A few pics from today’s square baling

[Bearsixty7]

In the late 70s we (brother and friends) had a hay crew. Made a nickel a bail to haul from the field to the barn. Friend owned the truck so he made extra to maintain the truck. We could haul 100 bails per load. We could each make about $1000 per season so that was a lot of bails. We considered ourselves the best crew in the county and based on business we were. Everyone went to the large round bails in the early 80s as much to save on hay crew cost as anything. I doubt you could find enough kids willing to work to make a decent crew today. It was hot and dusty and not everyone could keep up the pace or make it the entire day.

I remember the going rate was 25 cents a bale for many years, truck got 10 cents and each person got 5 cents. I grew up around Lebanon MO. (Stoutland actually, but most have never heard of that town or can find it on a map ). We did our own hay plus custom baling for others, sometimes on halves. I've done hay in Stoutland, Sleeper, Richland, Montreal, Lebanon, Hazelgreen and surrounding areas. We put a lot of paved miles on our tractors. Today most people would load them on a 30-40' gooseneck to transport them or simply not work such a large radius.

 

[Bearsixty7]

I wished for years we'd get one of the New Holland automatic bale wagons, never did.

 

[Torvy]

This is a photo I pulled off the web, but dad was still selling some of these in the late 70s early 80s. Heston.

My grandpa liked his Alice so much he named his 7th daughter Alice. I want to say his baler was a McCormick, too, but it may have been an IH. He bought whatever was the best deal at the time. A lot of these pics bring back memories.

We saw some nice looking alfalfa being cut in NE Nebraska last month. Probably 15-18 inches high. The smell was just how I remembered.

 

[thorn]

When I was in high school I worked on a dairy/horse farm for 2 summers in the late 70s. It was hard work. They had a thrower on the baler and a lot of times I would be the one in the hay wagon to stack the bales so we could get on more per load. Had to watch out for the flying bales! We put up around 15,000 bales into the huge bank barn. It was so hot up in the barn, stacking bales.

Sadly they stopped the dairy a few years after that since they made more money off the horses for trail rides.

I have about 50 acres and bale round bales by myself.

My great aunt had this photo in her album that I have, It is in the 1920s in KS:

My great-grandfather had a farm in east KS, about 400 acres in all. He used horses. My great-grandfather and his father built the house and barn in 1900. My mom spent her summers there when she was young.

 

[sea2summit]

View attachment 709867
Glad my kids got to experience it

Exactly that^
I’ve told mine many times, I don’t care what they do when they grow up but I want them to have an appreciation for real work. And that can’t happen unless you’ve done some.

 

[Hay Dude]

My son helping me during his summers has really changed his outlook on what work and sacrifice is. Of course he is paid fairly for his hours, but he has a better outlook on life.

 

[Hay Dude]

Exactly that^
I’ve told mine many times, I don’t care what they do when they grow up but I want them to have an appreciation for real work. And that can’t happen unless you’ve done some.
View attachment 709967View attachment 709968

Such a cute picture. Look at those girls joy in helping.
Love it.

 

[wmfamily]

I remember the going rate was 25 cents a bale for many years, truck got 10 cents and each person got 5 cents. I grew up around Lebanon MO. (Stoutland actually, but most have never heard of that town or can find it on a map ). We did our own hay plus custom baling for others, sometimes on halves. I've done hay in Stoutland, Sleeper, Richland, Montreal, Lebanon, Hazelgreen and surrounding areas. We put a lot of paved miles on our tractors. Today most people would load them on a 30-40' gooseneck to transport them or simply not work such a large radius.

Yes, that was our rate and the truck owner got the extra nickel. We were in Sedalia so we weren't too far from you. Fond memories...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I remember the going rate was 25 cents a bale for many years, truck got 10 cents and each person got 5 cents. I grew up around Lebanon MO. (Stoutland actually, but most have never heard of that town or can find it on a map ). We did our own hay plus custom baling for others, sometimes on halves. I've done hay in Stoutland, Sleeper, Richland, Montreal, Lebanon, Hazelgreen and surrounding areas. We put a lot of paved miles on our tractors. Today most people would load them on a 30-40' gooseneck to transport them or simply not work such a large radius.

I remember getting paid 0, but my family fed me and gave me a bed to sleep in.

 

[lorandroehl]

I remember getting paid 0, but my family fed me and gave me a bed to sleep in.

I grew up on a farm in Western Minnesota in the late 60s and early 70s. We were mainly crop farmers, but had about 25 beef cows. We fed out the feeders from those cows and also bought more most years. Dad had good crop farming equipment, but no haying equipment as we didn’t put up a lot of hay. A neighbor had a large cow/calf operation so needed a lot of hay plus he did some custom baling for other folks. The neighbor baled for us and “hired” me to ride the rack and stack bales and his Dad drove the baler. I say “hired” because I didn’t get paid cash. The deal was he baled my Dad’s hay for nothing and I worked that off in labor for him and also when he custom baled for others. I don’t remember getting any input into that arrangement. At the end of the day we all got a big T-bone steak when the work was done. I probably complained some back then, but it was a wonderful way to grow up. Hard work for sure, but so many lessons learned that are still in use today. Sad to say my kids didn’t get the same upbringing......
This is a wonderful thread. So many memories. I wish I could contribute pictures.
I can still smell the fresh hay after cutting and baling.