Advice Input on best way to stack a hay wagon

We usually only roll our hay up but after my wife and daughter got horses we are going to square bale some for winter. Our first cutting we dropped on ground and then loaded on a trailer behind truck. This go round I bought a hay wagon. What is the "preferred" or best way to stack a hay wagon and only do it once? Also our ground is pretty hilly... Thanks for the input.

Stack flat on the strings and cross next layer and you can go four tiers high easy. just lay them tight together

stand on the left side of wagon, grab the bale on the left side. dontr turn it around go to the back of rack. lay it about 5 inches from back go side fore side don't go to high till you have 2 or 3 rows deep. the reason is the knife cuts on oneside of the bale, this makes it sit better on the rack, if you load the other way they will fall forword of the rack. I learned that 40 years ago when I was about 10 years old.

Best way I know is to have someone else do it.

Rick :shock: :shock:

You may have to do as Gene said on the front two rows also. If you only go 4 high, put a bale in the center of the top row also. By putting the front and back 2 rows at 90 degrees layers from each other, you will do about all you can.

Yep,

Horses can't eat hay that's been put up in a round bale. :>)

Allan

1 lengthwise to the rack down the middle with 2 crosswise on each side for 3 layers then leave the center one out on top of that to tie it together for another 2 layers. Cut sides of the bale to the front of the rack.

Here's what I do: (just finished three loads tonight) first bale goes to the rear of the wagon and put it down lengthwise in the exact center of the rack. Then two bales go on each side of that one bale crosswise. You now have one layer of 5 bales across the rear of the wagon. Next layer: first one lengthwise on the right side of the wagon, next four go cross wise and that will complete the second layer. Next layer: first bale goes lengthwise on the left side of the wagon, next four go crosswise to complete layer number three. Next layer: this one is the same as the beginning with one lengthwise in the center and two crosswise on either side. The fifth layer is a little different. The next four bales all go lengthwise on the stack across the top. This allows for a little pyramid action as the four lengthwise are just a tad narrower. The sixth and final layer is optional- four bales cross wise on top of the four that were just piled lengthwise.
Using this method it is easy to put 100 bales on 8x14 wagons, and about 120 on 8x16 wagons. They don't fall off as they are all interlocked with each other.

You are going 6 layers high on hilly ground

But, how about some plowing pictures with that 8 bottom plow?? Cmore

This is how we stacked ours so they tied each other in.
This was in every "tier" on the wagon, one bale lengthwise
on the end and two sideways. Lengthwise bale on the opposite
end on each layer as we went up. Hopefully the picture makes
sense. We stacked them 7 layers tall as shown.
Adjusted the length of the bales to equal 2 X the width.
That made them pretty big bales, but workable.

5- the optional 6th is for flatter fields. Never had an issue going 5 high.

Hills are a problem.

First I'd say it depends on the width of your wagon - but assuming you get 5 across like all of ours - it aint easy!

(I count the short side of the bales - 5 short sides wide)

The problem with 5 wide is that's two full bales across plus one. You can't have a 5x5 pattern that just simply reverses for each layer. Not without bad columns and holes.

(there IS a good pattern that works, but it's so complex its hard to follow when the bales are flying at you)

SO - for hilly areas, we accept some colums and use a 2x5 pattern

here's how we do it...

If each of these lines is a bale:

looking down from the top, so = is two bales the long way across the wagon. ! is one bale, in line with the wagon.

building layers bottom to top.

1st layer: =!=
2nd layer: !==
3rd layer: ==!
4th layer: =!=

Once you do it a few times it's very easy.

After you do a column or two of those you can add the 5th and 6th layers - which are only 4 wide.

5th & 6th layer, layer: --
!!!!

Just mix up the 5th and 6th layers as needed to tie the tops of the 2x5 columns together.

The most important part of hills and hay wagons is going straight up the hill when you can. avoid going across go across a hill, let the hay lean against the back.

(assuming your wagon has a back??? if not - consider adding one)

If you have to go down steep hills - about the only thing you can do is leave a step pattern in the hay - front to back, even if it means more trips between the barn and the field.

More trips is better than picking up spilled bales - that's the worst.

Either way - it's wise not to try to fill up the wagon all the way to the very front. Some guys I hay with want to get as many bales as humanly possible onto a wagon, as if it matters. It gets pretty silly.

The front of the wagon is the danger zone. if you slip off - there's a good chance the person driving the tractor isn't going to stop in time. Just avoid the risk and live with some unused wagon space.

m - exactly what I was trying to draw with my ='s and !'s

Yep, they can eat a round bale, but unless you can figure out a way to keep them from eating free choice, your lean and mean gelding will be so fat by spring that you can't get a saddle on him. Cattle make nice gains on good quality free choice hay, and the gain is worth money; horses just get fat.

And have you ever tried putting round bales in a hay loft?

(quoted from post at 22:41:13 08/07/14) You are going 6 layers high on hilly ground

Click to expand...

Only 6 high? We go 6 high with five bales per layer and a 7th level of 4 bales on top. Makes for a load of 170 bales.
Couldn't imagine trying to stack a load on a wagon that doesn't have a 6 high back rack.

Haven't had a back on our flat rack for years.
I stack 4 rows of 6, 1 row of 5, and sometimes 2 on the very top
=
=!=
!==!
===
!==!
===

Works fine on gently rolling fields and I've hauled loads 30 miles or so without a problem.

That is the way we stacked on the wagon some of the time. Al depended on how rough the field was. I have never used standards on the back of the rack.

BALE THROWER on the baler. Much easier to unload also.
Loren, the Acg.

If I'm understanding the coding, we do it like this:

1st level:
=!!= (two in-line with the tractor centerline, with "wings" to either side).
2nd level:
!!!!! (five across in line with tractor c/l)
3d level:
=!= (one in line with tractor c/l and "wings")
4th level:
!!!! (4 across in line with tractor c/l)
5th level:
==

So if you took a cross-section of our stack:

[=][=]
{}{}{}{}
[=]{}[=]
{}{}{}{}{}
[=]{}{}[=]
----------- <--wagon floor

(Hmm, when looking at the "preview" of my message, it doesn't line up like I thought it would. But you get the idea)

We can usually get 100 or so bales on each wagon. These are on open flat wagons. The first level "wings" overhang our wagons by 6-8". It really depends how big your wagons are. We've done it this way for years and it seems to work good for us. The main thing will be get them in TIGHT together! Try to "lock" them in like LEGOs. Otherwise, every bump in the field with loosen the stack a little and eventually you'll hit that big bump that will make hay fall off!
Also, however you stack, on an open wagon you need to "slant" your levels in slightly, like a pyramid, to help them from falling. Straight-sided levels with tend to fall.

Oh crap! My cross-section diagram doesn't look right at all!

Before the thrower I did it, (from back in the sixties) like Mnut, Royse, and JRSutton. It is also good idea like heavy hauler too says to put cut edge back on the first tier and out on the rest for better stability. We always stacked seven layers with the top two tapered. It is well known that horses can't eat hay that has been round baled due to the curvature that it puts in the stems as opposed to random bending in squares. The curve is not taken out in the horses digestive system compared to the digestive system in the ruminants, so the curvature causes the horse as it walks to turn more in one direction than the other. This leads eventually to vertigo, which of course makes them go off their feed and if not caught in time can be fatal.

Sorry,

Thought everyone had already seen it.

Plow/tractor works just fine. Had to drop 'er in the ground a little deeper after I took this picture tho.

Allan

We've got fields where we can't do 6 across - because we have to pass through barways in stone walls - surrounded with trees. Anything wider than the wagon will get pushed off by the branches.

Ditto on height.

So instead of having one pattern for open fields, and one for closed fields... it's a lot easier to go with the one the works in all.

Even so - we manage between 100 and 150 per wagon. But we also can have 4 or 5 wagons going in a loop so it really doesn't matter if each one is loaded a little light.

Remember too - the higher you stack the bales, the harder you're working - it's simple physics. You might not mind it, but somebody helping you probably does. If you're just doing one wagon load it hardly matters , but if you're doing 5 + wagons it does.

The bottom line - don't make loading the wagon any more of a chore than it has to be. Keep it simple and people will be happier about helping you with it.

Funny my kids had horses for a few years. Never had that problem with free choice. But even in winter they were in pasture, not penned up.

Rick

Also cheater boards on sides helps tip loads in .also older trick when putting boards on wagon rough side up they had at one time boards that were finished on only one side.
The way i stack first layer has starter row by standard 5 bales length wise remander cross ways.next row start cross ways end 5 end bales length ways go as high as you want top layers 2 cross ways and one row single . Its the same way as they stack products in pallets in a factory. stacked alot of loads that way .there is also a special way to stack when you have a grab fork in barn

WOW!! I'm impressed...it did pull it!! Cmore

same way I do it. stacks tight, easy to count when done. All ties together, pretty much none fall off or you loose the whole load.

I was taught various ways, working for the neighbors they taught me another way, this upset my dad. The neighbor that taught me how he wanted HIS wagons stacked when I worked for him was one of the few in our little burg that actually made a living farming, he was the kinda fella who would buy a tractor and run it 6,000 hours and it still wouldn't have a scratch or dent on it and you can bet it also ran like new. All his and the local wagons had standards on them (back or backrack in other parts of the country). 1st row five on the bottom with the odd bale long wise in the middle, 2nd row same as the 1st, 3rd row same as the 1st & 2nd, 4th row depending on the field same as the first 3 rows, although once or twice he told me to start topping, which meant to put a row of 4 all across. 5th row, 4 all across or if you did that on the previous row you put one long down the middle.

Pictogram 1st =!=, 2nd =!= 3rd =!= 4th =!= 5th == 6th !

We'd do this 4 times so the wagon had 100 bales. He'd cut it back to 80 on a few of the rented fields he had when we couldn't get out under the trees. When I started for him I lost a load or so until he explained and coached that "you got to keep everything square and tight or it'll get away from us" Most of the other folks in town stacked this way too. Only had to worry about the floating odd bale system or bottom/extra interlocking when I worked for folks over towards Bath (but then one of those guys had a wagon you stacked with a 6 bottom). Like I said once he had me trained we didn't loose any loads. He had a 30 cow dairy and raised Belgian horses and his son had a flock of sheep. Put most of his 1st cutting up in small squares for the horses and most of the 2nd and 3rd went into rounds for the cattle and sheep.

I grew up in a small town outside Lansing Michigan, as I said there were about 6 families that actually made a living farming, everyone else was like we were at home, hobby farmers with a off farm job in Lansing, East Lansing, Owosso or St Johns. I found it interesting when I was home for a reunion in 2010 there are still folks cutting hay with 2 cylinder John Deeres and sickle mowers, raking with steel wheeled rakes and baling with JD 24 t's or NH Hayliner 268's, usually with a John Deere 60 and pulling a hayrack behind the baler.