Harvesting Hay

[cowboydoc]

kids today (for the most part) can't cut the mustard when it comes to square bailing.


That is the truth!!! Makes me wonder where we're going to be in the next generation.

 

[Bird]

Daryl, I've never seen one of those Bale Bandits, but last Fall when my brother came back from spending most of the summer in the State of Washington, he tried to describe to me something he watched in hay fields up there. Now I know what he was describing. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[5030]

Cowboydoc:

We are going to be in the ground, push'in up daisies, or in my case, Vernal Alfalfa!!!

 

[5030]

Bird:

They wanted to sell one to us, sent us the video, even offered us to come out to their factory for a "hands on" run. It would really fit into our operation as you can "floor load" hay into a 48 foor dry box with a hi-lo. It would save us a bundle of time and a lot of Ben-Gay too. I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of money right now. Money is "cheap" today, but you still have to pay it back. Besides, my beer tab would go way down and I have to support the local carryout. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[ScottAR]

I saw a sort of "manual" version of that in a progressive farmer magazine years ago. A two wheel trailer affair that hooked up behind the baler. There was a pallet on the ground on top of rollers in the floor of the trailer. It had high sides and a canopy on top. A guy rode back there and stacked the bales off the baler onto the pallet. When the pallet was full, he opened the back gate and the pallet rolled out on the ground. Another guy drove a forklift and carried the pallets to the barn. I felt sorry for the bale stacker but otherwise it seemed to work well.

A local farmer has a "bale picker upper" that tows behind the tractor. It picks em up on a conveyor and stacks them in a big square. It looks different than the bandit but I'm not sure who makes it or exacty how it works. Neat to watch though.

 

[MikePA]

Well, apparently the mere act of asking this question set some cosmic forces into motion. I'll explain. It's spring and as per usual we need hay. My wife called our farmer friend this past Tuesday and spoke with his wife.

"He's doing hay all this week. We'll give you a call. It'll probably be Wednesday evening."

It's been in the 90s and humid. Oh, well. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I geared myself for getting hay when I got home from work on Wednesday. BTW, our farmer friend has a day job as well. He farms on the side.

Lo and behold, the hay wasn't ready Wednesday evening.

"Come on down to the barn on Saturday and we'll have plenty."

Woo Hoo! A front was due to come through here today (Friday) and the temps on Saturday will be cooler with low humidity.

Last night at 9:45 pm the phone rings. Callerid tells me it's the farmer.

"Denny just got back from a new 17 acre parcel he's farming this year. There's a hay wagon with 77 bales on it. Can you come and get it tomorrow before it rains?"

"Um, er, I have to go to work tomorrow. The earliest I can leave work is 11:30, so I won't get home until almost noon."

"Well, he's got all his haying equipment out there that he's gotta bring back. If it looks like rain, we'll bring the wagon back to our barn."

After much overnight pondering, at 5:30 AM this morning I pulled into the field and was greeted, so to speak, by;

1 - <font color="green"> JD 4020 </font> connected to a <font color="red"> NH 570 Baler </font>, connected to the hay wagon with 100 bales in it
1 - <font color="red"> MF 544 </font> with some 3ph device that look like it had swirling hair picks pointed at the ground. A tedder?
1 - <font color="green"> JD 4010 </font>
1 - <font color="green"> JD 3010 </font>
3 - Empty hay wagons.

I was all by my lonesome, tossing bales of hay into the back of my truck. At 50 bales per truck load (6.5 foot bed) it took two trips. My wife helped me unload as well as load the truck the second time. No small feat for her since she has to use an inhaler for the hay dust.

So, here I am at work, only an hour later than usual.

I won't be asking any more questions about hay making! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

<font color="blue">besides it's hot and the hay is prickly so a long sleeve shirt is mandatory</font>
I wear gloves to protect my hands from the strings, but I wear a T shirt. No marks on my arms from this morning's work. My wife wears a long sleeve shirt, though. Me, I'd rather be cooler and live with the scratches! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[5030]

Mike:

The thing with the spokes and wheels is a "wheel rake". Kuhn makes one. Without raising a bunch of hackles, I don't like them (my opinion and experience). We use a side delivery rake because it makes a more uniform windrow.

I have asthma too. I usually wear a particulate mask when I'm around hay dust and chaff. That's why it's important that I have a cab tractor because I can seperate myself from the dust of hay harvest.

The hardest thing for me to deal with is when I auger oats into the bulk bins. Oats cause me to itch and I get really short of breath around them. It happens only when I auger them. I use a 40 foot Westfield cylindrical grain elevator that's pto driven. As the oats go up the flighting, they give off dust and even with a mask on I have to stay upwind from the dust or it's a trip to the ER.

I'm also alergic to horse hair. That's pretty funny especially since my wife has 11 Percheron brood mares. I can be around them as long as I don't ruffle their hair with my hands. Trouble is, they like to be scratched. I just usually scratch their ears, there is not too much hair there.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> I have asthma too. I usually wear a particulate mask when I'm around hay dust and chaff. </font>
Daryl, I keep bugging my wife to wear one of these, but have not been successful yet. Perhaps I will just go buy one and hand it to her. Is the mask you use one of the ones you can get at the hardware store, with the 'rubber band' that goes around the back of your head?

 

[rancar]

<font color="blue"> At 50 bales per truck load (6.5 foot bed) it took two trips. </font>

WOW Mike.....that's a lot of bales on a 6.5 foot bed. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif You must have been stackin them high. Any problems with overhead bridge clearances on the way home? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

...Bob

 

[5030]

Mike:

Yes it is, but I don't get them at the hardware store, I get them from the same place that I told you to get the paint markers at. Thy are much cheaper and I don't like to wear a used one because they soak up persperation and get "smelly". I think this is the address: www.useenco.com I know I screwed it up before and I probably did again.

Dang it, I got it right this time, I checked it!!!!!!!!!!!!!