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Thread: Selling bulk sap only

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    northern Mi
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    Default Selling bulk sap only

    At one point prior to the season, I was reading a thread about selling bulk sap to syrup makers, but now I can't find it. I'm wondering what the prices paid are for bulk sap and there was a table in that thread.

    The reason I ask is because I'm looking at buying a piece of property that has a nice maple stand and was considering whether or not any income could be made by just selling the sap collected. I definitely don't have the time to make syrup right now, so setting up to sell sap might be an optoin as I already have a buyer.

    Finally, does anybody currently do what I'm contemplating? Thoughts or opinions?

  2. #2
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    Feb 2008
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    DeKalb, NY
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    frostbite,
    I buy sap every year. Some from people like you who only tap and sell sap and some from producers who only have the capacity for smaller amounts of sap and are overwhelmed by a big run. Some of my producers use this as a method to start making syrup on their own. Invest in the bush and then use the money generated by that to build a sugar house and buy an evaporator. Some take their pay in syrup (at a wholesale price) and some in cash, and some in combination's. I pay according to a table that is published yearly in The Maple Digest Feb. issue. I find the price fair and believe my producers do too. I pick up some sap and some is delivered. The price paid is for delivered sap and I charge 1.25/loaded mile to pick it up myself. I write in the agreement (get it in writing) that off color and late season sap will be docked in price. (I can't sell B and C for what I can A). Hope this helps.
    Doug

  3. #3
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    Feb 2010
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    northern Mi
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    Doug - that does help. That table was put on this site, but I can't find it, nor can I even remember a ball-park number to work with when I think about this property.

    Thanks

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Franklin, NY
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    I believe it's about 33 cents per gallon for 2% sugar content.

    Brian
    36x20 Sugarhouse 2.5 x 8 CDL Intesofire Wood Fired Evaporator, CDL Auto Draw Off
    800 on Vac, Lapierre Double Releaser and 12x18 single
    Surge Sp11 and DeLaval 25 Both Powered By 3.5 HP Honda Engines
    Lapierre New Generation 600 RO
    970 JD 4x4 Tractor Loader Backhoe, Stihl Chainsaws
    One 11th Grade Sap Hauler, One German Shepherd Sappin' Dog
    Sugar House Kitchen 20 x 12

    http://s1233.photobucket.com/home/br...kler/allalbums

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Whately, Ma.
    Posts
    2,965

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    Every year in the maple syrup digest they print suggested prices for sap based on the sugar content. It is just a guide and can vary alot based on geographical area and the demand for it. Surely if you have sap to sell and only one producer is interested in buying it, you are at their mercy. But on the otherhand if there are 2-3 within a short drive then it becomes a little more competitive. If you don't get the digest maybe someone can post that page. Or just wait until 2011 prices.
    With a good setup and on vacuum good days should net you about 2 gal per tap and average days 1 gal per tap. You can do the math using .30-.40 per gallon
    Keith

  6. #6
    lpakiz Guest

    Default

    This year at my location, it was 12 and 14 cents per gallon per point.
    2% would be 24 or 28 cents per gallon. Neat thing to use the rule of 86 and find out that the cost of enough sap to produce a gallon of syrup is always the same $$, no matter what the suger percentage is.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oneida NY
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    11,547

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    I have already contacted a local producer for next year because I am adding vac for up to 550 taps and also bringing total total tap count to 900+. He will buy anything I have extra at the price listed in maple Digest next Jan. (or was it Feb.?). This season it would have been $.325/gal for 2%. A scale is published each year for 1% up to 5 or 5.5% by tenths as a price some producers pay for sap delivered to the sugarhouse, he will pay that price. The following year I should then have an RO and will then buy sap if I can.
    Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
    Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
    Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
    After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Norwood, NY
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    Quote Originally Posted by briansickler View Post
    I believe it's about 33 cents per gallon for 2% sugar content.

    Brian
    33 cents!! what year was that. In this years maple digest it was .78 for 4%
    Maple syrup makers never die, they just evaporate.

    Kubota M-5040,Kubota B-2650,Kubota XRT 900, Sugarhouse is now a guest cottage.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Franklin, NY
    Posts
    289

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred Henderson View Post
    33 cents!! what year was that. In this years maple digest it was .78 for 4%
    Last year.....Actually $.325 per gallon for 2% I didn't say anything about 4% price..
    36x20 Sugarhouse 2.5 x 8 CDL Intesofire Wood Fired Evaporator, CDL Auto Draw Off
    800 on Vac, Lapierre Double Releaser and 12x18 single
    Surge Sp11 and DeLaval 25 Both Powered By 3.5 HP Honda Engines
    Lapierre New Generation 600 RO
    970 JD 4x4 Tractor Loader Backhoe, Stihl Chainsaws
    One 11th Grade Sap Hauler, One German Shepherd Sappin' Dog
    Sugar House Kitchen 20 x 12

    http://s1233.photobucket.com/home/br...kler/allalbums

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    northern Mi
    Posts
    9

    Default

    Thanks guys - this has been very helpful.

    This question might have too many variables, but what kind of capital outlay am I looking at for 10 acres on vacuum?

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