Things I learned baling hay...

[hosspuller]

I do a few hundred square bales each year to keep the farm designation. The year when I couldn't get any help, is when I decided on an accumulator and grapple. Now wife and I cut, rake, bale & load all of it. Of course, the machinery costs far more than the hay profit after all the expenses. Like a previous poster, I enjoy the whole process of growing and harvesting. It's the model of life.

 

[Egon]

Said someone who never put in loose hay.

When dad bought a used square baler in the 70s that made it so much easier. Just wished we would have gone round bales much earlier that around 4 yrs ago.

There are many different methods for handling loose hay. Most do not involve the labour involved with small square bales. The small round bales require just as much. Labour.

Check out my Avatar. That is loose hay.

 

[JethroB]

Great thread, brings back the memories.:thumbsup:

The local farmers here used to round up us ‘town boys’ after school this time of year to help with hay. This was PEANUT hay. Awful stuff. The dried dirt infused vines after the peanuts were dug and picked. The occasional bale would include a fire ant bed as a bonus. We worked our butts off but had a great time and made maybe $1-2/hour. eanut:eanut:eanut:eanut:eanut:

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^
Do you remember what they did with the bales? It seems like a great source of protein in animal feed.

 

[5030]

I do a few hundred square bales each year to keep the farm designation. The year when I couldn't get any help, is when I decided on an accumulator and grapple. Now wife and I cut, rake, bale & load all of it. Of course, the machinery costs far more than the hay profit after all the expenses. Like a previous poster, I enjoy the whole process of growing and harvesting. It's the model of life.

View attachment 671729

Had one and sold it along with the grapple. I enjoy the process as well. I just enjoy it lots more with round bales. For me, it's fun. Expensive fun that keeps me outta mom's hair.

 

[JethroB]

^^^^^
Do you remember what they did with the bales? It seems like a great source of protein in animal feed.

Fed to the cows (peanut hay then and now). Now its all rounds or big squares. My BIL once baled mowed cotton stalks, I never knew if that caught on. I figure it took a hungry cow to eat chopped cotton stalks.

 

[grsthegreat]

I had my fill of cutting, baling, stacking and feeding hay back in the late 1980’s when i worked on a cattle ranch in Montana. Luckily for me i got a bad allergic reaction to the freshly cut grass and had to stop physically messing with the small bales. They put me in a pressurized cab tractor and my job was to operate the round bailer in the alfalfa fields. That was easy work. Problem was i wasnt allergic to the Dried grass and alfalfa so i had to help feed the cattle thru winter. Thats sucky, hard work. Had to hook up a flat bed trailer to an old farm tractor, physically load 100’s of small bales of hay...every day, then tie the wheel, put tractor in autopilot and climb in back of trailer and feed the cattle. Every day. I was so glad when they pulled me off that duty and put me on calving duty, graveyard shift. Loved it. Did i say i hate hay. Today, i pay our hay guy to stack my barn for the horses. The wife feeds the horses. Did i say i hate hay.

 

[Hay Dude]

I figure Ive loaded and unloaded over 100,000 small square bales. My shoulders and forearms were gigantic from it and won many arm wrestling contests when I was a “ Ute “. Now I have partially torn labrum and arthritis in both my shoulders and switched over to round bales for good 7 years ago. I can still sling em for a few hours, but all day barn stacking I need 500mg of prescription Aleve to get through it.

Aint no “ union benefits “ that come with farming to help repair the damage.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The thing I learned bailing hay, is that I was too small to buck bales, and I had best find something better suited to my talents and physique...although when I was in my 30's, I worked one Summer at a chemical plant in Southern California, stacking bags of hot chemicals on pallets inside of a hot box car. It got pretty warm; 112-114 degrees, and the work was hard, but nothing like bucking bales all day.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm fortunate that I still have my physical strength at almost 60. I do not, however, have nearly the endurance I used to have. I can still walk briskly for 3-4 hours on weekends, and we do walk briskly for about an hour every night. However, more and more, I feel it in my ankles, knees and hips. It also takes longer to recover from injuries. Like months VS a week. :laughing: But, as my dad used to say, "It beats the alternative." :laughing: