Cheaper to buy baled silage

deise toffee

With the costs rising on everything,fertilizer,bale wrap ,contractor charges,is it cheaper to buy silage than make you own?.Only problem is the quality ,you dont know what your getting,where as you know your own would be.Sourcing enough bales to buy could be a problem aswell.

bob charles

deise toffee wrote: »

With the costs rising on everything,fertilizer,bale wrap ,contractor charges,is it cheaper to buy silage than make you own?.Only problem is the quality ,you dont know what your getting,where as you know your own would be.Sourcing enough bales to buy could be a problem aswell.

it always has been, get some guy with his own gear to supply you with quality bales. I usually deal with 2 or 3 guys and used to buy allot before under a different farming system. Now I buy allot less bale than before from one guy, I give him a fair price and the work is out of my hands, I would prefer to be on holidays when the sun is shining than hauling bales. I have no problem hauling them when its mid winter lashing rain as it gives me something to keep me warm. Also payment is a good few months after the grub is eaten, not 6 months prior. He was on the blower looking for next years order on a few days ago:)

cowbox

Thats what I thought to this yr that I would be a great boy and go off and buy a few bales of wrapped silage. so a lad had 100 bales I said I'd buy 10 off him first and see how I got on. First 10 not bad bales for 15 euro a bale thought they might be a good investment at the time. Sure I said i'd take the last 90 off him by god that was a big mistake started into them and got a bag of weeds..shocking stuff.. got conned!!:mad: total disasteer not even the old cows would munch on them and they'd eat anything...lucky they didn't get piosoned from what stuff was in there never saw as many different weeds together in my life!! so 1500 euro down the drain. Wouldn't mind but his grass was pretty good so he must of bought them somewhere for 10 euro of less and pawned them on to me. Should of cancelled the cheque if I knew in time. what goes around comes around!!:D

deise toffee

cowbox wrote: »

Thats what I thought to this yr that I would be a great boy and go off and buy a few bales of wrapped silage. so a lad had 100 bales I said I'd buy 10 off him first and see how I got on. First 10 not bad bales for 15 euro a bale thought they might be a good investment at the time. Sure I said i'd take the last 90 off him by god that was a big mistake started into them and got a bag of weeds..shocking stuff.. got conned!!:mad: total disasteer not even the old cows would munch on them and they'd eat anything...lucky they didn't get piosoned from what stuff was in there never saw as many different weeds together in my life!! so 1500 euro down the drain. Wouldn't mind but his grass was pretty good so he must of bought them somewhere for 10 euro of less and pawned them on to me. Should of cancelled the cheque if I knew in time. what goes around comes around!!:D

Thats the danger alrite,sorry to hear of you misfortune.You could get caught rotten ,plenty of chancers out there.If i was buying silage id have to see the field first before mowing,watch them mowing it out etc etc and make sure they deliver me the bales from that field,Get the tent out and camp out in the field if needs be:D

Tora Bora

Buy hay, not silage. Sheds of the country busting with it. You know what you are getting. That said I can't get any local to me.:mad:
I would take 60 bales tomorrow at €24 or less. Anybody know where it can be got? Forget Donedeal. Went to see good hay advertised on it. It was pure sh1t.

PMU

deise toffee wrote: »

With the costs rising on everything,fertilizer,bale wrap ,contractor charges,is it cheaper to buy silage than make you own?.Only problem is the quality ,you dont know what your getting,where as you know your own would be.Sourcing enough bales to buy could be a problem aswell.

it would be cheaper and better to buy a 3-way mix and replace some of your own,than buy bales of unknown quality.also,reseed and fertilize your silage fields.pat

JohnBoy

I looked at doing it, selling them that is.

But I cant see how you could make money on it and still produce quality.

And then not getting paid for 12 months after putting out the fertiliser if I was dealing with the likes of bob_charles

straight

What about investing in a mixer tub? Would that save alot of silage?

PMU

straight wrote: »

What about investing in a mixer tub? Would that save alot of silage?

how would that save silage?

Bodacious

Tora Bora wrote: »

Buy hay, not silage. Sheds of the country busting with it. You know what you are getting. That said I can't get any local to me.:mad:
I would take 60 bales tomorrow at €24 or less. Anybody know where it can be got? Forget Donedeal. Went to see good hay advertised on it. It was pure sh1t.

Hi Tora Bora,

Would you think if i bought fresh 2011 hay out of the field and wrapped them would they work out okay as haylage?

bbam

cowbox wrote: »

Thats what I thought to this yr that I would be a great boy and go off and buy a few bales of wrapped silage. so a lad had 100 bales I said I'd buy 10 off him first and see how I got on. First 10 not bad bales for 15 euro a bale thought they might be a good investment at the time. Sure I said i'd take the last 90 off him by god that was a big mistake started into them and got a bag of weeds..shocking stuff.. got conned!!:mad: total disasteer not even the old cows would munch on them and they'd eat anything...lucky they didn't get piosoned from what stuff was in there never saw as many different weeds together in my life!! so 1500 euro down the drain. Wouldn't mind but his grass was pretty good so he must of bought them somewhere for 10 euro of less and pawned them on to me. Should of cancelled the cheque if I knew in time. what goes around comes around!!:D

At €15 a bale did you not suspect he was offloading poor stuff, it was seriously cheap... Quality feed couldn't really be made up for that sort of money... it's a real underhand act to pawn off poor feedstuf like that.
We get a contractor in to cut/bale and last year the bales worked out at €16 a bale made up.. We tried buying for a few years but they were variable and we have no trailer to draw them with either so paid €2 a bale for delivery.

irishh_bob

Bodacious wrote: »

Hi Tora Bora,

Would you think if i bought fresh 2011 hay out of the field and wrapped them would they work out okay as haylage?

of a good year when hay is in abundance , you should be able to buy it off the field for no more than 20 euro

babybrian

I tried to work out earlier in the year when we were thinking of renting land for silage bales and it came out as nearly €20/bale for everything and thats at 2 cuts and land rent at €150/acre

So went to a neighbour who cuts for hay and silage(has no animals on his farm) and looks like we are getting them at €15/bale in the field and we will bring them home and wrap them ourselves so might have saved a few bob I hope :rolleyes:
Think he was happy to get the contract as he was left with bales this year.

irishh_bob

babybrian wrote: »

I tried to work out earlier in the year when we were thinking of renting land for silage bales and it came out as nearly €20/bale for everything and thats at 2 cuts and land rent at €150/acre

So went to a neighbour who cuts for hay and silage(has no animals on his farm) and looks like we are getting them at €15/bale in the field and we will bring them home and wrap them ourselves so might have saved a few bob I hope :rolleyes:
Think he was happy to get the contract as he was left with bales this year.

thats 15 euro for unwrapped bales of silage , collected in the field

Muckit

babybrian wrote: »

I tried to work out earlier in the year when we were thinking of renting land for silage bales and it came out as nearly €20/bale for everything and thats at 2 cuts and land rent at €150/acre

So went to a neighbour who cuts for hay and silage(has no animals on his farm) and looks like we are getting them at €15/bale in the field and we will bring them home and wrap them ourselves so might have saved a few bob I hope :rolleyes:
Think he was happy to get the contract as he was left with bales this year.

That was time well spent with the pen and calculator . More lads should be at it IMO. It'I cost another what €4 to wrap them. Still good value IMO, IF GOOD STUFF.

Of course if you've to rent the ground to make the bales it makes sense to buy them off the field like you've arranged. Your saving a fortune and haven't the cost of fertiliser or extra contractor fees for mowing and baling.

babybrian

yes collected in the field.
Think it will work out as €2.50/bale for plastic and roughly €2/bale for contractor to wrap them so I might get 200 bales for €19.50 and then another few euros on diesel to cart them home but he lives only about a 5 minute drive on the tractor away.
I hope it works and the neighbour has good grass, bought a few from him in February and was very happy with them.

And yes muckit I agree. the pen and paper is out regularly here, saves so much if you put some thaught into things and work out the costs.

Muckit

babybrian wrote: »

yes collected in the field.
Think it will work out as €2.50/bale for plastic and roughly €2/bale for contractor to wrap them so I might get 200 bales for €19.50 and then another few euros on diesel to cart them home but he lives only about a 5 minute drive on the tractor away.
I hope it works and the neighbour has good grass, bought a few from him in February and was very happy with them.

And yes muckit I agree. the pen and paper is out regularly here, saves so much if you put some thaught into things and work out the costs.

€19.50, you've saved yourself a sh*tload of work and organising, have extra grass for stock and most important thing, you know the quality of the stuff your feeding them next winter, which is the most important thing. Top marks

Bodacious

babybrian wrote: »

I tried to work out earlier in the year when we were thinking of renting land for silage bales and it came out as nearly €20/bale for everything and thats at 2 cuts and land rent at €150/acre

So went to a neighbour who cuts for hay and silage(has no animals on his farm) and looks like we are getting them at €15/bale in the field and we will bring them home and wrap them ourselves so might have saved a few bob I hope :rolleyes:
Think he was happy to get the contract as he was left with bales this year.

Thats a great deal .. id be made up if i could get that kind of a deal even adding 5 euro to wrap and 5 transport id be delighted

sh1tstirrer

babybrian wrote: »

I tried to work out earlier in the year when we were thinking of renting land for silage bales and it came out as nearly €20/bale for everything and thats at 2 cuts and land rent at €150/acre

So went to a neighbour who cuts for hay and silage(has no animals on his farm) and looks like we are getting them at €15/bale in the field and we will bring them home and wrap them ourselves so might have saved a few bob I hope :rolleyes:
Think he was happy to get the contract as he was left with bales this year.

But if you are including €150/acre in the price of the bales you would also be getting 2-3 grazings off the rented land after 2 cuts of silage.

straight

PMU wrote: »

how would that save silage?

Well there's less waste of silage because there is less of it thrown out and by mixing the silage with straw and something like beet pulp or brewers grain there is also less silage being used. Hence saving silage IMO.

PMU

straight wrote: »

Well there's less waste of silage because there is less of it thrown out and by mixing the silage with straw and something like beet pulp or brewers grain there is also less silage being used. Hence saving silage IMO.

what about the cost and bother of running a diet feeder ?

straight

Not a diet feeder. A tub mixer. They are alot less hassle to run and way more time efficient. I know they are costly but putting in silage is costly too. I know people paying over 100 euro an acre to rent silage ground for one crop and then fertilize it and cut it - That must be working out at around 300 euro an acre so it's precious stuff. I don't have a tub mixer myself but have heard good reports of them and I'm considering it. I know people that have traded in Keenan Diet feeders for them due to time efficiency.