Move round bale with pallet forks?

[BufordBoone]

I let a local guy cut and bale my fields. He is a great guy and needs the hay. I don't need the hay.

He cut and baled (116 round bales) but has run into an issue and has not been able to pick it up yet.

Most of the bales are not in my way but a few are.

I don't have a bale spear.

Anyone ever try moving a round bale using pallet forks? I don't want to damage the bales and I certainly don't want to do something stupid that ends up with a bale damaging my tractor or me if/when it falls off the forks.

Any advice before I trailer over to his place and borrow his bale spear?

 

[LHF2019]

That’s how a lot of people move them. You won’t damage them unless they are wrapped in plastic. Run your pallet fork lightly on the ground firks need to be just wide enough that when you lift the bale is cradled between forks.

All this is assuming your tractor is heavy enough to be moving bales

 

[BufordBoone]

That’s how a lot of people move them. You won’t damage them unless they are wrapped in plastic. Run your pallet fork lightly on the ground firks need to be just wide enough that when you lift the bale is cradled between forks.

All this is assuming your tractor is heavy enough to be moving bales

Thanks. I've got an M7060 and believe it sufficient.

Got a training day coming up and I only need to move them a bit out of the way.

Thanks, again!

 

[Hay Dude]

Thanks. I've got an M7060 and believe it sufficient.

Got a training day coming up and I only need to move them a bit out of the way.

Thanks, again!

You could just roll them out of the way if you are concerned with ripping the net wrap.

 

[BufordBoone]

You could just roll them out of the way if you are concerned with ripping the net wrap.

Unfortunately, they need to be moved sideways. Guess I could turn them then roll them though.

Think I'll try one and, if it messes it up, I'll try the other way.

If he gets his eqpt. fixed in time, the issue will just go away.

Thanks!

 

[anomad]

My last hay farmer didn't even own a bale spear. He just used pallet forks. Guy was also poor as a church mouse and I let him cut the hay for free.

 

[sandman2234]

There is a guy who is cutting the hay on my Dad's property. None of us kids knew who was cutting the hay, but this past week I was up there and found out. Seems Daddy told him he could cut the hay. There was no mention of any sort of payment. (Daddy is 96 years old) I did ask if he would bush hog the other field since it was growing up. I even suggested that with a little work he could expand to hay both fields! With the price of hay and the fluctuations in the cattle market, there isn't a lot of money to go paying for a field to grow hay on.
I will probably need to follow up with the bush hogging but at least I don't have to bush hog the big field that he is cutting hay on. The guy is a neighbor that moved in after I left Arkansas, so I hadn't met him.
David from jax

 

[bmaverick]

Hay prices are all over the map, and so is the quality too.

Having someone hay bale your field is a good help in getting it cleaned a few times a year.

 

[sandman2234]

Hay prices are all over the map, and so is the quality too.

Having someone hay bale your field is a good help in getting it cleaned a few times a year.

I will probably be heading towards Beloit next week. I have a trailer that needs to go to Janesville. I work for a company based there.
David from jax

 

[IndyIan]

Just set them at or near full width so that you don't have to put them between the ground and the bale. The forks should be wider than the bales "contact patch" on the ground.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Yeah, if you grab it from the end like this ... You shouldn't hurt it any ...

If you/he leaves them sitting in your field too long .. you're gonna have a bunch of dead squares on the ground, where weeds are most likely to spring up, before the grass!

 

[BufordBoone]

Yeah, if you grab it from the end like this ... You shouldn't hurt it any ...

View attachment 4311384

If you/he leaves them sitting in your field too long .. you're gonna have a bunch of dead squares on the ground, where weeds are most likely to spring up, before the grass!

Thanks. I spoke with him yesterday. He is planning on getting there to get them "soon".

I just need to move a couple before a class I'm running as they are in the way.

Thanks, again!

 

[Hay Dude]

Thanks. I spoke with him yesterday. He is planning on getting there to get them "soon".

I just need to move a couple before a class I'm running as they are in the way.

Thanks, again!

In farmer lingo, “soon” means like months.

 

[Sportsman762]

I have moved bales with forks a lot. One guy I helped stack the bales in the barn on their flat side with forks. I have picked the bales out of the field with a rough terrain forklift when the skidsteers were not available. I liked it better than the skidsteer as you could see around the bale and did not get hay in your face. Others have pretty well covered how to set the forks, etc.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

In farmer lingo, “soon” means like months.

My one neighbor cut and baled his back in the beginning of June ... They are still sitting where they rolled out of the bailer ... But he'll get them picked up "soon"!

 

[Hay Dude]

My one neighbor cut and baled his back in the beginning of June ... They are still sitting where they rolled out of the bailer ... But he'll get them picked up "soon"!

Indefensible, but not surprising. Sometimes I see bales left in fields for months. usually it’s a broke loader, or maybe a serious injury. Sometimes, just too lazy or busy.
In terms of farming, I’m pretty organized.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

As you know I drive all over the country ... Going through Oklahoma I saw some bales, or the tops of them anyways ... Poking out of the 4'+ tall grass ... Guess the 2nd cutting was going to be "interesting"!

When I bought my place ... It took me awhile to figure why my field had all these dead 4' squares of grass ... In the spring they kinda filled in with weeds!

 

[lman]

I've seen round bales lined up in a field for years.

 

[Hay Dude]

Such a waste to make bales, only to let them rot along the edge of a field.
Better off selling them at a loss than not at all.

 

[Farmer495]

If you have the same QA on your loaders, just have him set his spear on your truck and take it to your place. They need to come off the field.

Here is a field with two years of hay. Google memorialized it forever. Guess which are the old bales.