Excuse me, I'd just like to brag a tiny bit...

[Just-Moxie]

I did hay 1 time. I was 28 then. Quite a physical experience. Not everyone can just jump in and do hay. (ima city slicker btw)

 

[thistlebloom]

Gee cousin, I just read this thread, you done good. You deserve a pat on the back...…..hot tub, massage and candlelight dinner. Besides zero to none, what are the chances of that happening?

I like your hay shelter, that is a good idea for storage when you have nowhere to stack hay. Square bales are nice, but I am spoiled to round bales. We now have a neighbor that stores our hay in his barn and delivers when we need hay. We pay $10 extra per bale for that service and it is worth every penny. I haven't touched a square bale since we moved here, except for a few for penned up weaning lambs.

I get you on the DIY unloading and stacking the hay. When we both worked, I was off Saturday, Sunday, DH was off Sunday and Monday. I did all I could on Saturdays so we could enjoy our Sundays together. I moved a lot of hay by myself so DH didn't have to. Sometimes I hooked up the trailer and got some help, sometimes not.

Kudos to you!

If I had a place to store it (or a neighbor that would ) and a weather protected shelter to feed from I would feed round or the 1000 pound squares too. Oh yeah, and a tractor that could move it around through the snow....

Little bales are more work for sure and fewer farmers are putting it up that way, but for now we do what we have to.

 

[Nyboy]

How much does a bale weigh ?

 

[baymule]

How much does a bale weigh ?

A good square bale will weigh 60 pounds on the light side, 80 pounds is a good bale. The round bales we buy are 1,000 to 1,200 pounds.

One time DH and a helper went to get 25 square bales. (he had to have a helper ) They stacked them in the shed and DH was worrying because the shed was now full and where were we going to put any more?

I told him that I usually stacked 80 to 100 bales in there, no way was it full. He said he would come help me restack it after work. I got there first, the bales were stacked 3 high. I got busy and stacked those pitiful few bales to the rafters. He showed up just as I finished, dumbfounded, he asked how I did that. I told him I used the bales to make steps and just climbed up the steps, dragging the bales. He was utterly amazed.

 

[baymule]

We bought square bales one time from a man that had an accumulator. That was really, really niiiice…… He had this hook attachment that lifted 8 square bales at a time and placed them on the flatbed. We didn't have to load a single one.

 

[bobm]

Your hay bales must be the 2 string variety . We get 3 string rectangular bales ... they weigh in at 90-100 lbs. on the light side and a well packed , and nice green alfalfa bales would run 135-150 lbs. I stack them into the barn or outdoor stack using the stair step method by rolling the bales up the stack by flipping them on end and up each layer one at a time. When stacking, the first layer is placed on pallets on it's longer side for each layer then is alternated as to the direction of the long side as well as on it's flat side. Each bale I always make sure that there is at least 2" of space between the bales for air circulation. MUCH easier than lifting them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A good square bale will weigh 60 pounds on the light side, 80 pounds is a good bale. The round bales we buy are 1,000 to 1,200 pounds.

One time DH and a helper went to get 25 square bales. (he had to have a helper ) They stacked them in the shed and DH was worrying because the shed was now full and where were we going to put any more?

I told him that I usually stacked 80 to 100 bales in there, no way was it full. He said he would come help me restack it after work. I got there first, the bales were stacked 3 high. I got busy and stacked those pitiful few bales to the rafters. He showed up just as I finished, dumbfounded, he asked how I did that. I told him I used the bales to make steps and just climbed up the steps, dragging the bales. He was utterly amazed.

Dad raised soybeans and baled them one time. Square bakes, this was long before the round bales. One time only. Those bakes were over 100 pounds, horrible to handle. They never dried out properly and had to be opened in the barn as they were getting hot. Dad never did that again. Some orchard grass bales might be 50 pounds or even less if they dried too much but the red clover bales could get kind of heavy.

My job when hauling hay was usually as the stacker on the truck or wagon. There was a certain pattern to it, on many trailers I could get it 5 high. They were tied together in a way so the top ones held the bottom ones in place. When we got to the barn Dad would toss them up into the hay loft and I'd stack them in there. Sometimes we had help, sometimes we did not. Either way, at the end of the day we were tired.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I can no longer lift anything near 60 lbs. I wonder if I ever did....

Let see - 6 #10 cans of food in a case. I did that for quite a few years. That musta been near 50 lbs, but its been decades.

 

[thistlebloom]

The grass mix I get is 75#, the barley averaged 80# the first crop alfalfa 75# the second crop alfalfa #85.

I figure use it or lose it. I love hard physical work. It makes you feel alive, and helps you sleep at night.

 

[thistlebloom]

We bought square bales one time from a man that had an accumulator. That was really, really niiiice…… He had this hook attachment that lifted 8 square bales at a time and placed them on the flatbed. We didn't have to load a single one.

That's how they get loaded onto the trailers from the hay farm. Then they bump them to get them all nice and tight. You have to start unloading from the tail end because it's impossible to get one pulled out from the middle or from the front of the trailer against the gooseneck.