Best Hay Method

[slowzuki]

Now that is the kind of production I would love to see! I'm working to hit 1000 bales a day.
Ken

We have a NH Stack wagon on our farm and that is the only way to go for a big hay operation. We bale close to 120,000 bales a year. We can average about 2,880 to 3,040 bales a day with the stack wagon. This is with 2 balers running all day and the the stack wagon starting right behind them.

Skeeter Ranch Hay Farm

 

[jimg]

I see youre using Heston inline balers...how long have you used those and do you have any significant problems w/ them? Im looking at a used 4570.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Now that is the kind of production I would love to see! I'm working to hit 1000 bales a day.
Ken

Ken, do you drop the bales on the ground or do you have a thrower on your baler? If you go with a thrower you should be able to pick up 1000 bales a day easy with a small baler. I can put up 3000 bales a day (if there isn't a dew that is) with my 575 and 72 thrower. The only bottleneck is getting wagons unloaded. You will need two crews as the first crew will get tired half way thru and want to quit. Rotating guys helps some also.

 

[slowzuki]

We've got a shortage of everything:
- our barns are built originally for loose hay
- we don't have much for crew
- Current tractor not heavy enough to bale with wagon behind on our hills
- We have 4 wagons but one is small, two are about beat, and only one has a rack
- My thrower is missing its pump so I ground drop

Its looking like a bale wagon or an accumulator are the two best options, and its leaning towards bale wagon with single unload.

I will have to get a self propelled or another tractor to pull it but it would let two people at least get the hay out of the fields quickly. But I won't have to buy another loader tractor or buy more wagons at near 3000$ each w rack around here.

If I wanted to get one grapple for the main tractor I could unload stacks in the field and load trucks or trailers with the grapple.

The lower total investment is in the stackwagon I think of course I don't think its resale in the future is as good as conventional wagons and a loader tractor.

 

[FL4400]

We run the NH 1049 Super Bale Wagon, on the the Hesston balers the only problems we ever have is just usual wear and tear on them. They run about 3 times a week with no major problems. They have been in service going on 5 years. We tear them down every winter and check wear on the parts and do adjustments that seems to keep them going all season.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The lower total investment is in the stackwagon I think of course I don't think its resale in the future is as good as conventional wagons and a loader tractor.

I agree, if I had to do it all over again I would go with a stackwagon and save my money on kicker wagons and tires

To keep things running smoothly I have 5 kicker wagons going, one guy shuttling and usually 3-4 workers stacking at a time. It is a lot of headaches to keep everything co-ordinated from the baler so I started letting my father run the baler while I shuttle wagons to keep things going and to address any problems either in the field, barn or on the road.

 

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Haying - what a headache while at the same time - to me anyway - so very satisfying when it was done.

I agree with the others for big operations - stackwagons are the way to go. The challenge is finding good used equipment that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and that hasn't been beat to death. Of course if your independently wealthy - buy new.

There is an idea I saw once that nobody I know of has ever picked up on. It's a simple idea based on equipment we've used for a long time. The over a century old or older buckrake. Like many his was a reversed truck frame with a loader over the dualie end. Had a relatively small engine and plenty of weight near it. The difference with traditional buckrakes was he picked up bales in two layers. He also often stacked with the buckrake. Picture this a loader with teeth in about 8 - 9 closeset pairs about 14-16 in between pairs sticking out 8 or 9 feet with two sets of sides and backs- one set inside the other. Sort of a loader bucket inside a loader bucket. He'd drive around picking up 12 maybe 15 small squares and then vertically lift (I think it tilted a bit too) the inner bucket with a chain system and then load the outer bucket. Thus picking up 24 to 30 bales at a time. He then unloaded the lower layer and then the upper layer on top of the lower layer depending on what his plan for feeding was. He was really careful about where his piles were in relation to feeding - as why move the hay any more than you have to. His piles were kind of sloppy but worked as he usually tarped them. Pile height was of course limited by loader working height and he was very careful about how he picked up his bales. Sometimes he had to stop and rearrange bales on the buckrake but he was surprisingly good at loading them right. Going from bale A to bale B he would sometimes swerve a bit to tip a bale so that it would be right to pick up later. Sometimes for a big stack he just dumped them and used an elevator and hand stacked the traditional way. He always intended to fix the system up some more with sidepress or centering ability or the ability to tip bales either onto their rough side or twine side on the buckrake or the ability to grab the outermost bales on the front. He was even thinking about picking up a third layer. Don't know if he ever did but I thought picking bales two layers at a time was pretty cool.

Just something I saw once.

-Ed-

 

[slowzuki]

Oh to be able to leave bales outside, what a concept! A bale left out a week here isn't good enough to feed!

I called about an open station self propelled stackwagon a neighbour had but it is long gone now he tells me. Try for some others during the winter I think. Need a tedder and tractor too, merry christmas me lol.

 

[Hay Pirate]

Oh to be able to leave bales outside, what a concept! A bale left out a week here isn't good enough to feed!

I called about an open station self propelled stackwagon a neighbour had but it is long gone now he tells me. Try for some others during the winter I think. Need a tedder and tractor too, merry christmas me lol.

Yeah, I need a tedder too. I borrowed a friend's tedder, and man, the hay dried so much faster. Hay that was rained on became the best hay I ever brought in.

If I can convince my father and somewhat my family in getting one of these wagons, I think our hay output will raise substaintially because of the ease of use and the lack of labor needed! Just getting the wagon is the hard part of course. And building the barn.

 

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Slowsuki Do you live where there is nothing but rain or lots of rain and snow mixed?

Otherwise why can't you pile hay out and cover it? Especially if the bottom layer is on pallets or is low value straw.

Have you done the economic analysis of equipment wear and tear, operator time and fuel versus some loss?

Just curious. -Ed-