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Post by hardrockacres on Sept 10, 2020 8:22:07 GMT -6
Hi All, I was approached recently by a cattle farmer asking if they could bale my wheat straw. Offered to pay me $3/bale. They would do all the baling and removal, also mentioned that the remove would occur ASAP once baling was completed to allow for my fall work. never paid any attention to bale prices and just wondering if this is a fair offer? a quick look online shows that for every ton of straw I would loose ~$6.50 in nutrients. Understand that these nutrients are tied up and for the most part would not be available for next years crop anyways. I have had some straw issues in the past that took a bit of work to fix, and this years crop looks to be heavy as well, so this would fix that issue. But a part of me thinks it is like I am mining the soil...and not getting the proper return in doing so. What are your thoughts?
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Post by Beerwiser on Sept 10, 2020 8:23:29 GMT -6
I pay 10 a bale.
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Post by Albertabuck on Sept 10, 2020 8:39:17 GMT -6
No way I'd let it go for that and don't hesitate to say so, like Beer said, worth ten. I'm in bizarre situation this year where I am getting some straw from a neighbor, offered them .50 a small square, works out about the same was what Beer is paying. I have heard of others doing rounds, where they bale it and give half to the crop owner.
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Post by meskie on Sept 10, 2020 8:40:10 GMT -6
Is it a neighbour that you like and want to be neighbourly? $3 seems kinda low but we have never seen any problems baling straw on our land. Even when we dropped with one machine and chopped with the other haven’t seen any differences.
Lots of the nutrients from straw are in the chaff and stubble along with the roots. There was a study I had read on it A few years ago.
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Post by hardrockacres on Sept 10, 2020 10:25:58 GMT -6
Not really a neighbor that I associate with, only really see him a couple times a year at the rink. His actual main farm is about 15 miles from mine. He tends to switch the farmers that he gets bales from each year. Not sure if it is due to rotations or issues with the actual farmer itself.
I had assumed the bales would be for bedding as I didn't think there is much feed value in wheat straw?? I do know he is very particular on his bales as to the moisture content at the time of baling and has a range the straw has to be when it is baled. All his bales are also net wrapped.
I think I will politely decline his offer base on your comments...unless he ups the offer substantially. I can deal with the straw load now witht he equipment adjsutments I have made.
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Post by northernfarmer on Sept 10, 2020 11:13:00 GMT -6
Years ago we caved and let someone bale up the wheat straw from one quarter as they were begging us to get it as their area had been dried out and so straw was in short supply or at least so they told us. I think they were from the Whitecourt area so quite the distance to haul straw and they had their own trailers for equipment and hauling the hay and baling it etc. It never made sense why someone would come this far to get straw but in any event they did get it baled up but not in a timely manor and got it over to the side of the field but was in the middle of winter when they came to haul it away. Had a bunch of snow and so then they wanted me to plow out the area which means a pretty big area for a super b flat deck to come in and load them up. I honestly can't remember now what was paid per bale but I am sure it was a lot more then 3 dollars as that is a slap in the face for what we all pay for fertilizer/seed/weed control etc. The problem is if they don't get with it and get it baled or get those bales at least moved off to the side of the field in the case of a person who does any fall tillage and the big one, if it goes and rains or the field is already soft and the baling/hauling the bales creates all sorts of compaction and ruts. So after that we just said no, I've forgotten some of the details but the problem was not knowing the person and what sort of track record they really had, the money took a very long time in coming as well. Know the person you are dealing with or get some not biased reviews from others who have dealt with said person when it comes to the whole ordeal as otherwise its just not worth dealing with at all.
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Post by Oatking on Sept 10, 2020 16:25:08 GMT -6
I signed a contract last year for 5 dollars per bale plus 5 dollars an acre. I don't worry to much about nutrient loss as root mass in the soil adds organic matter and improves the soil. Lots of balers want 4 year contracts so they can justify buying expensive equipment. I would like to know the economics of baling .!
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jaymo
Full Member
Posts: 169
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Post by jaymo on Sept 10, 2020 21:52:59 GMT -6
I think $6.50 sounds close per ton.
I can't remember which website I found, had a straw value calculator. It was at $15/acre ballpark, just on NPK in straw value.
There was a guy going around my area buying straw last fall. We said no thanks, thankfully. I know one farmer dropped at least 5 quarters of oat straw for the guy, then it started raining. The guy never baled anything and guess who got to clean it all up in the spring!
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