Farming payment arrangement

A rough back of the fag box calculation is its costing €20-25 to make a bale of silage including cutting wrapping and hauling so take your bales at a rough cost of €400-500. The feeding out of the bales would be maybe twice a week for 10 mins. Don't forget to add in time for travel to and fro so if it's approx 20-30 mins twice a week for say 16 weeks giving around 12 hours. Min hourly rate for any tractor work would be €50/ hour. Put the total together and you are around the 1k mark

Now let's look at the other side of the ledger. Hay is freely trading at €40/bale for a total of 70 bales is €2800. Now the cost of that hay. I'm taking as a 10 acre field. Cut the field would be €300 at €30/ac. Tedding 4 runs at €15/ac would have another €600. Now baling cost of baling here is 8/bale so that's €560. Hauling of bales another 2/bale and if storing them in a shed another 2-3/ bale, so €350. Leaving you with a hay cost of €1810. Sub this off the €2800 and it leaves a profit of €990 to cover your baling and feeding .

The above is assumed in him mowing and supplying the wrap. Add in a bad year like this year hay is hard got or a good year where the price of hay plummets due to so much hay around

I read it that the neighbour is merely coordinating the making of the silage and the OP is picking up the bill for baling/wrap/ etc.

@BullBauld might clarify

does this neighbour farmer have a baler? Who bills you “for all” and what is “all”?

Are you paying for everything? And the neighbours takes the free hay and feeds out a couple of bales of silage is my reading?

You are not giving enough info but it feels like you are getting taken for a ride.

1. Who pays for any fertiliser spread on your silage or the hay the neighbour takes.
2. Who pays (or does) or the cutting of the silage and hay?
3. Who pays for the turning and baling of the silage and hay?
4. Who does and pays for the spreading of the slurry/dung from the cattle you over winter?

And a tractor

I think the key thing that’s missing here is figures - round bales of hay, square bales, what’s he charging for making the bales, who’s paying for what with fertiliser etc etc, making any assumptions the neighbour is a robbing prick or not is impossible without details.

So to put money on this.

80/90 bales of unfertilized grass standing is worth ball park 7/900 euro.

He is charging you ball park 40 per bale (800/20) for whatever he does with your silage.

Local contractor will cut rake bale stack in yard for 14 per bale you supply plastic @approx 3 euro if that is any help to you figuring out how much he gets for stacking in yard.

Few contractors here feed silage for smaller operations and I think it's usually thrown in for getting baling/topping etc during year.

If silage near yard I'd be thinking he should get 2/3 a bale to stack after making and at most 10 every time he has to travel to give out bale.

Have I just too much money that I would do stuff like this for neighbors and be insulted if they offered me anything more than a drink when we meet at wedding or Xmas or something like that?

I think the original arrangements of neighbour taking 20 bales of hay for feeding cattle over the winter is probably just about alright ( considering OP would have to pay contractor or buy a tractor otherwise) The problem with these loose arrangements is when circumstances change we ( Irish people anyway ) don't like to make a fuss ( tis grand sure!) but it nearly always ends up with 1 party feeling hard-done by especially if they don't like to say anything. Neighbour may even feel he is doing a favour by cleaning up extra grass! As said, unless you break from neighbour completely ( have contractor make and draw in silage early next year before neighbour does it ) buy a few extra cattle to go back to way it was

But he is paying full cost for his silage

Bought some round bales of hay today €40 delivered, good enough stuff

I don't like this arrangement much to be honest I would sell cattle for a year or 2 and do up a proper lease for the lot and offer him first refusal at market rates if he wants it, just to break that cycle.