Square Bales Beware ...

blueriver · Nov 11, 2010

Well my new 10 bale grapple came today ... now I just got to build the accumulator ...

All the hay equipment went up for the season and dad gum it ... sure would like to bale some squares!!

I wanted to put the 3rd function valve on but have decided to route the hoses from one of the rear remotes ... maybe I'll buy some square bales to play around with!!!

bigtiller · Nov 11, 2010

I'll de darned, I'v never seen one of thoes but it does look pretty slick. But how do you get 10 bales side by side and tight togeather to pick up with your grapple?

jayste · Nov 11, 2010

Hey Blue, kind of "agrivatin' ain't it"?! You get a new toy and can't play with it!:laughing::thumbsup:

If you do get those bales show us some pics of it in action. If we were closer I'd pull 10 out of the barn and we'd give it something to do.

blueriver · Nov 11, 2010

bigtiller said:
I'll de darned, I'v never seen one of thoes but it does look pretty slick. But how do you get 10 bales side by side and tight togeather to pick up with your grapple?

Well thats where the accumulator comes in. They make one that pulls behind the baler and trips them in a pack of ten, that was a little costly... they also make one for the FEL and when I researched them it looked easy enough to build.

WR Long makes one for the FEL ..

blueriver · Nov 11, 2010

jayste said:
Hey Blue, kind of "agrivatin' ain't it"?! You get a new toy and can't play with it!:laughing::thumbsup:

If you do get those bales show us some pics of it in action. If we were closer I'd pull 10 out of the barn and we'd give it something to do.

Yep your right ... I gotta go in the morning and get the hoses and then I'm going to find some squares to play with!!!

mmurphy · Nov 11, 2010

Never heard of one. Would be neat to see in action.

blueriver · Nov 11, 2010

mmurphy said:
Never heard of one. Would be neat to see in action.

Rafter M Equipment Square Bale Accumulators And Grapples - Video

Kinda some poor video ... buy you can watch it.

jayste · Nov 11, 2010

Blue, I couldn't open the Rafter M video. Is the one I've attached similar in works?

YouTube - Hay Accumulator

Another:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N96Llsvo_Q4&NR=1

blueriver · Nov 11, 2010

jayste said:
Blue, I couldn't open the Rafter M video. Is the one I've attached similar in works?

YouTube - Hay Accumulator

Another:

YouTube - Koyker Manufacturing Bale Caddie

This is like the one I want to build ...

YouTube - W R Long Hay Accumulator

And this is like the one that Rafter M sells

YouTube - hay accumulator

mmurphy · Nov 12, 2010

Not to sound too dumb!!!!:ashamed:
I take it you have a different system for unloading the bales?
30 some years ago on the farm, we used bale thrower in to wagons, it took 1 tractor, 1 person to bale and load the wagon. Sounds like more equipment and costs with this system.
What am I missing here?

blueriver · Nov 12, 2010

mmurphy said:
Not to sound too dumb!!!!:ashamed:
I take it you have a different system for unloading the bales?
30 some years ago on the farm, we used bale thrower in to wagons, it took 1 tractor, 1 person to bale and load the wagon. Sounds like more equipment and costs with this system.
What am I missing here?

Thats whats so cool ... the side arm is removeable and you use the same grapple to unload and stack in the barn ... or reload when you sell square bales.

The only down fall at this point ... when you load your trailers in the field ... the tractor with the grapple also has to come to the barn to off load. Currently I have 2 GN flatbeds and 1 hay rack so I am thinking I can bring in about 500 at a time ... also thinking about building a couple more hay wagons over winter.

jayste · Nov 12, 2010

blueriver said:
Thats whats so cool ... the side arm is removeable and you use the same grapple to unload and stack in the barn ... or reload when you sell square bales.

The only down fall at this point ... when you load your trailers in the field ... the tractor with the grapple also has to come to the barn to off load. Currently I have 2 GN flatbeds and 1 hay rack so I am thinking I can bring in about 500 at a time ... also thinking about building a couple more hay wagons over winter.[/QUOTE]

Of course we'll be expecting a thread on the wagon build as well and the accumulator!:laughing::thumbsup:

blueriver · Nov 12, 2010

jayste said:
[/B]QUOTE]

Of course we'll be expecting a thread on the wagon build as well and the accumulator!:laughing::thumbsup:

I suppose ... lets see at this point they want a thread with pictures of the grapple in action, now its a thread on the hay wagons and a thread on the accumulator ...

BTW Seminole county is not that far. GOT ANY WAGON RUNNING GEARS???

corey9212 · Nov 13, 2010

I recently bought 80 square bales from a guy and he used one of those to load up my 16' car trailer, it was cool to watch and he had me fully loaded in 15 mins (he said he was taking his time and that he can load twice as fast with it)

blueriver · Nov 13, 2010

corey9212 said:
I recently bought 80 square bales from a guy and he used one of those to load up my 16' car trailer, it was cool to watch and he had me fully loaded in 15 mins (he said he was taking his time and that he can load twice as fast with it)

I'm going to add that in my advertising next year ... "will load for you!"

corey9212 · Nov 13, 2010

blueriver said:
I'm going to add that in my advertising next year ... "will load for you!"

It will bring a lot of customers cause I know a lot of people around here hate manually loading and positioning bales. He just picked them up from the pile, squared himself up to my trailer and set them on perfectly. Plus while I was strapping them down he had another customer with a huge gooseneck that ordered 200 bales and they were loaded before I was done strapping mine down. It was awesome watching them. Do you think they make smaller versions for sub compact tractors? Cause that would replace my FEL in a heartbeat, lol.

blueriver · Nov 13, 2010

corey9212 said:
It will bring a lot of customers cause I know a lot of people around here hate manually loading and positioning bales. He just picked them up from the pile, squared himself up to my trailer and set them on perfectly. Plus while I was strapping them down he had another customer with a huge gooseneck that ordered 200 bales and they were loaded before I was done strapping mine down. It was awesome watching them. Do you think they make smaller versions for sub compact tractors? Cause that would replace my FEL in a heartbeat, lol.

Yes they make an 8 bale system ...

corey9212 · Nov 13, 2010

blueriver said:
Yes they make an 8 bale system ...

For a kubota BX2660? If so then I'm sold, it would taking bales out to the pasture a lot easier.

blueriver · Nov 14, 2010

corey9212 said:
For a kubota BX2660? If so then I'm sold, it would taking bales out to the pasture a lot easier.

Well I don't know anything about that Kubota ... the 8 bale unit itself would weigh about 500 lbs and 8 squares about 500 lbs ... so you would need to lift 1000 lbs.

corey9212 · Nov 14, 2010

blueriver said:
Well I don't know anything about that Kubota ... the 8 bale unit itself would weigh about 500 lbs and 8 squares about 500 lbs ... so you would need to lift 1000 lbs.

Yeah that's 250lbs heavier than what my FEL's max rating is :-( I guess if I felt creative I could make up something that would work that lifts 4-5 at a time and try to keep the weight down without sacrificing strength