Evening.
I currently make about 1,000 wrapped bales a season and have been slowly gearing up to do my own baling in order to cut costs and add flexibility (and stress).
With net/wrap/disposal costs rising and a growing social discontent regarding plastic wrap (and everything else that farmers do for that matter..........don't get me started), I'm starting to think that I'm wasting my time and I'm better off to focus my attention on cheaper, "greener" ways of silaging (i.e. sticking it in a pile, covering it and letting the effluent leach out into the environment).
Wrapped bales have been mainstream for, what, 30 years now? I can't see them going anywhere any time soon. But times are changing. Costs continue to rise. They're already talking about adding tax to the price of the wrap. The current "recycling" programs don't actually do any recycling at all so that's hardly a "sustainable" option in the eyes of the powers that be. Milk prices have stabilised/started dropping.
As spring 2022 rolls around in NZ, I'm wondering at what point should I stop baling the stuff and go back to putting it in the pit? At what point does the cost outweigh the convenience? Spring 2021 baling prices were eye watering, I've heard some alarming numbers being thrown around for this upcoming season. I'm one of the last ones around here that still bales everything, the rest have gone back to putting it all in stacks, pits, concrete bunkers.
TL,DR: thinking long term, do I buy a rake and baler or do I just quit while I'm ahead and have a contractor put it all in a stack from now on? At this stage, the economics of baling don't stack up even if I do it all myself.
I currently make about 1,000 wrapped bales a season and have been slowly gearing up to do my own baling in order to cut costs and add flexibility (and stress).
With net/wrap/disposal costs rising and a growing social discontent regarding plastic wrap (and everything else that farmers do for that matter..........don't get me started), I'm starting to think that I'm wasting my time and I'm better off to focus my attention on cheaper, "greener" ways of silaging (i.e. sticking it in a pile, covering it and letting the effluent leach out into the environment).
Wrapped bales have been mainstream for, what, 30 years now? I can't see them going anywhere any time soon. But times are changing. Costs continue to rise. They're already talking about adding tax to the price of the wrap. The current "recycling" programs don't actually do any recycling at all so that's hardly a "sustainable" option in the eyes of the powers that be. Milk prices have stabilised/started dropping.
As spring 2022 rolls around in NZ, I'm wondering at what point should I stop baling the stuff and go back to putting it in the pit? At what point does the cost outweigh the convenience? Spring 2021 baling prices were eye watering, I've heard some alarming numbers being thrown around for this upcoming season. I'm one of the last ones around here that still bales everything, the rest have gone back to putting it all in stacks, pits, concrete bunkers.
TL,DR: thinking long term, do I buy a rake and baler or do I just quit while I'm ahead and have a contractor put it all in a stack from now on? At this stage, the economics of baling don't stack up even if I do it all myself.