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Little River, TX | First custom rates in CenTex for 5 X 6 ft round bales is now running in the $20 range. That is cut rake & bale.
With what you describe, small fields, odd shaped, light hay, more travel time than working time, anything less than $40/bale is for friendship or charity. They sure lost money baling hay for you.
It will cost the custom man roughly $150/hour to pull the baler. The raking will cost $50 to $90/ hour depending on the rakes. The mowing will cost him roughly $75 to $125/ hour to rake. It will cost him roughly a third of this to run his equipment on the road to get to you place.
How any custom people charge is up to them, and you. Here they charge by the bale, but also charge for one to two bales per acre, for light fields. A fair field will make 3 bales per acre. a good field will make 5 bales per acre, and a really good field will produce 7 bales/ acre per cutting. It takes as long to cut a field that is producing one bale/acre as it does for 5. Raking is much the same but usually takes extra time to rake a thin field. A reasonably good field should bale 15 to 20 bales per hour.
As for baling on shares, that depends on the hay quality. Some is worth something and a 50/50 split is reasonable. Some "hay" I have been offered on shares, 100% plus some money to the custom man, is a is a break even proposition.
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Need hay custom rates
