Cost comparison of alfalfa cubing and baling operations in Arizona

Published in 1970

John Deere Model 400 hay cubing machines were introduced commercially in Arizona in 1965. Several of the cubers were soon in use on alfalfa hay harvesting operations within the state and in surrounding states. The intent of this thesis is to determine the extent of utilization of the hay cubers in Arizona and to examine the costs and returns associated with alfalfa hay cubing as opposed to hay baling. A secondary intent is to compare costs associated with baling and cubing in Arizona to similar costs in California and New Mexico. To accomplish such ends, owners and operators of alfalfa hay cubing and baling enterprises in Arizona were interviewed in the fall of 1968. Data gained during the interviews was used to construct budgets representing individual harvesting enterprises and also synthetic budgets representing optimum operations. It was discovered that approximately 12% of the alfalfa hay in Arizona was harvested by 30 cubing machines considered in the study in 1968. This figure does not consider the hay harvested by seven additional machines in operation in the state at the time. Results indicated that there were no savings in cost per ton associated with the cubing of alfalfa hay as opposed to the more traditional method of harvesting. Cubing costs per ton were slightly higher than baling costs per ton. The cubing firms realized higher net profits per ton, however, because of higher prices per ton for hay cubes and cubing services. The higher prices for cubes more than offset the cost disadvantage of the cubing firms. Both baling and cubing costs were highest in California and lowest in New Mexico. Costs for both operations in Arizona fell between similar costs in the other two states.

AZU_TD_BOX270_E9791_1970_137.pdf (2.15 MB)

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