13 thoughts on “No shit! Those bales are straw, Alfalfa at 150 pounds over you head…”
not to mention dirty and potentially life threatening with all of the dust, chaff and micro straw particles generated in handling the bales.
Hook the bailer behind the tractor and the wagon behind the bailer. Eliminates half the work force. A kick bailer makes it even more exciting.
That trailer is too low to the ground and there are too man people throwing bales. Our hay trailer was over waist high on me. It is hard-hot work no doubt. A few people still bale square bales (mostly horse people these days). Almost all the cattle farmers around here roll the larger bales. We do.
Didn’t think they were 150 lbs. thought about 50 or so.
Did that a few times on a friend’s farm. Great upper body workout
Roger that, I used to buy alfalfa for my hay burner back in the day. It was never less than 40 pounds, never as high as 60 pounds. It always seemed heavy.
The itch is the worst part
I was SOO glad when the people I worked for got a round baler. Too many days in the Florida sun and humidity stacking bales on a trailer. Our trailers were actually lower than that. But we usually hooked the baler behind the tractor and the trailer right behind the baler. Three people on the trailer could usually get it done.
Did a lot of that as a kid. 2 guys throwing onto the trailer, 1 guy stacking. Builds muscle and character.
My dad always made “wife sized” bales. That way the wife could participate in all the fun.
Used to run a baler (square) for a friend’s dad. He would tell me to run it tight (80#) or loose (60#) depending upon the size of the boys (8th graders) loading the trailer. I’d drop 700 bales in a day…… made $20 per day. The loaders made $0.10/bale for the entire group (5 loaders, usually 8th graders as Mr Smith was a middle school teacher, would mean each person made $0.02/bale)
During hay season, used to get off work, grab a quick hamburger and haul hay til 2 or 3 in the morning. Don’t recall how much we got paid, but as a fringe benefit, there was all the cold beer we could drink. Which wasn’t much, because it was assholes and elbows getting the work done. Good times.
I have fond memories of making hay and straw for my granddad’s neighbors in Indiana. Good, honest work and the farmer’s wife would make a great lunch. First out in the field and then loading into the barn.
I get Alfalfa Bales for my lazy Dutch Warmbloods, spec to my Supplier the Maximum Compaction his Machine will do. Bales are about 80 Pounds, but they stay Fresh all Winter from a July Cutting, still Green and Edible by early May when they run out. And I’m Lazy too, use the Loader on the Tractor to stack them in the Barn.
not to mention dirty and potentially life threatening with all of the dust, chaff and micro straw particles generated in handling the bales.
Hook the bailer behind the tractor and the wagon behind the bailer. Eliminates half the work force. A kick bailer makes it even more exciting.
That trailer is too low to the ground and there are too man people throwing bales. Our hay trailer was over waist high on me. It is hard-hot work no doubt. A few people still bale square bales (mostly horse people these days). Almost all the cattle farmers around here roll the larger bales. We do.
Didn’t think they were 150 lbs. thought about 50 or so.
Did that a few times on a friend’s farm. Great upper body workout
Roger that, I used to buy alfalfa for my hay burner back in the day. It was never less than 40 pounds, never as high as 60 pounds. It always seemed heavy.
The itch is the worst part
I was SOO glad when the people I worked for got a round baler. Too many days in the Florida sun and humidity stacking bales on a trailer. Our trailers were actually lower than that. But we usually hooked the baler behind the tractor and the trailer right behind the baler. Three people on the trailer could usually get it done.
Did a lot of that as a kid. 2 guys throwing onto the trailer, 1 guy stacking. Builds muscle and character.
My dad always made “wife sized” bales. That way the wife could participate in all the fun.
Used to run a baler (square) for a friend’s dad. He would tell me to run it tight (80#) or loose (60#) depending upon the size of the boys (8th graders) loading the trailer. I’d drop 700 bales in a day…… made $20 per day. The loaders made $0.10/bale for the entire group (5 loaders, usually 8th graders as Mr Smith was a middle school teacher, would mean each person made $0.02/bale)
During hay season, used to get off work, grab a quick hamburger and haul hay til 2 or 3 in the morning. Don’t recall how much we got paid, but as a fringe benefit, there was all the cold beer we could drink. Which wasn’t much, because it was assholes and elbows getting the work done. Good times.
I have fond memories of making hay and straw for my granddad’s neighbors in Indiana. Good, honest work and the farmer’s wife would make a great lunch. First out in the field and then loading into the barn.
I get Alfalfa Bales for my lazy Dutch Warmbloods, spec to my Supplier the Maximum Compaction his Machine will do. Bales are about 80 Pounds, but they stay Fresh all Winter from a July Cutting, still Green and Edible by early May when they run out. And I’m Lazy too, use the Loader on the Tractor to stack them in the Barn.