Breakdown of Roundbale Cost

Tibulus

Was having a discussion recently about the advantages and disadvantages ofowning one’s own baler and wrapper. A friend put up the argument that he waspaying a contractor 5k per year for baling and wrapping and could pay for hisown equipment in 3-4 years. The farmer has a 100hp tractor and farms full time.I disagreed for the following reasons:

1) The significant cost of diesel

2) Farmer would have to mow, bales, line-up, wrap, stack. During a briefspell of good weather this could prove difficult.

3) Maintenance, a baler that would cost 10 - 15k would have a considerableamount of work done and require regular maintenance. Also may break down whenyou need it most.

Has anyone invested in their own equipment?

How much would the breakdown for a contractor be for labour, diesel and machinery?

Many thanks in advance for your contributions.

oxjkqg

it all boils down to labour on the farm, what you invest in the gear to purchase right gear and whether your farm gets all of its silage in at the same time or spread out. a baler is a grassland management tool on our farm too.

we took the plunge. this will be the 4th year. so far very happy.

Sam Kade

I have my own baler and wrapper back when I was milking I would often bale and draw in during the day and spend all night wrapping until milking again the following morning. That was with 2 tractors making 800 bales a year, unless your friend has at least 4 tractors and a driver for each one he will have to be prepared for hardship. That's before break downs and bad weather.

oxjkqg

we manage with 2 tractors and the digger loadin and stackin. every situation is different.

Sam Kade

oxjkqg wrote: »

we manage with 2 tractors and the digger loadin and stackin. every situation is different.

I forgot to mention 2 tractors one driver. I did have a static wrapper with remote though

maidhc

Doing it since 1996.

Negligible cost of machinery (most recent baler cost €5000, early 90s wrapper. Few spare Ford 4600s and a TS115).

Made a big step up in speed last year when we went from a welger RP12s to a JD 575 and Krone AM243cv to a JD1360 mower.

No breakdown in years thankfully. It all comes down to proper maintenance and regular overhauls.

Only myself and father at it and I work full time as well. You would clear a lot of bales in a long weekend!

jp6470

Same only me and father,very efficient once we start.can clear up alot of work if your fit.id leave next machine hooked on sitting at the gate for him and away on in another.
Regular maintained also and a nice bit of carefully work and all goes fine.
and you also say diesel,but surely your paying for contractors anyway.
But really i like the freedom to cut as much or as little as you want.and not have to worry about getting him back,or waiting on him and hay mad to be baled.

Milton09

2) Farmer would have to mow, bales, line-up, wrap, stack. During a briefspell of good weather this could prove difficult.

This is where I see the big problem but from the other angle, in this situation its an advantage to have your own equipment as, in my area at least, you can never be sure of getting a contractor in good weather - they are too busy.

freedominacup

Lads the thread title said breakdown of roundbale cost. Not seeing much breakdown just a row about machinery. No breakdown of machinery costs, just a group of guys discussing their feelings in relation to the ownership,and operation of balers and wrappers.What about the other 50% of the costs?

maidhc

freedominacup wrote: »

Lads the thread title said breakdown of roundbale cost. Not seeing much breakdown just a row about machinery. No breakdown of machinery costs, just a group of guys discussing their feelings in relation to the ownership,and operation of balers and wrappers.What about the other 50% of the costs?

But there were two mutually exclusive questions posed, neither being the "breakdown of roundbale cost". The questions were:

Has anyone invested in their own equipment?

How much would the breakdown for a contractor be for labour, diesel and machinery?

I don't think anyone except a contractor can answer the latter, and probably won't disclose it anyway.

vincenzolorenzo

The two main things to consider are:

1. Have you got enough labour to run your own machinery when the weather comes?
2. Are you mechanically minded and handy with the spanners to keep machinery maintained and repair them if they break down?

If the answer to either of the above is no then stick with a contractor.

Markcheese

If your handy with machinery and have the time then you might as well ... On fields close to the yard and done in small blocks (paddock by paddock ) no reason why it can't be done with 1 tractor ... Obviously you'll need a mower, baler, wrapper and trailer and a bale handler of sorts .... Still going to cost for diesel and plastic..

Tibulus

Thanks everyone for assistance, some good points made.

Would any one have an openion on leaving bales in the field un-wrapped during rain. Would this affect the DMC of the silage?

Another major advantage of owning your own baler is the quality of the bales, I notice that farmer made bales are much better packed than contractor made bales. They could be left for days before without sagging. This would be a way of manageing time, also reducing quantity makeing transporting and storing bales much easier.

Has anyone that has invested in their own machinary have an idea how much it would cost in diseal to bale/wrap?? Most contractors get the farmer to buy the plastic themselves now, but would be an extra cost if changing from pit.

Farmers generally dont count the cost of their own time so apart from diseal and machinary the only other cost would be extra ware and tear on tractor.

The farmer in question is full time dairy and has casual help such as myself (but only when it suits me!), he does however do his own slurry and draws silage 5 miles, so between mowing, baleing, drawing(5mile), wrapping, stacking, agitate, draw slurry(5mile), so an absolutely major work load for one man.

It would be fair to say that a decent baler, wrapper and 8ft mower would cost 20k. Possible 2k or 3k extra for decent bale trailer.

Would be best pratice to have a suitable shed to store machinary during winter month.

Should be allowing a week for maintenance and overhauls at a quiet time and a budget of 750e. That enough time and money?

freedominacup

I know next to nothing about bales. At most we only ever made a couple of hundred in any year. The brother-in-law makes 1400-1500 per year and has given up doing anything other than mowing and tedding. He didn't even do that much for his first cut last year. He has reasonable equipment for loading, hauling etc but doesn't think it's worth his while. I don't know the cost breakdown of doing your own versus contractor but I reckon he does and at 1500+ per year he probably has as good a case anyone for equiping to do it but it's definitely not on his radar.

grazeaway

The Swedish farm college did a study on when to wrap bales. Interesting results form it. Most farmers over there use a baler wrapper combo like a fusion and then move the bales later. It would not be unusual for the bales to be left in the field for weeks at at time and then moved to the yard or edge of the field.

Anyway they checked the quality of bales after being wrapped straight away, in the yard and over the next few hours. And also the time before stacking. Anyway the best results came from bales that were moved and stacked ASAP. Those wrapped in the yard straight from baling had the best results of all.

Have toyed with the idea of doing it all myself. Reckon if you have your own gear but only person you would best with doing your own mowing and baling but getting a contractor to draw wrap and stack.

Have looked at a number of options and I reckon that drawing the bales with a keltec to the yard and wrapping and stacking in the yard. Bales taken quickly from field and minimum handling of the plastic.

20silkcut

Surely moving bales ASAP is a no brainer. Crows can cause significant damage in just a few hours. Hardly needed an experiment on a fancy Swedish model farm to figure that.

Tibulus

My suggestion is based around time managment, if an operation is based on one man with one tractor then time managment would be critical.

I am not proposing to wrap the bale and leave it in the field but rather just bale and leave exposed bale in field. This would allow you to proceed with mowing and baling other fields while weather is good. Return to collect, wrap and stack within days. I have seen first hand the damage that transporting wrapped bales can to plastic and am therefore not a fan of the fusion.

As the bale is tightly compacted when released from the baler would it be weather resistant? or would a shower of rain affect the quality the same as if the grass was on the ground. Assuming the farmer packs the bale better than a contractor.

grazeaway

20silkcut wrote: »

Surely moving bales ASAP is a no brainer. Crows can cause significant damage in just a few hours. Hardly needed an experiment on a fancy Swedish model farm to figure that.

the issue with crows is not as big an issue over there. during the summer espically up north they either have very short nights or none at all so silage making can be done 24 hours a day. because most of the time its warmer then here the percived wisdom was that the bales should be allowed to settle to seal the plastic and that any air trapped would escape, the fear was that moving the bales too quickly would cause them to burst. They use white plastic pretty much every where over there now which doesnt absorb as much heat from the sun so thats not as much of an issue.

as for baling one day and wrapping the next i'd be slow to do that espically if there was a dew or a bit of rain over night it would effect the bale quality. we ended up having to wrap bales late into the night last year in one field and it started to drizzle. A good few of the ones wrapped wet ended up with a lot of waste and had to be dumped. The ones from the same field wrapped a few hours earlier were perfect.

With the cost of baled silage you want to have as much quality silage as possible.

one of my friends has all his own gear, mower, baler, handler, wrapper, 1 big tractor with a loader (A), 1 small tractor (B). He mows the field with A, following day will bale with A, then take off the baler and put on the handler draw in the bales, wrap in the yard with B and stack with A. For single paddocks its ok as the number of bales is usally small he may do 20-30 at a time but for anything more its very time consuming taking on and off everything. For bigger cuts he hires in a 2nd tractor to the do the baling and gets his brother and father to help out. He was asking my option on it last year as he is thinking of getting a 3rd tractor for yard work and for stacking, i reckon instead of an other tractor he would be better off getting a 2nd hand loader or digger and using the wrapper staionary then have remote on the wrapper. It would still need to be a 2 man job at least.

I have looked into doing the whole lot myself. I used to work with my neighbour and between us do it all. so he would mow the field and then bale the following day and I would wrap with my tractor and his wrapper in the field. I would then bring in the wrapped bales myself over the following few days with my tractor and loader and his bale trailer. He retired from contracting last year and has sold some of the gear. I was looking at getting my own mower and combo baler wrapper like a Kuhn Bio and getting my own bale trailer but its a big out lay all in one go. so instead I got in a contractor last year to do the whole lot while i was in work. but i'll look again at my options this year.

yellow50HX

at the mo we get a contractor to do the whole job. Contractor we use uses a loader mounted wrapper so the wrapped bale is only handled once and there is little or on worry about the bale getting cut when its being unloaded as it dropped where its being stacked.

The way i look at it you have 5 main operations (6 if you ted the grass).
Mowing
Baling
Transport
Wrapping
stacking

Mowing can be done the day before so if you assume the farmer has decent sized mower and a tractor to work it then this can be done my himself.
In an ideal situation the baling, transporting, wrapping and stacking need to be done together to get the best results. If your planning on going down the route of doing it all your self you need to see what operations i can do and what i cant.

#1 do i have the horse power? good sized chopper balers and mowers need a decent tractor. Stacking will also need something capable of lifting the bales safely and efficiently too.
#2 what an i going to use for bringing the bales in and who is going to drive it and how long will it take
#3 what will i use to wrap and where will it be done?
#4 what will i use to stack and where will it be done?
#5 how many people do i need and how long will it take, and do i have them available?

You have 2 main options (i'm making assumptions here so bear with me);

1) you have your own 100hp (min) 4wd tractor with a good loader. You use this to mow the grass. take off mower and fit baler and bale the fields with the same tractor, (if you had a combo it'll wrap as well but the yokes like fusions need a much bigger tractor, while the bio's are smaller they can only do one bale at a time). You have a 2nd tractor worked by another person (father/brother) and this is used to wrap the bales in the field once they are baled. When the baling is done you take off the baler and took up a bale trailer that can take silage bales (no sharp edges or timber splinters) and use this to bring in the wrapped bales and use the tractor to unload and stack them. Also you would need to be confident that the trailer could fit through and gaps or passages without the plastic wrap on the bales getting torn.
I reckon that this would be the only way to efficiently do it as a one man operation but you would still need an extra person for wrapping, unless you used a combo.
if the bales were being stacked in the same field as they were cut you could get away with drawing them to the edge with the wrapper and leave them ready for stacking.

2) you mow the grass your self and then do one of the other operations and get a contractor to do the rest. So if you mow and then bale the contractor could use a keltec to take the bales to the yard and have some one wrap and stack them there. Or you get the contractor to bale and transport and you have a remote zapper wrapper on a second tractor and wrap and stack yourself. Or as i have seen round here you use your own tractor on the contractor's keltec and you draw to the yard.

The big time differences is in transporting so depending on how this is done that'll effect how fast the jobs done and how much diesel gets used and how much of a pounding the field gets from crossing it. The amount of diesel used for mowing, baling and wrapping will be the same for what ever system it just depends on the size of the machines.

reilig

A lot of complicated stuff going on here. Around home, many people only have either a baler or a wrapper. eg. We have a wrapper and the brother in law has the baler. He bales for us at cost and we wrap for him at cost. It's very cost efficient. Know a lot of people with the same set up.

We cut, shake out and row up ourselves.

All bales are stacked within 2 or 3 hours of baling. As bales are being dropped out of the baler they are collected and drawn to green area close to stacking point and lined for wrapping. We have a bale trailer that carries 8 bales. Can usually keep up with the baler.

Once drawn we wrap. About 60 bales per hour. After that we stack. Double bale handler on one tractor and single bale handler on the other. 60+ bales per hour. Mrs drives the second tractor.

We can bale, wrap and stack up to 150 bales any evening from 4pm to 12am after work. We never have all of teh meadows fit to cut on the 1 day. Silage would be done over 3 or 4 weeks.

Definitely saves a lot of money to be able to do your own.

yellow50HX

reilig wrote: »

A lot of complicated stuff going on here. Around home, many people only have either a baler or a wrapper. eg. We have a wrapper and the brother in law has the baler. He bales for us at cost and we wrap for him at cost. It's very cost efficient. Know a lot of people with the same set up.

We cut, shake out and row up ourselves.

All bales are stacked within 2 or 3 hours of baling. As bales are being dropped out of the baler they are collected and drawn to green area close to stacking point and lined for wrapping. We have a bale trailer that carries 8 bales. Can usually keep up with the baler.

Once drawn we wrap. About 60 bales per hour. After that we stack. Double bale handler on one tractor and single bale handler on the other. 60+ bales per hour. Mrs drives the second tractor.

We can bale, wrap and stack up to 150 bales any evening from 4pm to 12am after work. We never have all of teh meadows fit to cut on the 1 day. Silage would be done over 3 or 4 weeks.

Definitely saves a lot of money to be able to do your own.

how many people and how many tractors do you need for that?
1 on tedder
1 on baler
2 drawing the bales
1 to wrap and stack

also do you notice a lot of damage to the fields if your drawing only 1 or 2 bales at a time, espically on a long draw. 150 bales is 100 draws, thats crossing the field 200 times

reilig

yellow50HX wrote: »

how many people and how many tractors do you need for that?
1 on tedder
1 on baler
2 drawing the bales
1 to wrap and stack

also do you notice a lot of damage to the fields if your drawing only 1 or 2 bales at a time, espically on a long draw. 150 bales is 100 draws, thats crossing the field 200 times

Cut day 1 and ted it the same day.
Row on day 2.
2 tractors drawing bales. Bales tipped off (not lined).
1 tractor wraps while the other lines bales and/or stacks them.

2 tractors, 2 drivers. It's only done 4 or 5 evenings in the year. It's takes no more than 5 minutes to put on or take off a machine.

Bales are drawn 9 at a time with 2 tractors so ground damage is limited. They are wrapped on a specially designed green area which has dry access (roadway around it) and is close to the stacking area. Damage is very limited.

yellow50HX

sorry if i sound confused but i taught you said you had a double handler on one tractor and single on the other. do you also use a trailer? would i be right in saying that one tractor has a loader and handler on the front for stacking the bales and this also has a double handler on the back. the other tractor pulls a 6 unit bale trailer and the tractor with the loader loads and unloads the trailer and brings back 3 bales its self?

i also assume your BIL is doing the baling. so in total its a 3 person job on the day.

do you not find having the load and unload the bales and line them up takes up a lot of time? we used to draw in the bales 15 at a time (1 on digger) 14 on the bale trailer and line them up as they were lifted off (digger took 2 bales at a time) the keltec would have the same amount cleared in 1/3 to 1/4 of the time

yellow50HX

reilig wrote: »

They are wrapped on a specially designed green area which has dry access (roadway around it) and is close to the stacking area. Damage is very limited.

this is a very good idea, saves the ground around the stacking area

reilig

Bil gets paid per bale but only cost.

We have no loader. We draw all of the bales to when wrapping point with bale trailer and tip them off. Then while one tractor is wrapping the other lines them up. Then when finished wrapping both tractors stack. One has a double handler. The draw of stacked bales is no more than 50 meters as we wrap in a specially developed green area which is dry, has stone roadway around it and is covered in grass. It means minimum handling of wrapped bales and that all can be done with 2 tractors in a reasonable amount of time.

yellow50HX wrote: »

sorry if i sound confused but i taught you said you had a double handler on one tractor and single on the other. do you also use a trailer? would i be right in saying that one tractor has a loader and handler on the front for stacking the bales and this also has a double handler on the back. the other tractor pulls a 6 unit bale trailer and the tractor with the loader loads and unloads the trailer and brings back 3 bales its self?

i also assume your BIL is doing the baling. so in total its a 3 person job on the day.

do you not find having the load and unload the bales and line them up takes up a lot of time? we used to draw in the bales 15 at a time (1 on digger) 14 on the bale trailer and line them up as they were lifted off (digger took 2 bales at a time) the keltec would have the same amount cleared in 1/3 to 1/4 of the time

Toplink

reilig wrote: »

. Mrs drives the second tractor.

You married well young man.

yellow50HX

reilig wrote: »

Bil gets paid per bale but only cost.

We have no loader. We draw all of the bales to the wrapping point with bale trailer and tip them off. Then while one tractor is wrapping the other lines them up. Then when finished wrapping both tractors stack. One has a double handler. The draw of stacked bales is no more than 50 meters as we wrap in a specially developed green area which is dry, has stone roadway around it and is covered in grass. It means minimum handling of wrapped bales and that all can be done with 2 tractors in a reasonable amount of time.

how do you stack or load a trailer without a loader? if the bales are on a single line then you most have huge area taken up with bales

reilig

yellow50HX wrote: »

how do you stack or load a trailer without a loader? if the bales are on a single line then you most have huge area taken up with bales

We have no need for a loader.

Bale trailer carries 8 bales and can be loaded with a bale lifter. It tips the bales off.

Wrapping area is about an acre and we never had had a problem with space. We can line 150 bales on it with ease.

darragh_haven

reilig wrote: »

We have no need for a loader.

Bale trailer carries 8 bales and can be loaded with a bale lifter. It tips the bales off.

Wrapping area is about an acre and we never had had a problem with space. We can line 150 bales on it with ease.

And picture of that bale trailer. What make is it.

reilig

darragh_haven wrote: »

And picture of that bale trailer. What make is it.

I think it's a cashels. Will try to get a pic

Dampintheattic

darragh_haven wrote: »

And picture of that bale trailer. What make is it.

And how does it work? Loadable with 3 point linkage handler, and high enough to clear the trailer wheels, when tipping safely, so that no rolling bale gets caught, etc. Sounds like a trailer, more of us without loaders, could put to good use.

yellow50HX

loaders are great, defo something you could never do without once you get one. might be a way for you to leave your poor missus get back to having her evenings off. throw a loader on the shiny NH and put a handler on it and use it for loading your bale trailer and bringing the bales in, you could then leave your wrapper on the other tractor and use the remote to set off the wrapper. drop the bale on the wrapper with the loader and while its wrapping you could be stacking and getting the next bale ready. might take you a little longer but she'll be delighted...

and you'll save half an acre if you can stack it in two rows, every little counts

that bale trailer sounds the job do you have any pics of it working?

dzer2

Just wadding in full steam ahead. If you are getting a contractor to mow bale wrap and draw then you have a significant cost but if you are mowing and drawing then you are doing over half the work anyway as the baling and wrapping is the quick part. you should be able to drop 25 bales an hour in a decent field and you will wrap them in half that time. My costs will differ a little from yours as I bale with a zetor you can get a full 10 hrs of work on 25 gallons of diesel I wrap with the 7610 which is slightly heavier on juice. It helps to bale the field first and then wrap as you can plan where you leave the bales after they are wrapped which helps for drawing them home.
At that rate I can drop around 500 bales and wrap them with 50 gallons of diesel in 2 days I normally price myself at 20 quid an hour but I never get it so that would leave the cost of the plastic. As for drawing the bales I use the 7610 as there is a loader on it with a bale grab and I can draw 10 bales at a time by myself normally 3 loads per hour but my draw is short and the bales are stacked on an open base there is no long drive down a walled pit to stack.
I will say that last yr we had a contractor bale a field for us as we were very constricted with the weather his bales were very light compared to our own but they can set the tie on the newer balers to tie anytime where ours will only tie when the pressure comes up to where we want it.
If you go down the self bale route be prepared for a steep learning curve and a lot of hard work for the first year. Grease and oil are your new best friends and say goodbye to beer and visits to the pub.

Pacoa

And how does it work? Loadable with 3 point linkage handler, and high enough to clear the trailer wheels, when tipping safely, so that no rolling bale gets caught, etc. Sounds like a trailer, more of us without loaders, could put to good use.

Something like this perhaps?


http://www.cashels.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Pick-Stack-Double-Bale-Handler.png

yellow50HX

Spotted this on you tube, reckon there could be a market these over here.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IRevMSZPrTA

freedominacup

Still no brakdown of costs. It should be fairly straight forward. Contractor costs X which is a known figure, how much does all the mowing, baling, wrapping, hauling wrapping and stacking cost you to do yourself? BTW how does it stack up against pit silage cost wise?

reilig

freedominacup wrote: »

Still no brakdown of costs. It should be fairly straight forward. Contractor costs X which is a known figure, how much does all the mowing, baling, wrapping, hauling wrapping and stacking cost you to do yourself? BTW how does it stack up against pit silage cost wise?

Bales are convenient. No expensive storage facilities, no effluent problems, can do a small amount at a time, no shear grab, easily transported etc. etc.

DIY Cost (I'm throwing these figures out and people can change them if they think they are too high or low)

Mowing = €10 per acre or 80c per bale
tedding + Rowing = 50c per bale
Hauling + Stacking = 50c per bale
Wrapping = 50c per bale
Wrap = €2.50 per bale
Baling = €3 per bale
Diesel = €1 per bale
Total Cost = €8.80

Add in Depreciation of equipment + repairs - mower, haybob, bale trailer, wrapper, bale handler and tractor. It's not a whole pile if you are only doing your own work, but it's a bit and my cost wouldn't be far off €10 per bale.

Then do you count your own time?

500 bales @ €10 each = €5000

Pit silage - 60 acres. how much would it cost me?

How much would a contractor charge to bale wrap and stack 500 bales?

Dampintheattic

reilig wrote: »

Bales are convenient. No expensive storage facilities, no effluent problems, can do a small amount at a time, no shear grab, easily transported etc. etc.

DIY Cost (I'm throwing these figures out and people can change them if they think they are too high or low)

Mowing = €10 per acre or 80c per bale
tedding + Rowing = 50c per bale
Hauling + Stacking = 50c per bale
Wrapping = 50c per bale
Wrap = €2.50 per bale
Baling = €3 per bale
Diesel = €1 per bale
Total Cost = €8.80

Add in Depreciation of equipment + repairs - mower, haybob, bale trailer, wrapper, bale handler and tractor. It's not a whole pile if you are only doing your own work, but it's a bit and my cost wouldn't be far off €10 per bale.

Then do you count your own time?

500 bales @ €10 each = €5000

Pit silage - 60 acres. how much would it cost me?

How much would a contractor charge to bale wrap and stack 500 bales?

I did an analysis of my bale cost last year. Mowing, baling, wrapping done by contractor.
My total estimate came to €17, including contracractor charges, plastic supplied be myself, fertilizer, and stacking done by myself.
I noted in the Journal fodder supplement last night, that they figure a suckler cow, needs one bale (30% dm), every 17 days.
With my costings thats an even €1.00 per day for winter fodder per cow.

bbam

reilig wrote: »

Bales are convenient. No expensive storage facilities, no effluent problems, can do a small amount at a time, no shear grab, easily transported etc. etc.

DIY Cost (I'm throwing these figures out and people can change them if they think they are too high or low)

Mowing = €10 per acre or 80c per bale
tedding + Rowing = 50c per bale
Hauling + Stacking = 50c per bale
Wrapping = 50c per bale
Wrap = €2.50 per bale
Baling = €3 per bale
Diesel = €1 per bale
Total Cost = €8.80

Add in Depreciation of equipment + repairs - mower, haybob, bale trailer, wrapper, bale handler and tractor. It's not a whole pile if you are only doing your own work, but it's a bit and my cost wouldn't be far off €10 per bale.

Then do you count your own time?

500 bales @ €10 each = €5000

Pit silage - 60 acres. how much would it cost me?

How much would a contractor charge to bale wrap and stack 500 bales?

Last year we paid €8 a bale to have the bales made (€0.5 discount to pay on the day), plus plastic €2.5
I drew them in myself but all fields are adjoining the yard, €.25 a bale
that leaves them at €10.75 in the yard.

He'll come and work away so the bales are done and waiting when I come home from work.. for small scale operations a good contractor is indespensible.

Dampintheattic

bbam wrote: »

Last year we paid €8 a bale to have the bales made (€0.5 discount to pay on the day), plus plastic €2.5
I drew them in myself but all fields are adjoining the yard, €.25 a bale
that leaves them at €10.75 in the yard.

He'll come and work away so the bales are done and waiting when I come home from work.. for small scale operations a good contractor is indespensible.

And your fertilizer cost per bale?? €5.50 / €6.00 I reckon:o

bbam

Dampintheattic wrote: »

And your fertilizer cost per bale?? €5.50 / €6.00 I reckon:o

Indeed..
But I was just quoting like with like..
From a costing perspective I put €18 per bale fed.

reilig

I left out fertilizer because the comparison was between baled and pit silage and you have to spread fertilizer for both. No doubt if i was to calculate the true cost of a bale, when I add in fertilizer and slurry spreading, it would be at least €6 per bale more. (2 bags to the acre + 1000g of slurry).

reilig

bbam wrote: »

Last year we paid €8 a bale to have the bales made (€0.5 discount to pay on the day), plus plastic €2.5
I drew them in myself but all fields are adjoining the yard, €.25 a bale
that leaves them at €10.75 in the yard.

He'll come and work away so the bales are done and waiting when I come home from work.. for small scale operations a good contractor is indespensible.

Does that €8 per bale include cutting?

We wilt out silage - this is a big cost saving for us. We have at least 25% less bales than if we cut with a conditioner mower, yet we have as much feed value.

bbam

reilig wrote: »

Does that €8 per bale include cutting?

We wilt out silage - this is a big cost saving for us. We have at least 25% less bales than if we cut with a conditioner mower, yet we have as much feed value.

Yes.. but its not tedded out. Weather permitting its left in the swarth to wilt.

Dampintheattic

reilig wrote: »

Does that €8 per bale include cutting?

We wilt out silage - this is a big cost saving for us. We have at least 25% less bales than if we cut with a conditioner mower, yet we have as much feed value.

Well now, there's where you are really winning on the cost per bale.
I was thinking to myself, comparing your cost quoted in the earlier post, that my cost through contractor was fairly good.
BUT .......... my man cuts AM day one, bales PM next day. Cut with mower conditioner, and two rows grouped into one. I get feck all wilt to be honest:rolleyes:

Example, 2.75 acre field last year, not a yard of waste ground. Cut dry, baled 30 hours later had 40 bales. Now it did have en extremely heavy crop. That's 14.5 bales per acre. Very tight hard bales to be fair. First cut.

reilig

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Well now, there's where you are really winning on the cost per bale.
I was thinking to myself, comparing your cost quoted in the earlier post, that my cost through contractor was fairly good.
BUT .......... my man cuts AM day one, bales PM next day. Cut with mower conditioner, and two rows grouped into one. I get feck all wilt to be honest:rolleyes:

Example, 2.75 acre field last year, not a yard of waste ground. Cut dry, baled 30 hours later had 40 bales. Now it did have en extremely heavy crop. That's 14.5 bales per acre. Very tight hard bales to be fair. First cut.

The stuff that we get would almost be considered hayledge. When tested, it had quite good results. Although we don't finish animals so we don't need too good of quality for suckler cows. If the weather is wet and the bales have to be baled up wet, we get a lot of bales. If we can shake it out and get it dried, we can have a minimum 25% saving. It's a lot. 500 bales vs 750. Potential of a €2500 saving @ €10 per bale.

dzer2

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Well now, there's where you are really winning on the cost per bale.
I was thinking to myself, comparing your cost quoted in the earlier post, that my cost through contractor was fairly good.
BUT .......... my man cuts AM day one, bales PM next day. Cut with mower conditioner, and two rows grouped into one. I get feck all wilt to be honest:rolleyes:

Example, 2.75 acre field last year, not a yard of waste ground. Cut dry, baled 30 hours later had 40 bales. Now it did have en extremely heavy crop. That's 14.5 bales per acre. Very tight hard bales to be fair. First cut.

Never got close to that amount of bales on fields here. Most i ever got was 11 per acre and that was cut and baled in the one day.

quietsailor

grazeaway wrote: »

Anyway they checked the quality of bales after being wrapped straight away, in the yard and over the next few hours. And also the time before stacking. Anyway the best results came from bales that were moved and stacked ASAP. Those wrapped in the yard straight from baling had the best results of all.


Have looked at a number of options and I reckon that drawing the bales with a keltec to the yard and wrapping and stacking in the yard. Bales taken quickly from field and minimum handling of the plastic.

I used to work for a contractor that used these machines and one thing to note is that you will need not just a big tractor to pull them but also to stop them - a fully loaded 8 pack will easily push even old heavy tractors like 8210s around the field.

Second they need very very good hydraulics, to use the 8210 example it had the 2 hydraulic pump set up was slow to lift the bales up.

you'll need a lot of space if you plan to draw in (for example) 100 bales and wrap them. We used to send the loader (JCB 410) around with the wrapper and handler and that seemed to work well - the bales were cleared as they were wrapped and if the yard could fit all 3 machines the bales were dropped off in the yard, that's not going to be possible with a one or two man operation so it means the bales have to be wrapped in an adjacent paddock meaning more time wrapping and stacking them

eddiej

Just on costs we could quibble over €1 here or there but if we take figures that have been put up at about €9 per bale and say op is making around 500bales for his €5k then he only is saving €500 per year to cover his repayments on own equipment and and any breakdowns this also assumes he works for free! Take points about quality and nothing worse than sun splitting stones and you cursin contractor but once he arrived and you look at figures just does not add up I think might be far better spending time becoming the customer the contractor won't let down or maybe and just maybe look at mowing your own but still not sure if this would add up and you prob worse off if the baker don't turn up now

Farmer Pudsey

A comparison of bale to pit silage should take into account cost such as pit and tractor costs as well as getting rid of plastic. You can feed bale from the rear of most tractors.

Bale costs
Plastic 3/bale inc disposal
Mowing 2/bale
Bale and Wrap 7.50
drawing loading stacking 1/bale
13.50/bale @ 10/acre =130/bale

What do most pit silage contractors cost 110/acre
Plastic/acre 10/acre
Silage slab 15/acre
Is a bigger tractor compared to one for bales?

This is a guess on my part.

On smaller farms bales win hands down. Also some pit contractors will not let you wilt for two days and may want to work in wet weather

yellow50HX

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

A comparison of bale to pit silage should take into account cost such as pit and tractor costs as well as getting rid of plastic. You can feed bale from the rear of most tractors.

Bale costs
Plastic 3/bale inc disposal
Mowing 2/bale
Bale and Wrap 7.50
drawing loading stacking 1/bale
13.50/bale @ 10/acre =130/bale

What do most pit silage contractors cost 110/acre
Plastic/acre 10/acre
Silage slab 15/acre
Is a bigger tractor compared to one for bales?

This is a guess on my part.

On smaller farms bales win hands down. Also some pit contractors will not let you wilt for two days and may want to work in wet weather

if you have the tractor and loader already its not and issue, just put on a grab. Also a rear mounted shear grab can be easily fitted. Most fellas round these parts feed bales with tractor and front loader or with a digger/loader. In my view bales a very handy but it does get to a point where a pit makes more sense espically with your talking volume, or when you have one big cut.