Do your hay bales ever weigh what the dealer claims?

[Scribbler]

@dani0303

I buy 3x3x8 bales of grass hay that are advertised at 800lbs. The 2 that I’ve weighed (with a truck scale while in the bed of my picked) were 750lbs and 825lbs.

My small squares that I have average about 40-50lbs and that’s what they’re advertised at.

It does however make a difference on calculating costs if the hay is 40 lbs a bale or 50 lbs. That’s the difference between 50 bales or 40 bales to the ton.

At $10 a bale, that’s a difference of $100 in the cost per ton, or a difference of 20 cents per lb to 25 cents per lb.

Around here, very nice grass hay at $400 a ton delivered is expensive but acceptable. But $500 a ton should be premium tested timothy!

I have a lot of options for hay, and so I’m always curious what my actual cost per pound is. That’s something I calculate whether I purchase by the bale or the ton.

Granted, with one horse eating less than 3 tons a year, these cost over runs don’t matter that much to my budget. But the number crunching did convince me it made sense to move up to commercially grown quality Timothy.

[moving_to_dc]

Yes.

My bales almost always weigh the average that my dealer writes on our scale ticket. I buy my hay by WEIGHT, not bale count, so it is super easy to divide the weight on the scale ticket by the # of bales on the truck to get an average.

Typically they are right around 75lbs, but I have had loads that average over 80lbs per bale.

[Scribbler]

@moving to dc

Yes.

My bales almost always weigh the average that my dealer writes on our scale ticket. I buy my hay by WEIGHT, not bale count, so it is super easy to divide the weight on the scale ticket by the # of bales on the truck to get an average.

Typically they are right around 75lbs, but I have had loads that average over 80lbs per bale.

Ok another vote for the scale ticket. I wonder if our dealer would be willing to weigh the 5 ton loads he brings to our barn? My guess is not, as he brings in mixed lots. Also I don’t think there’s a scale on his route in. There used to be but it disappeared when the highway was widened.

I understand he weighs when he buys the hay from the grower in massive amounts then does his own calculations as to how many bales to count off to a ton for resale.

The baker’s dozen was traditionally 13.

Maybe the hay dealers ton is 1900 lbs

[Simkie]

@Scribbler

Ok another vote for the scale ticket. I wonder if our dealer would be willing to weigh the 5 ton loads he brings to our barn? My guess is not, as he brings in mixed lots. Also I don’t think there’s a scale on his route in. There used to be but it disappeared when the highway was widened.

I’m buying loads as small as 5 ton and am able to get scale tickets.

If it’s just not going to happen, set up a scale in your barn and have HIM weigh out some number of bales when he stacks. Use that number as either a level set (yes, I’m getting what was promised) or a jumping off point for negotiations.

Or just assume that you’re getting 10% less weight than promised and decide if the price per ton still works for you.

The fact hay dealers don’t have a trucking scale on site around here blows me away. My MN guy just weighed everything at the farm. It was SO EASY.

[China_Doll]

It has more moisture when it is first baled. As it dries it weighs much less. So when they baled it and weighed it that very well could have been the weight. If you weight it later it will weigh less. The longer you wait the less it will weigh.

[buck22]

@Guilherme

Or deal with a seller you KNOW is not “thumbing” his product.

G.

made me immediately recall the Norman Rockwell painting of the lady and the butcher

[JB]

@Simkie

if you’re picking them up in the back of your truck, hit the truck scale on the way and on the way back.

The closest scale to me is probably at least 45 minutes, maybe more like an hour, from my hay, so that’s not happening. I bet most people don’t live anywhere close enough to a scale like that to make it useful for what’s fit into their truck. I’d spend more on gas for 1.5 hours driving, than any $ lost on a bit of a lower weight bale :lol:

[Color_of_Light]

Hay seller says it’s $275 a ton for small bales? OK. Show up with your bathroom scale. Weigh yourself. Grab a bale and get on the scale. Calculate the difference. Do the same with a few more bales. Average the weight. If it’s the same as the hay seller claims, no problem. If it’s different just say, So at 80# (or whatever) that’s 25 bales to the ton, right? (not the 100# or 20 to the ton they claimed). If they are selling by the ton and they don’t have a weight ticket, then of course you should verify the average weight of the bales. A ton is a ton, is a ton.

I can pick up just about any bale and guess it’s weight. I can barely lift one that’s 115#. If I can get it off the ground, it’s probably not 115#. I had a hay seller claim his bales were 110. I picked one up. Nope, no way it’s 110. Weighed several bales and they each ranged from 87 to 96. Sorry Charlie, not even close to 115. I walked away with a true ton of hay per his ton price, not the amount of bales he guessed made up a ton.

Oh, and I had one hay seller tell me, Well, the bales weighed that according to our baler. So I said, So they somehow lost 15 pounds of moisture since they were stacked in the barn? :concern:

[crackerjack55]

My hay guy goes right by a truck scale. Stops weighs the load every delivery. We buy 36 1,000 lb round bales.

[Scribbler]

Well, I can live with the real cost for this hay.

Many dealers dislike coming to our barn because they have to split the load between individual lofts, and collect from multiple individuals, and are always worrying they are going to walk into barn drama or confusion.

I think surprising them with a hay scale and trying to negotiate down would be the end of that dealer!

But I will raise it with them via the gal at our barn who puts in the order.

It is possible the hay dries out a bit while at the dealers, it is very dry, but unlikely I think to drop from 110 to 98, or at least 10%?

[OneTwoMany]

We buy by the ton. Hay dealer gives us weigh receipts and we write the check. If you help stack those bales as they come off the elevator, you can tell the weights can be all over the place for all the reasons mentioned above.

Many hay dealers source their hay from multiple farms that use different baling equipment and the dealers often turn their inventory quickly. The stock they had last week could be completely different than what they have this week. It has been years since we bought hay by the bale, but when we need to do so, we ask for a sample bale or two, inquire about the price and decide to purchase or not. I’m not going to hold the dealer to a bale weight. It isn’t practical in our area.

[Color_of_Light]

@Scribbler

Well, I can live with the real cost for this hay.

Many dealers dislike coming to our barn because they have to split the load between individual lofts, and collect from multiple individuals, and are always worrying they are going to walk into barn drama or confusion.

I think surprising them with a hay scale and trying to negotiate down would be the end of that dealer!

But I will raise it with them via the gal at our barn who puts in the order.

It is possible the hay dries out a bit while at the dealers, it is very dry, but unlikely I think to drop from 110 to 98, or at least 10%?

A 10% moisture loss would be a lot. Wet hay leads to spontaneous combustion in the haystack or hay barn. Normal hay loses approximately 2% moisture while stacked. If it was put up 10% wetter, it would probably mold and or spontaneously combust.

I had some second cutting orchard hay in a barn that had been stacked there for about 3 years because newer hay had been stacked in front of it. By the time we got to that older hay, it was still as gorgeous and sweet smelling as the day we purchased it. The bales felt the same as they did when we stacked them, too. 90 lbs.

[Color_of_Light]

@OneTwoMany

We buy by the ton. Hay dealer gives us weigh receipts and we write the check. If you help stack those bales as they come off the elevator, you can tell the weights can be all over the place for all the reasons mentioned above.

Many hay dealers source their hay from multiple farms that use different baling equipment and the dealers often turn their inventory quickly. The stock they had last week could be completely different than what they have this week. It has been years since we bought hay by the bale, but when we need to do so, we ask for a sample bale or two, inquire about the price and decide to purchase or not. I’m not going to hold the dealer to a bale weight. It isn’t practical in our area.

Yeah. By the bale price is different. I try not to buy by the bale. It cost so much more that way.

[lesson_junkie]

It would be interesting to know where exactly everybody is. I am in the Tryon, NC area. We grow fescue and coastal as a rule, local bales will be 40-60 lbs. I buy “imported” (Ohio) OTA and alfalfa from a local feed store. Those bales go 80-100+. It’s expensive, 11.00 to 17.00 a bale, but every stem and leaf is perfect. I feel lucky to be able to reliably get such high quality hay. I feed much less grain and my horses are healthier for it.

[Goforward]

I’ve really overpaid for hay buying it by the bale. I bought what were supposed to be 70 lb bales at a feed store, had them loaded in my truck and gotten home to find I could lift all of them one handed.
On that day I learned my lesson. I now only buy hay by weight. Where I live there are quite few feed stores who bring the hay out on a skid steer, weigh it in front of you and then hand you a ticket to take to the cashier while the skid steer driver loads your truck. It’s the only way to go.

[SuzieQNutter]

The reason the weights are different per bale in a square baler are if there is a sudden increase in the row on the last bit of intake it will be more.

The weight changes as you bale as the dew comes down. You have to finish before the dew is down or you won’t be able to lift the bales.

As such the first bale you bale will be lighter than the last bale you baled. Or vida versa if you bale grass during the day.

[Scribbler]

My current batch of hay is very uniform in weight. It’s just uniformly less than stated.

I’m on the Canadian West coast.

We get 3 string Timothy either from Washington state or Alberta. The batch I bought was delivered and stacked for $450 a ton, 18 bales to the ton, so $25 a bale. Bales are meant to be 110 lbs but are coming in at under 100 lbs. That’s a reasonable price for our region.

We can also get 2 string “local hay” which is random pasture grass grown by small scale local farmers. Some can be very nice. Folks used to mow and bale the freeway meridian but I haven’t seen that for a while!

Local can vary in price and weight. It’s generally said to be 50 lb bales but in reality anything from 38 to 65 lbs. If you buy it from the field in August you might get it for $5 a bale if they are in a rush to move it. If you get it delivered by the farmers you might pay $10. If you get the same stuff from the feed store, maybe $12 plus delivery fee.

​For Americans, figure that the Canadian dollar is 30% less than the US dollar.

[OneTwoMany]

@Scribbler

I’m on the Canadian West coast.

We get 3 string Timothy either from Washington state or Alberta. The batch I bought was delivered and stacked for $450 a ton, 18 bales to the ton, so $25 a bale. Bales are meant to be 110 lbs but are coming in at under 100 lbs. That’s a reasonable price for our region.

We are in NY. We pay $370 a ton for very nice quality second cutting timothy, delivered and stacked. Weigh receipts provided. Works out to about $12 a bale. Hay is sourced from several hundred miles away, so freight is clearly a consideration in our example.

Local hay can be considerably cheaper but the quality is highly variable. It wasn’t worth the effort in our case to chase down a new source every season.

[S1969]

@JB

I’d say more buyers than not are quite able to weigh individual bales, since it seems the majority of hay in the US is sold as small squares in the 30-50lb range.

Certain areas have bigger small bales that many people, especially women, can’t lift on a per-bale basis (but could absolutely open a bale and weigh halves), or those large 3-string bales that few people, if any, can lift. And there are those who have rounds.

It’s just that most people don’t care to.

Well, it’s also because it doesn’t matter. They are sold by the bale, not by weight. If some weigh 35lbs you will still pay the same as if they weigh 50. So I don’t bother weighing them as a part of purchase; not that I don’t care how much they weigh.

But it all depends on what you can get where you live - no one sells by weight here, and most of the hay farmers in my county are small producers. I am lucky to get decent hay, and have it delivered, period. That said, it’s why I can buy hay for $4.75/bale with delivery. Not the greatest hay, but not the worst…and the weight is just an average that is not tied to price.