Actual cost of round baling.

[johnspeehs]

Need a bit of help settling an argument started in the pub last night. So how much do you think the actual cost is to a contractor taking into account ,diesel, wrap, net , wages, repairs ,finance, per bale. The contractors say they are making very little but the farmers did a quick fag packet calculation and decided they were doing ok. It costs £7.50 - £8.00 for a double wrapped bale around here.

 

[danjen]

Need a bit of help settling an argument started in the pub last night. So how much do you think the actual cost is to a contractor taking into account ,diesel, wrap, net , wages, repairs ,finance, per bale. The contractors say they are making very little but the farmers did a quick fag packet calculation and decided they were doing ok. It costs £7.50 - £8.00 for a double wrapped bale around here.

Contractors around here charge £2.20 to £2.50 per round bale (their own diesel and netwrap).Some can knock out 800 on a good day. £2000, not bad for a days work!

 

[simmy_bull]

my contractors charge £6.50 for baled wrapped and stacked there own net fuel and plastic I cart them to the stack and sometimes help out by putting them on the wrapper if ive finished leading.

 

[wdah/him]

Everyone will be different, we are making money at baling but i wouldnt want to be paying finance for a kit to do 4-5000 bales a year and changing every five years. we book our cost on 3000bales, and charge £8.50 for 6 layers. still running separete baler and wrapper, most around here are combis. wrap, is 260p per bale, net 40p per bale(i think), fuel well depends, i can do 50 bales an hour and just as easy 10 bales an hour, it depends on crop, mower and distance traveled shape of field even. wages r the same per hour no matter what, workers paid per hour not per bale.

 

[DB67]

Contractors around here charge £2.20 to £2.50 per round bale (their own diesel and netwrap).Some can knock out 800 on a good day. £2000, not bad for a days work!

Yep, if you had a good 3 week spell you can earn a lot of money. Much like shearing sheep.

Just got to hope nothing breaks down

 

[gone up the hill]

Contractors around here charge £2.20 to £2.50 per round bale (their own diesel and netwrap).Some can knock out 800 on a good day. £2000, not bad for a days work!

Yep but then you will get the day you drive 10 miles and you get rained off..

Another day you might be all day repairing a breakdown..

Then their is the day servicing the baler/ tractor etc..

You cannot charge any of the above as a item charge so has to be accounted for against the good days!

 

[gone up the hill]

Everyone will be different, we are making money at baling but i wouldnt want to be paying finance for a kit to do 4-5000 bales a year and changing every five years. we book our cost on 3000bales, and charge £8.50 for 6 layers. still running separete baler and wrapper, most around here are combis. wrap, is 260p per bale, net 40p per bale(i think), fuel well depends, i can do 50 bales an hour and just as easy 10 bales an hour, it depends on crop, mower and distance traveled shape of field even. wages r the same per hour no matter what, workers paid per hour not per bale.

How many bales per roll of net are you getting and at what price is the net??

 

[Blod]

Don't forget the days when that kit is sat doing absolutely nothing.

I'm amazed contractors still do the fiddly little fields with poxy gates and overhanging trees. A complete PITA and should have to pay a premium. Otherwise the clean fields are "paying" for them.

 

[Chae1]

Tractor at £35/hour. Divide that by 40 bales an hour which allows for travelling time. 90p per bale. Roll of net £130/300 bales 43p per bale. Depreciation 50p per bale. That's you at £1.80 per bale before breakdowns, oil for chains, servicing, grease etc. Days you travel to field and rain comes on. Not a lot at it.

 

[wdah/him]

How many bales per roll of net are you getting and at what price is the net??

about 360 bales a roll, give or take, roll is about 150, latest stuff is a bit cheaper.

 

[Henarar]

Make about £1/bale on the baling and £1.50/bale on the wrapping good shout on a 400 bale day

 

[ARW]

Round bale silage is cheap as chips imo an is done by many for no profit, most probably a loss. Baffles me when some farmers buy there own round baler when it's the most value for money service out there.

 

[M-J-G]

It all depends. Some will have an old baler that cost a few thousand and lasts that 10 years and they do a few hundred bales a year, but it would probably sh!t itself if it were asked to do 5000 bales in a short summer, so the 5000 bale man will probably have to buy new, or at least newer.

We buy a new baler every 4 years, (20+thousand bales)and changing is somewhere IRO 10 grand for the last couple times. So 50p/bale in baler depreciation cost.

£30 ish per hour for a tractor and driver, 40 bales an hour, (400 Bales for every 10 hours worked, including maintenance, servicing etc.would be a healthy average)

£30 per hour @ 40 bales per hour = 75p + 40p for net + 50p for baler depreciation, makes the cost for the baling £1.65 before profit, give or take.

Wrapping
Tractor 75p/bale +£2.50 (6 layers) for wrap and say 25p for machine depreciation is £3.50

A total of say £5.25 before the business can show profit. A contractor will often have to absorb costs too, and have wages to pay on wet days, days where breakdowns mean that little money comes in, people who don't pay, etc. Along with intrest, these costs have to be included in charges.

Personally I wouldn't like to realy on contract baling for a living.

 

[Gilchro]

I remember two different baling jobs that I was involved with in the past.

In one, the contractor baled 30 bales over 10 acres and had travelled half an hour each way...not a lot of fun negotiating that one.

The other saw 50 8x4x4 straw from 160 acres. Baler driver had to guess where the bouts were in some bits.

So is there much money in baling?

 

[DB67]

Round bale silage is cheap as chips imo an is done by many for no profit, most probably a loss. Baffles me when some farmers buy there own round baler when it's the most value for money service out there.

Do most folk not say it's the most expensive way to make silage? Net wrap, wrap itself etc etc.

Pit silage surely cheapest by far.

 

[Chae1]

I remember two different baling jobs that I was involved with in the past.

In one, the contractor baled 30 bales over 10 acres and had travelled half an hour each way...not a lot of fun negotiating that one.

The other saw 50 8x4x4 straw from 160 acres. Baler driver had to guess where the bouts were in some bits.

So is there much money in baling?

Sounds like a ringlink job!

 

[JD-Kid]

trying to work out the shipping costs to get you guys here even at 8 pound a bale is cheep as chips compared to here
always intresting seeing the maths and thinking there is a lot left out in the workings so how contractors make any thing there is beond me

 

[Gilchro]

Sounds like a ringlink job!

Oh yes. The sh!t jobs were bounced by a few wiser individuals and then we got bumped with it, tackled it and then proceeded to drown in nightmare negotiations to sort it all out...

 

[Boohoo]

Does anyone really do 40 bales an hour? If you do what baler do you have? If I include travelling time I average 25 bales an hour with a Fusion 3. Baling and wrapping with the contractor supplying net, wrap and diesel needs to be at least £7.50 per dense well chopped bale with 4 layers of quality wrap to make a small profit

 

[Chae1]

Know people that claim to have done 100 an hour of 4ft rounds. I normally average 60 that's with a 235hp tractor on front and baler will put it too it's knees.