OH NO hay crisis!

[Chick_a_dee]

Wow, that's incredible! It looks like they're just one massive bale, unfortunately... If he did have something like that, I'd definitely need them to be smaller bales within the large bale, otherwise handling would be insanity for us.

 

[Katy]

We don't store our hay in the barn. There'd be no way to move it into and out of the loft. We store it on the ground in stacks or lined up. That's one advantage of big rounds they shed the water and can be stored outside unlike small squares. Our cows eat a lot of hay so it's actually easier for us to feed the big bales. I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
That's quite a machine. Never seen anything like that around here. We have what they call bale accumulators that pick up and stack small squares, but they aren't banded together.

 

[Kittikity]

Maybe tie a rope or chain around a stout tree and let the flatbed driver drive out from under it? It should come off a flatbed rather easy..

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
Yeah, we don't really have anywhere to put them outside, we have a "raised barn," so it's a foundation barn with a ramp of soil pushed up one side to get into the hayloft, not to be mistaken for a bank barn. Even if we had the space, we have no way to move the round bales, other than rolling them haha, and given that I won't be at the farm for 6 months, it'll be my mother alone, theres no way they'd get moved.

 

[KierBri]

i can't believe you have second cutting coming soon, we're just starting our first down here! a good stout tree will work for offloading too. big round bails will roll right off a pickup truck into where ever. hubby and i move them all the time, 800lbs (and we're not big people) you do want to be careful with bigger bales and horses though, they tend to get moldy/dusty which can lead to heaves.

beardedchick....i'll take your 80 pounders in a heartbeat! a big bale in ct is 40 or so. they stack horribly, and flakes fall apart as you try to throw them over a fence, and the flakes arn't uniform, a snack one day and half the bale the next! a truck driving friend used to bring be georgous bales from ohio but last year the farmers all planted corn

edit: no, rounders aren't a one-person job

 

[Chick_a_dee]

80 pounders, thats like an 8 flake bale to us here, 4 flakes would be 40 pounds... i want the 80 pounders, and farmers do them here, i was just lead to believe that the farmer did the 80 pounders, instead it seems he's into MASSIVE square bales, looks like processor in the link is what he has likely. I know the bales go mouldy, and dusty quick if you get the massive ones, thats why i was hoping the huge ones he does, were merely smaller bales (80lbs, but 40lbs would be fine too) bound together into one massive bale for transport.

If we did get round bales, we'd be storing them, and then ripping lengths off them for the horses, rather than feeding the whole bale at once.

Edit: Yeah, first cut was taken about last week, the farmer selling us the farm took first cut off a tiny hay field in the back...seriously, it's not even an acre, not even half an acre...probably not even a quarter acre LOL, about a month or so and we'll have second cut coming, but we want to order now so we can make sure we get some hay.

 

[BeardedChick]

KierB, I don't want your round bales, though! Those are a pain to transport, store and handle. I like the 700# squares that we used to get, they flake apart perfectly - one big flake broke nicely into 4 evenly sized small flakes.

We just put up ~7 tons of small bales of hay. Ugh.

 

[patandchickens]

I have no tractor, and feed exclusively 600-700 lb big squares. So obviously it can be done

It is not that much of a problem as long as you have ground-level storage for them. The only tough part is getting them unloaded in the first place. What you need to do is sweet-talk one of the local farmers, preferably NOT by thinking of them in the terms you have described them in on another recent thread

, into coming by with his tractor when the hay delivery arrives. (I get my hay from a guy who lives 5 minutes away, so he just ups the price and drives his tractor down here to help me get it off the truck; a good deal for us both).

Here is how:

Remove from hay wagon using bale spear on tractor.

Tractor deposits bale onto STRONG dolly in barn doorway. (Use a 2x4' or 3x5' piece of 3/4" plywood with 6 large casters from the hardware store, rated at 200+ lbs each, bolted onto the bottom).

Push the bale, now on the dolly, to where you want it in the barn. With a strong friend or relative, go '1-2-3-PUSH' and roll the bale a quarter turn off the dolly onto a pallet (I recommend a good tarp underneath the pallets).

Lather rinse repeat.

They are easy peasy to feed in any way you like -- you just take them apart into flakes just like a small square bale only of course the flakes are larger. You can stuff 'em into haynets, feed in stalls, toss into ANY kind of pasture feeder, etc. (We feed on the ground on clean grass or clean snow, or on mats in the shed).

However, if you have no ground-level storage, you are almost completely screwed. You can disassemble the bales into flakes and carry them piece by piece, but it takes a huge amount of time, you end up with most of the hay down the back of your neck, they don't store very compactly, and of course no way will you get 'em up a hay elevator into a loft.

If you have no ground-level storage you're just going to have to find another hay supplier. Or MAKE some space for ground-level storage, if you have part of a barn or drive shed that might possibly serve. Or I suppose quick buy one of those ag sheds with the semicircular metal trusses and fabric skins, and have it erected Real Quick.

I should not think it'd be that difficult to find an alternate source of hay, though. Gee, the earliest I've ever worried about hay is August or so; I don't *usually* call my hay guy til September, and never actually get it til late Oct or early Nov. Are you suuuuuure they're about to do the second cutting, 'cuz they are only doing the 1st cutting now, around here, and you're not that far away.

Make sure whatever hay you are getting has cured in the hay supplier's barn for a month or so (which I doubt it will have, yet, if it's from around here) because green hay, unless very intelligently stacked and stored in a well ventilated barn, can spontaneously combust. Major cause of barn fires. Seriously. Including, sometimes, the barns of hay farmers who know what they're doing. I know buying it outta the field and green is a little cheaper but I do not think it is worth it, considering the risk.

For those who do not like the quality of large square bales, I have to say that I've been very happy with what I've had the last 4 years. The only dust in them is from being sometimes cut a bit low to the ground (which you get equally well in small squares), they are not a bit moldy, and the quality has been consistantly good. So I think it depends a lot on exactly whose hay you're getting.

JME,

Pat

 

[Chick_a_dee]

We will be, when needing the hay, about 4 hours from you haha...not THAT close. Anyway, we don't have ground level storage, we have a raised barn, and by law we're not allowed to erect another structure on the property, permanent or not...it's kind of annoying. We do have a drive shed, that's massive, but it's not that massive haha, and it's actually being used as a horse run.

They just cut first cut here, we want to order early, deliver in September, or October. Perhaps we'll look for another supplier, shame this one isn't going to work out, because he's literally down the road from us, and we've had GREAT "reviews," of his hay, the guy who gave us his number buys from him, and is really happy with his hay. Thanks for the suggestion though! .. we don't have a belt, so we're going to look for another supplier who can give us some 80lb bales.