Hay bales

[DouginUtah]

I'd like to increase my knowledge in regard to the various sizes of hay bales.

Maybe Haytrader will see this and provide some input. Or any other hay farmers.

It seems to me that there are basically four different sizes. (The original standard, the two-wide on a semi flatbed, the three-wide on a flatbed, and the round bales.)

What are their dimensions?

What is the typical nominal weight of each size?

What is the typical selling price in your area? Sold by the bale or by weight?

[RSteiner]

I am no expert on hay bale size but I have handled many more tons of hay than I want to think of right now.  Most of the hay I handled was for the horses we owned over the past 20 years.

Here in the northeast square bales are made in a variety of sizes.  There are "kicker" bales which are a few flakes shorter than a regular bale.  These bales are thrown into a wagon behind the baler by a mechanical device.  The regular size bale is dropped on the ground or pushed up a ramp into a wagon behind the baler.  Usually two of these size bales end to end will just squeeze across the width of a full size pick-up bed.

However, it seems like each baler produces a different size bale.  The packing density, windrow size, ground speed of the baler, type of grass, and a few other things will contribute to the size of the bale around here.  I seem to remember 40 bales to the ton as an average as far as weight goes.  The price per bale this year is at an all time high, first cut in the field is going for $4.50 a bale. 

Round bales are popular with some dairy farms but few of them around here make good horse hay.  Most dairy operations around here are chopping hay for haylige these days it is quicker and the cows love it.

Randy

[Corley5]

I'm not familar with the big square bales but the small ones that we don't like to make  ;) are about 34-36" long, 16" wide and 14" tall and weigh on the avg 55-60 lbs.  Many producers will make them smaller/looser and charge the same price ea. for less hay  :  The rounds we like to make are 4X4 and weigh 625 on the avg out of a New Holland BR730 baler.  I put up 138 squares this season and sold them off the wagon for 3 bucks a piece.  We put up 695 rounds and have been getting 30 dollars each for them and all of them are spoken for.  The customers also know that the price is going up five bucks apiece now that we're taking the bales out of the barn instead of directly from the field.  Depending on their size round bales can weigh up to at least 1,800 lbs.  I think some may weigh over a ton.

[ksu_chainsaw]

We put up 2 different types of bales.  Big Round bales from a John Deere 567 baler- 5'x6' with net wrap- on average those bales weigh 1900 lbs.  Small square bales from an OLD John Deere 14T baler 14"x18"x about 3'.  These weigh anywhere from 35 lbs to 60 lbs- depending on how thick the hay is and what type of grass it is.  We try to get an average of 50 lbs per bale.  We sell our hay by current market price, with a discount if it is sold directly from the field- since there is no labor cost to us if we do it that way.  We currently get about $60 per round bale, and $4 per square bale.  If I haul square bales to the Kansas City area, we get $7 per bale, but with diesel costs right now, that price is probably going up here soon.  This year we put up about 1000 small square bales and 3000 big round bales.  There is one farmer in our area that puts up the big square bales, I think that they are 3x4x8, and over 2000 lbs.  His hay is sold directly out of the field to a horse place, and he doesn't even touch the bales after they come out of the baler.

Charles

[Tom Sawyer]

On most large square or round balers you can adjust the size to suit what you are using them for - capacity of your loader, aisle space in the barn, etc.

Tom

[CLL]

I have bought hay as follows.  Small squares - 36" long 45-75#, small rounds 4' tall, 600-750#,
large squares-either 3'x3'x8' or 4'x4'x8', 1000-1500#, and large rounds 5' tall-1250-1500#. Other than they are harder to handle,(need forklift-tractor with forks) I personally like the bigger bales, better value!! Big square bales usually sell by ton, small bales by bale. Since I sold mostly alfalfa, the big squares was $100-200 ton depending on quality, smale bales from $150-250 ton. Usually you could buy big squares for $50-75 ton less than small squares. Hopes that helps you some.    P.S. Remember there is about 20-30% waste on round bales, so you need to figure that in the price.

[Haytrader]

I would be glad to add my $0.02.

There are several sizes of SMALL bales and this varies from region to region. The two most common sizes are 14"x16" and 16"x18" by about 36" long. Alfalfa in the bigger of the two will weigh 75 to 85# each. Prarie hay or brome weigh about 60 to 70#. There is a baler made by Freeman that has three wires and wider than the other small balers. These are common in California and Arizona and weigh up to 150#.
ROUND bales are primarily either 4' wide or 5' wide and of course the diameter can be adjusted to the operators desire. Some custom balers make them a little smaller since they charge by the bale.  ;)
Then there are the MEDIUM squares. The smaller of these two is 3'x3'x8'. Grass will weigh about 750# to 850# and alfalfa 100# more.
The next size is 3'x4'x8' and are my favorite. They stack two wide on a truck and we go three high which gives us 9' of hay.
The BIG bales are 4'x4'x8'. They weigh about a ton each.
A friend of mine developed a bale press and sold it to a gentleman in Wyoming. This press will squeeze the 4x4x8 to only about 4' in length and then they band them and load container ships headed to the oil barons. I guess to feed thier camels. I hear that hay is costing $300/ton going on the ship.