contractor price for baling

cute geoge

I have over 10 acres of hay ready to bale in the next day or two .I will get contractor to rake and round bale ,it is in 2 fields.What is the rate nowadays for baling hay?

Bass Reeves

Really hard to know most balers are combi now. It all depend on whether you are baling to sell or for your own use. If you want bales to sell lads may be at 5-6/bale. If you want packed bales lads may want a bit more. Lads with just old balers may be at 4/bale. It all depend on who locally wants it

GrasstoMilk

My contractor is charging 3.50 per bale for silage
Raking is 8e I think, could be wrong i never really asked

Keep Sluicing

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

My contractor is charging 3.50 per bale for silage
Raking is 8e I think, could be wrong i never really asked

€3.50 per bale! €8 per bale here and a lad yesterday told me its €6 to €7 in his area of north tipp

cute geoge

Last year i paid €6.50 per Fusion silage bale + plastic for 300 silage bales and €10/acre for raking .So if i got some oul lad with a battered rp200 i could expect him to bale my hay for €4 where if i get someone with a shiny Fusion to race around the field i will end up giving him €5!!!!
The same amount of hay should fit into a bale from each machine ,while i know a fusion might pack silage something better ,that is not the any advantage baling hay

893bet

We are never charged for raking. Happy to row with haybob.

Rake speeds up contractor and is their choice.

Sami23

5 euro for Hay
8 euro for Silage
To bale only

Reggie.

893bet wrote: »

We are never charged for raking. Happy to row with haybob.

Rake speeds up contractor and is their choice.

Not really as the haybob can be a nightmare for a modern baler. The rows are so tight together that the pickup is hitting the rows on either side and causes a bloody mess. Many contractors here will refuse to bale hay unless its raked.

Reggie.

Keep Sluicing wrote: »

€3.50 per bale! €8 per bale here and a lad yesterday told me its €6 to €7 in his area of north tipp

3.50 a bale is dirt cheap.

lab man

Reggie. wrote:

3.50 a bale is dirt cheap.

u couldn't put a driver up on a baler and only get 3.50 a bale even giving a fella 10 per hr diesel alone would be 80 a net prob about 150 .... just rough prices

lab man

Sami23 wrote:

5 euro for Hay 8 euro for Silage To bale only

is that 8 to bale and wrap farmer supplies plastic , or contractor cuts bales and wraps farmer supplies plastic ??

lab man

893bet wrote:

We are never charged for raking. Happy to row with haybob.

893bet wrote:

Rake speeds up contractor and is their choice.

wrong way to look at a service given to u

Sami23

lab man wrote: »

is that 8 to bale and wrap farmer supplies plastic , or contractor cuts bales and wraps farmer supplies plastic ??

Yes bale and wrap I supply plastic and cut myself.
He charges 9 euro to cut, bale and wrap again with me supplying plastic

Reggie.

Sami23 wrote: »

Yes bale and wrap I supply plastic and cut myself.
He charges 9 euro to cut, bale and wrap again with me supplying plastic

Going off 10 bales to the acre then hes only charging ya €10 to mow. How is that fella making a living

Sami23

Reggie. wrote: »

Going off 10 bales to the acre then hes only charging ya €10 to mow. How is that fella making a living

I suppose he's doing it to get/keep business as there's 2 more baling contractors in close proximity.
That's my thinking anyway.

How much an acre do you charge for cutting ?

cute geoge

Sami23 wrote: »

I suppose he's doing it to get/keep business as there's 2 more baling contractors in close proximity.
That's my thinking anyway.

How much an acre do you charge for cutting ?

That is not a fair question to ask a member on here who is known .

Sami23

cute geoge wrote: »

That is not a fair question to ask a member on here who is known .

Fair enough but don't see what difference it makes either way

jaymla627

Sami23 wrote: »

I suppose he's doing it to get/keep business as there's 2 more baling contractors in close proximity.
That's my thinking anyway.

How much an acre do you charge for cutting ?

20-25 euro an acre is the run of it here, has to be one of the best paying contracting jobs silage wise where your mowing for reliable customers that don’t have any surprises in the fields....
Last years contractor here tagged on a 10% increase in rates accross the board for all work done in 18 of course I wasn’t informed of this till he sent out the invoice once all silage was done for the year, will never see the inside of the gate again here, you should only let a lad ride you the once would be my thinking

lab man

jaymla627 wrote:

20-25 euro an acre is the run of it here, has to be one of the best paying contracting jobs silage wise where your mowing for reliable customers that don’t have any surprises in the fields.... Last years contractor here tagged on a 10% increase in rates accross the board for all work done in 18 of course I wasn’t informed of this till he sent out the invoice once all silage was done for the year, will never see the inside of the gate again here, you should only let a lad ride you the once would be my thinking

did u ask prices from yr before alot of ppl like diesel etc have to be paid on the day they day if credit is gone

jaymla627

lab man wrote: »

did u ask prices from yr before alot of ppl like diesel etc have to be paid on the day they day if credit is gone

Asked after 1st cut and was told they didn’t think so, rates had been the same the previous 6 years with no change

Reggie.

jaymla627 wrote: »

20-25 euro an acre is the run of it here, has to be one of the best paying contracting jobs silage wise where your mowing for reliable customers that don’t have any surprises in the fields....
Last years contractor here tagged on a 10% increase in rates accross the board for all work done in 18 of course I wasn’t informed of this till he sent out the invoice once all silage was done for the year, will never see the inside of the gate again here, you should only let a lad ride you the once would be my thinking

Well dont forget the cost of diesel could have gone up for him that year. Meal merchants and CO OPS pass on increases so why cant contractors?

jaymla627

Reggie. wrote: »

Well dont forget the cost of diesel could have gone up for him that year. Meal merchants and CO OPS pass on increases so why cant contractors?

Got to the point once rates went up to his current level, that it worked out considerably cheaper to buy a loader and just hire in a lad with wagon and rake and mow/clamp ourselves, understand the busy fool point working for lower rates, but from the farmers perspective given milk/beef prices aren’t to hectic, you can’t expect tagging on a couple of grand extra to a years bill will go down to well

Reggie.

jaymla627 wrote: »

Got to the point once rates went up to his current level, that it worked out considerably cheaper to buy a loader and just hire in a lad with wagon and rake and mow/clamp ourselves, understand the busy fool point working for lower rates, but from the farmers perspective given milk/beef prices aren’t to hectic, you can’t expect tagging on a couple of grand extra to a years bill will go down to well

Not saying that but you made the statement that he was riding ya. He possibly wasnt or maybe he was. Could be that just one of his inputs increased in costs so he had to adjust his pricing.

If that made his service unviable for you then so be it but its bit unfair to label a man the provided a service for you for the last 6 years like that.

Diesel has to be the biggest cost to contractors even before labour. We have no more control over world fuel prices than the average dairy farmer has over the milk price offered

JustJoe7240

cute geoge wrote: »

That is not a fair question to ask a member on here who is known .

What's wrong with that question? It's down to the particular poster if they choose to answer or not!

jaymla627

Reggie. wrote: »

Not saying that but you made the statement that he was riding ya. He possibly wasnt or maybe he was. Could be that just one of his inputs increased in costs so he had to adjust his pricing.

If that made his service unviable for you then so be it but its bit unfair to label a man the provided a service for you for the last 6 years like that.

Diesel has to be the biggest cost to contractors even before labour. We have no more control over world fuel prices than the average dairy farmer has over the milk price offered

One example was spraying, was 10 euro a acre put it up to 12, getting it done for 9.50 euro now and a lot better equipment been used, and the new guy wouldn’t be considered cheap, standard of work was getting worse year on year also as he thought he had it guaranteed anyway....
In our around 11 liters a acre all in to get wagon silage in pit average 4km round trip field to clamp it’s easy to see where cost savings in this system come from, what would self-propelled come in at on the same draw length I wonder

cute geoge

While i agree contractors offer a great service ,a 10% price increase without informing their customer is complete ride .What ever about a big acreage of mowing being dear ,raking big acres of light crop at €10/acre is a complete rob .I think the best idea for a farmer is have one contractor for 1st cut and have another one for second cut and get price of each of them before hand .Another problem is the extra bales after silage gets heavy rain ,contractor wont give much discount yet he gains handsomely with extra bales and farmer loses on the double with poorer quality silage to boot

lab man

how many acres are u spraying roughly, ? cause I do a small bit here and there .twould all be bits and pieces I charge 15 an acre up to 5 acres

JustJoe7240

The cribbing lads will do for a few quid is unreal, and then will wait 6 months to pay their bill.

_blaaz

cute geoge wrote: »

.Another problem is the extra bales after silage gets heavy rain ,contractor wont give much discount yet he gains handsomely with extra bales and farmer loses on the double with poorer quality silage to boot

Hardly contractors fault the poor weather??

Its still costing him/her same(if not more,wet grass is heavier to work and use more diesel) to bale up the stuff??

Reggie.

lab man wrote: »

how many acres are u spraying roughly, ? cause I do a small bit here and there .twould all be bits and pieces I charge 15 an acre up to 5 acres

That's the same around here

I think some lads dont realise how good they have it price wise in thier own area

Reggie.

_blaaz wrote: »

Hardly contractors fault the poor weather??

Its still costing him/her same(if not more,wet grass is heavier to work and use more diesel) to bale up the stuff??

And not only that but one job with a farmer could be a dream and the second job for the same farmer a nightmare due to whatever but the contractor would get some reception off the farmer if he looked for more for the nightmare job.

jaymla627

lab man wrote: »

how many acres are u spraying roughly, ? cause I do a small bit here and there .twould all be bits and pieces I charge 15 an acre up to 5 acres

50 to 100 acres a time

lab man

fella here went mental with the bill here last yr one part of the bill was being called out to bale 5 acres in Sept just to make 3. bales.. I charged him 6 per bale he said he could get it done for 5 fecking clowns some fellas

lab man

btw this was in middle Feb he came to pay

Sacrolyte

50 to 100 acres a time[/quote]

Interesting the way contractors charge per hour for slow ground cover work eg tilling or slurry and by acre for fast cover work like spraying and fert.
A sprayer is not hard on a tractor and a good sized sprayer should cover 30 acres an hr(with say 5ac paddocks)and €300 an hour is a bit of a rob if you ask me.
Ask him how much an hour next time just if not for anything else a bit of devilment.

Reggie.

Sacrolyte wrote: »

50 to 100 acres a time

Interesting the way contractors charge per hour for slow ground cover work eg tilling or slurry and by acre for fast cover work like spraying and fert.
A sprayer is not hard on a tractor and a good sized sprayer should cover 30 acres an hr(with say 5ac paddocks)and €300 an hour is a bit of a rob if you ask me.
Ask him how much an hour next time just if not for anything else a bit of devilment.[/quote]

Because if we charge per hour on jobs like spraying and fert then farmers would say we are all too expensive and no doubt claim the contractor was intentionally doing the job slow. They would then want it by the acre.

Slurry and bale haulage is per hour due to the fact that there is 9 times outs 10 road work involved. Not much point charging per acre and the field 5 miles from the farmyard

Everything is priced the way it is to be fair to everybody involved

Lime Tree Farm

Reggie. wrote: »

Everything is priced the way it is to be fair to everybody involved

I remember accepting a quote to build a front wall, which was constructed in a few days. I was surprised at the speed. When I said so to my brother, his response "if it took them a month to construct, would it have been the right price"

Dakota Dan

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

My contractor is charging 3.50 per bale for silage
Raking is 8e I think, could be wrong i never really asked

3.5 a bale? It’s €10 an acre here and you have to admit it benefits the contractor more than the farmer.

_blaaz

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

I remember accepting a quote to build a front wall, which was constructed in a few days. I was surprised at the speed. When I said so to my brother, his response "if it took them a month to construct, would it have been the right price"

This is also why i just wouldnt quote on a repair

You open.up something,ya dunno whats needed/worn etc until you go at it....youll end up.losing your shirt quick enough and all your doing is saving someone else money

Reggie.

Dakota Dan wrote: »

3.5 a bale? It’s €10 an acre here and you have to admit it benefits the contractor more than the farmer.

It works both ways to be fair. Its very easy to get unshaped bales out of a row straight from of a mower but compared to a raked row the bales are usually in most cases solid with good shoulders as there is a good even flow going onto the pickup.

I'd go so far to say that raking saves a bale or maybe more per acre as the baler pickup is constantly full and being packed tight.

I'm sure theres many wouldn't agree tho

GrasstoMilk

Reggie. wrote: »

3.50 a bale is dirt cheap.

3.50 is just bale, it's a standard McHale baler, not a fusion
8e an ac to rake. I never crib to my contractor on price. If I think it's a fair price he does the job. Never had to go to anyone else yet. And he has never let us down yet

Reggie.

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

3.50 is just bale, it's a standard McHale baler, not a fusion
8e an ac to rake. I never crib to my contractor on price. If I think it's a fair price he does the job. Never had to go to anyone else yet. And he has never let us down yet

Sure you wrap yourself. Still a bale of silage would be €6 here to just bale

Sami23

Reggie. wrote: »

Sure you rake yourself. Still a bale of silage would be €6 here to just bale

€8 here to just bale silage. No cutting or raking in that.

cute geoge

Reggie. wrote: »

Sure you rake yourself. Still a bale of silage would be €6 here to just bale

Is the wrapping much extra ,local fusion price here is €6.50/bale and the plastic cost will bring it to €9

GrasstoMilk

Reggie. wrote: »

Sure you rake yourself. Still a bale of silage would be €6 here to just bale

We've no rake..
Is a fusion not around 8e a bale inc wrap?
Wrapping is 2.50e a bale isnt it?
2.50e a bale for the wrap?

older by the day

7.50 fusion. 15 for raking. Witch is dear as it saves time for the contractor. The one thing I have learned in the last 30years is loyalty will get you rode. I put up with a lad here who would pass my fields to go to a neighbour and let my own go to ****e even tho he mowed my own first. Left it for 4 days the last time. I pay at gate. And now I use two different contractors and no loyalty

visatorro

14.50 last years price.
Mow
Bale
Plastic
Draw with keltic average 1 mile.

I don't actually know if he charges me for raking or not.

Reggie.

cute geoge wrote: »

Is the wrapping much extra ,local fusion price here is €6.50/bale and the plastic cost will bring it to €9

€10 including plastic

Reggie.

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

We've no rake..
Is a fusion not around 8e a bale inc wrap?
Wrapping is 2.50e a bale isnt it?
2.50e a bale for the wrap?

Meant wrap

Reggie.

visatorro wrote: »

14.50 last years price.
Mow
Bale
Plastic
Draw with keltic average 1 mile.

I don't actually know if he charges me for raking or not.

It would be €12.50 for that with myself and my baler man. That includes raking but not drawing.

Calculated off 10 bales to the acre

50HX

8 euro raked & baled

Re loyalty I find the opposite to your experience older by the day

Work off farm so ideally don't, want baled before 5pm as I don't, the want bales exposed to crows in the field all day

My contractor always suits me as best he can

In return he"ll nearly always ate a bite of grub offered.....paid in September when last is done