A few pics from today’s square baling

[Hay Dude]

We don’t have big square bales here either. Only the round ones. I’ve never even seen a big square one - except on the picture!

I’m not all that educated in hay. Around here, the hay that I see baled is simply field grass allowed to grow. It’s nothing special in my mind. It could either be mowed like grass or allowed to grow and baled.

Is that typical or do some folks grow special grasses for “real” hay?

MoKelly

Sure, very typical. I just planted 42 acres of Rebel fescue grass. Some guys plant orchard grass, Timothy grass, or brome.
Some buyers like naturally occurring mixed grasses, especially for beef. I sell a lot to guys who raise beef in Lancaster County.

I also make close to 1000 4x5 round bales a year. Sometimes up to 1500. Just depends on what is preferred or what is pre-ordered each year.
1500 pound Square bales much faster to bale (continuous) and can be dumped anywhere. Round bales have a wrap cycle and have to be dumped on flat ground or they become 1000 pound lethal weapons once they get rolling.

Heres a field where you can see we made some 1st cutting round bales on the left and on 2nd cutting, we are square baling

 

[Hay Dude]

Here’s a few from this weekends adventure in haying
Man I gotta clean this windshield

A little late afternoon raking in the M126X

The view from the truck on the way home
Made 62 4x4x8’s or about 46 tons

 

[ultrarunner]

I enjoy seeing your updates...

Reminds of summer visits to my grandparents dairy farm...

 

[Torvy]

Looks good! Most of the haying we did up north was alfalfa. Too rich for horses, but feeds cattle well.

You are appreciated, even in this ahem free country.

 

[lman]

They do a lot of big square bales around here. Mostly alfalfa for large dairy farms.

 

[Hay Dude]

Another day afield…
Kind of rainy, cool and muddy for this time of year here. On days like these (far too many, if you ask me) I will bring bales in from fields and ship them.

Here’s a pair of 1500+ pounders.…about all my loader can handle.

These bales were loaded and are now being unloaded at my buyers yard.

 

[Hay Dude]

Today, it was round bales.
Started out this morning planning of delivering 12-13 tons of round bales. Running them 2 at a time up to the truck & trailer.

Getting round bales loaded 2 layers high and double wide for road transportation is practically an art form in itself. You have to balance them perfectly or it could end badly. Much harder than square bales.

Here we are loaded and ready. First I have to get off my customers field, across some lawn and onto the driveway with NO damage.

And finally, here I am at the unloading point with 28) 900 pounders (915 each, to be exact).

And here’s my scale ticket for my records

My Ram with its “paltry” 6 speed transmission somehow managed to pull 46,720lbs over the scale. Lol

 

[Hay Dude]

Today it was time to unhook the Hesston big square baler from the MX270 and get the tractor ready for spreading compost soils.

First to unhook it

Next to get the tractor into the shop to go over it. Spreading begins next week

 

[Gord Baker]

I see that you have the Mexican Speed Wrench handy.

 

[Hay Dude]

I see that you have the Mexican Speed Wrench handy.

Must-have with big hitch pins on uneven ground.
Also comes in handy when the baler is on fire and you want to save your tractor from being consumed with it.

 

[Hay Dude]

Tomorrow will begin spreading of compost soil. Should have some pictures of the process.

 

[Hay Dude]

Well here we go. Day one of the next phase of hay farming….fertilizing about 300 acres with compost soil. I got the spreader as a long term rental. Used to own one, but it didn’t make sense. I rented an Artex 600 bushel. Nice unit. Looks barely used.

Loading scoops into spreader with the M126X and a high capacity 8’ bucket.
I made the reinforced screen mounted on the back to keep soil from tumbling over the backside onto the hood. Allows for a more heaped scoop as well.

Back to the pile for another scoop. It was chilly and breezy today. About 40* and sunny. Love it. Hawks flying around, foxes and natural beauty

Fully loaded and off to the fields to spread. Think my windows need cleaning? Lol
View out windshield

View of spreader out back window.

Returning empty for another. See anything significant off in the background? It’s East Penn Railroad!

I only spread 15) 600 bushel loads today. Not as much as I wanted. There’s 30 tri axle loads here and I got maybe 1/3-2/5s of it spread. Parked spreader for the day. Tomorrow should be more productive. Check out the DuPont mansion in the background.

 

[EddieWalker]

Is this your land or are you being paid to do this for a client? I'm just curious if it's something that people do for their own hay fields since I've never seen, or even heard of anybody doing this where I'm at. Not that I know what everyone is doing, but we have acidic soil and lots of pine trees, so the most common thing that I see people spreading is lime to lower the PH of the soil.

 

[Hay Dude]

Is this your land or are you being paid to do this for a client? I'm just curious if it's something that people do for their own hay fields since I've never seen, or even heard of anybody doing this where I'm at. Not that I know what everyone is doing, but we have acidic soil and lots of pine trees, so the most common thing that I see people spreading is lime to lower the PH of the soil.

It’s a customers property that we farm for them.
We did aerating, 2 tons lime/acre and now the compost soil. We will do 2 more 2 tons lime/acre next year.
The soil was acidic and low on critical nutrients. It was also low on organic content, hence the compost soil. The compost soil also has lime added to it. It’s primarily decayed hay, water, horse manure, chicken litter, lime and some topsoil.

Heres a view of one corner of the property.

 

[zoedog2012]

Is this your land or are you being paid to do this for a client? I'm just curious if it's something that people do for their own hay fields since I've never seen, or even heard of anybody doing this where I'm at. Not that I know what everyone is doing, but we have acidic soil and lots of pine trees, so the most common thing that I see people spreading is lime to lower the PH of the soil.

Lime raises the ph.

 

[Hay Dude]

Another view
The Wyeth Farm & Estate in the background

 

[Deere Dude]

Great action pics.
One thing that always scared me was time around a big belt operated threshing machine. My dad had an old Allis powering a 25' long belt by 6-8"wide turning the thresher. Scared me every time I walked near that thing.

 

[cqaigy2]

Nice office you have there!

 

[Hay Dude]

Towards the end of the day, I got a code in the Kubota. Didn’t have my owners manual, but I knew what it was…..low on hydraulic fluid. Tractor was noisy and shifting funny. Got out of cab and I have fluid running from the pump on top the engine, down the sides of the block and dripping off the frame.
Gotta get this job done, so I ended up adding a few gallons of fluid about 2 quarts at a time. Other Kubota is in shop, so I’m down to a leaking tractor to load the compost.
Hope to have other tractor back next week. Meantime, gotta hobble along with this one. Then tear it down and see what’s leaking. Looks like a pump seal or hose.

 

[EddieWalker]

Lime raises the ph.

Thanks, I got it backwards. I told my wife this, and she became so interested in the topic that she spent an hour on her phone reading up on soil Ph. She is a RN with a PhD, so this is the type of stuff that she enjoys.