What implements for hay are you guys using for higher volume?

[Jim.ME]

I can't tell you how many bales per day on average, I usually cut based on how the weather is. Based on last year, the forecast was never accurate and I had fields rained on more than once, the quality really suffered. With that said, the struggle is usually beating the weather. So sometimes I won't cut too much if it looks iffy, sometimes i'll cut the whole field.

Amount of people varies, if it's a weekend it would only be me. I'd be dropping them and then coming back and picking them up by hand. Max amount is usually 3 people total.

I would say a kicker and several wagons (and good tarps) might be best, especially when it is just you. Your other two hands can be unloading into storage while you fill wagons.

A bale basket can work if you have 3. If you are alone at least when you dump the basket the pile is in one spot you don't have to walk the field. It's not fun but we have done 1000 (+/-) in a day, chuting some on to wagons and the rest into the basket dumped at the barn to the barn or at the back of a box trailer with three people (one baling with two handling).

An accumulator needs a power unit and driver to gain much. If you are alone, you bale then you have to gather and load. And you need wagons enough to transport what you have baled, or you lose time unloading/storing.

As mentioned with the self-propelled bale wagons many need a storage location they can self-unload (tip up to dump the stack) into, not the type of storage you described.

Just my thoughts, others will have different thoughts, which is fine. You need to look at the process from baler to storage to see which will work best for your crewing and facilities.

 

[jesseholmz]

I would say a kicker and several wagons (and good tarps) might be best, especially when it is just you. Your other two hands can be unloading into storage while you fill wagons.

A bale basket can work if you have 3. If you are alone at least when you dump the basket the pile is in one spot you don't have to walk the field. It's not fun but we have done 1000 (+/-) in a day, chuting some on to wagons and the rest into the basket dumped at the barn to the barn or at the back of a box trailer with three people (one baling with two handling).

An accumulator needs a power unit and driver to gain much. If you are alone, you bale then you have to gather and load. And you need wagons enough to transport what you have baled, or you lose time unloading/storing.

As mentioned with the self-propelled bale wagons many need a storage location they can self-unload (tip up to dump the stack) into, not the type of storage you described.

Just my thoughts, others will have different thoughts, which is fine. You need to look at the process from baler to storage to see which will work best for your crewing and facilities.

Would that be a kicker attachment? I've got a new holland 275 baler. Wagons would have to be modified to catch the bales

As for unloading, there's not really a great setup here anymore for that. The bales have to be tossed off by hand, and sometimes carried into an empty stall, or thrown into an outside stall.

 

[Jim.ME]

Would that be a kicker attachment? I've got a new holland 275 baler. Wagons would have to be modified to catch the bales

As for unloading, there's not really a great setup here anymore for that. The bales have to be tossed off by hand, and sometimes carried into an empty stall, or thrown into an outside stall.

Yes, kicker attachment, called kickers around here. Yes, you need wagons with sides and a back to catch the bales.

 

[DeltaRed]

You guys who use wagons,kickers/bale baskets. They do get the hay out of the field. But you still have to stack BY HAND.If you have a helper,a good balewagon operator can outrun a baler.And they are faster than an accumulator and grappel.

 

[jwal10]

An accumulator grapple will do it all, cheap. I can't remember the model but made in Oregon. He paid $2,1000 and he had a couple upgrades that he wanted, added. They have removable skid for accumulator mode that can be removed for re-stacking. They make tight bundles unlike a name brand that don't, or unload and re-stack. Accumulate and stack or load and unload and stack in stack or flat hay barn, never touch a bale. If stacking in field 2 will stack about the same as a Massey 3 twine in-line baler can make. Hauling is about 1/2 if haul is very long and depending on how big trailer is. Son has 2 sets of 24' hay doubles. 2/3 of his hay is now made in 3'x4'x8' sq. bales that he loads 1 at a time on same trailers with a different QTach grapple on same tractor(s). Not much pushing on ground as hay is raked in big windrows. Makes quick bundle of 10 taking 2 rows to fill accumulator. He has one at each end, load and unload, or runs 2 if stacking in field. Q-tach mounted to Case 580 CK loader tractors. Work better, quicker on tracked skid steers but he uses what he has. Usually stacks in field, tarp and move or deliver when not baling. Timothy, alfalfa and grass/alfalfa mix. He also does a lot of grass seed straw for export....James

It looks somewhat like this but Son had another function added that has a cylinder added to tighten side to side against the center divider and the divider and and caps (shoes) come off for re-stacking mode.

Land Honor Skid steer 10 bale accumulator grapple hook hay bale spear Bobcat | eBay

It i is ready to put to work. It is perfect for a farm, or rental. You will be happy with this machine, it is ready to work. Save yourself rental fees, own your own.

www.ebay.com

 

[jwal10]

He also has 2 grapples to load and unload with, they are $1,200 each, Q-tach. He also has a truck mounted road squeeze unit that will unload these 10 bale units stacked as high as is legal as 1 unit, to load and unload semi trailers. He travels from Christmas Valley to the Coastal dairies and from Western Oregon grass seed fields to storage barns, then load and haul to bale re-squeeze, then to the docks in Portland to Seattle in Sea-cans....James

 

[Jim.ME]

You guys who use wagons,kickers/bale baskets. They do get the hay out of the field. But you still have to stack BY HAND.If you have a helper,a good balewagon operator can outrun a baler.And they are faster than an accumulator and grappel.

Kicker wagons don't require any handling in the field, it is not common around here to stack kicker wagons, the kicker on the baler throws bales into the wagon, no one rides the wagon to stack bales. Bale baskets don't get stacked either, bales slide up the chute from the baler and dump into the basket. Field handling from a bale basket would be needed to load onto a wagon or trailer, if dumping it at the barn is not practical.

From what he describes when he gets to the barn, he is going to have to handle the hay by hand regardless of how it is handled in the field, he posted his storage is in the hay mow, or he has to put it in stalls inside the barn. None of the mechanized equipment will help on that end, that I can see. A bale wagon will dump as stack in front of the barn to be handled by hand, just like a kicker wagon or bale basket. To me it looks like the accumulator would only help him with gathering and loading in the field. He can likely own several kicker wagons and tarp them, when needed, while waiting to be unloaded. A bale wagon has to empty one load before picking up another. An accumulator can load several wagons which also could be tarped, if needed, before unloading; however, it is not going to put hay on a mow or into stalls inside a barn. From what I see the big gain with a bale wagon is if one has storage building that it can back into the building and tip its load off, no real gain at the barn if it just gets bumped to be handled by hand to be placed in storage. I doubt he is going to add $30K to $60K to put up a building for a bale wagon to dump into so the hay will be stored inside, as he does in the barn currently.

Just saying his situation from baler to storage has to be looked at. From what he has posted, storage for him is going to be hand work regardless of how he gathers bales in the field. When he is working alone a baler with a kicker and wagons can get the hay baled and off the ground in one pass over the field. On wagons the hay is off the ground and the wagons can be tarped, if needed, until unloaded. A bale wagon or accumulator involves two passes over the field and extends time before the hay is off the ground when he is working alone.

Just saying there are multiple ways to look at it if you match the conditions start to finish. It would be no fun if one way worked best in all cases.

 

[DanielW]

This topic came up a few months ago and started a debate on the NH bale wagon vs. accumulator vs. kicker. I think it all very much depends on your farm layout, travel distances, barn type/clearance, and final destination.

If you're having to stack in your own barn, the NH stackliner bale wagons are superb if (and only if) you have a free-span, open barn you can drive into and use the tilt & unload feature. As mentioned above - you can have them stacked perfectly in the barn without having to touch a single bale. If you have long road travel distances however, you're pretty much limited to tractor speeds with one of them. And if you have an old-school barn you're filling with an elevator, you have to use the stackliner's one-by-one unload feature, which is superbly tedious. And although they're great for builing/stacking in open barns, they still require a second trip over the field after baling. So although they might be the fastest method to get from baling to fully stacked in the barn, if the immediate goal is to simply get them off the field asap (if bad weather's coming for instance), they take a little longer.

If simply getting them off the field asap is the goal, a kicker or basket is the way to go. Only one pass, then you can back them under cover and unload at your convenience. But they certainly require more hand labour than the stackliner to unload, and you're also limited to tractor speeds on the road and have to re-stack if going on a trailer for longer distance shipping.

The accumulators & grapples seem to fit right between these two options. Still a second trip over the field to pick up, but you can use the grapple to stack in the barn (if you have a drive-in barn). And they're great for loadng on trailers/flatbeds for long distance driving. This is the only option that potentially allows you to both load and unload from a barn without having to re-handle the bales.

It's interesting how the preferred implements seem to vary regionally. In my area and in the East lots of folks are still loading into old bank barns and hay lofts with an elevator, so the stackliners don't really have any advantage. It's mainly kickers around here, and a bunch of high-school kids helping unload at the barn. Where I travel further South for work I see loads of stackliners. Probably partially because everyone's storing hay in old open, slab-on-grade cotton barns and free-span pole barns with lots of headroom and easy drive-in access. Out West where hay is more frequently hauled long distances on transports/flatbeds, the Tubeline accumulators and grapples or the bale-barons seem to be popular because you can load directly from the field onto the flatbed with no manual labour.

 

[showcrop]

When I was at that crossroads I bought a baler with thrower and four wagons. With that set-up and 2-3 customers who picked up in the field I could comfortably handle 500-600 bales to a mowing. 2/3 of my wagon loads were unloaded by the customers, so I was mostly a one man operation. My friend last year got a push accumulator that goes on the loader. That looks like a good way to go.

 

[stoughtonfarmboy]

Looking to scale up on hay a bit. Are you guys using those wagons that pick the bales up, or one of those front end buckets? or a kick baler?

Right now I just use a standard small square baler, stack it all by hand. Looking to try to speed it up so we can do more volume. We'd still be doing small squares.

Anything you guys recommend looking into?

In southern Wisconsin I bale a few very small (2 -4 acres) fields. I use a kick baler and ",kick-baler wagons" . Adjust the kicker to lob the bales so they avoid getting too misshapen. After a half dozen bales then I climb in and stack them. Some extra work, but makes it easier to unload. Have sold the occasional load right from the wagon.

Once in awhile I can recruit my 77 year old brother or my 62 year old brother-in-law to stack in the wagon while baling. Very careful to go slow and allow time between bales. I am 75, but the owner of the tractor gets to drive the tractor.

Ken

 

[SHALER]

So $5,000 to $10,000 budget? I would suggest the following for you. Good used 10 wheel rake that can cover some ground (I have a feeling you have a small rake now). This can be a real time saver,,,,,$4,000. It is very difficult for one guy to put up much hay with a roll bar rake or small rotary. Get three used 18 foot bale thrower wagons - $1800 each.
One used New Holland belt thrower for your 275. A couple models will fit it, 54A is one for sure, about $500 Tarps for a couple wagons. Say $100. There is your $10K! But wait, theres more...if you have a couple good flat wagons (you do use the plural form when you reference them above) you can sell them and get close to only $8000 ultimately out of pocket. If you actually currently have a big rake, $4000 less.

 

[showcrop]

Understand that what works in one part of the country may not work in another. One huge variable is the amount of moisture in your ground.