How do get rid of your bales..?

[whincebros]

As per title, do you sell your bales? In swath, baled by yourself for customer to collect or leave them field side for future use? Also are round or squares more popular?

TIA

[chris.watson]

We sell in the swath based on a 5 foot round bale being made, at £3.75 a bale. Winter barley straw yielded 5.5 bales an acre.

[Jdeere6910]

We bale hay and straw into 120x70cm squares mainly as that's the size we use for our own stock. Lead it back and stack it in sheds then sell throughout the year (mainly go out on lorries) 

[powerrabbit]

In my area we used many methods, sell as standing grass by the acre with 2cwt general fertiliser applied at the local grass sale auctions in mid March, sell privately when it was fit to cut, bale it and sell off the field or store and sell out of the barn. The most popular time to sell was in April of the next year, this is the 'hungry time' when winter food is becoming scarce and getting used up and stock farmers are running short. Now there are special auctions of winter feed and straw bales on farm and in the past there would often be a trailer load of hay or straw parked up at the local stock markets that was auctioned after the stock. Friend of mine bales small conventional bales from some of his big round bales through the winter to supply his horse customers.

[smithy]

I do small square bales of straw and store to sell in the winter mainly for the horsey people and also sell the straw in the field to a local baling contractor which uses 2 sizes of big square bales as you get maximum weight on a lorry to cart long distance as round bales leave a lot off gaps but round bales are popular round here on the farms that have the livestock as you can just pick them up on a spike