Hay Bale Stacker

[Renze]

We havent had colic for years, even on a diet of silage (just a little taller, rougher than cow feed) and in the past we have fed the horses corn silage for about 15 years.

since bale wrapping entered the scene, we only use wrapped big square bales. Straw bales are bought per truckload, stored under a truckbed tarp.

The biggest cause of colic was, grazing just a day after spreading artificial fertiliser. The N runs right into the tops of the grass, before the plant starts to grow. This way they can get poisoned by the N.

 

[Mike120]

Renze, there is a world of difference between European round bales or big squares (and horse feeding practices) and the junk hay I am referring to when I talk about round bales here in Texas. Most are either native grasses or coastal bermudia. You rarely see any wrapped and for the most part they stay in the fields until someone buys them. When I bale rounds, it's because it's a bahia/bermuda field or because I let my Tifton go too long due to the weather.

Personally I wouldn't feed my own round bales to my horses but they are fine for cattle. However, many people do feed them to horses and the horses survive. However, I'm a breeder and I'm pretty picky because I've got expensive horses....They all come from Europe.

 

[charlz]

There must be piles of small bale accumulators and grabbers rusting away somewhere... seems like they were all the rage until bale wagon/stackers came on the scene in force and then really disappeared when the big square and round bales became vogue.

 

[Renze]

Renze, there is a world of difference between European round bales or big squares (and horse feeding practices) and the junk hay I am referring to when I talk about round bales here in Texas.

However, I'm a breeder and I'm pretty picky because I've got expensive horses....They all come from Europe.

I've seen the differences in silage, not just the USA but also at a friend in finland. They bale 6 hours after mowing, right from the mower swath. They spray so much sour in the feed that the nebula makes you cry at 6 yards distance from the baler.
Round baler drums last only a couple of years before they are eaten away.

They do have a different kind of grass as well, as English rye grass isnt wintertough enough to survive.

We grow mixtures with rye as main species. we let it dry for at least 2 days, and we like it to be so dry that it looks like hay, but isnt dry enough to make dust like traditional dry hay does.
some late fall bales not taken into account, our haylage smells lovely fresh, and you can feed it to the horses before going to church, without having to change your clothes.

hay-haylage- silage, there is a lot of varieties inbetween...

 

[Grrrr]

I notice how different the UK's hay making practices are as well.

The weather is normally bad in the UK so hay takes a long time to dry out. (Why haylage is so popular)

The normal practice of hay in the UK is to cut it and then hit it with a hay turner as much as possible to dry it out before the weather gets bad again.

I see discussion about hay turners damaging crops but this doesn't seem to be a problem for us and most of out hay this year must have been turned 10 times before being rowed up and baled.
We had two turners running pretty much all the time to achieve this. The weather was some of the worst hay making weather we have ever had. We just about managed to get our 250 acres in.

We bale mostly in round bales now for speed sake but make some small bales as they turn in a nice profit with people who can't handle big rounds.

 

[Renze]

We turn about or 4 times to get decent haylage.
I have grass in the field, my brother turned it at 5 this evening, he said it looks like its been cut this morning. I cut it friday night.
We're working on last cut, while my friend in Finland is already changeing his plough for a snow plough.

 

[chowl]

I feed around 1800 to 2000 plus square bales a year the horses I stable.

Feeding round bales to horses is not much a problem. If you cut, turn and dry and handle the hay as if you where going to square bale the hay. Then after you roll the hay up in a roll. You store the hay in a dry barn as you would do for square bales. I feed a few horses round bales without any problems ( the hay is in a round bale feeder with a roof on it to keep the hay
dry).

I was one for years that would say (THAT I WOULD NEVER FEED ROUND BALES TO HORSES ) If the hay is handle right. It is not a problem.

 

[Mike120]

The guy down the road from me bales horse quality rounds and squares. It's excellent hay and he gets a premium price for it. He also has three large storage barns so it's never out in the weather. He is an exception however, as a majority of the rounds in this area sit out in the rain until someone buys them. I've got almost 100 big rounds left in one of my fields waiting for the guy that bought them to finish hauling them all out of there. He says he's feeding them to horses. They were a first cutting and he's been hauling them out of there all summer. I advertised them as "cow rounds" and sold them cheap.

Don't get me wrong, I know you can have quality hay in round bales. The only real difference is the baler that's used. The issues for me are storage and feeding. Because we feed some in stalls and others in the paddocks, tossing out a few flakes with the feed is easier than trying to unroll hay off of a round bale. If there is an easy way, I'd love to know how it's done. Leaving round bales out in the paddocks is not really an option.

Storage is the other problem. My shed behind the barn will hold 600 bales. The rest is stored offsite until we need it and we bring it in 100 bales at a time. I might be able to get an equivelent amount in round bales in there but the daily handling would be a real pain.

That's why I keep looking for a used stacker/accumulator. My problem is getting the hay off the ground onto the trailer and putting the hay in the shed from the trailer. I could do it with a 8 or 10 bale stacker. If the roof were higher I could use a little NH stacker wagon, but I really don't want to try and raise that roof. I've seen some used stackers that were pretty cheap but they either didn't have the accumulator or they needed to be pulled behind the baler.

 

[chowl]

Mike,

Do you have your own hay fields? If you do is this why you would need accumulator/stacker? I just need a stacker to unload the trailers.

 

[Mike120]

Yes. Human bale accumulators & stackers have worked well in the past but nowdays most run when you mention bales. If they will hop in the truck, you have to promise them a pretty good price. I've seen used stackers on tractorhouse and they are the cheaper piece of an accumulator/stacker combo.

Here's one: HOELSCHER Hay and Forage Equipment For Sale at TractorHouse.com

I think you can probably buy a used one cheaper than you can build one....unless you have a good source for metal.