Things I learned baling hay...

[buckeyefarmer]

The new poly strings are a bit harder on the hands than the old traditional organic string. It's also the best thing since sliced bread, for those of us who use hay for conservation purposes. I can through them off today and it doesn't matter if they get wet before I spread them, the string still won't rot. :thumbsup:

I like the old twine. We saved all the twine when we feed. We had piles of it. I used to braid ropes with it, that we used for swings. Dont like poly.

 

[MossRoad]

My mother still says that. She's 83, walks with a cane, yet still gets around. She knows that once she stops it's just a downhill spiral.
She's also managed her diabetes without meds for over 20 years... I"m not sure how many people have the will power to do that.

I have a couple of years on you and still walk several miles most days for my job; woods miles, not on a road or trail. Over the past year or so I've gotten into the habit of carrying 5 gallon water buckets and 50 lb grain bags, rather than letting a machine do the work. I actually have improved over that time. I've given up on carrying two bags at a time though as I could see some serious skeletal issues down the road. (back, knees, and shoulders.)

I can still carry two 40# bags of salt down the stairs for the water softener. One at a time would just take too long.

I bought 60# bags of concrete for the garage project, though. 80#ers looked too heavy. :laughing:

I walk about 7-8 miles a day at my job. Sometimes 10-12, but not that often.
My wife uses an elliptical trainer for 45 minutes every morning, walks for 45 minutes at lunch, then we both go for a walk after dinner. :confused2:

 

[JethroB]

I vaguely recall some square bales in the late 60s tied with wire. About the diameter of electric fence wire. My dad kept wire cutters handy. I don’t think I’m dreaming it but maybe?

 

[two_bit_score]

I vaguely recall some square bales in the late 60s tied with wire. About the diameter of electric fence wire. My dad kept wire cutters handy. I don’t think I’m dreaming it but maybe?

Yep Bailing Wire.


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[Hay Dude]

I can still carry two 40# bags of salt down the stairs for the water softener. One at a time would just take too long.

I bought 60# bags of concrete for the garage project, though. 80#ers looked too heavy. :laughing:

I walk about 7-8 miles a day at my job. Sometimes 10-12, but not that often.
My wife uses an elliptical trainer for 45 minutes every morning, walks for 45 minutes at lunch, then we both go for a walk after dinner. :confused2:

Nothing crazy about that. Youre keeping your joints and muscles moving. I actually go for the 80lb bags. Not ready to surrender.

 

[Jstpssng]

The last time that I poured concrete I used 94 lb bags. That was before I turned 50 though.

 

[5030]

Yep Bailing Wire.


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Wire tie bailers are still available (NH has them).

 

[3930dave]

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:

Good on you Moss ! I see people half your age today, who wouldn't be trying small squares. Also good to see young farmers haven't changed.

I came across small squares on my Grandmother's farm as a kid. I already had a lot of respect for my two uncles who worked that farm, ended up with even more after working on hay with them.

Neither one of them were physically that big. I can picture clearly, my one uncle (maybe 5'6 at the most) as we were pulling the last wagon out of a field, late on a summer evening. Hops down off the tractor, grabs a pitchfork, spikes a totally green bale with it and fires it up to the very top of the fully stacked wagon, for disposal later.

A lot of much bigger men couldn't have done that, esp. after a day of being up with the cows (literally), and haying all day in the heat.

Nobody argues..... you don't know heat till you've stacked these bales near the metal barn roof. In my teens, I used to help older friends who did custom-baling back then. One of the last times, school had already started, so it was cooler with late-hay we were putting up in their barn.

I decided to GO with that last wagon on that cool day. Got shoved around (in a good natured way) when the 3 of them slid down the elevator once done...... I had been slinging bales on the elevator pretty much end to end. Good friends, good times..... but after clearing that wagon that fast, my arms felt about 2" longer.......

I used gloves, and wore out pants pretty fast. Not fun in the heat, but I'd probably try chainsaw chaps if doing many today. One young guy that helped on a crew at my Grandmother's used a hand-sized hay-hook in each hand - Fast, and he was like Captain Hook with those.

Spelt differently, but this has me thinking of the origin of Heyday...... some of those Teen days of haying, we backed up with partying, then more haying the next day...... trying one event of either today would need long recovery now !

Getting old enough to be nostalgic, not a bad thing.......

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Wire tie bailers are still available (NH has them).

Not what I would have guessed. Can be surprising sometimes, what is still in production.

That long ago summer of custom-baling, we put so many bales through the brand-new NH we were using, that we wore out parts on the knotter that nobody had ever changed before. Good baler though, it replaced a Massey that was beyond wore-out.

Rgds, D.

 

[MossRoad]

Nothing crazy about that. Youre keeping your joints and muscles moving. I actually go for the 80lb bags. Not ready to surrender.

I'm not surrendering yet, but it's definitely a war of attrition. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Yep Bailing Wire.


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We always had a roll of baling wire in my dad's garage shop. We lived in a subdivision in the woods and had no hay, no hay baler, no farm... but we had baling wire. Very handy stuff. Yesterday's duct tape. :laughing:

 

[JethroB]

....... some of those Teen days of haying, we backed up with partying, then more haying the next day...... trying one event of either today would need long recovery now !.......

Yep, thats probably our intentions with the hay money we made, buying beer. Small town boys had to make their own fun and (underage) beer drinking was usually involved. Great times and we old friends still like to tell the stories of the stupid things we did. Surprised some of us survived :drink:

 

[turnkey4099]

Yep Bailing Wire.


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For sure. Old homesteads that were abandoned commonly bad piles of it somewhre near the barn. Some used it for welding. Also veery useful for a lot of other stuff around a farm, Mend dfence, wire up cattle panels, etc.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

We always had a roll of baling wire in my dad's garage shop. We lived in a subdivision in the woods and had no hay, no hay baler, no farm... but we had baling wire. Very handy stuff. Yesterday's duct tape. :laughing:

Bailing wire...an integral part of the Ford owner's roadside emergency kit (and yeah, I own a Ford).

 

[BoFuller]

I had 3 older cousins who baled hay every year and I helped from the time I was 9. First 3 years I lucked out and drove the tractor pulling the hay wagon. Then I got “Promoted” to stacking on the wagon for a couple years, then I was big enough to lift them up onto the wagon. My senior year (67) was the last time I did it. Great muscle building, great character building. More kids ought to have that experience. I never regretted it. Great memories just reading this post.

 

[bunyip]

My father acquired a box of black fabric tape from a tip that was used by a nearby USAF base, they used to tthrow out a lot of good stuff, thi tape got used to fix everything includiing the frame on my bike that broke, anything broke out came the black tape.
And we built haystacks from sheafs, my job was on the horsedrawn hayrake and watch for the tail, if it lifted you got off before the brown spray, only got hit once...

 

[LouNY]

Small square bales have been made in many sizes and configurations over the years.
The two string twine seems to be the most common anymore,
then the two wire ties, but there where also 3 string and even 3 wire tie bales.
Then the "standard" length has varied considerably, Many years ago especially with wire balers a 4 foot bale was common.
Most of the bales around my area where about 40 inches till the ball throwers and kicker become common those tended to be
30 to 36 inches long.
It seemed like most of the 2 and 3 wire bales came from the Western States who were baling hay to ship,
not so much for their own consumption, many of those bales could tip the scales at close to 100 pounds.
Most of the Eastern twine tied bales would run around 40-50 pounds. Then the kicker bales would be 30-40 pounds.

 

[ponytug]

Yep. I grew up in the Midwest with two string sisal 70lb bales. I could carry one in each hand and toss it up on the hay wagon. Then the sisal producers upped the price, and it was like a switch flipped- everybody switched to poly and that was it. Then I moved west and hit three wire 100lb bales, and three strand poly 100lb bales. I don't toss those 100lb bales one handed...

Having cows, I don't like the wire bales. I'm always worried about cattle eating a small piece of wire, and it seems as if there are always small pieces around. I still keep the baling wire around. It does come in handy, though I have also used coat hangers.

Yes, it is a war of attrition. I'm not going quietly into the night; I hustle the water softener salt up the stairs as fast as I can. (House is uphill from the drive by a story and a half.) The hillsides are steep, and walking the fenceline is definitely exercise.

Thanks again for the memories, MossRoad.

All the best,

Peter

 

[bunyip]

We will be baling soon, getting days of rain followed by a few warm sunny days, repeat, cut the lawn about 4 days ago and it needs doing again, will need to find a contractor at the new place and let the negotiations commence.

 

[bunyip]

Re hay, the new place doesn't have a hay shed, any way I can stack it that will cause minimal damage such as on its end, side etc etc.