Contracting hay
- Thread starter Morganwyn
- Start date
- Location
- Ceredigion
Depends how much the grass stands you . I use contactors , it costs me with contactors bill and fertilizer £20 bale by the time they are stacked in the yard, be better to make hay if you have storage as your costs are less
- Location
- Le Veurde, Allier, France 03320
It depends where you are and who your selling to. Horse food no problem, forwarding on to farmers more tricky. At the end of the day quality is key.
- Location
- Ceredigion
He won't make a lot with haylage even with horse customers and that can be a nightmare
It's tough making it pay. You are competing against those that own all their own gear......and don't cost it in. You're competing against those who own a 40 year old PZ mower, Haybob, and 50 year old baler which costs nowt.
You are competing against those who use the SFP to subsidise the job and can flog bales off for £15/ bale.
Don't forget with hay, you will have to pay someone to ted it at least once a day for possibly 7 days. This could mount up £££££
Good luck.
You are competing against those who use the SFP to subsidise the job and can flog bales off for £15/ bale.
Don't forget with hay, you will have to pay someone to ted it at least once a day for possibly 7 days. This could mount up £££££
Good luck.
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
I would struggle to sleep with 60 acre of half made hay on the ground... forecast always turns to show rain later in the week, usually about an hour after I finish mowing...
- Location
- Ceredigion
These SFP people must be terrible business men if you think the Rob Peter to pay Paul . But then they must me quite clever to get the SFP in the first place
This is how it is imo
Those that have minimum costs . Own baler don't use firt
Those that don't do costings
Could be they just want rid of the stuff so not that concerned if they make a profit or a loss
That includes the Facebookers who sell horse haylage for £14 bale delivered
Then there are those who do their costs
Mine are not a penny under £20 a round bale , that only covers firt and baling harvesting costs
Tha Ulsterscot
Member
- Location
- Greyabbey Co. Down.
It takes the same money to make hay as Haylage. no plastic, but more working, and that's if you get the right weather. If you hit bad weather, it takes even more work { which has to be paid for} and you end up with crap no one wants.
- Location
- Le Veurde, Allier, France 03320
When I used to do 80x70 haylage they were delivered at £25/bale minimum 4 and I made money. How you can do a round with half as much again in it for£14/ bale I have no idea! If it’s not profitable then why waste your time and money doing it.
Goweresque
Member
- Location
- North Wilts
We really should write a standardised answer for this question, and just provide the link every time it comes up. The first bit would demand that the poster state where in the UK (one assumes) that they are, because the answer if they are in Kent will be a bit different to if they are in Scotland. In this case I'm guessing Wales, but thats just a version of nominative determinism at work. The ability to sell hay for a decent price (especially small bales for horse use) will very much be determined by the location.
The second question that requires answering is who holds the risk? Making hay is not a 'Right, today I shall go out and make 60 acres of hay' concept. Whether decent hay will be made requires a significant amount of predicting the weather 7 days in advance, and as Neils Bohr is reputed to have said 'Prediction is hard, especially about the future'. Pick the wrong time to cut your grass and you end up with a load of hay thats halfway to manure without even having been through an animal. But you still have the contractors bills to pay for all the work getting it to that state. So there is significant financial risk, contractors charges on 60 acres of haymaking are going to be well into 4 figures, possibly even 5 figures in some parts of the country. Are you prepared to hold that risk? Of agreeing to spend £5k+ knowing you could end up with a barn full of hay worth £15-20k, but equally could end up with 'hay' you have to pay to dispose of? To make the decision to tell the contractor (assuming you can find one of course) 'Start cutting now'? If you don't want that risk and expect the contractor to make the decision for you, then the price just went up - he now holds that risk of cutting at the wrong point and ending up with a pile of mouldy hay. So he's going to want a cut of the potential profits if he's going to hold the potential losses.
So its not a case of Cut Grass, Make Hay, Stack in Barn, Sell Hay, Profit! There's a massive unknown of the weather that can make all your plans and profits disappear down the drain (along with your hay, in 2007 quite a bit of my grass cut for hay floated away in flash floods and was never seen again......)
The second question that requires answering is who holds the risk? Making hay is not a 'Right, today I shall go out and make 60 acres of hay' concept. Whether decent hay will be made requires a significant amount of predicting the weather 7 days in advance, and as Neils Bohr is reputed to have said 'Prediction is hard, especially about the future'. Pick the wrong time to cut your grass and you end up with a load of hay thats halfway to manure without even having been through an animal. But you still have the contractors bills to pay for all the work getting it to that state. So there is significant financial risk, contractors charges on 60 acres of haymaking are going to be well into 4 figures, possibly even 5 figures in some parts of the country. Are you prepared to hold that risk? Of agreeing to spend £5k+ knowing you could end up with a barn full of hay worth £15-20k, but equally could end up with 'hay' you have to pay to dispose of? To make the decision to tell the contractor (assuming you can find one of course) 'Start cutting now'? If you don't want that risk and expect the contractor to make the decision for you, then the price just went up - he now holds that risk of cutting at the wrong point and ending up with a pile of mouldy hay. So he's going to want a cut of the potential profits if he's going to hold the potential losses.
So its not a case of Cut Grass, Make Hay, Stack in Barn, Sell Hay, Profit! There's a massive unknown of the weather that can make all your plans and profits disappear down the drain (along with your hay, in 2007 quite a bit of my grass cut for hay floated away in flash floods and was never seen again......)
There'll be as many answers as posters i reckon.
My only observation would be...don't mentally commit to hay.
Mow with a good forecast by all means, but if the forecast goes south, wrap it up toot sweet.
And if an unexpected shower happens along once you've started turning and it's beginning to dry...wrap it up.
Good luck.
- Location
- sw scotland
If I had wrapped after every unexpected shower I would never have made any hay.
Everything else I agree with. 60 acres is not an area to do all at once especially using a contractor. Sell it as grass for £50 an acre or pay the contractor £120 an acre to make it but risk getting some poor hay
Everything else I agree with. 60 acres is not an area to do all at once especially using a contractor. Sell it as grass for £50 an acre or pay the contractor £120 an acre to make it but risk getting some poor hay
Scholsey
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
Must have seen 20,000,000 quadrants of hay baled in the last week just from social media posts, all the empty straw sheds will be full of hay, won’t be £100/t this year that’s for sure.
- Location
- Ceredigion
How far you delivering and did you charge delivery , firt costs £40 acre , never said I wasn't making anything , I've not told you how much I'm charging , and I charge for delivery . How can you not . Some are delivered 30 mile one way . You can't make that up on 4 bales at £25 delivered
Spencer
Member
- Location
- North West
Must be a faff charging separately for delivery? You'll have to charge VAT on the delivery costs but not on the produce...
Much simpler having a delivered price, no..
- Location
- Ceredigion
Whichever way you do it you have to have a variable price . You can't charge a 2 mile bale the same as a 20 mile bale
- Location
- Le Veurde, Allier, France 03320
Derrick, I am talking 15 years ago, my comments were directed at your comments not at you so don’t get all touchy with me! You quoted a figure of £14 a round bale,I was actually agreeing with you! I guess I used to do up to 40 miles but then it would have been with a minimum full 16’ if or load of 16 bales unless I liked them. No delivery charge which is why I charged (then) £5 more for an 80x70 than people were getting for a far heavier round, I provided a service as well as a product.
- Location
- Ceredigion
Yes sorry I was a bit
I would struggle to sleep with 60 acre of half made hay on the ground... forecast always turns to show rain later in the week, usually about an hour after I finish mowing...
Like someone I know today.....