Need ideas for a hay cart

Stihlrunner · Apr 2, 2013

My wife needs a cart to haul hay from the barn to the horses, appx 100'. Due to our fabulous Oregon rain, it is usually through some thick mud.

The bales are too big for her to carry by hand so right now she has to make several trips carrying small bundles. Other times she starts up the tractor and uses it, which never gives it time to warm up and tears up the ground.

I would like to build a hand cart similar to a drum dolly. Something that could scoop up a bale and easily transport it to the horses. I could use bicycle wheels but I'm afraid they would be too skinny for the mud. Wheels off a dolly aren't big enough, we've tried that. Maybe wheel barrow tires?

Any ideas on this would be appreciated!

CliffordK · Apr 2, 2013

Where are you located?

Mom likes the Rubbermaid Garden Cart.

You may be able to get them with dual wheelbarrow tires, but the big wheels tend to do fine for most of what is around here. Perhaps it would depend on how deep your mud is. If you buy a new one, they may have both tube tires and no-flat foam tires. Get one of the no-flat tire ones.

These garden wagons also work well.

forgeblast · Apr 2, 2013

farmtek has a bunch of them listed in their catalog, I would look at northern tool also.

Stihlrunner · Apr 2, 2013

We've tried the wagon route and they are too tippy with the hay bale on top, for some reason they make the axles so narrow and tires too small! We've also done the wheelbarrow and rubbermaid cart and bales are too big for rubbermaid cart.

I would really like it to be something she could wheel up to a bale and just scoop it up. Needs to keep the bale low to the ground for gravity.

Have you seen drum dollies?

CliffordK · Apr 2, 2013

If you were building your own, you could make a 4 wheel wagon with wide wheels, perhaps dropping the bed down to the axles, although the steer axle could be a problem.

A drum hand truck isn't any different than a regular hand truck, except perhaps with a holder optimized to pick up the lip under a barrel.

I've seen people use the Rubbermaid Carts with ONE bale quite effectively. The large (and expensive) carts, of course. How many bales do you want to carry? Perhaps you have much rougher terrain than I was thinking.

So, if you're building, if you don't like the 4-wheel cart, then perhaps something like the two wheel wooden garden carts.

The trick would be to get the balance right so there is just enough weight on the handles. You could put large or small tires on it, although the tire size may also determine tire placement.

aczlan · Apr 2, 2013

How about a dock cart such as TAYLOR MADE Dock Pro Dock Carts at West Marine or the similar version made of plywood (edit: looks like CliffordK had the same thought, his picture is what I was thinking about for the plywood version)?

Aaron Z

RedNeckRacin · Apr 2, 2013

Can I vote for a conveyor belt? 100' wouldn't be to bad! Could you put a a couple pallets down and cover the hay with a tarp? Or but up one of those plastic sheds/tool storage things to keep the rain off the hay? Carry some out for her every couple days or once a week and she wouldn't be tearing anything up and it would eliminate her heavy lifting as well as the trips through the mud?