First Haying Season - Done (unless it grows enough for 2nd cutting)

[flusher]

Way to go:thumbsup: Nice job.

 

[rankrank1]

....Looks great, they also make something called a bale buncher, I built one out of some old boiler tubing that works pretty good. Drops a pile of 6 or 8, not quite as neat as a stoker but simpler....

Can you post some pics of that? I have been looking for a simple low cost hay grouper to copy and build myself.

So far something like seen in this linked Youtube video is as simple as I have found thus far (limited to designs workable for a 1 man operation anyway). You will not see the grouper until about 50 seconds into the video. Only downside to this simple grouper is that it could be hard on the bale strings???????? A person could modify the baler chute to turn them 1/4 turn but not sure how edge dragging would work over the bales either??????

Hay time with Allis Chalmers!!! - YouTube

 

[Marveltone]

Put up my first batch of hay this year also. Not nearly as much as you did, as we're only feeding three goats. Good job!

Joe

 

[tessiers]

Bale Buncher - TractorShed.com

Mine is basically a pipe framework 6'x10' with a rear gate that flips up to release the bales. You trip the gate with a rope running over the baler to the tractor and gravity resets it once empty. It has a series of 1/2" smooth steel rods spaced 6" apart hooked to the front with short pieces of chain, these make drag on the ground and help to make the bales slide easier. Nothing special really, works pretty well, once in a while it will drop one out the side on a corner but not the end of the world.

 

[dave1949]

That's a real accomplishment! Congratulations on your first haying season.

You clouds are "mare's tails". In weather forecasting lore, which is important to haying :laughing:, they mean a good chance of rain in the next day or day and one-half.

Doesn't always hold true of course, but it is a good indicator of the direction the weather is going.

 

[rankrank1]

Bale Buncher - TractorShed.com

Mine is basically a pipe framework 6'x10' with a rear gate that flips up to release the bales. You trip the gate with a rope running over the baler to the tractor and gravity resets it once empty. It has a series of 1/2" smooth steel rods spaced 6" apart hooked to the front with short pieces of chain, these make drag on the ground and help to make the bales slide easier. Nothing special really, works pretty well, once in a while it will drop one out the side on a corner but not the end of the world.

Your linked Yesterday Tractor Mag pic looks and operates very similar to the one I linked in the Youtube video. Do you drop the bales with the strings down or cut side down? Is it hard on whatever bale side drags if you happen to be in thinner hay that takes a while to get the 8-10 bales before dumping?

 

[tessiers]

depends on your baler chute, mine is string side down, doesn't seam to hurt the bales at all, that's what the rods dragging under the bales are for, keeps them from dragging too hard. I try to dump at each end of my field regardless of number of bales even if its 4, keeps the piles together and makes picking up easier.