# Bale squeeze on skid steer?



## TooFast4U (Aug 5, 2008)

Is anybody using one of the small bale squeezes that fit on a skidsteer loader?

I have *too many questions<g>*: Does it work well? Do you handle small squares with it? If so, how many bales at a time do you carry? How high can you stack bales in flat storage with it? What problems are there for handling bales that way? What brand do you have?

I see *Steffen Systems* has one (Steffen Systems Bale Squeezes - 1(888) 783-3336), also *Newhouse Mfg.* (Squeeze). Are there *others*?

I'm thinking of trying to put together a simple system for making local (< 1 hour drive) deliveries of small squares, where I'd get part time help to stack bales in small piles of a size I need to use for delivery, either on pallets so I can handle them with a skidsteer & pallet fork, or in piles of the right size for handling with a skidsteer & bale squeeze. I'd *haul the skidsteer to the delivery site, on the back of a gooseneck flatbed trailer loaded with bales.*

I'd appreciate any comments or opinions on the workability of that kind of system.


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## Production Acres (Jul 29, 2008)

If you are planning on hauling hay + hauling skidloader + bale grapple all on a 10 ton gooseneck trailer, you will not have any capacity left for hay. The skidloader will weigh 7-8K, the loader will weigh 1K, that only leaves you with 10-12K capacity in hay, not including the weight of the trailer.

We have done exactly what you are talking about with a 15-18bale squeeze from steffen systems. We were using it on the back of a semi trailer. For our size skidloader we needed a 8 bale grab, but if you go with a 8 bale grab, for the loss of carrying capacity and the damage you will do to the customers driveway carring only 8 bales at a time, I would think you would be better off with a hay elevator and a extra person.


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## baledog (Jul 30, 2008)

I got a forklift squeeze off ebay and had local shop fit it for skid loader. Probably cost $1.5K all together. I use 5 to 6 edge bales on the bottom, 2 to 3 high. 10 to 15 bales per squeeze. It can make a pretty useful stack in a building, fill corners, gets 14' high if you want. Makes pretty quick work of a wrecked picker stack. All in all I find it useful, glad I have it.


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## TooFast4U (Aug 5, 2008)

As you suggest, what this question basically gets down to is labor vs. machinery vs. efficiency.

I'm trying to figure out a way to not need that extra person to do deliveries. I don't have full-time help, and part-time help is hard to get here when I need them.

Machinery has higher fixed cost but if it's part of a workable, decently efficient system (that's a big if), its less of a managment hassle than hired labor.

And then there's that efficiency thing. As you say, a trailer loaded with a skidsteer loader can't haul a lot of hay. So for anything more than, say, a 10-mile haul, the extra person is likely to be more efficient.


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## Riverside Cattle (Jun 4, 2008)

We built our own squeeze. Couldn't find exactly what we wanted. Not counting our time we have less than $500 in parts most of that cost was hydraulic fittings etc, even built our own cylinders so they would work the way we wanted them to.

It is mounted on a ASV 30 (the smallest tracked skidsteer out there, around 3,000 lbs) We have to hand stack the bales three wide and two or three high in the field for the squeeze to pickup We accumulate the bales into bunches of 6-18 behind the baler. Then hand stack those for the squeeze to pickup. We can arrange and stack with the ASV but its slower.

We can load a trailer in about 10 minutes (144) bales but the trailer is only 6 ft wide and 18ft long to accommodate 36 inch bales. We load two bales across and 12 bales long, 6 rows high, if that makes sense. Loading a trailer works great but unloading and stacking is another issue. With a squeeze you can't make a tight stack. When you let go of the squeeze the bales have to seperate to allow the arms to slide out. making a gap. Also we can only stack about 8 high with our little skidsteer. Two of us can unload a trailer in less than 15 minutes with hay hooks but it takes about 20 minutes with the squeeze. Again its hard to get the arms between the bales on a tight stack. So we load in the field with the squeeze and unload at the barn by hand. Only do about 12,000 small squares a year and that is a little more than I really want to handle with hooks it gets old.

I have a half built grapple in the shop that hopefully will be finished by this summer so we can load in the field with the squeeze and unload with a grapple.

-rsc


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