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Hay
danielgage
Member Posts: 10,529 ✭✭✭✭
We got 1875 small square bales and 100 4x5 round bales baled up today
long hot day
Comments
That's a day for sure.......
And a lot of twine....😊
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
There has been more hay baled in north MO in the past 10-14 days than I've seen in a long time. Lots of folks got caught by that week long rainy spell and have been trying to catch up. It's a different ball game these days. A single mower can knock down 40-80 acres per day and a newish baler can roll up 30-40 tons per hour. Back in the 60's, we were doing well to bale and stack 1000 small squares (about 25 tons) per DAY with a 5 person crew.
I updated to a JD baler w/net wrap this year for ease of operation and the fact that people simply won't buy hay that's not net wrapped. I got lucky and found a hardly used 20 year old baler that works like a new one. Don't have to look back all the time, Don't have to work the twine arm. On level ground, don't even have to back up since the 'kicker' pushes the finished bale out of the way. Three minutes +/- to fill, 30 seconds to wrap, and about 30 seconds to open/close tailgate. I can easily crank out 12-15 bales(10-12 tons) per HOUR while sitting in AC comfort.
Most up here are getting about a third at best. Just no moisture this spring.
I didn't get all of my 2020 hay sold last fall. Sold it this week to a guy in SW Iowa who had to start feeding his cows due to drought pasture. 2021 hay crop is going to a buyer in central Iowa for similar reason (drought reduced hay production).
This is a little surprising considering the cost of trucking adds $10-12 per bale. In fact it's been tough to find a hauler even at $4 per mile.
Some folks don't do math well. One guy balked at $75 per 1500# bale w/o delivery but was OK with $120/ton delivered--that cost him $350 per load. Oh well, his choice.
the smell of fresh hay brings the taste/smell of rotten eggs to me after 50+ years. My uncle used to put up hay loose every summer, I got sent out to the farm to help, the only water they had was from a well that had sulpher water. he would freeze about half a milk jug the night before, then fill it rest of the way up in morning before we went out to the hay field, after throwing hay with a pitchfork for few hours you got thirsty enough to drink that water, can still taste it to this day...........
Hay crop here in SE Wisconsin is poor. No Rain.
First cutting here was half of usual average. Second cutting is just brown stubble.
My one tenant who does the hay, has a bunch of beef, over due for market. So many of the meat packing places are so far behind. He is putting feed into beef that ain't gonna' grow any bigger or fatter, just caring them through until some time in August when he can ship them. Lost money.
My other tenant did corn this year. What I am seeing when I walk out into the field, ain't enuff corn there on 38 acres to make a box of corn flakes.
Got a feeling of a long and not so good winter coming.
Great Day
That is a lot of work, congrats
daniel how much does the square bale weigh? Where are you?
Not too heavy in the early A.M but it's heavy as Hell in the late P.M.................😀
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
I would say @45 pounds
heavier when it is this hot
I have a grapple on the front of my tractor that picks up 15 at a time
If I operate right don't have to touch too many of them
@Bono Arkansas
Wish I had your hay shed.
our two stringers average 108# and 6 string 4’x4’x8’ are 1750-1850#
Mule
neighbor that I bale with owns that shed
Bermuda is what we bale
I know Alfalfa is usually heavier
@45 lbs
Northeast Arkansas
I am always looking for KBH cotton wagons like the yellow one that I can cut one side off and make hay wagons out of them the 32' ones work the best. I usually haul 300 bale a load.
please let me know if you see a KBH 32 foot cotton wagon in good shape for sale
or the contact information so I can purchase
forgemonkey do you ins have lots of hay in Colorado this year?
Like this KBH wagon?
https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/190829851/kbh-cotton-house
We got 37 round bales out of our little field last year, 45 this year. A steady supply of intermittent rain kept the field green the entire growing season.
No sir like the one in my pictures above
Am I getting closer
https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/192922241/1995-kbh-mule-boy
That is a cotton module builder. They are almost unheard of hear anymore as farmers have went to the baler pickers. About every year, someone would get crushed and killed in one of the module builders when they were used.
no sir