Bale loader

grandpa Love

Well-known Member
I bought this a while back from Tracy Brown. Why haven't I changed those flat tires??! I already have a couple good used tires sitting in the barn. I bet it would make life easier for us.
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Hooks on truck or trailer. It's laying down in the picture. Knieb bale loader. Couple videos on YouTube.
 
They are fairly popular around here (western Washington). If you're Googling, they are also called pop-ups. Handy hint- they have to be attached at the front of the trailer, and you then stack from the back of the trailer forward. If your trailer is very long, put an attachment mid-trailer too, so the guy stacking doesn't have to carry the bales so far.

Funny how different areas use different methods. Most here just drop the bales behind the baler, and pick up later. I occasionally see balers towing a trailer with a guy stacking on it. Have never seen a bale thrower. Pickup in the field is usually done by hand, but some by pop-up or harrow bed (but not very often). One guy near me has a Farmhand system- accumulator behind the baler, and a loader-mounted rig that lifts the accumulated bales onto a trailer.
 
It works really good. As a teen , I hauled thousands of bales. Often did it alone with a 16 foot straight truck. Run six onto the bed. Stop and stack. Do six more. Was a huge step up from just me and the truck. Put it into service. You’ll be glad you did.
 

Neighbor had one of those. He always baled hay using an Allis-Chalmers roto-baler. That Knieb pop-up bale loader worked absolutely great with those bales. I spent all 4 summers of my high school years working right beside that bale loader.
 
I watched the video. How is that any easier than hitching a wagon directly behind the baler? You need at least 2 people either way and the bale loader requires one more pass over the field.
 
There’s usually practical reasons for local customs on most things including hay handling. Lots of small dairy and beef herds around here. Poll barns were small and common. No loft (mow) to stack into. Just back your pickup or truck in and load right off and stack. When my brother and I were young bucks we could move lots of hay in a day. Especially the times when one of us had a girlfriend that thought it was fun to spend time with two sweaty knuckleheads and would drive for us. The graves loader (I think named after a town in Oklahoma) worked good on the 46 1 1/2 ton Chevy with a poll barn to stack into. Put me through college in the 60’s.
 
If a bale sits on the ground overnight here, it will be wet on the bottom by morning. Pop up T storms are frequent and unpredictable. Best to get the hay under cover quickly. If I leave bales out for some reason, I put them on end. But normally we pick them up quickly.
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(quoted from post at 12:19:18 08/10/20) I watched the video. How is that any easier than hitching a wagon directly behind the baler? You need at least 2 people either way and the bale loader requires one more pass over the field.

Don't know anyone said it was easier, or less time and fuel consuming, than baling direct to a wagon. It is one of the options available rather than a person picking up individual bales dropped on the ground, if one doesn't have a tractor large enough to handle the baler and a wagon, with a load on it, on the terrain being baled. The joys of picking up individual bales was where this started, in an earlier post.
 
Honestly I think two guys pulling a trailer around and picking them up by hand might be faster.
 
My self I prefer to pull the wagon behind the baler and have 1 or 2 people on the hay wagon stacking the hay. That saves fuel and time
 
That explains it, Northvale. Even though the Pacific Northwest is thought of as rainy, that doesn't apply during the summer months. When it stops raining about the end of June, we get very little until the end of September (sometimes none at all). The last thunderstorm was 2 years ago. The bad news is, we almost never get a second cutting unless irrigated. The good news is, this is just about the nicest summer climate in the country. Little rain in summer, temps usually 75ish, above 85 is rare. Its been over 100 only once in my 72 years. But the winters can get a little dreary.
 
I have an old NH bale loader has 4 wheels and hooks to the side of a wagon or truck,used to use it.Worked pretty good with the side next to the loader having sides up about 4 ft could load right many bales and then go back and stack them on the wagon.With small bales no way around having some help or working one or two people pretty hard.
 
We had a couple of those when I was a kid. Would load 4 wagons off the baler, then drop on the ground. We would then use the bale loader to load a 45' flatbed, a 48' and two tandem farm trucks. Then the next morning run them all up into the barn.
 
Everyone finds a way that works for them. We've got an EZ Trail Bale Basket wagon. Bales slide right out the baler and up a chute into the basket. Park the truck or trailer out of the way (in the shade if available), pull by, and dump the basket beside it, and the baler goes right back to work. 75-90 bales in the basket at a time usually, not chasing around the field picking up bales. One guy can bale and another guy can load a truck or trailer reasonably easy that way. If two or more people are loading, you are usually taking a break waiting for the next basket to arrive. Works well for people buying out of the field as well. Fields around the barn, go right to the barn and dump at the conveyor. Not much different than using a baler with a kicker and wagon, one handling generally. But like a baler and kicker wagon you need a tractor heavy enough to control it on hills. grandpa can use the bale loader with his bumper pull trailers. If his bale loader doesn't work out, I would suggest looking at a drag type bale buncher which he can use with the equipment he has, or a bigger tractor and 4 wheel wagons to bale directly on to.
 
Mine is the other brand, made in St Cloud.

I had 104 on this load, but I climbed up to stack back, usually as you say 90 or a little less.

Paul


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Coshoo,you mentioned living in Southwest Washington.Curious to know what town you live in .I live between Camas and Hockinson and make hay in and around Hockinson and Brushprairie.
Paul
 
Paul....there is one of those sitting along the road about 3 miles away. I should try to find who owns it.
 
Get it ready and try it out. Do you have any more hay to cut? I hope the bale loader works good for you. That type of loader is just what I had in mind when I replied to your other post.
 
I have one similar to that. Wife drives the tractor and I stack on the trailer. It takes a lot of work out of hay hauling. IMO it is worth its weight in gold.
 
I think he could do it . Thought about making a way to drive from the trailer then I decided I got a big baler little bales no longer need to be part of my life 😀
 
I'm about 5 miles outside of Chehalis. I don't do much farming- wife has a few horses, I try to keep the pasture up. Used to put up hay myself, but its hot, dusty work, and now that I'm getting old(er), we just buy it.
 

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