Somebody wants to buy your wrapped bales, or you are trying to buy theirs, and you are both guessing. There is no quoted market for baleage the way there is for dry hay — no weekly report you can point at, no auction average that settles it. So the price ends up being whatever the two of you can defend in a field, standing next to a row of white tubes.
This guide is about that conversation. Not the chemistry of fermentation, and not a long lesson in dry-matter arithmetic — we cover the dry-matter comparison in detail in dry hay vs. baleage. This is about how wrapped bales actually get valued in a real trade: what they have sold for, why the same bale is worth three times more in one state than another, how to settle a landlord's share when the bales are wet, and how to show your working without the other party deciding you are cheating them.
Quick answer: Baleage has no published market quote, so value it on a dry-matter basis against local dry hay: take the dry hay price per ton, divide by the dry hay's dry-matter percentage, then multiply by your baleage's dry matter. At $240/ton dry hay, a 40% dry-matter wrapped bale works out near $113/ton as-is, and a 60% dry-matter bale near $169/ton. Reported bale prices vary enormously by region — producers cited $30–$50 a bale in New York in 2019 against $100–$165 a bale in Missouri that same spring during a severe shortage. Weigh a sample of bales and pull a forage test before agreeing a price; both sides need the same numbers.
In this guide
- Why there is no market price for baleage
- The one calculation both sides can check
- What wrapped bales actually sold for
- Does wrapping add value, or just protect it?
- Weigh the bales — do not guess
- Settling a landlord or crop-share split
- Showing your working without blowing up the deal
- Before you agree a price: a checklist
- Frequently asked questions
Why there is no market price for baleage
Dry hay has price discovery. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service publishes regular hay market reports quoting alfalfa and grass hay by quality grade and region, and most states have auctions that report averages. If you want to know what Premium grass hay traded for near you last week, you can find out.
Baleage sits outside all of it, for three structural reasons.
It does not travel. A wrapped bale is mostly water and it cannot be stacked tight or hauled far economically, so trade is local — often between two neighbours. Thin, local markets do not generate quotable averages.
It cannot be sampled the way dry hay can. Buyers judge dry hay by opening a bale and looking. Puncturing a wrapped bale to inspect it starts the clock on spoilage, so the buyer is largely trusting a forage test and the seller's word.
Nobody surveys it. Even the extension custom-rate surveys, which are unusually thorough about machinery work, mostly skip anything to do with plastic wrapping — the 2026 Nebraska and Kansas reports both publish round-baling rates with net wrap but carry no plastic wrapping line at all.
The practical consequence is that every baleage trade is a negotiation from first principles. Which makes it worth having the arithmetic ready.
The one calculation both sides can check
The only baleage valuation method that survives an argument is to price it against local dry hay on a dry-matter basis. You are buying feed, not water, so you compare the feed. A Kentucky-area producer with 15 years of baleage behind him laid it out in three steps:
"For value use the dry hay price such as $200/ton. Divide that by 85 since the standard dm for dry hay is 85%. Then take that number x your dm in your baleage."
— Mac46147, April 2023 · AgTalk thread 1107617
Worked through at $240/ton dry hay, that gives about $2.82 per dry-matter point. A bale at 40% dry matter (60% moisture) comes to roughly $113 a ton as-is; at 60% dry matter, roughly $169 a ton as-is. Same feed value, different water content, very different sticker.
Working in tons per bale is often easier at the field edge. A western New York producer's shorthand:
"$60-80 per ton at 65% moisture or $180-240 per ton of dry matter. I always estimate 666 lbs of dry matter per bale but it can vary."
— yongfarmer89, western New York, April 2023 · AgTalk thread 1107617
Notice he quotes both numbers. That is the habit worth copying: state the as-is price and the dry-matter price together, because the second one is the only figure that can be compared to anything else. For the full treatment of the conversion and where the percentages come from, see dry hay vs. baleage, and for pricing hay generally, how to price hay.
The formula needs two inputs you should not eyeball: actual dry matter, from a forage test, and actual bale weight. Both are covered below.
What wrapped bales actually sold for
The table below collects prices that named producers reported publicly, with dates and regions attached. They are individual transactions, not market averages, and several come from an unusually short hay year — but the spread between them is the single most useful thing in this guide.
| Date | Region | Reported price | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2019 | Central Missouri | $100 → $165/bale | 4×5 inline-wrapped alfalfa/brome, ~1,600 lb; started at $100 to existing customers, reached $165 as supply ran out |
| Mar 2019 | Central New York | $30–$50/bale | $50 only for dairy quality or organic; most trading $30–$35 |
| Mar 2019 | Western New York | $50/bale asking | 4×4.5 inline-wrapped dairy quality — unsold at that price |
| Mar 2019 | North-central Indiana | $35–$50/bale | $35 for 4×4 mostly grass, $50 for 4×5 solid alfalfa, plus delivery |
| Mar 2019 | SW Wisconsin | $160–$200/ton | Wrapped bales at a Lancaster, WI sale |
| Mar 2019 | Southern Wisconsin | $240/ton | Reported from a sale at Juda, WI |
| Apr 2023 | Western New York | $60–$80/ton as-is | At 65% moisture — equivalent to $180–$240/ton of dry matter |
| Apr 2023 | Western New York | $40–$50/bale | Described as the local average; 4×4 bales bought at $45 the previous winter |
A 4×5 wrapped bale fetching $165 in Missouri while a comparable dairy-quality bale would not move at $50 in western New York is not a market inefficiency you can arbitrage — the freight on water makes sure of that. It is a reminder that the only comparable price is a local one, and that quoting a number you read online is a good way to look uninformed.
The Missouri seller's own account is worth reading as a lesson in sequencing rather than a price expectation:
"Started out at $100.00 a bale to neighbors/existing customers. Ended up at $165.00 a bale to others when sold out."
— olivetroad, central Missouri, March 2019 · AgTalk thread 839849
He had forage tests to back it — one sample at 54% moisture and 18.7% protein, another at 47% and 16.9% — on 1,600 lb bales, in a spring when hay was genuinely scarce across much of Missouri. Tests, weights and a short market: that is what a top-of-range price is built on.
Does wrapping add value, or just protect it?
This is the argument at the centre of every baleage negotiation, and experienced producers land on opposite sides of it. It is worth knowing both, because whichever side you are on, you will be sitting across from somebody on the other.
The case that wrapping does not add value. The plastic buys the producer a harvest window; it does not improve the forage:
"Baleage is what it is. Been making it for 15 years. Wish I could say putting it in plastic is worth something but it's not to the buyer. It allows the producer to beat the weather and save quality. It doesn't make bad hay good, but good hay is worth a premium wrapped or dry. Unfortunately I haven't meant anyone yet willing to pay me for water."
— Mac46147, April 2023 · AgTalk thread 1107617
The case that it does. Two distinct arguments here. The first is digestibility — that fermented forage delivers more per pound of dry matter:
"The sugars, being fermented in balage, are more easily and efficiently digested. So per dry matter pound, everything else being equal, balage should have a higher value. How much, I don't know but it pays for the plastic."
— Plow79, British Columbia, April 2023 · AgTalk thread 1107617
The second is storage loss, and it is the more concrete of the two. A Wisconsin producer put it plainly: there is close to zero waste in properly wrapped baleage with no mould, compared with net-wrapped dry bales stored outside. Storage and feeding losses on dry hay are well documented — University of Missouri Extension's guide to reducing losses when feeding hay to beef cattle is a good starting point — and if a buyer expects to lose a meaningful share of an outdoor-stored dry bale to weathering, the delivered cost per pound actually fed is not the same as the purchase price. We work that through in net-wrapped bale storage outside.
Where this lands in practice. Sellers who price on dry matter alone are effectively conceding Mac46147's point. Sellers who want a premium above dry-matter parity need to argue it from feed-out loss or from a forage test that shows genuinely better feed — not from the cost of the plastic, which is the seller's problem and not the buyer's. Either position is defensible. Confusing the two is what starts arguments.
Weigh the bales — do not guess
Both parties usually assume they know what a bale weighs. They usually do not, and with baleage the error is larger because moisture varies within the same field on the same day. A Michigan producer who actually put bales on a scale found the spread startling:
"I have weighed about 50 5'x5' bales, same field, same day, same operator, averaged ~1225#, but varied as much as 75-80# from average (either way), that is 150-160# swing."
— r82230, Thumb of Michigan, January 2024 · AgTalk thread 1143318
A 150 lb swing on a 1,225 lb bale is roughly 12%. Price a load of 200 bales off an assumed weight and you can be a full ton per hundred bales out before you have argued about anything else. Three practical steps:
- Weigh a sample. Ten to twenty bales across the field, not the three heaviest. Local elevators, feed mills and livestock scales will usually oblige.
- Pull a forage test. You need real dry matter, not a moisture-meter guess on a wrapped bale. Our guide to reading a hay test covers what the numbers mean.
- Sell by the ton where you can. Per-bale pricing transfers all the weight risk to whoever guessed wrong. If per-bale is the local convention, at least agree the assumed weight in the deal.
If you want a starting estimate before you get to a scale, round bale weight by baler model gives typical figures — but treat them as a sanity check, not a settlement basis.
Settling a landlord or crop-share split
Here is where the arithmetic stops being academic. If you rent hay ground on shares and the landowner takes a percentage of the bales, wrapping the crop changes what that percentage is worth — and unless you address it, one of you is quietly being short-changed. A Kansas producer described the problem exactly:
"I rent a bermuda meadow and pay the landlord 1/3 of the hay as rent… wrapped at 30-35% moisture, 4'x5' bales averaging 1,020 lb. How can I convert that to a dry matter basis to pay landlord for his share? I just want to be fair to him and us."
— ksfarmboy, January 2024 · AgTalk thread 1143318
The reply that solved it converted both sides to dry matter and compared like with like — a normal dry bale at 15% moisture weighing 900 lb carries about 765 lb of dry matter, while his 1,020 lb bale at 35% moisture carries about 663 lb. The wet bale is heavier and contains roughly 13% less feed. Settle the share in bales without adjusting, and the landlord is short.
A workable settlement method:
- Establish dry matter for the wrapped bales from a forage test, and weigh a sample.
- Calculate dry matter per bale — bale weight × dry matter percentage.
- Calculate the dry-hay equivalent — what a normal dry bale off that field would have carried in dry matter.
- Convert the share — the landlord's third of the crop, expressed in dry matter, divided by dry matter per dry-hay-equivalent bale.
- Settle in cash or bales — either pay the equivalent value, or hand over enough wrapped bales to cover the same dry matter.
- Write down the assumptions — test date, sample size, assumed weights — so next year is a repeat, not a renegotiation.
Two pieces of advice from producers who have done this. First, from a north-east Missouri farmer: explain the arithmetic to the landlord carefully, and be generous where it is close, purely to avoid a misunderstanding. Second, from a Missouri producer who has stopped share-haying altogether — agree cash rent up front and there is no argument about what the hay is worth. Both are sound. For how the splits themselves are normally structured, see renting hay ground.
Showing your working without blowing up the deal
The dry-matter calculation is correct, and being correct is not enough. When a customer's bales get wrapped instead of dried, the per-bale price legitimately falls — and to somebody who has paid you the same rate for years, a lower number looks like a trick. An Ontario custom operator learned it the hard way:
"The math came out to about half as much per bale. He thought I was ripping him off. Showed him the math but it didn't matter. He sells to another farmer now but I was more upset that he thought I was cheating him. Sometimes you can't win."
— rank, south-east Ontario, November 2019 · AgTalk thread 887428
Four things reduce the odds of that outcome:
- Agree the method before the crop is made, not when the invoice arrives. Dry-matter settlement is easy to accept in April and insulting in July.
- Lead with the per-ton-of-dry-matter figure, and show the per-bale number as the consequence. Ordered the other way, it reads as a discount you invented.
- Bring the test. A lab report on the table changes the conversation from opinion to fact.
- Give them the other side too. Point out that wrapped feed usually stores with far less loss than a dry bale outside. It costs nothing to be even-handed and it makes the rest of your numbers credible.
And if you are doing custom wrapping and want part-payment in bales rather than cash, this valuation is your rate of exchange — work it out before you quote the job. Our companion guide covers custom bale wrapping rates.
Before you agree a price: a checklist
- Forage test — dry matter, protein and energy, dated, from an actual lab.
- Sample weights — 10–20 bales on a scale, average and range recorded.
- Local dry hay price — of comparable quality, sourced this month.
- Both numbers quoted — price per ton as-is and price per ton of dry matter.
- Bale dimensions — a 4×4 and a 4×5 are not interchangeable.
- Wrap specification — layers and film thickness, which speak to how long it will keep.
- Loading, hauling and who pays — wet bales are heavy and freight matters more than with dry hay.
- Timing — when the bales move, and who carries the risk of a puncture in the meantime.
On that last point: producers report that intact wrapped bales keep well for a long period — one western New York grower reckons on up to three years with no holes — but a punctured bale needs taping immediately or feeding within about a week. Agree in writing who is responsible once the bales are handled.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate what baleage is worth?
Price it against local dry hay on a dry-matter basis. Divide the dry hay price per ton by the dry hay's dry-matter percentage, then multiply by your baleage's dry matter. At $240 per ton dry hay, a 40% dry-matter wrapped bale values near $113 per ton as-is, and a 60% dry-matter bale near $169.
How much does a bale of baleage sell for?
It varies more by region than almost any other forage. Producers reported $30–$50 a bale in New York in spring 2019, while a central Missouri seller moved 4×5 wrapped alfalfa/brome from $100 up to $165 a bale in the same season during a severe local shortage. Only local prices are comparable.
Is baleage worth more than dry hay?
Per ton as-is it is worth less, because you are buying water. Per ton of dry matter, opinions divide: some producers argue fermented forage is more digestible and stores with almost no waste, while others insist plastic saves quality rather than creating it and buyers will not pay extra for it.
How do I pay a landlord his share when the hay is wrapped?
Convert both to dry matter. A 900 lb dry bale at 15% moisture holds roughly 765 lb of dry matter, while a 1,020 lb wrapped bale at 35% moisture holds about 663 lb. Settle the landlord's share on dry matter, and record the test date and assumed weights in writing.
How much dry matter is in a round baleage bale?
It depends on bale size and moisture, so weigh and test rather than assume. One western New York producer estimates around 666 lb of dry matter per bale as a working figure, while noting it varies considerably between fields, cuttings and bale dimensions.
How long will wrapped baleage keep before I have to sell it?
Producers report that bales with intact plastic and no holes keep well for up to about three years. Once a bale is punctured, tape the hole immediately or plan to feed it within roughly a week, because air entry restarts spoilage.
The bottom line
Baleage has no quoted price because it is a local, thin, hard-to-inspect market — so the number comes from arithmetic, not from a report. Price against local dry hay on a dry-matter basis, quote both the as-is and the dry-matter figure, and get a forage test and real bale weights before either side commits.
Expect the same bale to be worth wildly different money in different states, and expect a genuine disagreement about whether plastic adds value or merely preserves it. Neither position is wrong. What settles a deal is agreeing the method before the crop is made, and being able to show your working when asked.
Value starts in the field, with a dense, well-shaped bale that holds together through wrapping, storage and handling. XES manufactures heavy-duty bale net wrap in 48", 51", 64" and 67" built for exactly that.
Related guides
Featured photo: Row of white silage bales in Brastad by W.carter, released under CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
