The Hardest Part of Bailing Hay With a Friend

[Rockbadchild]

I actually almost forgot what it was like to walk on a moving wagon until I read this post it brings back old memory ... I bale a few bale last week, my first time since I was a kid, that night I was laying in bed and felt like my body was till rocking back and forth.

 

[dirttoys]

If this was anyone else's post I would call bs

When I was a kid hay crew paid 20 cents a bail. Nickel a bail for each guy, and a nickel for the wagon. I think a 1000 a day was a good day and 50 bucks worth of beer. I either couldn't do 400 a day now, or it would take a week to recover (we will never know which).

Balance goes with hearing and eye sight sadly. Walking around dive boats last week with gear on always entertains the younger folks.

Best,

ed

 

[hosspuller]

Three years ago, I couldn't get any help stacking the hay on the wagon. No walking. Just ride the wagon and stack the bales as they came up the chute. Not for $20/ hour. Year before, I had two HS "football" players help. They won't do that again, I near killed them. Had to stop mid field to let them rest. Year before the football players, had a 70 year old man (My hay mentor) stack the wagon alone. Strength, endurance and TECHNIQUE

So, I got an accumulator and grapple. Now, wife and I do it all.

 

[ponytug]

Three years ago, I couldn't get any help stacking the hay on the wagon. No walking. Just ride the wagon and stack the bales as they came up the chute. Not for $20/ hour. Year before, I had two HS "football" players help. They won't do that again, I near killed them. Had to stop mid field to let them rest. Year before the football players, had a 70 year old man (My hay mentor) stack the wagon alone. Strength, endurance and TECHNIQUE

So, I got an accumulator and grapple. Now, wife and I do it all.

Yes, technique counts for a lot. We often have city slickers come out and help around the hay barn and feeding, and I find myself coaching folks how to lift and move productively, without brute forcing it. I have a bad back, so brute forcing it has never been my go to solution...

All the best, Peter

 

[bigtiller]

I was usually stuck in the hot dusty haymow. But one time they let me work on the hay rack in the fresh air.

The catch was, the farmer had painted the floor of the wagon. The hay and dust made it really slick. I remember sticking the edge of my shoe in a gap between the boards to keep from falling.

 

[ponytug]

@bigtiller Seriously? Who paints the floor of a hay wagon? The ones I worked on were polished enough with tons of hay sliding across them.

The farmer have it in for you? Were you the lead suspect in some peach rustling?

It takes all kinds I guess...

I'm glad that you survived.

All the best,

Peter

 

[redman135]

Where I lived was to steep to hitch a hay trailer on the baler, so we did pickup with a truck if moving the hay out of the paddock, or with a sweep if the shed was in the paddock.
We came unstuck with our new truck on a side slope. It had a steel deck, and the load just slid sideways off the truck in slow motion. At least we only had 3 layers at that point. The old truck had a wooden deck and you could drive some steep side slopes and not loose the load.
Ponytug is right, stacking hay is mostly technique. It is particularly noticable these days as kids have no idea.
Mistake 1) jerk lift with their back, cue lesson on lifting technique.
Mistake 2) Near total ignorence on how to "tie"(stack) hay so stack is free standing(does not need shed walls to hold stack togather). It sucks having to go back and restack because the side or end fell off the stack.

 

[JasperFrank]

Of all the odd jobs I have done, small hay bailing, and loading into a barn loft, is my number one hardest thing I've ever done. I never wanted to stack more then 7 high on a wagon with small bails. This was a small bailer, with a shoot.
The Grandfather, for some reason, wanted 8 high one day, and he was driving the tractor.
After I was waiving him off. He still kept going. He ignored me. On the last stacks at 8, I fell off the wagon, right between the tow tongue and the wheels and survived. Then I got up and unloaded on my own Grandfather, with harsh language, that he was an idiot to go 8 High. I think I earned his respect over this. We never did 8 high after that.

 

[ultrarunner]

I guess lose hay in the loft isn't done anymore?

It sure made a great place to play as kids and the cows were below the loft and feeding was as easy as dropping some through openings in the loft floor... nothing back breaking...

 

[bigtiller]

@bigtiller Seriously? Who paints the floor of a hay wagon? The ones I worked on were polished enough with tons of hay sliding across them.

The farmer have it in for you? Were you the lead suspect in some peach rustling?

It takes all kinds I guess...

I'm glad that you survived.

All the best,

Peter

I suspect it was the only reason they let me work on the rack. Luckily he had only one with paint.