Loading hay = round bales

[mred2]

I am thinking about buying a new trailer. I use a 16 BP now. It has rails on the sides. I get 4 rolls at a time. I hope to get a newer 3/4 ton PU this fall. I am thinking about a 20 or 24 foot equipment trailer. I would love to have a deck over but the prices are high. If I get a 24 ft BB, not deck over, what is the best way to load rolls around the fenders?

 

[jaxs]

Best way of loading period is as carefully and with same attention as when loading your present trailer. Anyone unable to eyeball and improvise while hauling hay isn't going to do much better using "a recipe" picked up the the web.

 

[mred2]

On the current trailer, we load end to end. 4 in the load. trailer has sides. On a new trailer, I hope to haul 2 wide and one on top of each 2. maybe 12 to 14 at a time. But if it has fenders sticking up, I can't get 2 wide between them. With a deck over, it is easy.
I was wondering the best trailer for this to also haul equipment. With the price of fuel, I don't want to make 20 trips. I also want to keep the price of the trailer down.

 

[mo1]

I am thinking about buying a new trailer. I use a 16 BP now. It has rails on the sides. I get 4 rolls at a time. I hope to get a newer 3/4 ton PU this fall. I am thinking about a 20 or 24 foot equipment trailer. I would love to have a deck over but the prices are high. If I get a 24 ft BB, not deck over, what is the best way to load rolls around the fenders?

If you have four foot wide bales, load them in rows of two across facing outward from the front to the start of the fenders, then load them facing forward and backward when you get to the fenders. I load up seven 4x5s this way on a 18' car hauler/equipment trailer, two rows of two in front of the fenders and three in line after that to avoid the fenders.

A deckover is preferable to a car hauler trailer as you can load bales two across for the entire deck length and it's easier to strap them down than on a car hauler. A pipe trailer is the easiest of all but it's definitely a "does one job, does it well" piece of specialized equipment.

 

[RustyA]

22 foot deck over trailer is absolutely the best investment we made for hauling 4x5 bale's. 8 on the bottom and three centered on next row up (six if you are brave). Tilt bed hauls tractor and skid steer too. Super handy for building materials or any palleted material to forklift on and off. Did the fendered trailer thing first and hated it for hay or materials.

 

[jaxs]

Wouldn't everyone like a trailer that hauls hay like a deck-over,low to ground for easy on and off without long ramps,good to haul equipment,cars,sand, gravel,dirt,dumps,not heavy to tow empty,20k lb gvw and inexpensive?

 

[Redlands Okie]

Wouldn't everyone like a trailer that hauls hay like a deck-over,low to ground for easy on and off without long ramps,good to haul equipment,cars,sand, gravel,dirt,dumps,not heavy to tow empty,20k lb gvw and inexpensive?

You forgot the link to where these are sold

 

[IndyIan]

Just get a trailer with strong fenders, or make them strong... I stack 3 more on top in the middle of the 8 on bottom. These are 4 by 5 hardcore bales but not super tight like a some balers make. We've never tried 14 bales, I don't think the trailer is rated that high and there's some pretty decent sidehill to get out of the field... 11 never budges.

 

[jaxs]

Just get a trailer with strong fenders, or make them strong... I stack 3 more on top in the middle of the 8 on bottom. These are 4 by 5 hardcore bales but not super tight like a some balers make. We've never tried 14 bales, I don't think the trailer is rated that high and there's some pretty decent sidehill to get out of the field... 11 never budges.

I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

[Hay Dude]

On the current trailer, we load end to end. 4 in the load. trailer has sides. On a new trailer, I hope to haul 2 wide and one on top of each 2. maybe 12 to 14 at a time. But if it has fenders sticking up, I can't get 2 wide between them. With a deck over, it is easy.
I was wondering the best trailer for this to also haul equipment. With the price of fuel, I don't want to make 20 trips. I also want to keep the price of the trailer down.

Try running doubles across the top instead of singles to improve efficiency.
Loading round bales is a skill in of itself. Takes a little time to get the hang of double stacking, but there’s things you can do to make it safe.

One is to lay some strips of 2” lumber along the outside edges of trailer deck to “lean” or “tip” the bales inward slightly. Then the upper layers won’t fall out ward in transit. I just learned over the years that RBs almost always have one side is wider than the other and stack the wide sides out on the bottom layer to achieve the proper “tilt” for the top layer.

Once you strap them down snug, you can use tractor to adjust them again.

When you unload, they won’t tumble off as long as you have just a little inward tilt. These bales were shipped to JC’s Cattle. Below-You can see him unloading one at a time with none of them tumbling off. I drove this load of 28 double stacked up top 40 miles with no issues.