For any of you who are in the business or have had any done recently, what are custom balers charging now for round and small squares?

No idea on squares, and I haven't done any checking yet this year, but most of the guys I know in East Texas were doing round bales for half of the yield, or $40-50/bale depending on size.

Round bales $33 a couple weeks ago

I'm staying at $28 per round bale. Hoping to pickup more business since everyone is raising prices

Thanks for the replies. My guy went up 25 cents for small squares and I told him he was nuts. Not counting diesel, I know parts and wire has gone up more than his increase will cover.

Y'all are really lucky to even have any hay to need to ask this question!

I would not want to be paying the diesel bill for a cutting/baling operation…

We bale our own hay. We put a pencil to fertilizer, weed spray, fuel and time. Crazy cost per bale. Luckily we have a contact that sold us 450 bales for $50 a bale. Good fertilized hay from last year. We came out way ahead on that deal. Still gonna bale what we can but only spray weeds.

Please specify 4 vs 5 ft wide bales in responses.

2 years ago, 5 ft bales at $25. Last year 4' at $27. Haven't priced this year.

30 per 4x5 round bale in our area is the average. Several neighbors put out fertilizer on Bermuda grass the middle of April and are baling this week. Only two half inch rains recently so they are not making much hay. And that is the problem custom baling hay presents. If someone cuts, rakes, and bales and the yield is one or two bales per acre, they are losing money. Custom balers should have a minimum per acre charge IMO.
We topped the hay fields with a shredder and are waiting on a chance of good rain to fertilize and spray. But no rain in the 10 day forecast.
The neighbors who fertilized have 100 per acre or more in fertilizer cost so a miss on the rainfall makes the hay pretty expensive.

We round bale all of our own. 5x6. We probably use too much netwrap (4) but I don't want it falling apart running down the road to feed.

With diesel the way it is, and equipment so hard to come by, I'm not even considering pulling in someone else's field for less than $40/bale + swathing and raking. I can't justify my time elsewhere when I've got plenty to do on my own. I'm not in the custom business, but inputs for baling are all up over 20% therefore if a custom guys price doesn't go up, he can work himself broke.

We have a huge hay outfit as a neighbor. (He built his own baler (8'x10') bales for stalks and such along with his own swather (46' cut if I remember right). He's a good dude and is working towards streamlining the entire hay business from front to back. Even he is going up this year. Diesel and labor are his biggest expenditures.

We finished stacking everything yesterday and averaged 74 small squares per acre that were close to 55 # each. About 2 tons per acre. I have $1.89 per bale in fertilizer (urea) as I purchased in early April at $885 per ton. We should have around 14% protein in this cutting but will sample and test soon. Most likely will have $4.50 invested per bale after I figure exactly what I will tip my baler.

What are end users paying for typical round bales of coastal or Klein type hay?

Last year I paid $35/bale for custom work. I imagine it will go up a few $$ for the 2021-2022 fuel price differential.

Need some baled south of Franklin

I have about 300 acres of Bermuda pastureland in central Texas. I have no cows on it and just want it cut for hay and bales purchased and hauled off by custom Baler. What is estimated price I could get for each hay bale? The custom Baler must provide all fuel, equipment, etc. Thank you.

How rough of country? Has it ever been cut before? Was it fertilized? Where in Central Texas?

Land is in Leon County. It has been cut twice per year for past two years. Paved road access and rolling but smooth terrain. Would want it cut, rolled and baled and hauled off using your own equipment. What is estimated cost I should expect from custom baler? Thanks.

I have fertilized property every year for past three years. Used both chicken litter and liquid fertilizer.

Some will cut for shares and then sell it for you.

More specifically I get around $15/bale for them to cut/bale/haul it off. It is probably a good deal for the folks, but they also look after things when we are not there.

OK Great - I agree with your feedback. Thanks for responding back!

My in laws just had some baled a couple weeks ago in northern Brazos county that was around 30-35 bucks per bale, but my FIL did the raking so it was a bit cheaper of a rate than what the guy normally would charge.

Nobody is really hurting for bales right now (not yet anyways, knock on wood) so I think guys in this area were charging around $60-70 picked up? I agree with tamc93, if you're having the guy do everything including hauling off, something in that 20-40 bucks per bale to you sounds about right.

If you aren't making $10-15 dollars a bale over what the cost of fertilizer is, you need to change your setup. I doubt $10-15 per bale covers your fertilizer. It will be really interesting to see what happens to hay prices, bc with 35 in the baling plus fertilizer, it makes things tight.