Things I learned baling hay...

[MossRoad]

Last Saturday, I baled hay for the first time in my life.

A friend of ours has a few cows, pigs and sometimes horses. He has several hay fields, and I've been asking him for a couple years to let me know when he's baling it because I'd like to help and see how it's done. Kind of a bucket list thing. We've never had the right timing, because I've always been busy when he has to make hay. But things worked out Saturday, and I got to assist.

To be clear, I rode the wagon and did what the two 14 year old foremen told me to do while my friend drove the tractor and baler. :laughing:

Things I learned:

- At almost 60, I have no sense of balance. The wagon was like a giant skateboard. I stayed towards the middle until the bales at the rear were high enough to lean against. Then I was OK. Meanwhile, the 14 year olds walked around like it was nothing. I think they were chewing gum at the same time, too, just to antagonize me.
- Never stand next to the chute when the tractor is turning. It'll swipe your feet right out from under you.
- That bale is too loose while that bale is too tight, while they both look the same to me. Until you pick them up, and feel the difference. Ah-ha! Now I get it. :thumbsup:
- In the barn, I'd rather be on top of the pile arranging bales VS on the ground level throwing them up.
- 14 year olds say things like "Look at that old truck! It's a classic!"
- I say thing like "I hate to tell you this, but I'm older than that truck. It's a 67 Chevy."
- 14 year olds reply to facts like that with things like a trailing off "Wow..." in a dejected tone.
- Farm kids sound like they're all from Oklahoma.
- The only thing that I was better at than these kids was throwing the bales up over head height, but I had a foot and a half in height and 140# on each of them. :dance1:
- The world is not doomed. These kids were polite and hard working. One had a broken foot and was still out there working.

As we went along, I just listened to them. They talked about the condition of they hay. The weather. How much hay they got during the 1st and 2nd cuttings compared to today. The condition of the beans in the next field over. The beans they harvested last week. Some guy that was striving for exactly 32 pods on each plant. Not 31. Not 33. Exactly 32. One kid said 'WHY??" and the other shrugged his shoulders.

Honest to goodness, the way these two kids talked, they could have been any two TBN members with farming experience talking over the pickle barrel.

Anyhow, it was a small field and it only took us about half an hour. When we got done, my friend asked them how much they wanted. They both said $5. He gave them $20.

There were less than 50 bales. He told me to come back next year at 1st cutting when they get 400 bales off the same field and it takes 4 hours. Then you have to load them in the barn. YIKES! I'll give it a try. :laughing:

 

[bigtiller]

The last time I baled hay, I was 30 something and helping a friend. I thought it would be fun, just like old times when I was 16.

Ha! I learned real fast that I wasn't 16 any more. There was 3 days of baling and barn work to do. I worked the hayrack for 8 hours the first day and quit. I had never been so tired, sore, dirty, hungry and thirsty in my life.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I helped many years ago putting small bales in someones barn. Really messed up the skin on my forearms.

 

[MossRoad]

I helped many years ago putting small bales in someones barn. Really messed up the skin on my forearms.

Yeah, as I was driving home, I notices my forearms itching. I was wearing a t-shirt. I asked my friend about that later that evening when we went out for dinner. He said "Ayep." :laughing:

It only lasted a couple hours, but I could only guess what they'd have looked like after a full day or two. Ouch!

 

[MossRoad]

The last time I baled hay, I was 30 something and helping a friend. I thought it would be fun, just like old times when I was 16.

Ha! I learned real fast that I wasn't 16 any more. There was 3 days of baling and barn work to do. I worked the hayrack for 8 hours the first day and quit. I had never been so tired, sore, dirty, hungry and thirsty in my life.

I'm just finishing up a 24x24 garage addition. Waiting for siding that's back-ordered. I'm fortunate to be able to say that it didn't hurt that bad. :laughing:

I was able to throw the 4x8 sheets of 5/8 OSB up onto the roof 9' up by myself from the ground. And I could carry two sheets of 1/2" OSB at a time. Shingle bundles up a ladder weren't bad either. I used a 12' step ladder leaned against the old garage and it was pretty much just like walking up steps carrying a 70# sack.

I got callouses on the 2nd joint of my left index finger towards my thumb and on my right hand pinky knuckle on the back of my hand from sliding and placing the shingles.

I now know why almost every roofer I know walks with a limp - they sit on their preferred butt cheek with that leg under their other one all day long. 4 hours to do both sides was long enough for me. :thumbsup:

Again, I'll say that I'm very fortunate to still use my body like that. I'll never take it for granted. :thumbsup:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I used to work in the hay field wearing shorts and no shirt when I was a teen. Don’t do that anymore. Dad has sold his cows, so no more helping with hay.

 

[MossRoad]

I used to work in the hay field wearing shorts and no shirt when I was a teen. Don’t do that anymore. Dad has sold his cows, so no more helping with hay.

I used to be a lifeguard, so nothing but a speedo. Now I keep the lights off when I shower.

 

[ponytug]

Thanks for the great memories! Two of my favorite jobs: haying and roofing! I made a lot of alfalfa hay in my early twenties, back when you picked up bales off the ground and tossed them up on the wagon. I remember getting pretty darn sore, and going back out to do it again the next day, or late into the night if the weather didn't look like it would hold. I always wore long sleeve shirts- alfalfa is pretty tough on skin, and I remember hacking up green phlegm for awhile after haying. I had one kid working with me one year who could grab two bales in each hand and toss them up onto the wagon. Strong and coordinated doesn't begin to describe it. I heard he went on to play pro football, but lost track of him. Really nice guy.

The kids sounds great, and a joy to spend time with.

4x8' sheets of osb pushed on to a 9' roof from the ground? Wow. Not me in a million years. Too short, too weak, too something. I'm impressed as always.

Thanks for making my day and giving me a smile!

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks for the great memories! Two of my favorite jobs: haying and roofing! I made a lot of alfalfa hay in my early twenties, back when you picked up bales off the ground and tossed them up on the wagon. I remember getting pretty darn sore, and going back out to do it again the next day, or late into the night if the weather didn't look like it would hold. I always wore long sleeve shirts- alfalfa is pretty tough on skin, and I remember hacking up green phlegm for awhile after haying. I had one kid working with me one year who could grab two bales in each hand and toss them up onto the wagon. Strong and coordinated doesn't begin to describe it. I heard he went on to play pro football, but lost track of him. Really nice guy.

The kids sounds great, and a joy to spend time with.

4x8' sheets of osb pushed on to a 9' roof from the ground? Wow. Not me in a million years. Too short, too weak, too something. I'm impressed as always.

Thanks for making my day and giving me a smile!

All the best,

Peter

I found that I do enjoy roofing. This was a new roof, so everything was fairly square. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the top on both sides, I was exactly 3" from the peak on both ends! A big old smile came upon my face! Architectural 42" wide shingles make things a piece of cake. The directions were clear and concise. Cut off 6", 12", and 18" from the first three and stagger them on up. Repeat. So much easier than 3 tab and hardly any waste. :thumbsup:

For the OSB, I leaned two 2x4x12's up against the fascia board about 2' apart and screwed in a few scrap pieces of 2x4 as stop blocks every 3-4 feet. Then I screwed them to the top of the facia with long screws temporarily. The intention was to push them up the boards, catching the bottom on the stop blocks. I found that once I got them 1/2 way up, it was pretty easy to just lift the end over my head and toss them up over the ends of the boards. Once I had one up there, I nailed it in place. Once I had 2 up there, it was a piece of cake. I'd toss them up well past the ends of the 2x4s, they'd land on the two that I had nailed up there, an air cushion would form under them, and they'd slide right back and stop against the 2x4s as they were sticking up about 6" over the fascia. I could get 3-4 of them up there, then go over to the ladder, get up there and fasten them in place. Went pretty fast.

From what I gathered from the expert young men, we were baling alfalfa. And they pointed out the field was just reseeded 2 years ago, because they could still see the seeder marks in the dirt. Conversation with my friend that evening confirmed it was a 2 year old planting.

 

[oosik]

I quite often will "help" my neighbor till his close in fields. I've only once helped with baling. I've learned that even with a cab and a cabin air filter - my allergies kick into overdrive. My nose will run like a faucet - my upper body will itch like an attack of the wooly worms.

Bottom line - my allergies respond more negatively to hay dust than dust from good 'ol dirt.

No, but thank you anyway. I'll stick with tilling.

 

[DIYOrangeDave]

I used to raise goats and I got my hay for them in exchange helping my neighbour farmer put his hay up. I worked 12 to 18 hours (2 days) and I had bedding for a year. Not so much interested in working that hard now as it is always in the heat. Great times!

 

[Egon]

Small square bales; the introduction of the hardest method of putting up hay.

The best hay bale Size is shown here. All done from a climate controlled cab!

 

[zzvyb6]

I've been putting up hay for over 30 years and don't need too, but I love the machinery involved. Mowing gives me the unique smell of freshly cut hay. Raking gives me the challenge of trying a different technique every year and never figuring it out. Baling lets me contemplate the almost instantaneous motions of the knotter drive system. I now use a NH Stack Liner to pick them up. Then the fun would stop, trying to get them up into the mow with an elevator and no help up there, so run 15 up, then scramble to stack them before a jam occurs. Then, the callers in mid-winter that need hay TODAYView attachment 671678 30 miles away and they only drive a convertible Mercedes. I never needed the money, just wanted the experience, satisfaction, and my property looking good.

Now, I've acquired 2 hay customers, work in the medical field (RNs), tired of city & suburbia and bought an old farm that was recently part of a golf course. They always wanted horses and now have them. On Baling Day, they arrive here before the stacker has started picking up, they've learned how to back up a trailer, they figured out how to tie tiers of hay on a trailer and put 60 on a pickup truck.

One of these gals wanted to learn to weld so I taught her to fab and repair using my equipment, Then she bought her own Miller Thunderbolt. I have a collection of 12 old farm water pumping windmills. Today we are going to look at one that needs some work and parts, and should be standing up on their property by a new garden and operating a shallow well pump drilled way back in 1900 or before.

All of this has restored my faith in a few aspects of the future. Not for the USA, but for a few younger people living far away from St Louis, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, Rochester, NY City, Buffalo, Boston, Detroit, L.A. and Ann Arbor. These poorly lead areas will have to be reclaimed by wildfires: flaming and smoldering. Meanwhile, those escaping their own created version of ****, are moving in droves to my neck of the woods and bringing along their terrible characters, wants and needs, and 'demands'. Kinda fun making them suffer. Can't clean their gutters, fix the lawn sprinklers, have iron in their water, saw a coyote in their yard, their JD L120 won't start, can't speed on a gravel road, lost their designer cat (see previous coyote entry), and have a weed in their driveway.

But haying at 72 is fun again !

 

[nybirdman]

Nobody does small squares anymore around here;too labor intensive and all the small dairy farms have shut-down.My BIL used to do about 15,000 back when he was in the business.We ran a few beefs years ago and put up a couple thousand with an old baler with a Wisconsin engine and 8N's.Don't miss any of that.

 

[Jstpssng]

Most of the bigger farmers here put up a combination of round and square bales; the latter for those of us who need mulch hay.
Years ago I did a stint with a landscaping service. Among other things I drove a C-60 with a rack body and hay mulcher. We would put out several hundred bales per day. When I got a real job I thought I wanted to work haying after hours. On my way home one night I met a pickup loaded with hay so I followed it and when they arrived at a barn I offered to help. I soon found myself standing on the tailgate shoving bales up over my head, through a hole in the barn ceiling barely big enough to let the bale through.
I was already hot and tired from cruising timber all day, and by the time we got that truck unloaded I was beat.

And that was the end of my haymaking career.

I also was about 1/2 the age that the OP is now, so he is doing better than I did.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I had a charactor of a neighbor/farmer. He would go around to the new city slickers and recruit help for his haying. Not knowing the rules here in the country, some just thought it was their duty to help. Then there was the story of getting German students over for the summer and he engaged them in slave labour. I remember the one guy escaped and showed up at my place on foot. He announced, in a heavy german accent "I thought we could drink some beer". Funny though, he wasn't carrying any. lol

 

[5030]

I used to be a lifeguard, so nothing but a speedo. Now I keep the lights off when I shower.

Understandable....lol Either that or keep the missus out of the bathroom. No need to be embarrassed ��

Back when I square bailed, I always wore a long sleeved shirt no matter what the temp was. I don't run small squares anymore. In fact I'm about to sell my square bailer that I bought new. Only rounds now and for the remainder of my hay days.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Small square bales; the introduction of the hardest method of putting up hay.

Said someone who never put in loose hay.

When dad bought a used square baler in the 70s that made it so much easier. Just wished we would have gone round bales much earlier that around 4 yrs ago.

 

[CobyRupert]

(Let me beat my macho chest) IMHO, when it comes to square bales, what separates the men from the boys is:
1) Stacking the wagon when the baler has a kicker or thrower. I prefer the kicker as the bale only drops out of the sky onto your head when you don’t time it right, or you catch it at the peak of the arc, whereas the thrower just launches it into you like a cannon ball. It’s like playing dodgeball for keeps on a bouncing wagon.
2) Being up in the barn hay mow trying to stack. The fuller it gets the hotter, darker, dustier, and less ventilated it gets...and there’s no way to tell the people at the other end of the noisy hay elevator to slow down because you’re getting buried.

 

[turnkey4099]

Small square bales; the introduction of the hardest method of putting up hay.

The best hay bale Size is shown here. All done from a climate controlled cab!

View attachment 671675View attachment 671676

Nope, not hardly. We had 6 cows on average and in the early years 6 horses - dad was deetermined to stick with horses way past common sense (1945 or 6). Every stalk of hay was done with a pitchfork. Hay nets spread in wagons and filled, pulled to the barn, hoisted up and dumped. My and my brother were in the hay mow untangling the 'dump' and "mowing it" back against the eves. Many, many tons every year. We didn't use a bailer until 1953.