Round bale silage costs

buffalobilly · 28-06-2018 8:03am #1

How much is your round bale costing you all in when you take in slurry fertilizer cutting raking drawing it in and the value or your ground for the best growing part of the year
I’m getting north of €25 here ?

The Nutty M · 28-06-2018 8:37am

In or around €18.50 it is costing me. Last year boyo's were cribbing about being asked €24 per bale,they'll be crying this time when its €25.
I have excellent haylage for sale for €30 and a girl form an equestrian centre rang and asked could it be delivered for €25 6miles away. Haylage is still here

I think people expect you to be a busy fool and have no value on time.

cacs · 28-06-2018 9:11pm

The Nutty M wrote: »

In or around €18.50 it is costing me. Last year boyo's were cribbing about being asked €24 per bale,they'll be crying this time when its €25.
I have excellent haylage for sale for €30 and a girl form an equestrian centre rang and asked could it be delivered for €25 6miles away. Haylage is still here

I think people expect you to be a busy fool and have no value on time.

Tbh I just bought 40 bales if haylage at €35 out of the field. I had to nothing else suitable coming up around the place and I am down 30% on bales from last year. I was talking to my brother he made haylage he keeps a few horses got a very bad return on bales. Looking at the cost 28 per bale fertilize plus baling excluding diesel and labour

_Brian · 28-06-2018 9:35pm

€19 a bale here.
It’s not cheap feeding so best mind every bale.

Burning Tires · 28-06-2018 10:23pm

A bale costs me €26 in my yard. Thats %age land charge, contractor, plastice, my time, fertiliser etc.

cacs · 28-06-2018 10:26pm

Burning Tires wrote: »

A bale costs me €26 in my yard. Thats %age land charge, contractor, plastice, my time, fertiliser etc.

I worked out €28 including slurry. And the return I got this year

emaherx · 29-06-2018 11:00am

All my own machines here.
Costs less than €10 a bale including slurry and bales brought in/stacked.

Allowing for machine repairs/servicing it still costs me less than €15 a bale.

Dosen't include a price for my time though.

charolais0153 · 29-06-2018 11:28am

emaherx wrote: »

All my own machines here.
Costs less than €10 a bale including slurry and bales brought in/stacked.

Allowing for machine repairs/servicing it still costs me less than €15 a bale.

Dosen't include a price for my time though.

The price of the machines and tractors able to pull them? Including fertiliser?diesel?
Here
Its easily 8 euro for fert,10.50 for cutting baling raking wrapping and another euro for stacking...thats €20 without the oppurtunity cost aswell

Grueller · 29-06-2018 11:34am

emaherx wrote: »

All my own machines here.
Costs less than €10 a bale including slurry and bales brought in/stacked.

Allowing for machine repairs/servicing it still costs me less than €15 a bale.

Dosen't include a price for my time though.

4 bags/ac cut sward is €80. 10 bales/ac gives €8 fertiliser per bale.
Your land is worth a minimum of €60/ac unfertilised to rent for a cut of silage so add €6 per bale lost opportunity cost.
Plastic is €2.50
€16.50 so far based on a 10 bale crop
I don't know how much net wrap costs as I don't bale.
Diesel for mowing
Diesel for tedding
Diesel for raking
Diesel for baling
Diesel for drawing in
Diesel for wrapping
Diesel for stacking
Cost of servicing/repairing machines
Diesel for slurry if you use it on silage ground.

No offence emaherx but your costs seem way low.

Putting my pit silage cut so far to the same test
€60/ac opportunity cost
€125/ac for mowing, sp harvesting, drawing and pitting
My fertiliser cost €120/ac (No slurry available on out farm)
€4/ac for the cover

That is €309/ac or €30.90 per bale basex on a 10 bale crop. That seems high but my high fert cost due to lack of slurry skews that. Heavier than 10 bales and the gap closes due to plastic etc.

I have no detailed costs for my bales as they are kind of strong paddock jobs but I mow, ted, rake and draw them myself. Baling wrapping and stacking I get charged €6.50 a bale + €2.50 for plastic. €9 + my own labour plus fert and all the other associated costs laid out above.

Panch18 · 29-06-2018 11:47am

What are people paying contractors for mowing, tedding, raking baling, wrapping and stacking? does it include plastic?

Dunedin · 29-06-2018 12:01pm

Panch18 wrote: »

What are people paying contractors for mowing, tedding, raking baling, wrapping and stacking? does it include plastic?

€9.50 here to mow, raking and baling.

I ted it and supply the plastic and of course the favorite job is also mine - drawing in the ba@&€/&s

tanko · 29-06-2018 12:09pm

Rake, bale and wrap with a Fusion3 is €10/bale, wrap supplied.
Its €12/bale if its mowed as well.

cute geoge · 29-06-2018 12:12pm

tanko wrote: »

Rake, bale and wrap with a Fusion3 is €10/bale, wrap supplied.
Its €12/bale if its mowed as well.

That is about the go of it really unless you have big acres to get a bit of discount

emaherx · 29-06-2018 12:55pm

Grueller wrote: »

4 bags/ac cut sward is €80. 10 bales/ac gives €8 fertiliser per bale.
Your land is worth a minimum of €60/ac unfertilised to rent for a cut of silage so add €6 per bale lost opportunity cost.
Plastic is €2.50
€16.50 so far based on a 10 bale crop
I don't know how much net wrap costs as I don't bale.
Diesel for mowing
Diesel for tedding
Diesel for raking
Diesel for baling
Diesel for drawing in
Diesel for wrapping
Diesel for stacking
Cost of servicing/repairing machines
Diesel for slurry if you use it on silage ground.

No offence emaherx but your costs seem way low.

Putting my pit silage cut so far to the same test
€60/ac opportunity cost
€125/ac for mowing, sp harvesting, drawing and pitting
My fertiliser cost €120/ac (No slurry available on out farm)
€4/ac for the cover

That is €309/ac or €30.90 per bale basex on a 10 bale crop. That seems high but my high fert cost due to lack of slurry skews that. Heavier than 10 bales and the gap closes due to plastic etc.

I have no detailed costs for my bales as they are kind of strong paddock jobs but I mow, ted, rake and draw them myself. Baling wrapping and stacking I get charged €6.50 a bale + €2.50 for plastic. €9 + my own labour plus fert and all the other associated costs laid out above.

I'm highly offended

Ok, seems low.... Is low.
Heavy work done with a 390T
Light work done with a 135

Costs.
10 acre field with 80 bales for example.
Agitate €80 Diesel
Spread €60 Diesel
Mow €60 Diesel
Rake €20 Diesel
Bale €60 Diesel
Bale Net €125
Plastic Wrap €270
Wrapper €20 Diesel
Draw/Stack €30 Diesel

Still leaves €500 for misc expense ware tare breakdowns etc to keep under €15

I'm not including potential lost income if I rented to someone else! Why would I? What would I feed my cattle?

The Nutty M · 29-06-2018 1:15pm

emaherx wrote: »

I'm not including potential lost income if I rented to someone else! Why would I? What would I feed my cattle?

Ya that lost opportunity cost/loss inclusion has me stumped as well.

emaherx · 29-06-2018 2:43pm

The Nutty M wrote: »

Ya that lost opportunity cost/loss inclusion has me stumped as well.

Even counting the cost of slurry spreading as a per bale expense dosen't make complete sense. As if you feed cattle you will have slurry (or FYM) and must spread it anyway, even if you buy in every bit of fodder. If anything it can reduce silage costs by reducing the amount of fertilizer required.

Obviously slurry spreading is still a real expense on the balance sheet at the end of the day.

Bass Reeves · 30-06-2018 12:24am

_Brian wrote: »

€19 a bale here.
It’s not cheap feeding so best mind every bale.

If it is goodis silage (cut 3 weeks ago) 30ish DM it cheap even if paying 5 euro for delivery

Burning Tires wrote: »

A bale costs me €26 in my yard. Thats %age land charge, contractor, plastice, my time, fertiliser etc.

That is a good ball park figure

cathal irwin wrote: »

I worked out €28 including slurry. And the return I got this year

would not disagree if +30DM and cut early June

emaherx wrote: »

All my own machines here.
Costs less than €10 a bale including slurry and bales brought in/stacked.

Allowing for machine repairs/servicing it still costs me less than €15 a bale.

Dosen't include a price for my time though.

Your are suffering from deluion not saying you cannot do it but you may not be allowing for depreciation/wear and tear

Grueller wrote: »

4 bags/ac cut sward is €80. 10 bales/ac gives €8 fertiliser per bale.
Your land is worth a minimum of €60/ac unfertilised to rent for a cut of silage so add €6 per bale lost opportunity cost.
Plastic is €2.50
€16.50 so far based on a 10 bale crop
I don't know how much net wrap costs as I don't bale.
Diesel for mowing
Diesel for tedding
Diesel for raking
Diesel for baling
Diesel for drawing in
Diesel for wrapping
Diesel for stacking
Cost of servicing/repairing machines
Diesel for slurry if you use it on silage ground.

No offence emaherx but your costs seem way low.

Putting my pit silage cut so far to the same test
€60/ac opportunity cost
€125/ac for mowing, sp harvesting, drawing and pitting
My fertiliser cost €120/ac (No slurry available on out farm)
€4/ac for the cover

That is €309/ac or €30.90 per bale basex on a 10 bale crop. That seems high but my high fert cost due to lack of slurry skews that. Heavier than 10 bales and the gap closes due to plastic etc.

I have no detailed costs for my bales as they are kind of strong paddock jobs but I mow, ted, rake and draw them myself. Baling wrapping and stacking I get charged €6.50 a bale + €2.50 for plastic. €9 + my own labour plus fert and all the other associated costs laid out above.

I totally disagree with opportunity cost. WTF is it. You will get less than 1% interest on money in the bank. Capital appreciation happens anyway. I bought land in 2002 at 5.5K/acre approx is it worth 10K+/acre today with sheds etc that I have drawn grants and depreciated. What about BFP should we calculate that in Smoke and mirrors. If you rent land you add a rental cost if not you do not. Cut sward is only suitable where using slurry you are draining land of P&K if only using that for silage.

emaherx wrote: »

I'm highly offended
Ok, seems low.... Is low.
Heavy work done with a 390T
Light work done with a 135

Costs.
10 acre field with 80 bales for example.
Agitate €80 Diesel
Spread €60 Diesel
Mow €60 Diesel
Rake €20 Diesel
Bale €60 Diesel
Bale Net €125
Plastic Wrap €270
Wrapper €20 Diesel
Draw/Stack €30 Diesel

Still leaves €500 for misc expense ware tare breakdowns etc to keep under €15

I'm not including potential lost income if I rented to someone else! Why would I? What would I feed my cattle?

Insurance, tractor tax, replacements costs public liability. You are costing agitating at 8/acre but spreading at 6/acre. At a guess with my contarctor agitating costs 2.7/1K gallons and spreading about 12/iK gallons.

The Nutty M wrote: »

Ya that lost opportunity cost/loss inclusion has me stumped as well.

Ya it is smoke and mirrors

emaherx wrote: »

Even counting the cost of slurry spreading as a per bale expense dosen't make complete sense. As if you feed cattle you will have slurry (or FYM) and must spread it anyway, even if you buy in every bit of fodder. If anything it can reduce silage costs by reducing the amount of fertilizer required.

Obviously slurry spreading is still a real expense on the balance sheet at the end of the day.

If it is not included as a spreading expense in silage production.Then it has to be allowed as a cost against cattle sales, it is easier to include it as a silage cost as it will have to be replaces with artifical ferlizer if not available.

So what is the production . In my case and I use contractors to do all the work except fertlizer spreading. I include fertlizer at bag fertlizer costs. N is allowed at urea costs while P&K are allowed at 0-7-30 costs both or about 360/ton for both.

28P and 120 K will cost about 9/bale at 8 bales /acre. N will cost , N will cost about 4.8/bale. Making high DM silage plastic will cost 4/bale at 6 layers/bale Mowing 2/bale drawing and stacking is 1.5/bale. Allow 8/bale for rowing, baling and wrapping. Allowing for extras bring it to around 30/bale

emaherx · 30-06-2018 2:45am

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Your are suffering from deluion not saying you cannot do it but you may not be allowing for depreciation/wear and tear

Insurance, tractor tax, replacements costs public liability. You are costing agitating at 8/acre but spreading at 6/acre. At a guess with my contarctor agitating costs 2.7/1K gallons and spreading about 12/iK gallons.

If it is not included as a spreading expense in silage production.Then it has to be allowed as a cost against cattle sales, it is easier to include it as a silage cost as it will have to be replaces with artifical ferlizer if not available.

@€;500 for 10 acre I'm pretty sure I allowed for depriciation and wear and tear. I'm an engineer by trade so only parts are a cost and in reality there is no way I've spent €500 on parts per 10 acres baled.

Have very little depriciation considering tractors are 30 years old and over and baler is over 20.

Insurance and tax has little to do with anything as they have to be paid just for owning and operating a tractor anyway.

Slurry spreading is a cost but has to considered a saving against fertilizer costs. Your contractor charges more for spreading as it is more time consuming, but agitating costs more in fuel.

_Brian · 30-06-2018 7:30am

Panch18 wrote: »

What are people paying contractors for mowing, tedding, raking baling, wrapping and stacking? does it include plastic?

€8.50, mow, rake, bale, wrap. We supply wrap.
That’s paid on the day.

Grueller · 30-06-2018 8:21am

I putin the opportunity cost as I would have achieved that if I did not bother farming the land myself. I am not sure I even believe it, but whenever I see calculations worked out by the pros they have it included and I am generally slated for calculating costs too low.
Removing that opportunity cost would leave my pit silage at equivalent of €24.50.

On the fertiliser I use. My pit silage ground gets no slurry, 4.5 bags 10-10-20/ac and a bag of urea.
Bales are made around the yard and would be getting minimum of 3.5k gallons/ac slurry along with cut sward.

keepalive213 · 30-06-2018 9:43pm

€13.50 a bale to last year to cut, bale and (extra) wrap. I think it has gone up this year but im not sure yet..

Dakota Dan · 30-06-2018 9:53pm

emaherx wrote: »

All my own machines here.
Costs less than €10 a bale including slurry and bales brought in/stacked.

Allowing for machine repairs/servicing it still costs me less than €15 a bale.

Dosen't include a price for my time though.

You're forgetting about the taxman taking his share of your saving.

kk.man · 30-06-2018 11:21pm

Dakota Dan wrote: »

emaherx wrote: »

All my own machines here.
Costs less than €10 a bale including slurry and bales brought in/stacked.

Allowing for machine repairs/servicing it still costs me less than €15 a bale.

Dosen't include a price for my time though.

You're forgetting about the taxman taking his share of your saving.

Fuel and replacing p's and k's. The cost is north of 25.

emaherx · 30-06-2018 11:36pm

kk.man wrote: »

Fuel and replacing p's and k's. The cost is north of 25.

I've detailed fuel usage in my costings and left them a little high if anything (I've listed what I put in the tank but tractors rarely come back empty). Probably should spend more on fertilizer but silage ground is all close to yard and gets slurry. Our summer grazing land is a bit further away and that is where our fertilizer bill is.

TPF2012 · 30-06-2018 11:49pm

So buying bales at 30/25 is a no brainer. Maybe should make less of my own and source around 50% of supply. More grass grazed and also importing p&k onto farm through bought in bales instead of having to replace with fertilizer.

charolais0153 · 01-07-2018 12:44am

TPF2012 wrote: »

So buying bales at 30/25 is a no brainer. Maybe should make less of my own and source around 50% of supply. More grass grazed and also importing p&k onto farm through bought in bales instead of having to replace with fertilizer.

If you can buy good silage.....yes. But otherwise its a waste of time no feeding value in yellow bulk

Grueller · 01-07-2018 7:21am

TPF2012 wrote: »

So buying bales at 30/25 is a no brainer. Maybe should make less of my own and source around 50% of supply. More grass grazed and also importing p&k onto farm through bought in bales instead of having to replace with fertilizer.

To follow Charolais crom above, getting thenm is also a problem. Even with a regular supplier on years like this every man and his dog will try to get inside of your arrangement.

Country life · 27-11-2020 9:50pm

How much is it costing to make a bale of silage.i was charged €10/bale and extra plastic an extra€1..is this reasonable?

Panch18 · 27-11-2020 10:09pm

Country life wrote: »

How much is it costing to make a bale of silage.i was charged €10/bale and extra plastic an extra€1..is this reasonable?

Depends on the work done

If that’s mowing, baling, wrapping and stacking I would say that’s good value

SouthWesterly · 27-11-2020 10:11pm

Country life wrote: »

How much is it costing to make a bale of silage.i was charged €10/bale and extra plastic an extra€1..is this reasonable?

Seems good value. I paid 12 and a euro to move it to the side of the field.

charolais0153 · 27-11-2020 11:58pm

[quote="Bass Reeves;107392121"
I totally disagree with opportunity cost. WTF is it. You will get less than 1% interest on money in the bank. Capital appreciation happens anyway. I bought land in 2002 at 5.5K/acre approx is it worth 10K+/acre today with sheds etc that I have drawn grants and depreciated. What about BFP should we calculate that in Smoke and mirrors. If you rent land you add a rental cost if not you do not. Cut sward is only suitable where using slurry you are draining land of P&K if only using that for silage.
le[/quote]
Would the opportunity cost on silage be if you have your silage ground taken up from March til August for 2 cuts, you could rear more stock on that land if you hadn't silage taken up compared to buying in silage?

Bass Reeves · 28-11-2020 12:21am

charolais0153 wrote: »

Would the opportunity cost on silage be if you have your silage ground taken up from March til August for 2 cuts, you could rear more stock on that land if you hadn't silage taken up compared to buying in silage?

I stocked at 170 kgs of N/ HA so I cannot carry any more stock unless I enter a derogation. If I enter a derogation I lose my GLAS. The derogation itself costs 200 euro. Been down the that road it has other disadvantages as well.

charolais0153 · 28-11-2020 12:44am

Bass Reeves wrote: »

I stocked at 170 kgs of N/ HA so I cannot carry any more stock unless I enter a derogation. If I enter a derogation I lose my GLAS. The derogation itself costs 200 euro. Been down the that road it has other disadvantages as well.

But do you see my point in theory, rear a lot of stock on Silage land during the summer

Bass Reeves · 28-11-2020 11:10am

charolais0153 wrote: »

But do you see my point in theory, rear a lot of stock on Silage land during the summer

In theory it sounds good there is a few issues however.

First you have to source decent silage a lot of silage sold will just be bulk. Land that is not fertlilized adequately this effects cutting date, quality and there can be a lot of weeds in it. I wouldn't claim to be making top quality silage but only once in the last 10 years have I bought silage as good or better than my own.

Next is in a year where silage is scarce you will pay above feed value for silage if you can get it. Take two years ago with drought nobody was selling silage. In September I heard prices of 32-35/bake out of the yard. Add transport at 5+/ bale if travelling a distance and with middling DM silage you have an expensive feed. You then end up messing with straights or beet with the added cost and hassle.

Finally you have the hassle of sourcing and getting it delivered you probably. End up hauling a lot of it yourself. I use about 220 bales of high DM silage this year. It unlikely that I get similar for sale if they were lower DM I have to source and get delivered 300ish bales. That 21 loads to a lad delivering 14 at a time. Best case scenario would be less than two hour going, loading, returning and unloading. Maybe 3 loads ever two weeks. In theory you might source it at cutting time but. Unlikly you source it all that way.

It totally different to sourcing a few loads when stuck at the end of the year. Over the years I have found that the price of the silage is inversely proportionally to the price paid. Last year I got 50 bales delivered at 24/vale.4-4 years ago the year of the late spring I paid 40+5delivery for fairly poor quality silage but I only bough enough to provide roughage as I fed 2-2kgs od ration with it

emaherx · 28-11-2020 11:37am

The missed opertuinity cost is complete BS.
Should it include the missed opportunities of selling the land?
Or the fact that I could make much more money putting in extra hours in my day job than I will farming?

Money is not everything and I enjoy farming the way that I do, but these potential missed opportunities would leave me working doing something that I'm less happy doing (nothing wrong with my day job and its very flexible). I'm much happier out doing as much of the farm work that I can myself. There is also a massive risk in buying in silage bales compared to the silage that you've over seen every part of its making.

More cattle would require more labour in handling and increase costs in other area's including enviromental. It is funny that this thread reappeared as my accountant just commented yesterday on how very low my feed costs are. The extensive low input model keeps me out of trouble.

Hard Knocks · 28-11-2020 11:38am

Bass Reeves wrote: »

In theory it sounds good there is a few issues however.

First you have to source decent silage a lot of silage sold will just be bulk. Land that is not fertlilized adequately this effects cutting date, quality and there can be a lot of weeds in it. I wouldn't claim to be making top quality silage but only once in the last 10 years have I bought silage as good or better than my own.

Next is in a year where silage is scarce you will pay above feed value for silage if you can get it. Take two years ago with drought nobody was selling silage. In September I heard prices of 32-35/bake out of the yard. Add transport at 5+/ bale if travelling a distance and with middling DM silage you have an expensive feed. You then end up messing with straights or beet with the added cost and hassle.

Finally you have the hassle of sourcing and getting it delivered you probably. End up hauling a lot of it yourself. I use about 220 bales of high DM silage this year. It unlikely that I get similar for sale if they were lower DM I have to source and get delivered 300ish bales. That 21 loads to a lad delivering 14 at a time. Best case scenario would be less than two hour going, loading, returning and unloading. Maybe 3 loads ever two weeks. In theory you might source it at cutting time but. Unlikly you source it all that way.

It totally different to sourcing a few loads when stuck at the end of the year. Over the years I have found that the price of the silage is inversely proportionally to the price paid. Last year I got 50 bales delivered at 24/vale.4-4 years ago the year of the late spring I paid 40+5delivery for fairly poor quality silage but I only bough enough to provide roughage as I fed 2-2kgs od ration with it

Would roots / maize / wholecrop be better to Charolais than buying silage?

Just to add say a friend in a fodder shortage give a small amount of silage (as roughage) with meal
Said the cost of extra silage was too dear
His cattle did quite well

curiousinvestor · 28-11-2020 3:06pm

I'd have to disagree on the missed opportunity thing, a little at least
I missed the opportunity to build a shed (I got distracted by a shower of con men) this summer and my darling wife took the opportunity to buy a car !! ðŸ˜ðŸ˜

Welding Rod · 28-11-2020 6:15pm

Cost of a bale is one of those questions, where if you ask a hundred farmers, you get about five hundred different answers. Just like asking how much it costs to keep a suckler cow!
I have now concluded, that there is no answer to either equation. Well that’s if you exclude “too much”, as the best answer in both cases!

curiousinvestor · 28-11-2020 8:03pm

I'm not being flippant here but, it costs the same to make a good bale as it does to make a bad bale.
I have a reasonably priced contractor, that comes when he says he will and has never left me in a lurch.
So I try to focus more on fertilizer, timing of cutting, wilting and getting the bales n d yard asap.
I make 800/ yr.
I know of only one fella selling bales that I'd be happy to buy from

Reggie. · 28-11-2020 8:49pm

curiousinvestor wrote: »

I'd have to disagree on the missed opportunity thing, a little at least
I missed the opportunity to build a shed (I got distracted by a shower of con men) this summer and my darling wife took the opportunity to buy a car !! ðŸ˜ðŸ˜

The horror

Water John · 28-11-2020 8:56pm

Won't fit many cattle or silage bales into the car!!!

curiousinvestor · 28-11-2020 8:58pm

Water John wrote: »

Won't fit many cattle or silage bales into the car!!!

I'm not sure I'll ever get over it. Lesson learned though, never again will I get caught with a ball of cash like that again!!!

Reggie. · 28-11-2020 8:58pm

Water John wrote: »

Won't fit many cattle or silage bales into the car!!!

I've seen videos that prove you can a few anyways

Dinzee Conlee · 28-11-2020 9:03pm

curiousinvestor wrote: »

I'm not sure I'll ever get over it. Lesson learned though, never again will I get caught with a ball of cash like that again!!!

You can’t be farming too long to say you had a ball of cash at all?

curiousinvestor · 28-11-2020 9:04pm

But all joking aside, on the opportunity cost thing, that ball of cash is simply no longer there for my shed. But I'd agree, mostly , with the comments that it is a crock of sh1t3, though as any kind of analysis tool

Water John · 28-11-2020 9:04pm

Investor, you remind me of the fella whose wife decided to go for a divorce. She didn't know exactly all the assets the man had and he was furiously cashing them for IOUs to all his friends at a discount.

curiousinvestor · 28-11-2020 9:05pm

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

You can’t be farming too long to say you had a ball of cash at all?

Lol.
Well they never seem to last very long anyways around here !!

curiousinvestor · 28-11-2020 9:07pm

Water John wrote: »

Investor, you remind me of the fella whose wife decided to go for a divorce. She didn't know exactly all the assets the man had and he was furiously cashing them for IOUs to all his friends at a discount.

I think I must be related to him !!!

lalababa · 28-11-2020 9:19pm

emaherx wrote: »

The missed opertuinity cost is complete BS.
Should it include the missed opportunities of selling the land?
Or the fact that I could make much more money putting in extra hours in my day job than I will farming?

Money is not everything and I enjoy farming the way that I do, but these potential missed opportunities would leave me working doing something that I'm less happy doing (nothing wrong with my day job and its very flexible). I'm much happier out doing as much of the farm work that I can myself. There is also a massive risk in buying in silage bales compared to the silage that you've over seen every part of its making.

More cattle would require more labour in handling and increase costs in other area's including enviromental. It is funny that this thread reappeared as my accountant just commented yesterday on how very low my feed costs are. The extensive low input model keeps me out of trouble.

Missed opertuinity is only applicable if you're selling the bales I'd say.
If you don't bale an acre and lease it for c. 150/acre/season. Or sell a cut for 60/70 . If you bale..10/acre for 20euro in yard and sell for 25. Then you make 50euro.
I've been saying for years that buying bales was a no brainer. But 100's of years of "we have to have our own fodder" is engrained.

emaherx · 28-11-2020 9:40pm

lalababa wrote: »

Missed opertuinity is only applicable if you're selling the bales I'd say.
If you don't bale an acre and lease it for c. 150/acre/season. Or sell a cut for 60/70 . If you bale..10/acre for 20euro in yard and sell for 25. Then you make 50euro.
I've been saying for years that buying bales was a no brainer. But 100's of years of "we have to have our own fodder" is engrained.

If everyone followed that logic, then there would be no fodder. And in a fodder shortage we've all seen how quickly the prices can change.

I'd still far rather bale my own than buy lucky bags. And since I've 0 contactors fees in making my own I'm still failing to see the lost opportunity.

Leasing out at 150 to someone who mines your land of all nutrients returns nothing and moves on could be fairly costly too. The more angles I look at it most of these missed opportunities just create a different cost somewhere else.

Dunedin · 28-11-2020 9:44pm

lalababa wrote: »

I've been saying for years that buying bales was a no brainer. But 100's of years of "we have to have our own fodder" is engrained.

I’ve being buying 80-100 off my contractor for the past few years. It is a field that was reseeded so I’ve had it since it was reseeded. I tell him when to cut it which is usually mid May weather pending around that time so it’s top quality. Delivered and stacked in my yard for €25 - I couldn’t do it for that never mind the hardship of drawing in 100 bales.

Complete no brainer as far as I’m concerned but most probably wouldn’t get an opportunity like that.

Round bale silage costs

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