The Hardest Part of Bailing Hay With a Friend

[MossRoad]

I helped a friend bale hay yesterday after work for only the 2nd time in my life. The first time was last year, and he only had about 25-30 bales, didn’t even fill 1/3 of the wagon. It was not bad.

This time, we did 440 bales.

Throwing them off the wagon, carrying them across the barn, stacking them in the barn, while a bit tiring, was not bad at all. I wasn’t the slightest bit sore that evening or this morning (I did sleep great last night!).

The hardest part of the whole thing, the thing that took the most out of me, was trying to balance standing on that moving hay wagon in between bales. I could grab them off the chute. I could carry them across the wagon. I could stack them 5 high. But as soon as I had no bale in my hands, I felt incredibly unstable, and would either have to sit on or lean on the bales, or sit on the floor of the wagon. Besides the feeling of being on a large skateboard, I could also feel the back and forth motion that the baler makes as it compresses the bales. It was slight, but there’s this constant, rhythmic pulsing to the wagon to deal with besides the movement over the ground. It was akin to sea sickness! It really put the workout on my legs and core. At one point I thought I might have to barf!

I surely thought the bale handling would be the hard part. But it wasn’t for me. It was dealing with the off-putting motions.

I could never master a skateboard when I was a kid. I think this was very similar. I’ve spent a lot of time on small boats, and in small airplanes and never had that feeling of odd motions upsetting me. But I was sitting in the boats and planes, and not standing. And that added pulse of the baler was just icing on the cake.

Anyhow, it was fun and I guess I’d get used to it if I did it more. I was with a 40 year old guy on the wagon who does this often and my friend was driving. I’m 61+. I felt I held my own at least.

 

[ponytug]

Wow, you have great core strength! I am impressed.

Every time that I started haying for the season, it was bucking and stacking the bales that was hard for me. Balancing on the wagon was never an issue for me, though fun. Everybody is different!

Thanks for bringing back some great memories. Like Dale who could pick up two bales in each hand and toss all four onto the wagon.

All the best,

Peter

 

[CalG]

I helped a friend bale hay yesterday after work for only the 2nd time in my life. The first time was last year, and he only had about 25-30 bales, didn’t even fill 1/3 of the wagon. It was not bad.

This time, we did 440 bales.

Throwing them off the wagon, carrying them across the barn, stacking them in the barn, while a bit tiring, was not bad at all. I wasn’t the slightest bit sore that evening or this morning (I did sleep great last night!).

The hardest part of the whole thing, the thing that took the most out of me, was trying to balance standing on that moving hay wagon in between bales. I could grab them off the chute. I could carry them across the wagon. I could stack them 5 high. But as soon as I had no bale in my hands, I felt incredibly unstable, and would either have to sit on or lean on the bales, or sit on the floor of the wagon. Besides the feeling of being on a large skateboard, I could also feel the back and forth motion that the baler makes as it compresses the bales. It was slight, but there’s this constant, rhythmic pulsing to the wagon to deal with besides the movement over the ground. It was akin to sea sickness! It really put the workout on my legs and core. At one point I thought I might have to barf!

I surely thought the bale handling would be the hard part. But it wasn’t for me. It was dealing with the off-putting motions.

I could never master a skateboard when I was a kid. I think this was very similar. I’ve spent a lot of time on small boats, and in small airplanes and never had that feeling of odd motions upsetting me. But I was sitting in the boats and planes, and not standing. And that added pulse of the baler was just icing on the cake.

Anyhow, it was fun and I guess I’d get used to it if I did it more. I was with a 40 year old guy on the wagon who does this often and my friend was driving. I’m 61+. I felt I held my own at least.

Balance is lost with age.

There is actually a "performance chart" that goes along with ones age, and how long one can balance on one foot with eyes closed.

I tried the test, according to the chart, I'm 243 years old ;-)

 

[fatjay]

Wow, 440 bails in a day is something else riding on the trailer. That's a lot of work.

 

[Hay Dude]

I have a farmer friend who still does small squares. He always calls me and reminds me how he lets me bale some of his property for large square bales and it always coincides with exactly when he needs help stacking lol
Yeah, it’s a tiring job and it’ll keep you on your toes.

The rhythmic rocking you speak of is no joke. You oughta ride along with me when making large square bales. Despite being 64,000 lbs of machinery, the plunger stroke of the baler still rocks the tractor enough that you go to bed at night feeling like you’re still rocking!

 

[Oaktree]

Wow, haven't done that since I was a teenager. Not sure I could have pulled that off today, especially if the temperature was much above the mid 70s.

 

[MossRoad]

Something else I found was it really sucks the moisture out of your body. Was drinking plenty of water between wagons and took breaks while loading the barn. Drank a quart of gatorade on the ride home, and two large glasses of milk before bed (with some cookies, of course). Even with all that fluid intake, I didn’t wake up to pee until 8:00am!

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I remember growing up on our farm, I really liked baling hay, when I was old enough to sit on and drive the tractor (with blocks on the pedals).

Once I got old enough and big enough to be the guy on the ground, I started liking baling hay a lot less.

Can't say I miss it.

 

[MossRoad]

It was a beautiful afternoon and evening. Temps in the low 80’s to high 70’s. Three momma deer, each with twins, came out and browsed the edge of the field. All the young played tag up and down the wood line while we continued baling. No bugs were out to bother us. The sheep in the barn enjoyed the occasional bunch of loose hay that fell off the wagon. And a very old border collie kept trying to get us to play fetch with a very large piece of landscape timber. The sun was getting low and shining in the west-facing barn door, which made for great light on my friend throwing bales down to us. All the dust was floating around in the rays of sunshine. I stopped to take some pictures and they told me to get back to work!

 

[MossRoad]

I remember growing up on our farm, I really liked baling hay, when I was old enough to sit on and drive the tractor (with blocks on the pedals).

Once I got old enough and big enough to be the guy on the ground, I started liking baling hay a lot less.

Can't say I miss it.

I think I could do it once a week or so and not mind it. However, I’m just labor and have no skin in the game regarding success or failure or concerns of the people depending on the harvest.