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ecmn | it all depends on how big you want to go. you already have a dairy so you time is limited.
I did some custom chopping for a neighbor and when I milked it sucked, I had my stuff to do and then chop for him on his schedule. wagons breaking down, his hands being hard on the wagons, raking the hay in front of the chopper and getting rocks...
small custom work is great to help upgrade equipment for a smaller operation.
I have a good planter and do some custom planting and I have a nice older combine for a couple guys. I don't run around the country trying to make it my income. but a few hundred custom acres on each item sure helps pay for there up keep.
custom is hard. you start to feel for the guy and bend over backwards for them. before you know it you end up with a guy telling you how to run your equipment, or they have big rocks and if you break something they dismiss it like oh well.
if you make a mistake planting or combining for someone that is there lively hood, if you are chopping for someone and have a major break down, if it was for your own hay you can just bale it up and fix the chopper later. but the customer wants haylage so you are fixing that break down all night long till you are up and running.
I am working on a custom strip till machine with fertilizer. it is variable rate capable. there is 1 farmer that is very interested in that since he doesn't have a good setup for doing his own tillage. if I only do 100-200 acres a year custom with it that is all I want. again enough custom work to put some money towards the investment but not enough to wear it out to fast.
I would look at university rates and stick to them. if people don't want to pay that rate they can get there own equipment and do it themselves. if you have older equipment you still need to charge the rate, your fuel, time, parts, replacement, cost the same old or new
your stuff has to come first.
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Is There Any Money In Custom Work?
