Farmers helping fellow farmers

Hay Dude · Feb 15, 2023

Buddy of mine needed help getting 200 bales of cow hay delivered.

We dug ‘em out of the bank barn and got them loaded.

Funny how you never forget how to toss & load small squares from your childhood until today.

Hay Dude · Feb 15, 2023

And of course, waiting for the train lol

Hoss710 · Feb 15, 2023

nice setup!! glad u were able to lend a hand !!

Hay Dude · Feb 15, 2023

Hoss710 said:
nice setup!! glad u were able to lend a hand !!

I think farming is one of the few professions where we help each other, even though we are competitors.
A few years back, our biggest area farmer lost hydraulics trying to unload bales from a truck. I unloaded all them for him. He tried to shove $100 at me I just drove off and said to him “I’m gonna need a favor later”.

Halftrack · Feb 15, 2023

Back then, you were a sissy if you wore gloves and didn't have callouses as thick as nickels.

Had to get fingerprinted for a security job after making hay for a week. Lady looked at my hands, shook her head and tried. I still think I don't have a readable set on file.

Alan W. · Feb 16, 2023

Halftrack said:
Back then, you were a sissy if you wore gloves and didn't have callouses as thick as nickels.

Had to get fingerprinted for a security job after making hay for a week. Lady looked at my hands, shook her head and tried. I still think I don't have a readable set on file.

Remember a trooper getting pissed because my hands were too rough and dry to give readable prints on his scanner. Thought he was gonna pistol whip me when I told him had I known I would have moisturized.

Hay Dude · Feb 16, 2023

Alan W. said:
Remember a trooper getting pissed because my hands were too rough and dry to give readable prints on his scanner. Thought he was gonna pistol whip me when I told him had I known I would have moisturized.

My hands look like they have been though a meat grinder from 30 years of hand to hand combat with hay, hammers, quick connects, brush cutting, weight lifting and some pretty good slug-fests

EddieWalker · Feb 16, 2023

Why would somebody feed small square bales to cattle instead of bigger round bales?

Hay Dude · Feb 16, 2023

EddieWalker said:
Why would somebody feed small square bales to cattle instead of bigger round bales?

My buddy that made them has a horse boarding business and about 50 acres of pasture. He makes small squares to sell to the boarders since the 70’s. He doesn’t have a round baler. The small bales that are not good enough for the horses are sold off as cow hay.
I do the same thing. I make my hay and put the best bales inside. The rest gets sold off as mulch or mushroom hay.
Now he has me bale the less than perfect hay in large square bales (rough areas, edges of fields, under trees, etc.). This way he doesn’t continue to accumulate hundreds of less than perfect small squares. This also opens up his barn space.

But he has about 800 more of these cow hay bales to get rid of. Mostly 1st cutting and overly stemmy

sea2summit · Feb 16, 2023

EddieWalker said:
Why would somebody feed small square bales to cattle instead of bigger round bales?

Lots of folks around who have 1-5 cows and no tractor near me.

Hay Dude · Feb 16, 2023

We fatten 3-5 on small bales, rounds, or big bales. Whatever isn’t horse hay.

Bearsixty7 · Feb 16, 2023

EddieWalker said:
Why would somebody feed small square bales to cattle instead of bigger round bales?

Less wasted hay as small squares go in a barn and fill up as much space as possible, round bales stored inside have a lot of "air gaps" and not as much hay gets stored inside. Round bales stored outside uncovered as I believe the majority are, waste a lot of hay. Even if you stack them end to end tightly like a long loaf of bread to minimize end exposure, you still lose 10-20% of the outer hay to exposure/rain/rot.

Now with that said, Its near impossible to find a crew to help haul small square bales any more and most can't afford a Hayliner or Stackcruiser as they're called today. They used to make tractor pulled versions and oh how I wanted one when I was on the farm!