farmhand bale handling

[harback]

Hello all I bought a farmhand 8 bale grapple and want to know how the bales sit, do you need the bales on its side or stings up and stings running inline with the tractor or cross ways. I'm looking for the best way to pick up the bales. pics would help a lot.
Thanks

 

[preacher man]

Those are designed to handle 8 bales flat or 10 bales on edge. Need to add extra forks to handle them on edge properly. Used two of these for years and loved them.

 

[harback]

Witch do you think holds the bales better? Also I plan on building a frame under it to slide the bales in as I drive forward witch way will slide better it"s alfalfa/ grass ground.
Thanks for the help

 

[preacher man]

The forks I had, had a bar on one side and you went in barely above the bales and used that bar to push them together, then drop the forks onto the bales and set the forks in them. You don't need anything under them. If you do that, you will have trouble getting out of them. I loaded trucks, stacked them in sheds, and even open field stacks with no problems. You do need good tight bales for them to work properly, otherwise the forks tend to pull out of the hay. You also need to have plenty of hydraulics. I had mine on IH M's and they worked well but I had to take my time. It's one of those things you have to get accustomed to, but sure beats handling them by hand.