Farmers helping fellow farmers

[Hay Dude]

Buddy of mine needed help getting 200 bales of cow hay delivered.

We dug ‘em out of the bank barn and got them loaded.

Funny how you never forget how to toss & load small squares from your childhood until today.

 

[Hay Dude]

And of course, waiting for the train lol

 

[Hoss710]

nice setup!! glad u were able to lend a hand !!

 

[Hay Dude]

nice setup!! glad u were able to lend a hand !!

I think farming is one of the few professions where we help each other, even though we are competitors.
A few years back, our biggest area farmer lost hydraulics trying to unload bales from a truck. I unloaded all them for him. He tried to shove $100 at me I just drove off and said to him “I’m gonna need a favor later”.

 

[Halftrack]

Back then, you were a sissy if you wore gloves and didn't have callouses as thick as nickels.

Had to get fingerprinted for a security job after making hay for a week. Lady looked at my hands, shook her head and tried. I still think I don't have a readable set on file.

 

[Alan W.]

Back then, you were a sissy if you wore gloves and didn't have callouses as thick as nickels.

Had to get fingerprinted for a security job after making hay for a week. Lady looked at my hands, shook her head and tried. I still think I don't have a readable set on file.

Remember a trooper getting pissed because my hands were too rough and dry to give readable prints on his scanner. Thought he was gonna pistol whip me when I told him had I known I would have moisturized.

 

[Hay Dude]

Remember a trooper getting pissed because my hands were too rough and dry to give readable prints on his scanner. Thought he was gonna pistol whip me when I told him had I known I would have moisturized.

My hands look like they have been though a meat grinder from 30 years of hand to hand combat with hay, hammers, quick connects, brush cutting, weight lifting and some pretty good slug-fests

 

[EddieWalker]

Why would somebody feed small square bales to cattle instead of bigger round bales?

 

[Hay Dude]

Why would somebody feed small square bales to cattle instead of bigger round bales?

My buddy that made them has a horse boarding business and about 50 acres of pasture. He makes small squares to sell to the boarders since the 70’s. He doesn’t have a round baler. The small bales that are not good enough for the horses are sold off as cow hay.
I do the same thing. I make my hay and put the best bales inside. The rest gets sold off as mulch or mushroom hay.
Now he has me bale the less than perfect hay in large square bales (rough areas, edges of fields, under trees, etc.). This way he doesn’t continue to accumulate hundreds of less than perfect small squares. This also opens up his barn space.

But he has about 800 more of these cow hay bales to get rid of. Mostly 1st cutting and overly stemmy

 

[sea2summit]

Why would somebody feed small square bales to cattle instead of bigger round bales?

Lots of folks around who have 1-5 cows and no tractor near me.