Alternative ways to pay for forager.

[frederick]

As title. Our forager costs £30 an acre. By the end of the month we will have completed second cut and so have a foraging cost of £60 and acre where the day before he will be finishing a thick first cut and might be charged out a smidge more than my 30 for twice the grass.
Wagons straightforward by the hour. Forager by the hour all down to size of forager and needs trailers to maximise longer hauls. By the ton requires extra kit.

I'm not unhappy because I have good quality silage and great service but just interested in how others keep the pencil sharp.

 

[Slippery Slope]

Get the baler booked for a bit of variety in your invoices?!

Edit: I don’t begrudge the forager bill half as much as I do some of the others that turn up.

 

[Wesley]

You could ask if they could work out a per acre price & a fuel charge on top. In theory the lighter the cut would mean less fuel.
Last year our forager costs varied between £23.50-29.50. Some of the lower price for the forager (also lower raking price) was because we had it merged behind the mower, meaning the rake could put to into one & only run every 70’.

 

[upnortheast]

I know it is important to keep an eye on costs but if you have a contractor who comes when you want him & does a good job then the benefit of making high quality forage will be far greater than grumbling over a few £ an acre. IMO

 

[Conrod96]

We’re charged by the acre but we supply the fuel and cutting lighter cuts use less fuel than the standard charge would be so save some money in the long run

 

[frederick]

We’re charged by the acre but we supply the fuel and cutting lighter cuts use less fuel than the standard charge would be so save some money in the long run

That's an interesting suggestion. So how much an acre are you paying before fuel and how many litres do you normally end up supplying an acre. Don't mind if our starting point is the same 30 an acre for a normal cut. You just make the saving when it's light. I also don't mind paying more when heavy.

 

[Wesley]

That's an interesting suggestion. So how much an acre are you paying before fuel and how many litres do you normally end up supplying an acre. Don't mind if our starting point is the same 30 an acre for a normal cut. You just make the saving when it's light. I also don't mind paying more when heavy.

A lot of the contractors down this way never seem keen to use farm fuel unless they have to. Which is why I suggested getting them to charge for fuel separately on top of a base acre charge for the machine. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t have a way to monitor fuel use.

 

[Conrod96]

That's an interesting suggestion. So how much an acre are you paying before fuel and how many litres do you normally end up supplying an acre. Don't mind if our starting point is the same 30 an acre for a normal cut. You just make the saving when it's light. I also don't mind paying more when heavy.

Only one tank has meter on it so never actually counted up how much we used, it’s around £60 an acre but that’s a full job they did a bit last year where they supplied the fuel and charged £77 an acre but cutting a 6 tonne crop you definitely don’t burn £17 an acre more diesel if cutting a 10 tonne crop id let them supply it

 

[PI Stsker]

Buy your own forager..!
Is this an option or don’t you have the labour and/or tractors?

 

[frederick]

Buy your own forager..!
Is this an option or don’t you have the labour and/or tractors?

We do our own mowing and tedding. Run a trailer and about to do the pit but a forager for 350 acres of grass and 80 acres of maize doesn't stack up.

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

We do our own mowing and tedding. Run a trailer and about to do the pit but a forager for 350 acres of grass and 80 acres of maize doesn't stack up.

350 acres a year or per cut?

 

[frederick]

350 acres a year or per cut?

A year

 

[jimmer]

We've just had the bill for first cut
4 ish tonne crop
Done with wagons worked out at a smidge over £20/acre
£57 the whole job (tedded once)

 

[frederick]

We've just had the bill for first cut
4 ish tonne crop
Done with wagons worked out at a smidge over £20/acre
£57 the whole job (tedded once)

Like wagons for around the farm but most of ours is a 40 minute plus trailer round trip

 

[PI Stsker]

We do our own mowing and tedding. Run a trailer and about to do the pit but a forager for 350 acres of grass and 80 acres of maize doesn't stack up.

Any local larger units who have made the jump in to a forager be Interested in sending just a chopper and trailer over to you, wouldn’t impact there own staff loading that much then..?
Several large dairy’s round by me who have brought there own brand new chopper in the last few years doing sub 700 acres a year, with plenty of capacity left, I’d imagine they would be glad of the work if it were a simple forager and one trailer only job.?

 

[Conrod96]

Any local larger units who have made the jump in to a forager be Interested in sending just a chopper and trailer over to you, wouldn’t impact there own staff loading that much then..?
Several large dairy’s round by me who have brought there own brand new chopper in the last few years doing sub 700 acres a year, with plenty of capacity left, I’d imagine they would be glad of the work if it were a simple forager and one trailer only job.?

Everyone wanting to chop at the same or similar times I’d imagine though

 

[PI Stsker]

Everyone wanting to chop at the same or similar times I’d imagine though

Is that not the same as the current contractor, arguably who has more ‘customers’ to get to?
Atleast if you got in with the neighbour it could work out cheaper as they wouldn’t need to be doing it commercially and more local so less travel time to account for etc.
I’m not saying it’s a golden bullet but it could work depending on relationships.

 

[Cowwilf]

If the farmers have a working calculator they won't be able to under cut the contractors. My neighbour does mine with a ten plus year old machine but I don't expect him to do it cheaper than the contractor.

I don't think these foragers cost much less to run through a lighter cut than a heavy one, still clocking up hours for man and machine. Ours reduces by a pound per acre per cut.

If you have the interest and the staff what about a trailed harvester and let the contractor chop the maize?

 

[Bald Rick]

Any local larger units who have made the jump in to a forager be Interested in sending just a chopper and trailer over to you, wouldn’t impact there own staff loading that much then..?
Several large dairy’s round by me who have brought there own brand new chopper in the last few years doing sub 700 acres a year, with plenty of capacity left, I’d imagine they would be glad of the work if it were a simple forager and one trailer only job.?

700ac? That’s mental other than giving you control &/or the death wish to go out contracting

 

[Kentishfarmer]

Only one tank has meter on it so never actually counted up how much we used, it’s around £60 an acre but that’s a full job they did a bit last year where they supplied the fuel and charged £77 an acre but cutting a 6 tonne crop you definitely don’t burn £17 an acre more diesel if cutting a 10 tonne crop id let them supply it

That £77/acre does that include carting & clamping I assume?