Loose hay

[5030]

Not around here they dont. The Amish in Chester & Lancaster Counties make round and small square with engine powered balers pulled behind Percherons

They still do in Geauga County.

 

[Fuddy1952]

I repurposed many of the hand hewn posts and beams from my great great grandad old barns, to frame a loft, woodshop, and metal shop inside my new pole barn. I roofed and sided those with his old, weathered American chestnut barn siding and granary wood.View attachment 697865View attachment 697864

Wow! I really like that room.
Our horse stable is finished except for the tack room. I'm waiting and hoping lumber prices to come down so I can build the room. Concrete finishers made a smooth floor for the room, and it has a window. Your room gives me ideas!

 

[lman]

Amish still do it that way.... Gentiles don't.

Amish around here don't make hay. They buy it from the same guy that makes my hay.

 

[Hay Dude]

I sell hay to the Amish

 

[RalphVa]

I remember the loose piles in the middle of fields. Don't recall details of progression from those to moving balers. Seems like someone had to ride along beside a baler for a while to tie off the bale, or something, before auto tie off. Think had twine first and then wire.

Yeah, remember also hauling rectangular hay bales. Last guy I hauled hay for was on a farm west of Stonewall, OK. A tornado came through a year or so later and killed the guy and 8 others.

 

[Cycledude]

I remember the old loose hay loader days and am thankful they got replaced with the much easier square bales and silos .

 

[jacspath]

I was about to 'remember' the whole deal [rather than just putting the hay in the barn] just when cydledude spoke up. My first job was to follow the hay loader with a pitch fork and pick up all that the loader missed. Really hot and dirty.
Later I got the 'privilege' of being up on the hay wagon to distribute the hay when it came up the loader. That took real balance to keep from falling off that bouncy hay. But the ride in to the barn sitting on top of the hay with a full wagon after such hard work was delicious.
Then I loved the sinking of that hay fork deep in the pile to lift it up to the peak was somehow the most satisfying part of the work for me. Not sure why but somehow that was the part that meant we had beat the weather and the equipment failure and all the other problems and had our harvest stored up.
But then having to climb up in the hay loft at 5 am to fork hay to the cows was NEVER a welcomed job for me. Dusty and hard work before getting ready for school. BAH.

 

[MagicMM]

Our hay was cut with a sickle mower, side delivery rake rowed it up, hay rake gathered it into piles, we pitchforked it into the wagon, pitchforked it up into the barn, and then pitchforked it to the back of the barn. Thankfully pitching it back down into the wagon and then to the cows was much easier.

 

[Gord Baker]

Who remembers bringing it in loose ? We brought it in that way, until my grandad bought a square baler, when I reached my teens. We used an old sheet metal loader, that attached to a wagon. Grandpa would be on the tractor and my dad and uncle would be leveling it out on the wagon.

I fondly remember those days. It was so nice to not have to deal with twine or wire, and to just go up in the loft and pitch down what you needed at chore time. The nightmares began for me with that baler. Handling those heavy bales up in the hot hayloft was tough on this skinny kid.

Grandpa loaded the elevator, down in the cool breeze, while I roasted up in the loft, stacking them bales. How I missed the loose-hay days.

The old barns that my great great grandad built, shortly after the Civil war, fell into disrepair, and I am currently in the process of taking them down. I hope this old hay fork and trolley dont get busted up too bad when I pull down the frame of the last one that is still standing. I would like to hang it up in my new pole barn, as a reminder of the good old days of loose hay

My Great Uncle would harness up Molly and Mae and towing a wagon and Loader/Elevator behind it loaded the hay as it fell on the wagon. Then to the barn with a double spear fork. I had to drive a certain speed on the old redbelly Ford so when the load from the wagon hit the track there was enough inertia to trip it and carry it into the barn. It would hit the Centre block and stop. Or stop sooner.
Somehow the twin spears released (rope to 'fingers' on bottom of Spears) to drop the bundle.
25¢ a day sometimes! I much preferred plowing with the 44 Massey.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Funny how this brings back so many memories. Dad worked at Sears many years ago. Somehow someone he worked with had kin in Vermont who was a farmer. That year his hay crop was about nothing, lack of rain I assume. He was desperate so called Dad (we had a lot that year), so one evening that Fall this old pickup truck comes down driveway, poor guy drove Vermont to Virginia! We felt sorry for him and loaded all he could carry. I remember it was cold and his door window missing, we taped clear plastic over it.