Which part of forage making to take in-house first?

[gavd]

Looking for a bit of advice on which bit of machinery to purchase first to do a bit more of our silage/hay/straw making in house.
Just a small place so around 2-300 bales silage, 100-150 bales hay and 150 straw yearly. All done in 4 ft rounds.

Currently we have a 120hp tractor and 70hp loader tractor(no 3rd service or bale grab yet), drum mower, haybob and conventional baler (make a couple hundred small squares for the ewes when they come in for lambing)

Just now we cut the grass for silage and hay, ted & row up with haybob for hay. Contractor rows up silage grass, bales, wraps and stacks and also bales the hay/straw.

We like to do most other things ourselves, silage and hay is about the only thing we don't.

We tend to normally only buy 1 or 2 pieces of machinery a year so thinking either - Round baler (something like a class 46 possibly), 3rd service & Grab for the loader tractor along with a wrapper or a single rotor rake.(suppose we could use the haybob for rowing up for silage)

Contractor does a grand job but which part of the process would it make sense to do ourselves first?

 

[wdah/him]

3rd service for the loader and grab. Then a good wrapper would be mine. As wrapping is more important to me to be done right

 

[Bury the Trash]

If the contractor does a grand job then why change anything!

 

[gavd]

I guess wanting to cut and bale up smaller paddocks that get ahead of the sheep etc which would probably not be worth it for the contractor. Possibly save some cash doing it ourselves

 

[stevedave]

I'd start with the carting and stacking.

 

[mo!]

If you've got the staff then a manual static wrapper is a no brainer. We were very upset when our neighbours decided to buy their own...

 

[Sausage]

Biggest bang for your buck is the 3rd service and grab, can use for all baling operations and throughout the winter. A wrapper can only wrap silage.

 

[ollandroverman]

I guess wanting to cut and bale up smaller paddocks that get ahead of the sheep etc which would probably not be worth it for the contractor. Possibly waste some cash doing it ourselves

Fixed your statement for you

 

[Mur Huwcun]

If you only have a haybob for tedding then a 4 rotor tedder would be a game changer. I wouldn’t personally recommend going out and buying a single rotor rake to rake in front of any contractor as most prefere their own twin for ease of job, tidiness and even row which is a must for tidy bales. You would be better having a good search on here for Claas 46 type balers as well before splashing any cash...

Not sure on your area but a wrapper in this area is becoming a thing of the past as most are running combi balers now with farmers buying the second hand ones and a few new ones as well. I’m struggling now thinking of a contractor who runs a baler and wrapper locally and three local farms run a Fusion

 

[puppet]

Haul your own bales. Just use the spike and some patches
You could make more hay with your current baler. Bale squeeze, 21 at a time and put them in a shed until a cooler day to stack them.
You can make decent wide rows with a single rake up one way and back the other.
But do you have the time to do it. Older baler, breaks down as rain coming, twin rake costing thousands and only used for a few hours doesn't seem good value.

 

[Skintagain]

Make your bits and pieces into small hay. Contractor for worthwhile bits

 

[Fendt516profi]

Wrapper. Is there many contractors that will come to just wrap bales and be there in a timely manner. Baling abit more forgiving if they turn up a hr late as long as there's not rain coming but bales waiting a hour will be heating up

 

[box]

Get yourself a grab for the front and a 3rd service, and a grab for the back, do the carting and stacking yourself.

I don't think your contractor would be too pleased to be baling in front of a haybob (depending on the size of his equipment). Have you considered changing up to a larger combi rake/"tedder" like a Fransgard TI-5000 or 6000? Actually, I see you're already rowing the hay up for him, there's no reason why you couldn't do the silage then.

I've been down this road myself (5-600 bales per year) and I just can't justify the outlay and ongoing cost of a rake and baler/wrapper/combi. Too much trouble, too much stress, not enough time. Besides, for such a small amount of bales, you're going to break even at best - until you have a major breakdown.

I do my own mowing because I can do the job better and cheaper than the contractor , I do my own carting and stacking because I can do the job faster, better and cheaper than the contractor. For the rest of it, I just make the phone call, sit on my ass and watch them work through the night while I go home and spend time with the family. And even then, I still find mowing and stacking to be a pain in the ass, would much rather let them do the lot if they were competent enough.

Out of curiosity, what drum mower have you got? I love drum mowers.

 

[kiwi pom]

No possibility of growing winter feed and grazing it? Removing the need for as many bales in the first place?

Just trying to look at it from a different angle.

How big an operation are we talking?

 

[box]

I guess wanting to cut and bale up smaller paddocks that get ahead of the sheep etc which would probably not be worth it for the contractor.

Silly question, but have you ever asked the contractor to bale a small lot like that? I always had the same mentality as you, "it's not worth getting them out to do a small amount." The reality is, down here at least, the price per bale is exactly the same whether you get them out to do 300 bales or you get them out to do 3 bales.

The neighbours always seem to have contractors running all over the paddock to get 2 or 3 bales. Buggered if I know how the contractors make it worth their while....maybe this is why the price per bale gets higher and higher every year.

If I was the contractor, I'd be telling Mr 3 bales to go jump in front of a drum mower. It all seems a bit silly to me TBH, but it is what it is.

 

[wdah/him]

profit wise i would prefer to mow, so to me that is where most money is saved.

however for forage quality, to me anyway, its the time it is cut so mowing-you have that covered and then stacking to insure no holes, especailly if its really dry forage. i hadnt thought of all the combi balers working so that would rule out the wrapper from my ealier post.

could spend some money on sheds and cattle facility instead of the machinery front.

 

[gavd]

Fixed your statement for you

 

[gavd]

If you only have a haybob for tedding then a 4 rotor tedder would be a game changer. I wouldn’t personally recommend going out and buying a single rotor rake to rake in front of any contractor as most prefere their own twin for ease of job, tidiness and even row which is a must for tidy bales. You would be better having a good search on here for Claas 46 type balers as well before splashing any cash...

Not sure on your area but a wrapper in this area is becoming a thing of the past as most are running combi balers now with farmers buying the second hand ones and a few new ones as well. I’m struggling now thinking of a contractor who runs a baler and wrapper locally and three local farms run a Fusion

I would say quite a lot of contractors still running balers with wrappers round here. Still some smaller places about

 

[gavd]

Get yourself a grab for the front and a 3rd service, and a grab for the back, do the carting and stacking yourself.

I don't think your contractor would be too pleased to be baling in front of a haybob (depending on the size of his equipment). Have you considered changing up to a larger combi rake/"tedder" like a Fransgard TI-5000 or 6000? Actually, I see you're already rowing the hay up for him, there's no reason why you couldn't do the silage then.

I've been down this road myself (5-600 bales per year) and I just can't justify the outlay and ongoing cost of a rake and baler/wrapper/combi. Too much trouble, too much stress, not enough time. Besides, for such a small amount of bales, you're going to break even at best - until you have a major breakdown.

I do my own mowing because I can do the job better and cheaper than the contractor , I do my own carting and stacking because I can do the job faster, better and cheaper than the contractor. For the rest of it, I just make the phone call, sit on my ass and watch them work through the night while I go home and spend time with the family. And even then, I still find mowing and stacking to be a pain in the ass, would much rather let them do the lot if they were competent enough.

Out of curiosity, what drum mower have you got? I love drum mowers.

Yes TBH I’m leaning towards a grab and possibly our own static wrapper just now. He does bale after the haybob for the hay thankfully but I can understand why he’s not too keen too.
Will look into a bigger Tedder/rake combo actually, if I could get one for similar price to just a rake that would be a winner.
If we could Mow/ted/rake/wrap and stack ourselves would just need to get the Connie in to bale,Would mean we would have no worries about baler brakes downs etc.
We have a Galfre mower that I bought from local dealer few years ago, seems decent enough.

 

[gavd]

No possibility of growing winter feed and grazing it? Removing the need for as many bales in the first place?

Just trying to look at it from a different angle.

How big an operation are we talking?

We like to have the cows inside over winter to give the whole place to the sheep to graze. We used to our winter before we had sheep but still had to make a good few bales and they fairly trashed the field. Just a wee diddy place, hopefully be running around 120 acre next year.