Hauling Hay

Cosmo2021

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3240 Kubota HST
Jun 2, 2021
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Nemo,SD
What is the best implement for the task of moving large square bales or small bales with a tractor without a quick hitch?
 

Bmyers

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A wagon
 
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BigG

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l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Sep 14, 2018
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West Central,FL
How much hay and how far do you need to haul it? On the road or off road only?
 

NCL4701

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L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572 box scrape, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
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For the large square bales, bale spear (on loader or 3 point or both), preferably one with multiple spears. For small square bales either manually throw on a truck/trailer or get an automatic hay wagon.

 
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Ikc1990

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Kubota m125x, m9000, b2710, and other equiptment
Dec 2, 2020
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Large bales pallet forks small bales either wagon or just depending on set up stack on pallet and move pallet with pallet forks is a thought
 

Cosmo2021

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3240 Kubota HST
Jun 2, 2021
4
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Nemo,SD
For the large square bales, bale spear (on loader or 3 point or both), preferably one with multiple spears. For small square bales either manually throw on a truck/trailer or get an automatic hay wagon.

Do you have any product recommendations for large square spears and is rear 3 point better than hooking onto loader? Thanks.
 
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BigG

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l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Sep 14, 2018
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West Central,FL
Do you have any product recommendations for large square spears and is rear 3 point better than hooking onto loader? Thanks.
The hay spears are pretty generic so in this day and age if you can find one buy it. If you do not need to stack the big bales I would get a 3 point spear. That way you can see much easier where you are going. For the small bales a pallet fork on the front would be nice. Stack about 6 bales on a pallet and then you could double stack and unstack them in the barn. Handling them once to stack them on a pallet would be sweet.
 

NCL4701

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L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572 box scrape, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
Apr 27, 2020
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Central Piedmont, NC
Do you have any product recommendations for large square spears and is rear 3 point better than hooking onto loader? Thanks.
Agree with BigG. I haven’t looked up the specs on your tractor but you’ll have more weight capacity on the 3 point than with the loader. If you don’t need to stack, 3 point will be very stable and good for visibility. If you need to stack, loader is a better option. Moving a couple hundred yards, the pallet and fork idea for small bales is probably a good plan also. Can’t imagine needing a trailer or automatic hay wagon to move bales a couple hundred yards.

Also agree with BigG that the spears are pretty generic but with one caveat. I would suggest something with two or more long spears for large square bales. The single long spike with a couple of short spikes work well for round bales but not as good for the big square bales. Not recommending the one below, just including as an example.

 
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BigG

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l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Sep 14, 2018
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West Central,FL
OK where the hell was that thing when I was a kid!?!? <lol>
The horses could not put it. They were to busy pulling the dump rake.;)
 
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NCL4701

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L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572 box scrape, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
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OK where the hell was that thing when I was a kid!?!? <lol>
When I was a kid we heated exclusively with wood. Split with a 8lb maul, 16lb sledge, and wedges. First time I came home from college there’s a 20 ton hydraulic wood splitter in the shed. Asked my Dad what was up with that. He said, “You left. Didn’t really expect me to split all that wood did you?” Thanks, Dad.

He didn’t have an automatic hay wagon either, but our neighbor did and it was sweet.
 
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torch

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When I was a kid, the 8-10 year olds drove the tractor, because they weren't strong enough to handle the bales. 12 years old or so, and you were on the trailer stacking the bales. 16 and you walked alongside throwing the bales up.
 
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BAP

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When I was a kid, the 8-10 year olds drove the tractor, because they weren't strong enough to handle the bales. 12 years old or so, and you were on the trailer stacking the bales. 16 and you walked alongside throwing the bales up.
Man, you must have grown up just like I did. Don’t know how many hundreds of thousands of bales I handled in my life time
 

D2Cat

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And as the word of all the hard work got out fewer youngsters were interested in putting up bales of hay.

Gary Vermeer wanted to help his friend stay in the cattle business, so he had an idea of how to make big round bales. He made a model of his imagination out of cardboard, and then began fabricating with metal.


"In the first part of the 1970s amidst worldwide inflation came Vermeer Manufacturing's biggest contribution to agriculture, the large round hay baler--the first of its kind and the forefather of all round balers since. When one of Gary's neighbors talked about leaving the farming business due to the difficulty of providing feed for his cows, it started the former to thinking about alternate ways to put hay. Characteristically, Vermeer decided to design a hay baler by factoring in several key components: it had to be operable by one person; produce hay bales weighing about a ton; and wind the hay tight enough to shed water. Along with one of his engineers, the two drew a model with chalk and had their first prototype up and running in six weeks. Once again VMC was the toast of the town, revitalizing the farming industry."
 
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torch

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And as the word of all the hard work got out fewer youngsters were interested in putting up bales of hay.
Dang. I wasn't aware it was optional.
 
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hope to float

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For the large square bales, bale spear (on loader or 3 point or both), preferably one with multiple spears. For small square bales either manually throw on a truck/trailer or get an automatic hay wagon.

Does someone have to go around the field first turning all the bales on their side?
 

NCL4701

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L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572 box scrape, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
Apr 27, 2020
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Central Piedmont, NC
Does someone have to go around the field first turning all the bales on their side?
Ha! I didn’t even notice that on the video. I have experience with a grand total of one automatic hay wagon. Can’t even recall the manufacturer at this point, just remember it was yellow and orange and about twice as big as the one in the video. It would pick them up so long as it was approaching from the end of the bale and was at least sort of close to straight. Whether the bale was on the side or twine up/down didn’t matter but they did all need to be oriented the same to get a consistent stack. For the one in the video or other models, no clue.
 

BigG

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l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Sep 14, 2018
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West Central,FL
Does someone have to go around the field first turning all the bales on their side?
Most of the balers I know of will lay the bale down on the strings. You need to attach a piece to the baler and as the bale comes out it will be turned on it's side. Different machine have different ways to do the same job. So in theory the bale never needs to be touched by anyone. In THEORY only.
 

bird dogger

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When I was a kid, the 8-10 year olds drove the tractor, because they weren't strong enough to handle the bales. 12 years old or so, and you were on the trailer stacking the bales. 16 and you walked alongside throwing the bales up.
Same here! :) We were first put to work with a B Farmall pulling a flat stone boat, or really a hay boat and we'd ride and load the bales on that. The oldest of the crew would operate some kind of contraption that would slide the bales off the flat metal boat when the stack got to be too high for us. We'd operate along with the regular crew with the hay wagons and older men so they could keep an eye on us. Our job was to round up missed bales, bales that fell off, or were out of the way of the wagon and walking pickers and slide our load off in the next lane that the wagon would be coming down. Good times growing up then!!