Things I learned baling hay...

[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.