Costing of baling via contractor v baling yourself

t murrr

Member
Like everything else it's all in how you are set up for it, the fella with 3000 bales is hardly bringing them in with a single bale lifter.

How much horse do you have? Ran the first Fusion with an MX135 standard which was fine on the flat, just a bit slow on the hills.
I have 120 or there abouts .I am trying to work out would a baler and a orbital be a possibly say spent 10k on each would it be a decent set up for our amount and could you claw it back out of it
 

hally

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cumbria
I have 120 or there abouts .I am trying to work out would a baler and a orbital be a possibly say spent 10k on each would it be a decent set up for our amount and could you claw it back out of it
120 will manage a fusion if your not too steep. 20k is almost fusion money and would save a job.
Might even pickup a bit of work locally with a fusion.
 

Ted M

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Shropshire
A contractor is more likely to have another baler, spares in stock or a back up plan. If the customer looks after the contractor the contractor will look after the customer.
Quite agree. We try to not take on too much work so can be on time for our customers.
We have I think, a good relationship with our dealer so should problems occur they are sorted quickly or a backup provided.
Also if I think back to balers we used to run, (which might be low cost machines now for someone to do their own work) most modern machines can put well upwards of 750 kg, depending on DM in a bale whereas older machines may only manage 5-600 kg.
That's less bales, less wrap, less carting.
 
I don't know about modern machines so much, lv had 2 people bale with mchale for me and the bales were pretty soft, lv a claas 250, not a good baler in many folks eyes but the bales are far better and more in them than those mchale, maybe it's because they charge buy the bale.
 

Ted M

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Shropshire
I don't know about modern machines so much, lv had 2 people bale with mchale for me and the bales were pretty soft, lv a claas 250, not a good baler in many folks eyes but the bales are far better and more in them than those mchale, maybe it's because they charge buy the bale.
Could be, I can't speak for others but I like to take pride in what I do and produce.
My concern would be if I made soft bales then word would soon get round and any extra "profit" would be shortlived.
I'm not a mchale fan myself but that's more down to backup than the machines.
Any good machine can be made to look average with a poor or unscrupulous operator.
We have the latest version of the baler we started with 17 years ago (with several different makes and models in between) and its a completely different animal.
 
These mchale balers were only two years old, cost about 23000 grand, and the operators were older men, but give me the old claas anytime. I was expecting amazing heavy bales, but got the opposite. Iv even baled along side a big krone baler, and the guy who wrapped them said mines where far nicer bales and the noise of that krone was terrible. Is it a compack or something like that.
 

Ted M

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Shropshire
These mchale balers were only two years old, cost about 23000 grand, and the operators were older men, but give me the old claas anytime. I was expecting amazing heavy bales, but got the opposite. Iv even baled along side a big krone baler, and the guy who wrapped them said mines where far nicer bales and the noise of that krone was terrible. Is it a compack or something like that.
I'm surprised about the mchale, maybe depends on how fast they go. A roller baler makes a tighter bale if you go steadier.
We had a krone to try several years ago and the new holland we had at the time had to go a lot further to make a bale. And noisy as you say.
 

v8willy

Member
Mixed Farmer
U
I have 120 or there abouts .I am trying to work out would a baler and a orbital be a possibly say spent 10k on each would it be a decent set up for our amount and could you claw it back out of it
Use ours on MX110 to do a wee field with tight entrance every year, tractor was put to 120 odd when new & drives it ok, but when the bale is made it's on it's limit, we do have the density fairly high to be fair.
Ran it on the 110 a few years ago due to a breakdown for a few days & it did it, just a bit slower.
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Absolutely, where you live and what sort of contracting service you get where you live. (y)

I've been "SOS-called" to farms where we'd easily have baled 500 before midday with a couple of balers going; and they were watching it all turning to hay while trying to source, for example, a cam bearing for the pickup on a Sunday- that's where sometimes 'cost-cutting' isn't saving very much at all.

It did in the long run because the all sold their POS balers and got the professionals in to do it after that; but, it could easily go the other way with crappy contractor service too.

Stuff goes bad for everyone, but I'm firmly in the "let someone else own the rust" camp now.

I think the big difference here is, smaller farms - if you only need 500 bales for a UK winter it's a fairly small farm - don't have the tractors or time as they tend to do something else as well. UK farms are more likely to have a couple of tractors and a fair bit of other metal about (one reason the COP is high) plus the time to do the work.
The cost doesn't really come into it for some, its just the price of farming and they have to be busy all day, so it makes sense to do their own.
It's a completely different mindset to here.
Some people just like driving tractors.
 

hally

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cumbria
These mchale balers were only two years old, cost about 23000 grand, and the operators were older men, but give me the old claas anytime. I was expecting amazing heavy bales, but got the opposite. Iv even baled along side a big krone baler, and the guy who wrapped them said mines where far nicer bales and the noise of that krone was terrible. Is it a compack or something like that.
Too much forward speed and pressure turned down can produce a soft bale in any baler.
 

Cripper

Member
most people don’t have paid full time labour these days. 20 years ago we had six people full time doing everything ourselves. I don’t have any staff now. 1300 round bales of hay and silage were made last year. The contractor does it in 50 acre chucks. I cut and ted it. He rakes, bales and wraps in the field. Wrapped bales are good for 3-4 days before they need to be moved. If you used old balers and equipment prepare to be let down when they break. It’s just as bad having a baler that won’t bale as it is waiting for a contractor when it’s going to rain. If you buy good tackle watch it depreciate most of the year unless you do contracting yourself. It is much better to have the bales wrapped in the field as the fusion machines won’t wrap very well if the bales are not dense. When we were wrapping ourselves using a previous contractor to bale he would leave a lot of soft bales
 

JMTHORNLEY

Member
Location
Glossop
I do everything myself after being constantly let down by contractors, lefty a very bitter taste in my mouth when the last we had on the farm drove through two gates and never said anything about it after baling some of the nicest hay I'd ever seen in the pouring rain that'd been going on for three hours prior to him turning up so that was enough.

Made the mistake of buying semi cheap to begin with, won't do that again. now run older but VERY tidy kit. it's out there if you look for it. It gives you the opportunity to knock that 20 acre down and take a chance on it to make drier stuff while your picking up the other half ect. Plus you'd have to find a decent man to come and pick up some of our 3-5 acre fields when there is big work to be had :rolleyes:

As for cost I wouldn't say I've saved on anything over the years but I've had a good laugh and been able to do I've wanted and how I've wanted to do it. Make sure you buy a trailed wrapper whatever you do, gives you the best of both worlds that way. Try and get some support though, if you've a lad or lass that's keen on helping or a neighbour it makes the job that bit easier
 

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