Moooooo!
Lead Driver
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 6,682
Likes: 12
From: Saskatoon SK Canada
The initial cost isn't bad but it's the "other" costs like food, bedding etc. In the winter that cow will eat 1 5x5 round bale in about a week and they cost about $40-50 a bale. One of those bales will do bedding for about 2 weeks and about same cost. So it could cost anywheres from $150-300 dollars a month. Now do you actually use that much milk a month?
Post Fiend
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 20,099
Likes: 7
From: Yorkton Sask
Originally Posted by 51dueller
The initial cost isn't bad but it's the "other" costs like food, bedding etc. In the winter that cow will eat 1 5x5 round bale in about a week and they cost about $40-50 a bale. One of those bales will do bedding for about 2 weeks and about same cost. So it could cost anywheres from $150-300 dollars a month. Now do you actually use that much milk a month?
Moderator
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 97,591
Likes: 2,008
From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
The last two years around here 1,100 lb hay bales were selling for $20/25 IF you could find a market for them.
Straw bales are worth about $12-15 each.
In a dry years that will change alot but last few years the costs have dropped down alot around here.
With any luck, good supply of clean drinking water and some pasture the cost should be around $300 a year or most cow/calf operators would be broke selling $600/$700 fall calves.
Straw bales are worth about $12-15 each.
In a dry years that will change alot but last few years the costs have dropped down alot around here.
With any luck, good supply of clean drinking water and some pasture the cost should be around $300 a year or most cow/calf operators would be broke selling $600/$700 fall calves.
FTE Stories
Ford Trucks for Ford Truck Enthusiasts
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalytic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Most Expensive Ford Trucks Ever Sold on Bring a Trailer
Joe Kucinski
2027 Ford Super Duty Buyer's Guide (Every Model, Engine, & Package)
Brett Foote
Top 10 Ford Truck Tragedies
Joe Kucinski
AEV FXL Super Duty - the Super Duty Raptor Ford Doesn't Make
Brett Foote
Lobo Vs Lobo: Proof the F-150 Lobo Should Be Even Lower!
Michael S. Palmer
Ford's 2001 Explorer Sportsman Concept Looks For a New Home
Verdad Gallardo
10 Best Ford Truck Engines We Miss the Most!
Joe Kucinski
2026 Shelby F-150 Off-Road: Better Than a Raptor R?
Brett Foote
Lead Driver
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 6,682
Likes: 12
From: Saskatoon SK Canada
We sold some alfalfa bales for $50 each. You don't break even selling bales for less than $30-40.
In the winter time with our 25 cows. We go through about 10 hay bales, 3 straw bales and 24 5 gallon pails of grain in a week. They are hungry buggers.
$600/700 is pretty much bottom end price. You normally can get close to $1 a pound.
In the winter time with our 25 cows. We go through about 10 hay bales, 3 straw bales and 24 5 gallon pails of grain in a week. They are hungry buggers.
$600/700 is pretty much bottom end price. You normally can get close to $1 a pound.
Last edited by 51dueller; May 24, 2007 at 12:24 AM.
Moderator
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 97,591
Likes: 2,008
From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Wow, if you sold these bales in the last two years you did alot better than most around here. Yes, that is well below cost but it did happens with the excess of hay around here.
In Feb my neighbour bought large 1,100/1,200 lb round excellent quality hay/alfalfa bales loaded on his trailer for $18! The farmer that sold them didn`t even cut 1/2 his field, he had so many that he didn`t. He`ll have a mess cutting hay this summer with the old uncut alfalfa.
A 600-700 lb calf at a $1 pound is $600-700 for a spring calf in the fall or am I missing something here? I know the price drops when the fall run is on.
In Feb my neighbour bought large 1,100/1,200 lb round excellent quality hay/alfalfa bales loaded on his trailer for $18! The farmer that sold them didn`t even cut 1/2 his field, he had so many that he didn`t. He`ll have a mess cutting hay this summer with the old uncut alfalfa.
A 600-700 lb calf at a $1 pound is $600-700 for a spring calf in the fall or am I missing something here? I know the price drops when the fall run is on.
Thread Starter
|
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,129
Likes: 4
From: Brandon, MB
Not too worried about feed. I can get all I need from the inlaws in exchange for some help on their farm on my off days. Besides, she's just not that big an animal. Jersey's don't eat that much. That I've found out already. Straw on the other hand, we'll go through a fair bit of that through the winter. As for the amount of milk we go through, the kids have easily kept up at around 4 1/2 gallons a day. We've made butter and cheese to, yogurt soon, so to get that all from the store would be a LOT of cash too. And there's the knowledge that we're getting top quality, chemical free, un pasturised, nonp-homogenized produce too. That's worth a fair bit too me and my wife.
Moderator
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 97,591
Likes: 2,008
From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Originally Posted by preppypyro
The guy that farms the land I am looking at sold his alfalfa bales for a good price for the last few years too. He said there was tons of guys fighting for his bales even!
Around here there are some still in the fields and lots in the stacks in the yards.