My boy heard this at the sale today

suitcase_sally · #21 01/13/13, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckhuntr

Sounds rather unethical to me - if not dishonest, unless full disclosure is made when the squares are sold.

We're a nation of thieves.

ErinP · #22 01/13/13, 03:43 PM

How is it unethical?
The guy is buying a wholesale item, repackaging it for ease of use (I PREFER little squares, personally, because they're easier for me to handle) and reselling.
There are millions of businesses out there doing the exact same thing...

coolrunnin · #23 01/13/13, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErinP

How is it unethical?
The guy is buying a wholesale item, repackaging it for ease of use (I PREFER little squares, personally, because they're easier for me to handle) and reselling.
There are millions of businesses out there doing the exact same thing...

I'm inclined to think he is ticked off he didn't think of it first.

L.A. · #24 01/13/13, 05:36 PM

Rebaled bales suck and are easy to spot. pick one up and it crumbles. They don't flake, they fall apart. You lose more than you get fed.

FarmboyBill · #25 01/13/13, 06:19 PM

Sounds like they wernt baled tightly enough.

ErinP · #26 01/13/13, 08:11 PM

I agree. I've bought re-baled hay and it doesn't flake the same as it if it were baled in the field, but it doesn't fall apart, either...

DaleK · #27 01/13/13, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Sounds like they wernt baled tightly enough.

Depends on the round baler used too. Some chop the hay up more than others when they're making bales, would make it tougher to rebale.

Pony · #28 01/13/13, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckhuntr

Sounds rather unethical to me - if not dishonest, unless full disclosure is made when the squares are sold.

Why? Do I have to tell the person from whom I buy my hay what I'm using it for? If they wanted to sell square bales, they can make square bales and sell them.

Nothing unethical about it at all.

zant · #29 01/13/13, 09:49 PM

Here 4x5 bermuda goes for $35,I don't know if thats good deal or not?

poppy · #30 01/13/13, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suitcase_sally

We're a nation of thieves.

No, we're a nation of people thinking everyone else owes them something. Hay is a commodity just like guns, ammo, gold, silver, food, and everything else. No one forces you to buy it. Should I expect someone who bought gold years ago for $350 an ounce to sell it to me today at that price? If you need hay, shop around and buy what you want. If you can't afford it, it is time to sell your livestock because you can't afford them either.

copperkid3 · #31 01/13/13, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zant

Here 4x5 bermuda goes for $35,I don't know if thats good deal or not?

* * *'* * * *
head north to where the drought hit hard this last year.

You could make out like a "bandit" and <gasp> make a nice profit.

Found out that a nearby farmer has come up with a plan to feed his cattle for "free".

He has contacts in Kentucky who have a surplus of good quality hay, and he drives his flatbed

down, loads up and brings it back, unloads half for his own use and takes the rest to auction.

Makes enough to cover his fuel costs and pays for his half of the hay that feeds his cattle.

Pretty good entrepreneur if I do say so myself. And I do.

Otherwise it looks like the age of entitlement is alive and well here on HT.

Sumer · #32 01/13/13, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheasantplucker

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Newman and Kramer try to take soda bottles with 10 cent deposits across state lines...

I know someone that actually tried that! They ended up with roaches. LOL

CaliannG · #33 01/14/13, 02:20 AM

I'm just wondering why they would buy $50 rounds to haul down here, re-bale, and haul elsewhere, when good, horse-quality rounds are going from $50-$65 a round bale HERE?

We had a decent year for hay. Don't know why they would waste a trip like that when they can get good hay here, re-bale it, and haul it to Oklahoma, and thus save themselves a bunch of labor and fuel?

I am looking at an ad now on CL for 6x6, fertilized, protein tested at 10%, Bermuda/Rye mix, delivered, for $60 a bale. Coastal is going for $55 a round. I got Alicia/Crabgrass mix (tested at 9.5%, and I prefer crabgrass for the goats for the higher TDN) for $45 a large round.

I certainly wouldn't be wasting money to haul the stuff from out of state to turn it into squares. Plenty of it right here handy.

CaliannG · #34 01/14/13, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by copperkid3

Otherwise it looks like the age of entitlement is alive and well here on HT.

I don't know if it is entitlement. Some folks, myself included, get a bad taste in their mouth at the idea of people profiting hugely on the misfortune of others.

During the drought down here, I managed to get a "deal" on hay from one guy. Great hay. Especially for that time. I asked him why he was selling it for so little, compared to others?

His answer to me, "Young lady, I am a Christian. Don't worry about my profits, as I put those in the price. My cost of growing it, baling it, and stacking it are in the price, plus a percentage for my profit, so that I can make a living. What I am NOT doing is charging far more than my cost of production, plus my profit, just because folks are desperate and would pay anything I asked for it. I don't think Jesus would like it if I did that, and I am real interested in keeping on the Savior's good side."

That man gets ALL my business now, even though at current market rate, he charges a bit more than some other folks. I recommend him to other people, too.

And honestly, I don't think that anyone who charges "all the market will bear" instead of charging "costs of production, plus realistic profit margin" can call themselves a Christian, although every single person that I spoke with who WAS taking advantage of people's desperation swore up and down they were good Christians.

Conhntr · #35 01/14/13, 05:10 AM

Caliann people are panicked and gold is selling at 2x what it was not too long ago. Should i sell mine at 800$ an ounce instead of 1700$ since i am a christain and i will still make enough of a profit?

sammyd · #36 01/14/13, 05:48 AM

Quote:

profiting hugely on the misfortune of others.

LOL
Maybe on the laziness or ignorance of others...
Nothing stopping anyone from doing the same as he was doing, or selling the animals until you could afford feed or buying when it was cheaper to fill in for rough times...

ErinP · #37 01/14/13, 08:07 AM

Much as I'm squawking about $180 ton grass hay, that's just the nature of a commodity. And hay is a commodity. I sure don't complain about it when it's running $50 a ton...
The "Christian" who is charging just enough to make a profit is going to regret it when he's in a surplus year and can't hardly give it away. That's production ag., people--there are up years and down years.
And the hope is always that you'll make enough in the up years to ride you through the down years.

DryHeat · #38 01/14/13, 08:29 AM

Interesting thread, even for someone like myself who's never hauled or shipped any farm products at all. I *have* done a lot of contracting and paying for tonnage shipping in the US after importing from overseas, then sorting and reselling the merchandise, though, so a few comments come to mind. Very first, the OP's son might not have heard or picked up on the full context of the chat he reported; the buyer and hauler might have started off ruefully commenting something like "You'd never believe this expense I'm going to, to get a contract near here for small bales filled and not get penalized bigtime." Or maybe, "Since I'm having to run my truck back and forth from here to Texas only 1/3 full of something else, I can make up a little gas money with this hay.." Or, "You wouldn't believe how much some retailers near here will pay me for small bales that suburban homeowners use for decorating or their pet rabbits or one horse or whatever. I can even haul it down to Texas where a buddy rebales it for me cheap during his equipment off-hours."

I do know that at times in the past, say 1980-1995, there were extreme swings in the sorts of deals you could get on freight rates for tonnage moving thousands of miles in the US. Sometimes the best deals per pound or ton were with big established shippers like Overnite; at times they had to move otherwise empty trailers from one distribution center to another anyway and would give screaming low rates for ten or twenty tons of cargo if they could just pull the container up to your loading dock to leave a couple days for you to unload. Other times, a good broker could find an independent driver who was coming back with nothing hooked to his truck otherwise so would pick up a trailer loaded to the gills and haul it to you for just a few hundred dollars. Doesn't sound like anything like that happens with hay hauling but the basic economics might be similar.

CaliannG · #39 01/14/13, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conhntr

Caliann people are panicked and gold is selling at 2x what it was not too long ago. Should i sell mine at 800$ an ounce instead of 1700$ since i am a christain and i will still make enough of a profit?

Is anyone or anything going to suffer or starve if they do not have gold to eat? Since you claim to be a Christian, then you should already know the answer to that, and your analogy is inapplicable.

CaliannG · #40 01/14/13, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErinP

Much as I'm squawking about $180 ton grass hay, that's just the nature of a commodity. And hay is a commodity. I sure don't complain about it when it's running $50 a ton...
The "Christian" who is charging just enough to make a profit is going to regret it when he's in a surplus year and can't hardly give it away. That's production ag., people--there are up years and down years.
And the hope is always that you'll make enough in the up years to ride you through the down years.

~shrugs~ Never seen him hurting or wanting for anything. I guess God really does provide for him and his, doesn't He?

Of course, the guy isn't stupid, so I am sure that up years and down years are figured into his cost of production.