Ag Decision Maker
2016 Iowa Farm
Custom Rate Survey
M
any Iowa farmers hire custom machine work
in their farm business, or perform custom
work for others. Some farmers rent machinery
or perform other services. The information below
is based on a survey of 182 Iowa farmers, custom
operators, and farm managers. Eighteen percent of the
respondents perform custom work, 14 percent hire
work done, 43 percent indicated doing both, 3 percent
indicated doing none, and 22 percent did not indicate
whether they perform or hire custom work.
For each operation, the average rate from the survey,
the median, the range, and the responses are shown.
The average is calculated as the simple average of all
responses. The median is the response that splits all
the ordered responses (from smallest to largest) in
half. The reported range consists of the second-lowest
value and the second-highest value in the sample.
The values in the table below are rates expected to
be charged or paid, including fuel and labor. The
average price for diesel fuel was assumed to be $2.00
per gallon. This rate schedule is intended only as a
guide. Actual custom rates may vary according to
availability of machinery in a given area, timeliness,
operator skill, field size and shape, crop conditions,
and the performance characteristics of the machine
Tillage
Chopping cornstalks, / acre
Moldboard plowing, / acre
Chisel plowing, / acre
Disk/chiseling, / acre
Vertical tillage, / acre
Subsoiling (8 to 15 in. deep), / acre
V-ripping (over 15 in. deep), / acre
V-ripping with tandem disk, / acre
Disking, tandem, / acre
Disking, heavy or offset, / acre
Harrowing or dragging, / acre
Soil finishing, / acre
Field cultivating, / acre
Rock picking, / acre
Cultivating, conventional, / acre
Cultivating, ridge-till, / acre
Rotary hoeing, / acre
Land rolling, / acre
File A3-10
being used. Rental rates for some machinery items are
shown in the last section of this report, along with a
worksheet for estimating rental rates on other items.
Note: All rates include fuel, repairs, depreciation,
interest, labor, and all other machinery costs for the
tractor and implement.
Total Number of Responses = 182
Do custom
work, 18%
Not identified,
22%
None, 3%
Hire custom
work done, 14%
Both, 43%
Average
Charge
Median
Charge
$11.85
18.80
16.45
17.80
16.05
20.35
20.15
23.15
14.25
18.45
8.95
14.00
14.05
14.90
13.50
16.45
10.65
7.45
$11.90
19.00
16.00
16.75
16.70
20.00
20.00
23.25
14.80
18.00
9.00
14.00
14.10
15.00
14.50
16.40
11.00
7.00
Range
$7.00
12.00
12.00
10.00
8.00
15.00
12.00
14.00
8.00
13.00
5.00
10.00
8.00
10.00
8.00
11.50
5.00
5.00
- $19.00
- 25.00
- 22.75
- 25.00
- 21.00
- 27.50
- 30.00
- 35.00
- 20.35
- 25.50
- 13.00
- 18.00
- 21.00
- 20.00
- 20.00
- 22.75
- 15.00
- 12.00
Number of
Responses
53
27
44
54
58
44
36
62
76
31
23
59
87
20
31
14
37
54
FM 1698 Revised March 2016
Page 2
Planting, Drilling, and Seeding
Planting
- with fertilizer & insecticide attachments, / acre
- without attachments, / acre
- with splitters & attachments, / acre
- no-till planter, / acre
- no-till planter with splitters, / acre
- ridge till planter, / acre
Extra charge for seed shut-offs, / acre
Extra charge for variable rate seeding, / acre
Seed tender, / acre
Drilling soybeans, / acre
Drilling soybeans, no-till, / acre
Drilling grass seed, / acre
Drilling small grain, / acre
Seeding grass, broadcast with tractor, / acre
Seeding grass, broadcast with ATV, / acre
2016 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey
Average
Charge
Median
Charge
$19.90
18.55
20.70
20.15
20.85
22.40
2.30
2.70
3.15
16.40
18.40
16.40
16.10
12.25
14.70
$20.00
18.00
21.00
20.00
21.00
22.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
15.50
18.25
16.00
16.00
12.00
14.90
$12.00
12.00
12.00
12.00
15.00
17.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
12.00
13.00
10.00
10.00
8.00
8.00
- $30.00
- 28.00
- 32.00
- 33.50
- 30.00
- 29.00
5.00
5.00
6.00
- 23.00
- 28.00
- 25.00
- 22.00
- 15.00
- 20.00
75
78
46
78
49
14
64
51
46
35
54
43
31
20
18
$6.80
11.80
7.35
10.95
63.70
10.60
$6.50
11.15
7.00
11.00
65.00
10.00
$5.00
6.50
5.00
8.00
20.00
7.00
- $10.10
- 20.00
- 15.00
- 13.65
- 90.00
- 15.00
60
21
111
12
38
40
$4.90
17.15
6.65
15.10
11.15
12.25
11.10
6.35
$5.00
17.00
6.50
15.00
12.00
12.00
11.00
6.50
$2.00
7.00
4.00
12.00
6.00
7.00
7.00
3.00
-
57
21
35
13
33
82
48
31
Range
Number of
Responses
Spraying (materials not included)
Ground, broadcast, tractor, / acre
Ground, incorporated, tractor, / acre
Ground, broadcast, self propelled, / acre
Ground, banded, tractor, / acre
Ground, road ditches, / hour
Aerial, / acre
Fertilizer Application (materials not included)
Dry bulk
- applied, / acre
- strip-till, / acre
Liquid
- spraying, / acre
- strip-till, knifed, / acre
- side dressing, / acre
Anhydrous - injecting, with tool bar, / acre
- injecting, without tool bar, / acre
Spreading lime, / ton
Harvesting, Drying, and Hauling Grain
Average
Charge
Median
Charge
Corn combining, / acre
$34.75
$35.00
- with chopper head, / acre
40.10
39.50
Soybean combining, / acre
34.05
34.00
- with air reel, / acre
35.55
34.50
- with draper head, / acre
38.10
38.35
Small grain combining, / acre
31.55
30.00
Complete harvesting (combine, grain cart, haul to farm storage)
- Corn, / acre
49.70
50.00
- Soybeans, / acre
46.40
47.00
Added charge for GPS mapping, / acre
2.45
2.50
Picking ear corn (seed corn), / acre
36.85
37.00
Picking ear corn (farm use), / acre
29.95
29.50
Drying corn (includes fuel, electricity, labor)
- continuous flow dryer, / point per bushel
0.047
0.050
- bin dryer, / point per bushel
0.054
0.054
Handling grain by auger, / bushel
0.061
0.060
$8.00
25.00
11.00
21.00
15.00
20.00
18.00
11.30
Range
$23.00
26.00
25.00
28.00
29.00
25.00
Number of
Responses
- $55.00
- 57.00
- 52.00
- 50.00
- 50.00
- 40.00
121
64
108
28
63
18
-
85.00
70.00
5.00
39.00
35.00
62
60
49
7
12
0.018 0.040 0.010 -
0.070
0.070
0.100
23
10
56
30.00
30.00
0.00
34.00
25.00
Page 3
2016 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey
Average
Harvesting, Drying, and Hauling Grain (cont.) Charge
Hauling grain
- grain cart, corn, / acre
- grain cart, soybeans, / acre
- to farm storage, wagon, / bushel
- farm storage to market, wagon, / bushel
- to market, truck, (5 miles, 1-way trip), / bu.
- to market, truck, (25 miles, 1-way trip), / bu.
- to market, truck, (100 miles, 1-way trip), / bu.
Median
Charge
Range
Number of
Responses
$6.45
5.70
0.071
0.087
0.099
0.163
0.325
$6.25
6.00
0.070
0.080
0.100
0.150
0.327
$2.00
2.00
0.020
0.050
0.050
0.100
0.120
- $11.00
- 10.00
- 0.140
- 0.150
- 0.180
- 0.300
- 0.510
69
68
40
33
71
63
30
Hay - mowing, / acre
$12.30
- conditioning, / acre
11.70
- mowing/conditioning, / acre
14.00
- raking, / acre
6.55
- windrowing, / acre
14.20
- tedding, / acre
7.20
Swathing hay or small grain, / acre
13.20
Hay baling -small square bales, / bale
0.66
-large square bales, / bale
9.75
-large round bales without wrap, / bale
10.70
-large round bales with wrap, / bale
12.35
Straw or corn stalk baling
- large round or square bales w/o wrap, / bale
12.05
- large round or square bales with wrap, / bale
13.70
Picking up with accumulator, / large square bale
3.30
Moving large round bales to storage, / bale
2.85
Moving large square bales to storage, / bale
3.05
Hauling rd bales by truck or trailer, / bale, / loaded mile 0.09
Silage - chopping, / hour, / head row
44.60
-chopping, / ton
7.10
-chopping, haul, fill silo, / hour, / head row
67.15
-chopping, haul, fill silo, / ton
8.45
Filling silage bags, / foot of bag
11.00
Haylage - chopping, / ton
9.10
Earlage or snaplage - chopping, / acre
54.50
$12.00
11.00
14.00
6.65
14.05
7.00
13.50
0.70
10.00
10.50
12.50
$6.00
10.00
8.00
3.00
11.00
5.00
12.00
0.35
8.00
8.00
9.00
- $18.00
- 14.00
- 21.00
- 10.00
- 17.00
- 10.00
- 13.75
1.00
- 12.00
- 14.00
- 16.00
32
15
36
38
14
19
7
28
17
21
51
12.00
13.50
3.00
2.90
3.00
0.03
28.75
7.00
30.00
8.50
11.00
9.00
55.00
10.00
11.00
3.00
1.75
2.50
0.01
13.33
5.00
16.67
7.50
9.00
7.50
42.00
- 14.00
- 16.00
4.00
4.00
3.15
0.19
- 100.00
- 10.00
- 133.33
9.25
- 13.00
- 11.25
- 65.00
17
38
7
14
9
10
8
10
5
9
7
9
11
Harvesting Forages
Custom Farming (tillage, planting, pest
control, harvesting, and hauling to farm,
no drying)
Corn, / acre
Soybeans, / acre
Small grain, / acre
Farm Labor Wages for Operating Machinery
Spraying or harvesting, / hour
Other operations, / hour
Average
Charge
Median
Charge
$129.95
116.15
93.55
$130.00
115.00
92.50
Average
Charge
Median
Charge
$16.60
15.05
$16.00
15.00
Range
$70.00 - $190.50
60.00 - 170.00
80.00 - 110.00
Range
$11.00 - $25.00
10.00 20.00
Number of
Responses
59
57
12
Number of
Responses
81
85
Page 4
Miscellaneous Services
(labor, fuel, and equipment included)
Removing snow (loader), / hour
Removing snow (blade), / hour / foot of blade
Removing snow (blower), / hour / foot of blower
Grinding, mixing feed, / ton
Tub grinding hay, / hour
Spreading liquid manure, injected, / 1000 gal.
Applying liquid manure w/ drag line, / 1000 gal.
Loading solid manure, / hour
Loading, spreading solid manure, / hour
Power washing, / hour
Building fence, barbed (no materials), / hour
Building fence, barbed (no materials), / rod
Building fence, woven (no materials), / hour
Building fence, woven (no materials), / rod
Scouting crops, / acre
Scouting crops with drone, / acre
Soil testing, / sample
GPS grid soil testing, / acre
Managing stored grain, / bushel
Vacuuming grain, / bushel
Shearing sheep, / head
Livestock hauling with trailer, / loaded mile
Livestock hauling w/ straight truck, / loaded mile
Livestock hauling with semi truck, / loaded mile
Bulldozing, / hour, / foot of blade
Digging post holes, / hole
Driving steel fence posts, / post
Driving wooden fence posts, / post
Building terraces, grassed back, / foot
Building terraces, narrow base, / foot
Trenching, / foot
Tiling, tiling machine (excluding materials), / foot
Tiling, tile plow (excluding materials), / foot
Back hoeing, / hour
Clearing land, / hour
Building ponds, / hour
Chain sawing, / hour
Welding machinery, / hour
Mowing CRP or pasture, / acre
Mowing fence rows, ditches, / hour
Mowing lawns, / hour
Chopping brush, / acre
Using truck scale, / load weighed
Bin Rental
Bin dryer, / bushel dried, (no fuel or labor)
Storing grain, bin rental, / bushel / month
Storing grain, bin rental, / bushel / year
2016 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey
Average
Charge
Median
Charge
$78.10
5.35
10.30
10.60
208.85
13.30
12.65
77.60
120.25
43.25
15.60
15.00
17.45
15.35
4.25
2.60
5.60
7.20
0.06
0.09
3.70
2.90
3.35
3.75
12.45
3.70
2.60
3.85
3.15
2.55
1.40
1.10
0.72
94.45
133.70
147.05
57.85
52.15
17.45
68.75
38.55
33.95
5.60
$75.00
5.85
12.50
10.50
200.00
13.50
11.65
75.00
120.00
42.00
15.00
14.50
16.50
14.75
4.00
2.25
6.00
7.00
0.05
0.08
3.50
2.95
3.45
3.80
12.15
3.55
2.50
4.00
3.15
2.50
1.45
1.15
0.75
95.40
138.65
145.00
60.00
50.00
16.00
70.00
40.00
31.00
4.75
Average
Charge
Median
Charge
$0.074
0.024
0.159
$0.069
0.020
0.150
Range
$35.00
0.88
1.38
9.75
180.00
10.00
9.50
60.00
100.00
35.00
14.80
11.00
15.00
11.00
2.00
1.00
2.50
4.00
0.01
0.02
3.00
2.00
2.75
3.50
7.08
3.00
2.00
3.00
2.75
2.00
0.75
0.50
0.30
50.00
95.00
133.10
25.00
30.00
12.00
25.00
18.00
25.00
2.00
- $110.00
9.38
17.00
11.50
- 250.00
17.00
17.00
- 110.00
- 150.00
50.00
18.00
18.00
20.00
20.00
7.45
4.00
7.00
10.00
0.10
0.15
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
18.00
5.00
4.00
5.00
3.50
3.00
2.00
2.00
1.05
- 150.00
- 175.00
- 175.00
75.00
75.00
25.00
- 100.00
60.00
50.00
10.00
Range
$0.040 0.015 0.090 -
$0.150
0.040
0.300
Number of
Responses
43
14
21
8
11
22
14
13
13
19
7
10
7
8
26
6
12
22
19
33
9
13
8
12
20
10
11
11
12
9
16
22
24
32
16
14
19
26
42
42
31
16
14
Number of
Responses
12
20
36
Page 5
2016 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey
Machine Rental
(operator, tractor, and fuel not included)
Tractor, / horsepower, / hour
Grain drill, / acre
No-till soybean drill, / acre
Corn head for combine, / acre
Soybean head for combine, / acre
Grain cart with auger, corn, / acre
Grain cart with auger, soybeans, / acre
Grain wagon, / bushel
Grain truck (semi), / bushel, / round trip
Grain auger, / bushel
Grain vacuum, / bushel
Grain cleaner, / bushel
Liquid manure spreader, / hour
Solid manure spreader, / hour
Skid loader, / hour
Dry bulk fertilizer applicator, / acre
Liquid fertilizer applicator, / acre
Anhydrous fertilizer applicator, / acre
Power washer, / hour
Generator, / hour
Tub grinder, / hour
Average
Charge
Median
Charge
$0.22
10.50
12.30
9.85
9.40
6.70
6.00
0.08
0.12
0.06
0.08
0.08
38.65
45.35
57.70
3.70
4.95
4.80
41.65
44.35
199.20
$0.20
10.00
12.00
9.05
10.00
6.50
5.60
0.08
0.11
0.06
0.08
0.08
40.00
42.90
55.05
3.75
5.20
5.00
42.55
45.25
200.00
Range
$0.10
8.00
9.00
5.00
6.00
4.50
4.00
0.04
0.07
0.05
0.02
0.07
30.00
35.00
20.00
2.00
3.50
2.00
30.00
38.75
150.00
Number of
Responses
- $0.33
- 15.00
- 18.00
- 15.00
- 13.25
- 10.00
8.20
0.12
0.19
0.08
0.12
0.08
- 45.00
- 50.00
- 85.00
5.00
6.00
8.00
- 50.00
- 50.00
- 220.00
22
12
13
17
16
15
14
11
13
10
19
7
7
8
20
14
8
19
10
9
9
Example:
Tandem Disk
Estimating a Machinery Rental Rate for Items Not Surveyed
The following worksheet can be used to estimate a rental value for equipment items not shown above.
1.Custom charge (includes labor, fuel, tractor)
2.Percent of custom charge that is for interest, insurance, depreciation,
and repairs (excluding fuel and labor) (use 60% for tillage, 65% for planting and harvesting)
3.Rental value, including tractor (1 x 2)
4.Tractor rental value, if tractor is not provided: _________HP x
$_________ per hp-hour rental rate (see above) / _________acres/hour1/ =
Ex: 150 HP x $.22 (per hp-hour rental rate) / 15 acres/hour = $2.18
5.Implement rental value, without tractor (3 minus 4)
1/
$___________/acre
$14.25
x
60%
= $___________/acre
=
$8.55
– $___________/acre
–
$2.18
= $___________/acre
= $6.37/acre
x
___________%
Typical values for acres covered per hour can be found in AgDM File A3-24, Estimating the Field Capacity of Farm Machines
. . . and justice for all
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs
and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability,
political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases
apply to all programs.) Many materials can be made available in alternative formats for
ADA clients. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Office of Civil Rights,
Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC
20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964.
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and July 30, 1914, in
cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cathann A. Kress, director, Cooperative Extension Service, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.
Prepared by
Alejandro Plastina, extension economist
plastina@iastate.edu
Ann Johanns, extension program specialist
Joni Erwin, student assistant
Additional machinery management
publications are available at:
www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm
store.extension.iastate.edu/