Moving small bales - bad back

[TheMan419]

So life/age are catching up to me. I have a bulging disk in my back.

We own a small horse operation. Seven horses. Currently have about 1200 small square bales of hay in inventory. We move bales from storage to the stall barn such that we have week's supply or so on hand.

Currently we simply stack them on the FEL and move them that way. Easy for me to do and I can load my little tractor with 9 or 10 bales.

With my back as it is I cannot do that any more. So option A would be to have SWMBO do it. You can all imagine the risk/reward there.

What about using Bucket Hay Bale Spear Attachment With 49 Inch Long Spear | Neat Attachments | Bale Handling Attachments | Neat Farms and spearing the small bales? I could then move them to the stall barn. SWMBO would have to stack them there, but it eliminates her handling them one time.

Of course that spear weigh's 85 pounds. I could build a stand to put it on so I could drive up to it and slide the cutting edge of the bucket in place and then just have to attach the turnbuckle. No need to lift it in place.

My question is if that is just going to obliterate the small squares. They are stacked in such a way that some of them I would spear down the long side and some I would spear down the short side.

Any thoughts?

 

[CobyRupert]

I don't think a (~2") spear should obliterate them

Are you going to spear and move one at a time?
I'd think a grapple, or forks with a couple top grapple thumbs would be better for lifting/grabbing more than one bale.

Small square bales aren't really adaptable to automation/ non-labor intensive methods like round or large square bales. I think that's the point of round and large square bales.

 

[mred2]

I have seen an attachment to move 8 bales at a time, set in 2 by 4 layout. My hay guy almost never touches a bale by hand. But bales mostly small bales. Not knowing what equipment you have, Coby may be right about the grapple. How many to move at a time and distance to move them?

 

[Jchonline]

How about a FEL attachment to help you move multiple bales? Lots of square bale attachments. Some are grapples, some grab 10 at a time.

Titan Square Hay Bale Gripper

Kuhns Mfg LLC | Innovation in small square bale handling.

Next season definitely rethink your stacking strategy to meet the grapple you decide on.

 

[3Ts]

There are other manufacturers of bale handling - google "small square bale handling"

Here's one link with several different sizes:
Steffen Systems | Hands free haying | Bale Conversion Sytems

 

[quicksandfarmer]

If they are already stacked I would be thinking about moving a whole layer or part of a layer into a wagon. Then at the other end reverse the process. Store them on a shelf where you can slide or push them into the feeder without lifting them.

I would use a trolley hoist at each end to move the bales into and out of the wagon. Maybe something like: https://www.amazon.com/Jervis-Webb-Trolley-Capacity-Included/dp/B01NBIWUNM/

The other thing you'd need is some sort of rack that you lay down on top of a layer of bales, attach each bale, and then lift the rack and put it in the wagon. I think the best way to pick up bales would be by the twine, so the rack would have a bunch of clips on the bottom. You lay the rack on top of the stack, go around and hook each bale by the twine, then hoist the whole rack into the wagon. Leave the rack on and use it at the other end to unload. If you need to do more than one rack per trip just have multiple racks.

You don't say how many bales per week you need or how big your stack is. If' you're moving 9 at a time now you could do that with a lawn tractor cart, you don't need anything fancy.

This is how hay used to be put up before there were balers. They'd have a beam running the length of the barn and out one end. They'd lower a giant claw into a wagon, which would pick up a load of hay, then hoist it up into the barn and across the hay mow.

 

[MHarryE]

I have a Kuhn’s 8 bale handler for the front of my L6060 and it works well for storing but not as nice for removing. I can’t really spear a bale - my spears tend to push them away before the spear goes in far enough to handle.

 

[zzvyb6]

How far apart are the storage and stall barns? Who loads the storage barn? Can you move storage to the stall mow? I have 3 bulged disks and the haying actually helps because it strengthens my back muscles to support my spine. However, NEVER lift and twist while loading or unloading hay. It's also going to eventually hurt your knees.

If you are set against manual bale movement, then co-location of long term and short term storage and feeding has to be on the agenda. What about putting 1 or more shipping container(s) next to the stall barn with appropriate access and ventilation. You can put 400+ bales in a 40' unit (as described on a few horse forums). Your hay supplier could even deliver hay already loaded in a container or semi-trailer. There are a few horse operations around here who do this. Drop off a full load, take away an empty.

I use a horizontal transport elevator in addition to an upload elevator to move hay around for loading and unloading. Motors run both directions so the lifting is minimized. I feed off the end of the mow into bunk feeders so I just need to roll square bales into the transport (and remember to open the sliding screen patio type door).

I suppose pallet stacking could be done, too, with some bucket forks.

 

[two_bit_score]

So life/age are catching up to me. I have a bulging disk in my back.




Any thoughts?

John Deere Worksite Pro AT344817 Square Bale Spear (stk # 113659) | eBay

Just a thought.

TBS

 

[TheMan419]

So to answer a few of the questions in this thread....

The tractor is listed in my profile.... NH Boomer 24. The bucket is NOT quick detach.

Stall barn is like 100 ft from the hay storage barn.

Currently the hay guy brings his skid steer to stack. He uses the kuhns 10 bale graple. String side is down. I am not sure my tractor could lift 10 bales and the grapple even if it were a quick detach bucket.

I need to move about 21 bales a week give or take in the winter. Less in the seasons when the paddocks are green with forage.

I am not dead set against manually moving them. The problem is right now I cannot do so due to my back. Going to see the dr today for further answers. I am sure a bunch of physical therapy is in my future. So it may be several months before I am able to do it.

So ultimately this is one more thing SWMBO has to take on and I am trying to minimize that for her.

Frankly if I could only move one small bale at a time with a spear I would make the 21 trips between the two barns and git er done. It is not that far so as to make that an annoyance. If I had the capacity to use the same grapple as my hay supplier I would look long long long and hard at doing that. However it seems cost prohibitive at this point.

One easy thought I started in another thread was just to get a carry all for the 3 point hitch. Build a platform for it. Then SWMBO can more easily stack hay on that for transport. While it does not cut down on the manual labor part of things it at least makes part of the job easier. Plus the carry all is under $200 so if it is not useful I don't feel like I have wasted a bunch of money.

The square bale spear is an interesting idea. While the one two bit linked to would likely not work there are bucket mounted versions. Seems like that would at least let me grab two bales at a time. Maybe 3 if I was hitting the short side. Could probably even grab them such that you were taking two layers and thus have 4 or 6 bales at a time.

Thanks for all the thoughts. Getting older is no fun!