oat hay Baling issues

[donais]

Since here is southern California all our hay is trucked in from el Centro they use a squeeze to drop them at the feed stores and get picked up there or delivered, and yes one at a time. If I buy a truck load they bring the squeeze to in load. I'm the only dryland oat hay guy that has to pick all of my hay by hand, working on changing that. I also measured some bales today 40 inches and 75_85 lbs. The heaviest one was 85. I shortened them up tomorrow i'll go test to see if I got 36 inches..

 

[flusher]

Since here is southern California all our hay is trucked in from el Centro they use a squeeze to drop them at the feed stores and get picked up there or delivered, and yes one at a time. If I buy a truck load they bring the squeeze to in load. I'm the only dryland oat hay guy that has to pick all of my hay by hand, working on changing that. I also measured some bales today 40 inches and 75_85 lbs. The heaviest one was 85. I shortened them up tomorrow i'll go test to see if I got 36 inches..

My neighbor buys her hay by the truckload (double bottom hay truck). The squeeze accompanies the hay truck, unloads the bales and stacks them in her barn. The road to her barn is too narrow for the truck so it's parked in the road about 200 yards from the barn. It takes 12 trips with the squeeze to unload completely.

 

[stuckmotor]

Would you believe, I had to look up hay squeeze because I'd never seen one? It's funny how farming practices vary across the U.S.
One thing that still has me puzzled is those European farmers who gather their hay green and hang it by hand, under sheds, to dry. It cost us money every time we handle the stuff.

 

[flusher]

Would you believe, I had to look up hay squeeze because I'd never seen one? It's funny how farming practices vary across the U.S.
One thing that still has me puzzled is those European farmers who gather their hay green and hang it by hand, under sheds, to dry. It cost us money every time we handle the stuff.

Here's a squeeze in action delivering a load of bales to my neighbor (she boards and trains horses).



Looks like it takes 16 runs with the squeeze to unload that big double bottom hauler.

 

[Tx Jim]

Does operator have to operate that squeeze while looking back or in mirrors?

 

[leonz]

Does operator have to operate that squeeze while looking back or in mirrors?

No mirrors, they drive forward with the load and simply back into the hay storage area
like a forklift with a load and set it down

They apparently used a truck tractor frame and body adding a forklift
hoist and frame to make their forklift to transport the pallets of bailed hay and
have it set up to operate in both directions with two operating stations

They just tow it from place to place(hence the horns and lights) and unhook it to work and then hook it back up to transport it.

They apparently decided to build it from equipment they had rather than buying a three wheeler as they needed the ability to operate in forward and reverse quickly and
also have the capacity due to the high wide bulky loads that hay pallets are.

This is definitely a good case for wrapped round mini bales for hay and haylage as the load would be much smaller and heavier and stay fresher longer for the buyer.

A mini bale system would permit the user to make half round cage built to store a lot bales and sized for bridge clearance height isses to load the wraped bales in and move the cage into the storage shed and then pick it up when its empty to refill it for the customer.

 

[flusher]

Does operator have to operate that squeeze while looking back or in mirrors?

The driver's seat swivels 360 degrees and there are two control stations front and rear.
Two guys handle delivery--one drives the double bottom hauler, the other drives the squeeze.
You see squeezes running up and down the interstate doing 60+ mph.

 

[leonz]

I did not see any california plates on the bale squeeze forklift truck that is why I thought it was a towed unit.

 

[stuckmotor]

Those guys are into some serious hay production and now I know the story on the mysterious three twine bales that I've only seen as props on TV.

 

[flusher]

I did not see any california plates on the bale squeeze forklift truck that is why I thought it was a towed unit.

Probably came down from Oregon. A lot of Oregon hay gets trucked south on I5 to this area and further south to the feedlots around Stockton, Kettleman City, etc.