How much dose a 2x2.5x3 ft wheat straw bale cost in illinois?

Question

How much dose a 2x2.5x3 ft wheat straw bale cost in illinois?

Answer 1

Here in Michigan we can get a small bale for three dollars in fall, six dollars in early summer.  Depends on the time of year, as it's cheaper right after harvest times (even mid summer harvest, when they do two yields for the year), and more expensive when they've had to store it (dry straw bales have to be stored indoors, and you pay for that).

Answer 2

as much as you pay

Answer 3

Not sure your measurements are right, unless your bales are a lot bigger than I could throw...  In the UK a "conventional" bale is about 1' by 20" by 3 ' (30 cm by 50 cm by 1 m).

We also get "big round" bales -- 4' long by 4' across (1.5 m), and "big square" bales -- about the same size but rectangular, and occasionally "small round" bales, about 2' or 60 cm each way.

Wheat straw conventional bales cost me about £1.60 each-- bought 50 at a time in winter.  That's about US$3 -- at last, something cheaper in the UK than the US!!  Not sure how many to the ton they are, so don't know price per ton.  Hay is a good bit more, but I don't know how much as we make our own.

Answer 4

Depends a lot of quality. It depends a lot on quantity, too.

If you're buying a single bale, paying $5 or even $10 is not outrageous for fresh bright straw. If you're buying by the ton, you can sometimes get pretty good straw for $30/ton.  

A guy can make round bales by himself. The bales get left in the field, and he moves them or covers them (or neither) at his convenience. Making square bales, though, takes a lot of manpower. Typically, you have one or two guys stacking the bales on the wagon behind the baler, one guy jockeying wagons from the field to the mow and unloading bales onto the elevator, and two or three guys in the mow, stacking the bales. Nobody's going to bother baling if they can't get at least $40/ton, so anything less than the best stays in the field, where it helps improve the soil.

Straw can deteriorate, though, once it's been baled.