Baling Hay numbers .

Teddy

My best day was 1700 with them. It was hotter than h---, black metal barn, 95 degrees outside. We got it done. Start at 7:00 unloading wagons, quit at 10:00 to start raking and grease. Lunch at 12:00, bale at 12:30, run 8 hrs with the 336, by quitting time the barn crew was done for so we left everything loaded.

As you say, hard to find people to work that hard or that long. Decided that I needed to do something. Added the bale wagon and converted/built barns. By myself I can do 800 a day (rake, bale, stack). If I rake the day before or have a raker, add 400, if he can bale too, I can get about 1500 with dew and daylight being the limiting factors. Then along came stretch film..... Now, I'm headed back down to about 3000 a year in small sqaured and up the rolls from 1000 to 5000.

Do you have a picture of one of your circles running? Thats the pretty part out in this desert. :>)

Allan

You are a workin' fool and a dyin' breed. I think I'd better get over there and shake your hand.

You're one of the last "good guys". Good for you! :>)

Allan

You, of course, know I didn't mean that in a negative way. In my world, a "workin' fool" is the highest form of compliment. :>)

I know from where you come. :>)

Allan

You are a workin' fool and a dyin' breed. I think I'd better get over there and shake your hand.

You're one of the last "good guys". Good for you! :>)

Allan

I talked to a number of full time farms in our area. They say 2500 would be tops. And farther more a NH 69 would have a good job of baling 1500 in one day let alone 4500 of any size. Most are beef and older Dairy men, they say the most any of them have done is 1000-1200 with a good crew and one baler. I have yet to talk to a family that sale hay for a living. I will this week and ask them what baler they are using, a couple of years old top of the line NH cost them some $$ . They do 30000 - 35000 bale of Timothy a year 1 st cutting him and his Dad. But they have top of the line equipment. They all said 500 in our area is a good number to make top grade 1st cutting. Per day, day after day after day. For any setup, one baler. That was my thinking.

Teddy

P.S. Posted late as to not feed this fire any more.

as myth busters would say...PLAUSABLE, given the correct conditions.

seen it done, don't want to do it again,
casey in SD

Last load of the day would sit in the barn on the rack. I didn't bale like this every day. :) Dad might touch 10 bales the whole day.

I would handle 5-700 bales of 60-75 lb alfalfa in a day. Dry days are rare here in Minnesota, dad didn't mind a little mold.....

Now, what was your point? Several motivated folks should be able to get 4500 bales done in a drier climate with a longer baling window, rotate the work around a little bit. Wouldn't do it for a regular, all summer job, but once - sounds like a fun time.

I do have a round baler now, & limit my square baling to 300 bales a day with a bale basket, so I only handle them once - tho it is a longer walk with the basket. Also got a bale elevator & made a hole in the barn, so that 2nd layer is a lot easier. Had a friend's kid over one day, we got 1200 bales in the barn, just the 2 of us, he did most of the work stacking inside the barn. Was a drier year, bales were 50 lbs or so. Worked fine, he came back other times to help.

--->Paul

Putting all that hay into storage is another matter and precisely where the labour comes into play. Some of these guys are comparing baling and hauling hay 7 to 10 miles to less than 1/3 mile to storage. Anyone who thinks he's going haul hay 7 to 10 miles and keep up with one of these old balers, is going to have a far greater investment in trucking equipment than farm equipment.

I remember once buying a field of standing hay just 6 miles from home. I used my 4 thrower wagons plus 2 pickups and hired a large truck with 20' flat deck. 25 men and boys we had that day. The min. no wagon was there behind the baler, off came the thrower drive belt and baled on the ground until a wagon arrived. Some 4,200 bales were hauled home that day.

Why did we do it that way, as you said, no one wants haying to become a full time job for the summer. One of the top benefits of farming always was sitting back, sipping on a cool one while all those other folks rushed off to their big paying city jobs everyday. Good quality hay all reaches it's peak within very few days, and optimum quality comes and goes very quickly. That top quality forage was always big profits in the cattle industry, particularly dairy. My dad always said, " The lord always provideth a seed time and a harvest time, all one has to do is worketh like H@## while he provideth".

Also read what I had to say about bale size, 4,500 - 45 lb. bales is close to a 100 ton, so is 3,400 - 60 lb. bales

There is not a bit of doubt in my mind that back in 1962, had my Farmall 300 and NH S-69 baler been baling on the ground, they could have averaged 15 ton per hour or 150 ton per day. I think that is about what New Holland rated the S-69 baler.

You also made suggestions leading folk to believe I ran a slave camp. No so, we always had enough labour for the job. I will say that over the last 5 decades of the 1900s that became much more difficult. People just don't want to do physical work anymore. Perhaps society would have better health if we did. At 63 years of age I can still manhandle 3,000 lbs. on a pallet jack single handedly. It's time folks here in North America woke up, the work ethic of the orientals, they are going to sink us financally.

I was waiting in the car for my wife in a parking lot yesterday. A guy tried to park his minivan to my right where there was no parking space. He backed at an angle, so he would still be able to get out when he got parked. Problem was, he was going to hit my back door and fender before his destination. I tooted my horn. He got out rather indignant, "advised me he had an AZ licence and he regularly backed tractor trailers into tigher spots. Said I shouldn't be so uptight". I said, "Sir that may well be, but you are the one with dinges already on your car, I don't have any." My point is there were two empty parking spots to my left, he was just too damn lazy to walk that extra 15'.

Years ago people used to come and get the hay etc. in the winter months out of the shed. In the summer I delievered a lot of it right off the field with the balewagon to the local customers.

Now a days though its too the point you have a hard time selling it unless you deliever it. At least thats what I find here. Now with a stack retriever truck I deliever year round to people stacks of 160 bales and set them right in their shed or yard etc. Sometimes they don't have a proper shed etc. so they have to move it by hand inside.

Well as you can imagine is seems many people these days are so out of shape that its almost dangerous for them to handle these 50-60lb bales!! I can understand the lifting issues but they are just plain short of breath and in such poor shape!! Last summer a few times when I was making deliveries and had time I helped move the hay inside for a few customers that I was afraid were going to have a heart attack! . I just told them what will take you 1/2 the day and a lot of pain I can do it in a 1/2 hr!!

I really don't mind stacking bales.... I mean with in reason of course! This business of 4000 bales a day or whatever all by hand....no thanks!
I'll stick with my balewagon!