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Little River, TX | The important thing is to know what you have in a bale or a ton of forage.
I use a spread sheet and put in the value of the fertilizer, seed, herbicide, and real harvest cost.
(I apply all the micronutrients and much of the macronutrients I expect an alfalfa stand to require for the expected life of the stand. I then amortize the fertilizer and establishment herbicides over the expected life of the stand. Something that may not be practical for your soil, and management needs.)
Each year I build a break even for the usual or typical production with the usually expected conditions. I then set my price for my usual quality hay. I use hay testing for the amount of actual macronutrients used for each cutting & from each field. I then know what is being removed,
In 2006 my fertility and herbicide cost was a little over $2/55 lb bale, but in conversations with customers I insisted there was $3 of fertilizer in each bale. Their response is usually that hay does not use fertilizer. I suggest they buy hay from farmers who do not fertilize. Answer is usually those farmers did not have any hay that year. My response was see fertilizer is required if you want to harvest hay.
My initial sales pitch is to give away 2 of my 55 lb bales of hay. If their stock like the hay come back and pay my price for my hay. In a typical full size round bale there is about $40 in fertilizer and herbicide. There is roughly $20 in harvest cost total cost in the $60 range. Many bales of grass hay, here are selling for $40 or less. Therefore I do not put up round bales unless the barn is full of square bales. RBs are stored out side on a gravel pad.
There are some economies of scale that the larger producer can realize, but usually larger total production will equal even smaller total income.
The only reason I raise hay is because I can and do make more net income with hay than is possible with grain, or cotton. I get less than the feed store and more than the hay haulers.
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Fertilizing for forage
