Workin' the Hay

I remember being in high school and doing hay for a $1 an hr. Having that 'hay rash' on your arms. I hated it when the farmer had an elevator instead of hay hooks. You didn't get a break until the rack was empty. One farmer had wire bales and cinched 'em down to, I bet 100 lbs. He would bail damp hay and one year it finally got him- burned his barn down.
 
I would love a stacker but for me it is useless... all my fields are away from the farm so we have to pull trailers and wagons home all loaded. Best fields are customer pay to drop on field. Second best is customer takes haywagon off field and returns empty.
 
I always enjoyed bailing hay. Down here everyone drops their bails then comes back around to pickup. I never understood that, we always pulled wagons and stacked on them to take straight to the loft. I worked on the wagons in the field stacking 6 high with a tie by myself and loved it. Some of those steep hill fields would really test your stacking ability. It was hard work but what wasn't back then.
 
Not much compare to your 1500, but I did 50 by myself today, had to climb 3 steps up and down ladder for every bale then try to throw in the loft, tried to get 8-10 in there before I climbed in to stack. The last 6-8 suck since I can't stack very high. Glad temp was only 76* today. My back and knees are hurting tonight.
Someday I'll paint that barn, been yellow since early 70's. They must've used good paint.
20180723_132442.jpg
 
TAHOE said:
Not much compare to your 1500, but I did 50 by myself today, had to climb 3 steps up and down ladder for every bale then try to throw in the loft, tried to get 8-10 in there before I climbed in to stack. The last 6-8 suck since I can't stack very high. Glad temp was only 76* today. My back and knees are hurting tonight.
Someday I'll paint that barn, been yellow since early 70's. They must've used good paint.
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Doesn't look like much fun stuffing them in there.
 
TAHOE said:
Not much compare to your 1500, but I did 50 by myself today, had to climb 3 steps up and down ladder for every bale then try to throw in the loft, tried to get 8-10 in there before I climbed in to stack. The last 6-8 suck since I can't stack very high. Glad temp was only 76* today. My back and knees are hurting tonight.
Someday I'll paint that barn, been yellow since early 70's. They must've used good paint.
View attachment 3073
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Marty, you need one of those ladder elevators that they let you borrow to put bundles of shingles up on the roof with. I see them for sale once in a great while or even build one. Would make putting hay in that loft a lot easier for sure.
 
Shotgun Wedding said:
Holy cow!!! That stacker is awesome. Me and my brother would have each given a testicle for that!!! We stood on the wagon and stacked.
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At 12 years old I started doing the job of that stacker. 12hours a day 7 days a week all summer long. Made me get a social security card and held back $4 a week. People in the court house made a point of assuring me that my social security number could never be used for any thing but social security. It was the law. I didn't have to worry about it at all. Thanks. Don
 
Texas Horses Hogs and Deeres said:
Marty, you need one of those ladder elevators that they let you borrow to put bundles of shingles up on the roof with. I see them for sale once in a great while or even build one. Would make putting hay in that loft a lot easier for sure.
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Yea, I've thought of rigging up something, but it would also take 2 people, one to load one up top to stack. I usually do this by myself. I only do it once a year, 50 bales last our 2 goats about a year.
 
secondtry said:
At 12 years old I started doing the job of that stacker. 12hours a day 7 days a week all summer long. Made me get a social security card and held back $4 a week. People in the court house made a point of assuring me that my social security number could never be used for any thing but social security. It was the law. I didn't have to worry about it at all. Thanks. Don
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It's the same with driver's license, the supreme court has made a lot of rulings in the past 5-8 yrs that an American citizen Does not need a state issued drivers license, we have the "free right to travel" under the the bill of rights. Just another scheme to track us and the states to make money off us, but then I digress from tossing hay. ;)
 
I am old enough to been able to put hay in the barn loose. A Case VAC exp pulled the wagon and loader till the wagon was full.

enhance
hayloader_fsa_1.jpg


Pick up pulled the wagon it the barn and inside. A system of ropes, a carrier and track in the roof of the barn got the hay off the wagon and where you wanted it in the loft. We tried different types of things to remove the hay.

hay track carrier.

a65371.jpg


This one is what we used mostly.

7f0ce6a5b3f89421eb60b272126ec2fa.jpg



Used these called Eagale claws, but ours had 3 tines.

AntiqueHayFork1_zps9b7891ea.jpg



There were a two tine deal called a harpoon also. can't find a picture of one though.


With the 4 tine graple it took about 4 loads to empty the wagon. the hay was lifted just enough to clear the beams to start, pulled to ther back of the loft. Long poles with a big spike in it was used to get it swinging then tripped to release the hay hopefully where you wanted so there wasn't much fork work to get it there.

We finally got a old T 45 IH baller in 1963 or 64.
Last hay I did was 1967 as I was in the army in 1968. Still looking for the friends and family that requested me for that job.


:D Al
 
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alleyyooper said:
I am old enough to been able to put hay in the barn loose. A Case VAC exp pulled the wagon and loader till the wagon was full.

enhance
hayloader_fsa_1.jpg


Pick up pulled the wagon it the barn and inside. A system of ropes, a carrier and track in the roof of the barn got the hay off the wagon and where you wanted it in the loft. We tried different types of things to remove the hay.

hay track carrier.

a65371.jpg


This one is what we used mostly.

7f0ce6a5b3f89421eb60b272126ec2fa.jpg



Used these called Eagale claws, but ours had 3 tines.

AntiqueHayFork1_zps9b7891ea.jpg



There were a two tine deal called a harpoon also. can't find a picture of one though.


With the 4 tine graple it took about 4 loads to empty the wagon. the hay was lifted just enough to clear the beams to start, pulled to ther back of the loft. Long poles with a big spike in it was used to get it swinging then tripped to release the hay hopefully where you wanted so there wasn't much fork work to get it there.

We finally got a old T 45 IH baller in 1963 or 64.
Last hay I did was 1967 as I was in the army in 1968. Still looking for the friends and family that requested me for that job.


:D Al
Click to expand...
When visiting my Grandparents in south east Kansas. About 1959. My grandad thought that one of the skills a 10 year old boy should have is the ability to make a hay stack capable of standing out all winter with minimal Spoilage. Scythe, two hay forks, hay wagon and two horses. Wish I had pictures or a vidio. Don
 
(Shivers) no thanks... only thing I did at 8 years old was drive the pickup around the field to pick up bales. Then when my aunt (only 10 years older than I) came I was relagated to bale gathering in the field making piles . It was fun and when we got back to the barn we would get an iced cold homemade rootbeer ! Boy that was a treat for an 8 year old boy LOL.
Now I have hired help that stacks the hay . He loads the conveyor and has a remote to turn on and off the conveyor to unload at the top and stack. He loves doing it too.
I pay per bale .10 cents so on average he makes $15-20 per hour. This way he can take all the breaks he needs. Now this is for every time he has to pick up a bale so it is fair, whether it is stacking in the wagon or unloading in the barn or reloading to a trailer for delivery, and delivery stacking, so it can add up at the end of the week.
 
I drove the Jeep pulling the trailer. Jeep had a throttle lock and I would jump out toss the bails to the stacker then run to catch up with the Jeep.
 
I've bucked hay into stacks. Kind of enjoyed that until a bucker tooth went into a badger hole. That will stop a Farmall super MD right now. The oak teeth would shear off but the steel teeth would bring you to a screeching halt. A lot of guys used the old Farmhand loaders like this but we used Dual loaders with bucking attachments.
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