charging for baleing square bales

[davida]

I have a neighbor who asked me to bale a patch about a mile down the road this weekend. They have already cut the hay and will rake it up.

They run a round baler and a square but the square baler messed up last year. They would like to put this last patch in square bales, been told it will be around 100 bales or so.

Since I only bale for myself I don't have a clue what a fair price is to just bale the hay up. I have not paid anyone or baled hay for anyone else in years.

These are good neighbors and we help each other when we can. I am going to try to this for nothing but I know they will insist on paying. I don't want to throw a number out that will make them mad.

I have though about seeing how many bales it ends up being and ask if they will roll up a few 4x5 rolls for me next year when I have it cut and raked up. Assuming there are 20 to 25 square bales in the 4x5 roll.

Thank you for any input.

 

[Doug in Illinois]

Whenever I need a price I go to Iowa State University custom rate chart.

It gives a high, low, and average price for all jobs.

Small bales range from .40 to .75, with 50 cents being the average. DOUG

 

[m breckon]

I know some will say it depends where you are located, but gas and diesel are still high ,repairs are getting more expensive and wire or twine hasn't went down. I bale some custom hay and have a wire baler, I get 85c dropped on the ground. Stop to figure your input expense, then add a reasonable cost for your labor. Just don't cut yourself short.

 

[GordoSD]

Figure out how long the job is going to take you, and figure $45 an hour for you and your equipment and fuel and twine.Bill also for one way time from your place to his.

 

[dmiller]

I'm baling some for a neighbor at .40 per bale. If I went with GordoSD's method (wich I think is a good one) I'd be at approx. .44 per bale for the piece I did last week and approx. .38 a bale for the one I need to do tomorrow. The tonnage on the hay makes a lot of difference. To me the issue is how to correctly bid lowsy fields. The time/expense is about the same for the operator, but the bales just aren't there for a "by the bale" price.

 

[MSS3020]

I have a little different way. I cut, rake and bale for set price per bale.. so... every time a bale comes out the shoot I get $1.50. If I cut and do a 50/50 share with customer they get 50 bales and I get 50 bales at the rate of $3.00 per bale. So If they buy my share for $3.00 a bale then the cost of doing all their hay FOR THEM with no shares for me is $1.50 per bale or half of going rate per bale. However with prices up now to $4.00 then would then go to $2.00 per bale. That"s the way I do it anyway.

 

[gtractorfan]

Back in the '60's we custom baled quite a bit, the going rate back then was 10 cents a bale. That doesn't mean a thing, just kind of curious.

 

[GordoSD]

I'm not going to quote a per bale price. If the guy has a poor field, bumpy, has erratic and thin windrows, field is very irregular shape, I'll spend more time for fewer bales. If it's my hay, nice windrows, two row headlands, I can pump out a bale of alfalfa every 16 seconds. Seen as long as 40 with lousy hay making.
(NH 275 Hayliner with some mods)

 

[RodinNS]

Hard to really give a good answer... Depends on so many factors. Crop, field size, baler, tractor....
We charge 70/hour for a lower capacity baler on a smaller tractor. It's easy to forget that you can burn through 20 bucks worth of twine in an hour if you do get rolling along... 10 bucks worth of fuel, repairs, depreciation, your time... all adds up. If you're running big gear those numbers are higher...
If you're talking an hour or less work close to home for someone who does you just as many favors in return... have them supply the twine, you keep the left over and call it good. For anyone else I don't think I'd honestly want to bother with 100 bales but for friends you look after them...

Rod

 

[jimva]

If their good neighbors and you guys help each other out and your just going to rake and run the baler and nothing else,I"d tell the guy just pay for the fuel used and twine and leave it at that. Good neighbors are hard to come by nowadays.

 

[NW Ohio Tim]

Not quite what you are after, but I helped a neighbor bale straw last summer. We put up 1,000 bales, 600 for him, 400 for me. It was his straw and his equipment, I was just his [i:e4ebc15fbb]hired man[/i:e4ebc15fbb], bucking bales, that needed straw. Next time, we may take it off our field if it's closer to both our barns.

We were both trying to top off our mows, because we were afraid there wouldn't be any wheat in this area next year, with the late Spring we had.

He filled his mow quicker than he thought, so I let him put 175 bales in my mow, until he has room/time, free of charge.

I think I ended up paying right around 60 cents a bale. He threw bales on the elevator here, and I did it at his barn. I stacked all the bales on the wagons, behind the baler. We used two of his wagons and two of mine.

Worked out good. The weather was going to be nice so we didn't push too hard, took us two days, but it was only two of us middle aged guys doing the work.

Anyhow, we were both happy in the end (and a little stiff). He insisted he was making enough to make up for his lost residue on the field, and he got free labor for baling. If you could buy straw baled right out of the field at the time for $1/bale, you were getting a good deal.

He's just one of our many good neighbors around here though. My wife was in the barnyard while we were discussing the price. She laughed later and said nobody would ever believe her if she told them that I was trying to pay more for the straw I was buying, while he argued, trying to sell it to me for less.

It's pretty comforting to know we have good neighbors. If anything happened to my wife or me, they'd be banging on our door wanting to know how to help. If something happened down there, they could count on us.

You can't buy good neighbors or friends. Do whatever the two of you think is fair, even if you have to argue on the wrong side of the lower price.

Tim

 

[kyhayman]

A job like that I'd tell them to pay me what it was worth to them. While it may take less than a half hour it shoots the better part of a half day to hook up, grease, move equip, etc. I'd rather do those jobs for 20 bucks and a 24 pack than price them out.

 

[Anonymous-0]

How much does that 4x5 bale weigh, with 20-25 bales in it? Using the 20 bale figure, that's 1,000 lbs. From my experience, with a 4x4 baler, that seems a high number of smalls/round bale.

 

[showcrop]

My friend charged me $75.00 per hour to bale only, this last summer. This is in NH where small squares sell for$4.50-$6.50 But pretty much everything costs more here.

 

[randallnMo]

If they are "good" neighbors, tell them it will cost two cases of beer......and you'll split it. Otherwise, charge .75 per bale or $75.00 per hour.

 

[northvale]

check this Penn State web page for PA prices:
http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Pennsylvania/Publications/Machinery_Custom_Rates/custom10.pdf

 

[LarryT]

I do custom farming for a living and these are my rates and I am at the bottom of the price scale.

Light tractor work under 50 hp. $45.00
Heavy tractor work 51 hp. $75.00
Cutting $45.00 per hour.
Rake $45.00 Per hour.
Small baler $45.00 per hour and $1.50 per bale.
Large Baler $75.00 per hour and $5.50 per 1000lb. bale.
Plowing and disking and leveling $75.00
Planting $45.00 per hour +seed price + 10% carrying cost.
Spraying herbicide $45.00 per hour + Chemical
Spraying pesticide $45.00 per hour + Chemical
Hope this gives you an idea of whats being charged out west here. And as I said, I am the lowest around.

 

[MSS3020]

Interesting enough.. I have found that those who itch and complain about prices for all the above think their getting taken....UNTIL... they try to buy, gas up, maintain, etc. themselves and all the sudden the price doesnt seem so bad.. ha ha ha

 

[LarryT]

Don't you know it. I run into it regularly. I don't know how many times I will have people call and then when they find out the prices they start giving me their sob story. Then I tell them that they are free to go out and buy a $60,000 tractor, $24,000 baler, $6,000 rake, etc. then buy the fuel, pay for the maintenance, and go do their own 3 acre patch. I have no problem with that. It's a free country and you go for it. What I charge the most for is listening to them complain about the high cost of my services. lol