Friday, September 16, 2011

"BALER" NOW ON EBAY

















"Baler" 8" x 10" oil on linen

click here to bid

This plein air study was done for my "35 on 35" show last year. The whole process of baling hay fascinates me for some reason. The gentleman driving this baler actually drove over to me to see what I was doing. Turns out he and his brother have been baling hay year round all over north Texas for 27 years and are now teaching their sons. In a single year they
will harvest 30,000 bales and he says they sell every one of them.

Apparently there was a drought in south Texas six years ago that ranchers are still trying to recover from so Roy and his brother have job security. At the time I did this painting a single bale of hay was $25. Multiply that by 30,000 bales a year and I'd say the brothers have a nice little business. This year hay has been so scarce that a bale of hay cost $100. Now they have a real good business because supply has been low and demand has been high...the perfect business model.

One last fact about baling hay. They would prefer to bale the day after a heavy rain. You can get more bales out of a wet field than a dry one. Interesting.

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