the barn. I am sure you can work it out from there!

 

[Andalucian]

Thanks everyone, I was thinking between 65p to £1 a bale, with me picking them up, so about right.

I'm going to see how it goes this time and adjust next year if necessary. I understand that I won't be the farmer's priority when the good weather comes

Cheers

 

[FairyLights]

We charge per bale 50p for baling and 30p for turning and rowing up and 20p for mowing. So if its turned twice it costs £1.60 per bale. 20 +30+30+30+50 = 160. If its rubbish weather and it meeds working more to dry it then it actually costs more for the less good hay than really good stuff. We dont cart it the field owners have to move it themselves. As they sell it for £3.50 -£4.00 a bale all our clients are happy with this arrangement.

 

[amandaco2]

Around 1 per bale

 

[Polos Mum]

£1 a bale is what we pay and charged when we had the kit, if you have a local farmer doing his anyway then it isn't too much trouble to call into yours and do at the same time (when the relevant kit is on the tractor anyway) - so you can get them at the right time if you are lucky - but with proper contractors you'll be well down their list, if you have neighbours who want some doing that can make the effort more worth while (turning that much will only take an hour so if you're an hour away from them it's a lot of travel time!)

TBH I'd pay up to £3 a bale - still just cheaper than buying in and I know exactly what's in the bale - no ragwort risk and it does my fields lots of good.

 

[Pebble101]

Last time I had it done it was £1.25 per bale (small bales) but that was many years ago now. However our farmer (unlike some) made really generous sized bales and we had to ask him to make them smaller so we could lift them

 

[Polos Mum]

I have with ours had a sensible debate along the lines of we think there are 200 bales so it should be £200 but we'd like lighter bales (I'm not the strongest!) so would he do 250 bales for £200 and if we end up with more then we'll pay more proportionately - if you have storage space lighter bales are better IMHO!

 

[popsdosh]

Don't. Lease it for cutting or grazing (assuming you have water in all fields and good fencing) and buy in.

I have a modest acreage, the time to do it, and all the machinery but there is no way I would make hay for others. Far too much hassle. The only way I would do it is after I had all mine made and it was in the barn. I am sure you can work it out from there!

Have to say I would agree making your own hay off a paddock is to much of a lottery.
If you have bad weather you are stuck with a stacvk of hay unsuitable for horses. Making haylege would be be not so weather dependant and give youy a better product .If I had that amount no way would I ever think of making my own hay. I can buy hay at the moment for less than I charge for making it .We have been buying lots in for cattle next year as it is cheaper than putting fertiliser on the grass for silage

 

[Andalucian]

Great info guys, thanks very much. Local farmer is happy to do it, so I'll give it a go this year, if it's rubbish, I'll be getting sheep in next year and buying someone else's hay!

 

[Polos Mum]

Good luck, its a nerve wracking week but nothing so satisfying as seeing the barn ready for winter and the smell of freshly stacked hay. Keep a spy out for when all the local farmers start doing theirs - they are IMHO better than any weather forecast as knowing when you're going to get a dry spell.
even if it gets rained on and is only good for cattle - you'll still get your £1 a bale back (and likely more!) so you've not much to lose