Why not pull a wagon behind a baler?

[Robert_in_NY]

I have always found it funny as when I was in high school and played football I just wasn't very good at it. I was slow and not the strongest. Now, I hire football players and so far most of them quit on me after a half day of stacking hay. The three people I can count on is a 19 year old woman (she is getting old enough now that I can't really call her a girl anymore), her 15 year old brother who is not the strongest but much more faster then I am, and my friends 16 year old son who lifts weights. The kids who I hire and are kind of the typical "cocky" football players quit on me usually half way thru the day. Of course they all think I am crazy for enjoying this type of work.

You are dead on with your assement. If you are raised around this type of work you realize it is hard but also kind of fun and rewarding. The 19 and 15 year olds who help me were raised running haying equipment and working in the grape fields so they are great helpers and you don't have to hold their hands. The kids who play sports in school but then go home and sit in front of the tv playing games and such just can't hack it. It is disappointing but they would rather bag groceries or flip burgers then stack hay.

I will say this, I wish I was a little younger as my 19 year old helper would make a great wife for someone. She is smart and is not afraid of hard work. You don't find that very often. Some women say they are not afraid of hard work but so far all my girlfriends have, well, acted like girls when it came time to toss a few bales around

I would love to go with a NH self propelled stack wagon and a loader with grabs. I make good money stacking hay in my customers barns and they are happy to pay my price because it is hard to find help to stack hay. A stack wagon will not get into most barns around here but I can drop the stack in the yard and use the loader with grabs to move the hay inside the pole barn and not have the headache of kids quiting on me in the middle of the day.

If you can offer a reliable stacking service you will make some decent money during the summer. One thing I would be scared of is if you make commitments to bring other farmers hay into their barns and your old stack wagon breaks down. You better have some good insurance on your service to cover yourself or have a contract set up designed to spell out what your service is and to protect your self if you have a break down and the farmers hay gets rained on.

I am really looking forward to June when my haying goes into full swing. That is when I will find out if my back will hold up or if I am going to be forced to automate now or give up haying

 

[Wildcat Ranch]

Its kinda interesting to me that your two helpers have worked in grape fields. My grandfather had grape fields and my mother used to go out after school and work in them whenever there was work to be done. I think thats where I get the "farming blood" in me.

I was home schooled. Never set foot in a public school. I had some friends who would play football and basketball and I would play, but I would have rather been out baling or plowing a field if I was able to.

For this year, I plan on stacking what hay we bale and then going out and looking for fields that have bales sitting in them. I have never operated a bale wagon, so, I need to know how many stacks I can pick up and stack in a hour before I even could think of offering to others ahead of time.

In the prior years, after we got done stacking the last of the hay in the barn. We always looked forward to a little bit of rest. Bucking the hay was a energy killer. With 3 people, 1 pickup, 24' trailer and a bale popper, we were able to pick up out of the field and stack 4 tons in one and an half hours. Quicker if it was a smoother field. Once the winter rains hit, we are already talking about haying again.
Now with us not have to buck the hay, we may not want to stop!

 

[chh]

Wildcat, you sound like you need more work . I wish you luck on your new venture. Sounds like a pretty good plan. I'm ready for hay season to get here too.

Robert I new I had met the right gal this time when she loaded up to go feed cattle with me before going out on our second date. Summer rolled around and she learned to run a tractor mowing and raking hay. Dad gave up his tractor to her and told me I'd better marry her before she decided it wasn't fun anymore. 15 years later we still are and she still thinks tractors are fun. Quite a change for a city girl.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I would love to meet someone who was not afraid of this type of work from time to time but so far I have not found any one but my helper. And she is almost 11 years younger then I am and has been working for me since she was 15. Her dad referred a lot of his customers to me when he gave up haying a while ago and is a good guy but reminds me of Mr. Haney from Green Acres. He always has that piece of equipment you just have to have

 

[chh]

I never was into to sports, I always seemed to have too much to do. One of the last years we did square bales here on the ranch(30 yrs or so ago ) one of the haulers hired a football player I went to school with to help him. He hit the ice water hard after unloading the first ton and lost breakfast . The hauler told him to just drive the next load and then pace himself, he demanded to go "back to town". He was informed that the truck wasn't going to town until all the hay was hauled. The last we saw of the football player was him walking toward the nearest dirt road to hitch a ride home.

 

[Wildcat Ranch]

Wildcat, you sound like you need more work .

No thank you! Right now, I get to bed around 2AM and wake up at 6:55AM with a little nap during lunch time. Right now, I got people coming to me for welding projects, helping them fix there cars and misc. stuff. I barely was able to get to my turbo. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/114719-adding-turbo-tn65.html

For now I have plenty of work but is there such thing as being to busy??