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Facts About Hay
A quick lesson on bale size, weight & price per bale vs. price per ton
Dear potential customer, if you have questions about all the different size bales, weights and types of hay on the market here are a few things to take in to consideration when deciding what type of hay is best suited and most economical for your needs.
1. Bale price vs. ton price
When purchasing a load of hay or straw whatever the type or quality the amount of actual
product that you get and pay for should be measured in pounds not bales.For example a 33 lb string bale common in many areas and what is available at most of
your local farms sold to you at $3.50 per bale is equal to $212.12 dollars per ton.A load of Finger lakes grown hay in 65 lb bales delivered to you at $212.12 dollars per
ton will cost you $6.89 per bale. This may sound expensive by the bale if you don’t do the
math but it is actually cheaper by the pound when you consider the 2 to 1 ratio, and you
are getting a better quality hay for your money. These are only numbers that we are
using as examples and may not be the current price, the fact is whether the price is 200
or 300 it should be taken in to consideration.
2. Quality vs. price
When purchasing hay quality should be your main concern and for most people it is.
However the difference between a nice green sweet smelling grass mix at $4.50 per bale
and a quality timothy / alfalfa mix at $9.50 per bale are miles apart. The first hay you may
feed 4 or 5 flakes per day with grain and see a lot in the manure pile the second higher
quality hay may only require you to feed 2 or 3 flakes per day and much less grain you
also may notice less or no hay being wasted. It all comes down to saving money and
feeding your animals the best quality
3. Load size vs. delivered price
When arranging delivery of your hay the most costly part of the process is transportation
typically you will be given a delivered price so the cost of transportation will be included in
the price per bale or ton. However the cost of trucking from the hay farm to your farm is
the same whether you order 200 bales or 700 bales 13 ton or 26 ton the difference is that
if the cost of trucking is $1000.00 and you order 10 tons $100.00 per ton of your delivered
price will be trucking. If you order 20 tons only $50.00 dollars per ton will be trucking cost,
the bottom line is that although you will invest considerably more money on the 20 ton
load you will get more hay delivered for the same transportation cost. We are not
suggesting that you get involved in the delivery process of your order, but only pointing
out that if you only look at the gross cost of the load and do not take in to consideration
all the costs or facts that make up your delivered price you may not get as good a deal.
To conclude this I just want to say that no mater what your preference or need we at Aden Brook Farms are here to give you the best quality hay for your needs at the most cost effective delivered price. So whether you want a bale price or ton price, half load or full load we will do our best to satisfy you and hope that you come back again and again.
Thank you for your time, Nick Fitzpatrick, President
33 lb bale of grass mix hay
65lb bale of fingerlakes hay