Haying tips?

jimg · Jul 16, 2008

>>we got approx. 3.5 tons an acre of grass/clover/vetch hay.

Wow, thats a bunch of hay! I thought my 2.5T/ac this spring was a lot. How many cuts do you take and is this irrigated land?

Wildcat Ranch · Jul 16, 2008

jimg said:
>>we got approx. 3.5 tons an acre of grass/clover/vetch hay.

Wow, thats a bunch of hay! I thought my 2.5T/ac this spring was a lot. How many cuts do you take and is this irrigated land?

We have not moved the irrigation onto that field, haven't and probably won't. We only got one cutting off of it this year.
We are trying out buckwheat no-till drilled in one of a pasture fields. We are irrigating it right now. Buckwheat supposedly is ready to cut in 5 weeks. After that, we will try grazing the sheep on it.

WTA · Jul 17, 2008

You must have been getting some good rain. Untill this week we hadn't shut off our irrigation for almost 45 days. Not at all! I still haven't gotten the electric bill and I'm kinda scared about it.

Wildcat Ranch: Do you have the manual for the 1002? The only problem I'm still having with my wagon is the pickup on it. It picks up the bale and lays it over but I have to have my son walking next to it to help the bale move onto the first table with a broom stick. It almost never gets it on it's own. That flapper on mine has a heavy hinge spring on the part where it swivels but the spring isn't attached. It just pivots freely and the spring part doesn't move. Should it be pulling that spring? Any tips you have for properly setting up the pickup would be greatly appreciated.
I did go and weld a wheel on to the front outboard corner of it. The bouncing up and down made me nervous about it breaking something. It doesn't bounce any more. I set it at the height listed on the label there. I think it was 4 inches but can't remember.

jimg · Jul 17, 2008

Wildcate: How many cuts in the regular yr? From the sound of it you must be not too far E of the Cascades in the rain shadow? When I was over in Ellensburg, WA all of their hay was irrigated and I think a single cut affair. Much of it was Timothy put in small sqs that went to the far east.

Wildcat Ranch · Jul 17, 2008

WTA said:
You must have been getting some good rain. Untill this week we hadn't shut off our irrigation for almost 45 days. Not at all! I still haven't gotten the electric bill and I'm kinda scared about it.

Wildcat Ranch: Do you have the manual for the 1002? The only problem I'm still having with my wagon is the pickup on it. It picks up the bale and lays it over but I have to have my son walking next to it to help the bale move onto the first table with a broom stick. It almost never gets it on it's own. That flapper on mine has a heavy hinge spring on the part where it swivels but the spring isn't attached. It just pivots freely and the spring part doesn't move. Should it be pulling that spring? Any tips you have for properly setting up the pickup would be greatly appreciated.
I did go and weld a wheel on to the front outboard corner of it. The bouncing up and down made me nervous about it breaking something. It doesn't bounce any more. I set it at the height listed on the label there. I think it was 4 inches but can't remember.

The last rain we had was about 3-4 weeks ago. We went all the way into June with rain.. It was nonstop!

Yes, I do have a manual. I had the same problem with mine. Does it seem that some bales struggle to even come up the pickup? If you look where the hinged spring connects to the flapper. There should be 2 settings, one with it lower to the ground (Tighter if the flapper is in the up position) and one with it higher making the chute wider. As soon as I adjusted that setting, the bales slid over like like the table was waxed!!

I was grinning from ear to ear until my pto shaft busted apart.... The previous owner had welded a few extensions on the chain that moves the bales on that first table. He did have to notch the first table on the pickup side so that they could pass through. I fabbed a double acting hydraulic cylinder on my pickup. Its really nice but it needs to be single acting. I don't know too much about hydraulics but to make a double acting cylinder into a single, you take the hose off one side, drain the oil and then cap it? I will probably be adding that wheel on the pickup as well. If I am not making myself understandable, I could get you some pictures later on.

Wildcat Ranch · Jul 17, 2008

jimg said:
Wildcate: How many cuts in the regular yr? From the sound of it you must be not too far E of the Cascades in the rain shadow? When I was over in Ellensburg, WA all of their hay was irrigated and I think a single cut affair. Much of it was Timothy put in small sqs that went to the far east.

We only get one cutting unless we irrigate but we don't have too much water available. Last year, we tried irrigating everything and the well started to go dry. This year, we are keeping it to one field.
If you are familiar with the cascades, we are about 2 1/2 hours NW of sisters.

zzvyb6 · Jul 17, 2008

I added a caster wheel to my bale pickup when I got it, then added the single acting cylinder in order to shake the bale onto the cross conveyer when one sticks in the chute. To make the cylinder single acting, just put a breather cap on the port not being pressurized. You can get them at TSC, etc. If the bales don't want to walk smoothly across the 1st table, those on the main (2nd table) may not be pushed on far enough. Adjust the first table lift link to have them pushed on further. Be careful not to go too far in case the 2nd table lift interferes with and hits it. I also added a 1x4x 5' board to the first table rack up front with cable ties. This also helps push the bales onto the 2nd table a bit further and also does not interfere with the rack lifting. Having well formed bales contributes to smooth operation of the stacker. This means square shape (no bananas), tighly packed (not flimsy), and smooth edges (sharp cutoff knives). Having the right ground speed and pto rpm is important, too. The manual suggests optimum values....

Wildcat Ranch · Jul 17, 2008

zzvyb6 said:
I added a caster wheel to my bale pickup when I got it, then added the single acting cylinder in order to shake the bale onto the cross conveyer when one sticks in the chute. I also added a 1x4x 5' board to the first table rack up front with cable ties. This also helps push the bales onto the 2nd table a bit further and also does not interfere with the rack lifting.

The set screw that holds the bar that pushes the bales over onto the first table broke off on me when I was almost done with a load so the bar fell down and was not doing what it was suppose to. To finish up the load before heading back to the shop, I would just tap the lever and the pickup would toss then over onto the first table. On one bale, I had yanked the lever a little harder then what I should have and the the bale ended up on top of the bale that was already on the first table.

My second table does have surface rust and I can see that they don't slide willingly but by adding that 1x4 in there, doesn't that lift the bale higher and the conveyor chain won't be as eager to move it across?

WTA · Jul 17, 2008

I would appreciate some good pics of how that flapper is supposed to work when you have time. It sounds like mine is upside down and backwards. No suprise considering who worked on it last.