Hay bale pricing
 

My sister and I recently inherited my dads hay land in Saskatchewan and were wondering what the going rate is per bale? Our dad had been getting our neighbour to cut and bale it and then he would use it to feed his cattle and was paying $10 a bale. Typically he would get about 80 round bales per year off our land.

I do that type of thing, my deal is 60/40 on the price of a bale. So if bales were selling for 100, the guy cutting and bailing got 60, I got 40. As far as I am aware that was a more than fair deal for the guy doing the cutting and baling. $10 bucks a bale sounds REALLY low unless it is very poor quality hay.

Last scuttlebutt I heard was, round bales were selling for about 130. around here, but that could change dramatically given the prevalent drought conditions.

Grizz

Around here
Rent $3500 plus 25 bales thats for a nabour that has been doing it for years
100 acres. He gets 250 bales on average
You are getting screwed
Minimum $40 a bale

We do a 50/50 deal but we split the fertilizer cost. Long term neighbor. Just sold our share (225 1250+- lb. bales) at $125.00 each in the field. They are loading this morning and hauling.

Before I comment on price, how many acres is he getting these 80 bales off of? Also how smooth/rough is the field? Makes a huge difference if he's cutting at 2mph vs 6mph. Also if he's cutting 30 acres or 100+acres to get 80 bales. Also, tame hay vs native hay makes a difference as well.

First glance, however, $10/bale sounds like a steal for him.

I have 50/50 arrangement with my neighbors. They cut and bale my hay and leave me half. Quite often they buy the other 50% off me

My system-

Average number of bales per year for the last few years X $80 divided by 3 = my flat rate rent.

Some years I win, some years the renter wins. I don’t want to be policing, rushing out to count bales before they’re hauled, frustrated that the renter is making 1200 pound bales on his land, and he’s breaking shear pins on my land trying to make as few bales as possible.

I flat rate my pasture rental also. $1 a pair x 40 pairs til end of October. If he wants to put 60 pairs and pull them in September, or put 30 pairs and leave them til Christmas that’s his business.

Even if you charge a premium price, it’s not a real money maker. Find a good renter who pays when he says he will, takes care of things, and is generally pleasant to deal with. If on average he wins a little more than me, that’s fine.

About 60 of our 80 acres is hay crop with the rest being poplar bush and sloughs. Our land is relatively smooth with rolling hills. Crop is brome and alfalfa that was seeded decades ago and soil isn’t the greatest.

Honestly not sure what to do with it long term. He has asked about grazing cattle on it but it would need to be fenced, but not sure what a fair agreement would be going that route. I only make it out there once or twice a year currently and same goes for my sister. I don’t really have any plans of spending much time out there for another 15 years when I’ll hopefully be semi retired and will be spending my summers out there.

Are you wanting to know the price to custom cut & bale your hay OR the price you should be selling your bales at?

Reading the comments above...most of them don't understand your question.

Put the word out, or an ad in the local paper, ask for some quotes! $10 a bale average anytime in the last 20 years is absurdly low, and the renter knows this

Go look on kijiji for what bales sell for in the area. Should give you an idea on price.

Yeah $10 is quite a deal.....like buying dollar bills for 30 cents each....

You can absolutely do better pretty much anywhere. Time to re-negotiate

Check your local prices in the area. Make your renter a good deal. He is doing all the work but it's still your land.

I think he’s talking custom baling rates?

Our neighbour is doing all the cutting, baling and taking all the bales for his own cattle. I just want to know what a fair price is per bale for him to pay us for cutting our hay crop. Thanks

Just made a deal with the neighbor kid who is cutting, baling and buying 5 acres of oats and grass off us. 4 tiny pieces totaling 5 acres and he is paying us $60 per bale. He said if the pieces were bigger he could pay us more but the small pieces are a pain

Well, everyone is being really polite, and I was too in my first post but lets call a spade a spade; don't feel guilty about charging him a fair price, he was taking advantage of your father for many years and full well knows it. Based on 80 bales on 60 acres of smooth land, sounds like good quality hay and not hard to cut and bale. There will be lots of neighbours happy to cut and bale the hay and buy it for 40-50% of the price of a bale. Still a very fair deal for them and a whole bunch fairer deal for you.

Typically it will be a 50 / 50 split based on area costs for price per ton, as Dean says your family has been taken advantage of.

100% I would definitely be switching renters regardless. I can’t handle people who take advantage of seniors. In my mind there should be a jail sentence attached to those types.

He many not have been taking advantage. My grandfather farmed all his life, knew what his land was worth, and rented it out for approx. half of what market dictated he could get. We told him he should ask for more. He didn't want too. Knew who he was renting too, knew he'd take care of the land, knew he'd get paid on time, had lots of money in the bank, and just didn't want too. It was an great deal for the renter, but I couldn't say my Grandpa was getting taken advantage of, he knew exactly what he was doing.

Hay prices can vary a lot from region to region also, was only a few years back you could still buy hay around here for $35 to $40 per bale

Yeah I wouldn’t say my dad was being taken advantage of, he knew he was getting way less then he should have. Money didn’t mean much to him but having good neighbours that would look over his place when he wasn’t out there and would help him out when he needed did. I’m all for that too but I gotta draw the line somewhere. Thank you all for your input and giving me some good advice!

2/3-1/3 split, with the custom guy getting the 2/3.
He has the option to buy the rest at market price.
Or...
Pay him to cut by the acre, rake by the hour, and bale it by the bale.

We pay custom guy to cut and it usually costs us from 27-33$ a bale when all is done. Been doing it for 10 years this way and both parties are happy.

Ag Alberta website has custom rates depending on region, Northern, Central or Southern Alberta. These rates are close.

That's a good deal for the custom guy. Typical crop sharing rates are 1/3 2/3 but they guy getting the 2/3 needs a seeder, tractor, sprayer, swather, combine, grain truck, etc. and goes over it, maybe up to 6 times, and has to pay for seed and fertilizer. With haying you need way less equipment, cheaper equipment, no seeding/spraying/etc. maybe go over it 3x. My understanding is for those reasons haying is typically 50/50.

I’ve put up tens of thousands of acres of hay both of my own, rented land, lease land, share agreements and custom work, cutting, baling and hauling hay and straw. Also bought and sold and brokered feed as well.


2/3 of the crop to the guy doing the work is the most fair formula and the one that I have used the most over the last 12 years in that business.

Offer the renter your share of the bales at fair market price or sell them yourself.

Knowing what area you are in and what type of hay it is would help determine value.

Roughly though you should expect a $30/bale value to you on the total number of bales. Assuming good quality 5’X6’ bales put up right.

That’s awesome. More to life then money good relationships are priceless

Bales in Alberta are going at average $80 in GP, $100 in Edmonton, $150 Red Deer and upto $200 around Calgary. Just be sure you are getting your share of pie, although guy putting up bales has big diesel bill now.

That is a fair comment and if his Dad knew he was selling way below market, which according to the OP appears to be the case, then fair enough. There are good reasons, once you know the whole story, for what on the surface sounds like a bad deal. That said, the only reason to continue that highly preferential agreement is if you are deriving the same benefits.

We have 8.5 acres here at our gun club, we only cut about 3 acres total around the traps and skeet houses and a small area for camping, the rest is left to grow, we have a local guy that comes and cuts it for hay, he does a nice job and gets about a dozen round bales per year from it, we don't charge him anything.

Sounds like neighbor taking advantage of your father.