# Loading Semi-Trailers



## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

Over this past year, we've made some contacts or been approached with some buyers that are interested in something more than the full-size pick-up with utility trailer attached - load of hay (100ish bales). Some are interested in bringing out a 53' semi-trailer/enclosed-van type body. From what I can tell, probably get 600ish square bales in one of these.

I kind of got mixed feelings about taking on such customers as we are a small operation, we don't have bale bandits, grapples, skid-steers or tele-handlers. We don't have loading docks, etc. We do have plenty of space to bring in a large semi-trailer, access to our barn/shelters. Mixed feelings with respect to lack of equipment and seriously doubt buying it, even used, would pencil out. Also mixed feelings about man-handling 600ish bales into a semi on a hot august day. Barn is hot enough, I can only imagine how much hotter it is in side that trailer! Can we expect the driver to help load/stack?

What I've been able to glean from reading forum posts is there are several ways to load up a semi-trailer.

Loading dock and bale bandit type bundles loaded by skid steer - much investment required.

A loading dock and skid steer with grapple load driving down into the trailer as well as unloading from the barn. Still expensive.

Grapple system where a grab of bales are set on the trailer - 2 bales high and then pushed to the rear with another 2 high grab of bales until the trailer is loaded out. An accumulator/grapple system (I especially like the Kuhn accumulators) is not out of the question, but still expensive. Probably cheaper than a trip to the ER with a heart attack from wrestling 600 bales of hay in the heat of a semi-trailer.... 

Then there is the hard labor route where you lift and walk every bale out of the barn, into the trailer and stack! Prefer not to go there.

With the exception using a loading dock along with skid steer managing a grapple or bale bandit bundle, once the hay is on the trailer, I gather it still needs manually stacked. Maybe the telehandler can get the bales up on the trailer and pushed to the rear, but the manual stacking effort is still required.

Then there is the front end of the loading - just getting the bales out of the barn. Goodly bit of labor just getting the bales to the semi-trailer off the stack. You got your slick New Holland bale wagon that picks-up from the field and makes a nice stack in the barn, but is that stack friendly to a grapple or do you have to man handle those bales to get them out of the barn too?

Here's what I'm thinking - on a low budget.

1. There is no getting around manually unstacking bales from the barn and once on the trailer - re-stacking them.

2. To get out of carrying bales out of the barn, up onto the trailer and then 53ft to the rear - why not set up a set of chain type conveyors like one used to put bales in the loft from back in the day?

The thought is - conveyors are relatively cheap and plentiful. Put the conveyors in series, removing one as the truck fills and let the conveyor do the "walking" of the bales from the barn to the trailer. One person loading the conveyor at the barn end and another in the trailer - at minimum.

This is the only way I can figure skinning the semi-trailer cat on a low budget - short of turning down the business in favor of smaller loads of 20 to 100 bales per customer, which is more typical our customer base presently. It would be nice to sell out sooner than later and 600 bales at a pop would definitely accelerate emptying our sheds.

Other concerns: You've just baled hay. The semi-trailer is waiting until you fill the wagon and they want the hay to go straight in to the trailer. I have it in my mind that I want to hold the hay for a month before selling - just to let it sweat-out such that it's my barn that burns down vs a customer and to feel good that there is no dusty hay. I have concerns about loading fresh baled hay, regardless if the meter is showing 11% humidity in the bale or 23% humidity and buffered propionic acid has been applied - going into a nearly air tight semi-trailer that is spanking hot under the summer sun. Is that a concern of yours? Do you sell your squares straight off the field? Any risk/fear that keeps you from doing it? Thoughts?

Sooooooo - conveyors to walk the hay from the barn deep into the trailer or limit the load size to a 100 or so bales per customer and forget the semi-trailer business potential all together?

Anyone man handling every bale from the barn to stacking out the trailer - maybe it ain't no big deal..... ?

Other suggestions?

Any sage advice/experience is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Bill


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

In my experience most drivers will not help load. In fact many drivers don't want anything to do with small bales altogether. I'm sure the bundles are fine though. But most drivers don't want to wait around for someone to hand load a trailer. Also good luck finding help to do that with little notice. These are some of the reasons I stopped with the small squares.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

The guy I deal with brings a loading crew and I have a couple people plus myself. I have a couple elevators and he brings a couple. 8 people can load a 53 ft trailer in just under an hour. It's a frantic pace but can be done. Last time I thought I was cashing out for sure. Haha


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Here at least don't let hay fresh out of field sit more than a day in a van trailer, customer won't be happy due to dust from mold.

Most folks here just use a long conveyor pushed in the back and it just gets pulled out as the trailer fills up. It's better not to let the bales fall off it as it gets dusty inside from them falling. A good worksite fan sitting at the back door will help with the heat.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Sounds like what we did one drought year right after we got out of milking cows.

Had like 400 acres of hay to be square baled and if I remember right had a serious drought in the Carolina's, but just enough here for a good hay crop. We'd be baling and a semi would just stop and ask if they could buy a load, most were flat beds and loaded those right in the field, did a few van trailers at the farm using hay movers (conveyors), also loaded half a dozen rail cars or better at the local elevator left on a siding a few at a time. Rail cars were the worst, didn't matter what time of day, they had enough steel in em they were always like an oven.

Dad hauled 400 bales down to Indy and donated that to a train heading out east as well.


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

I used to load tons of van trailers by hand. Used hay elevators to get most of the way back. Honestly we would use an aluminum ladder to slide bales of out of mow to keep dust down, then have someone put on elevator then two people stacking. Then I bought the 18 bale grabber from kuhns. That's the ticket except for the top layer still needs be hand stacked unless you have the special loading wagon my good friend built.


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

Fyi if you do not have loading dock you can't load (not to my knowledge) a full 53 foot van by pushing the 18 bale grabs forward 6 bales on edge high. Run out of traction/bales spread trying. Loading bale baron bundles I can though. That's using a t300 track machine.

Also no hired or booked driver will help, and when they do they are mostly in the way. Except hay jockeys, they always help and are good help to have when they aren't on the phone....


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

You can always have pallets loaded with stacked hay, hoist with the forks into the van. Use pallet jack inside the van, pull the pallets at the door to the front. Turn the pallet around and push it to the stack. If there's concern with shifting, use shrink wrap on each 'bundle'. Have semi park facing down hill. Stacking outside beats stacking inside. Just charge $15 deposit per pallet.


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## bbos2 (Mar 20, 2015)

I cut my teeth loading vans all by hand front to back. A lot of work.Hardest thing is finding good help. I tried conveyors but they were heavy and combersome ro move around so that disnt last long. 
I then went to 18 bale grab and loaded A LOT of vans with it. All from the ground withiut a dock one layer at a time. Top layer is done with a platform. 600-650 bale in a van. First with a big loader tractor then a telehandler. Slam the doors in an hour if your comfortable in your machine. 
Now i do it by shoving in barron bundles again all from the ground. I aproch trailer with 42 bales at a time and load 700+ in 30 minutes.


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## Snow Farmer (Aug 30, 2011)

I'd go into it slow, to make sure there is a continuing market for the 53' van loads.

Nothing like setting up for anticipated greater business volume, only to find that is was a one or two time occurrence.

It has happened to me, in this hay business.

Hay customers make all kinds of promises one year, then you never hear from them again. I have learned (slowly, it seems!) to wait and see.

Anyway, like some of the others who have replied, I would use a bale elevator to get the bales in the first 20' or so.

Dust masks would be on my list, and beer on ice for when the trailer is loaded


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Have a batch of my hay sold to a middle man taking it to Florida. Going to be using a hay elevator to run them into trailer and have my uncle and cousins help or a good amish customer of mine. We will see how that works out.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

Load vans every week of the year, a few by hand. conveyers are nice, lots of help us nice, park so front is downhill and pushing a stack of 3 or 4 works good too. Do not store fresh hay in van, day or two during transport is tops. As long as it's a good customer, as in you are paid and they appreciate your product, do it and grow your business.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

For those that ship in vans, do the reefer vans with the air tunnels down the roof and slotted floors have any chance of dehumidifying enough to last say a week?

I've loaded several of them with apples but never hay.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Depending on how your barn and driveway are arranged, sometimes it will be more advantageous to pull the truck and trailer forward after every 200 or 300 bales instead of pulling the chain elevator out the back. Either way, for only filling a few vans per year, you can easily get by that way. Yeah. It's hot. You won't be doing it every day. Arrange to do it at dawn and that'll help. As mentioned, if you're loading a hired van you won't be getting help but most jockeys will understand your situation and bring an extra man or two. You might even be able to convince them to bring a flat instead of a van and that opens up lots of loading options.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

I've been shipping hay (mainly to Florida) with van trailers for eight years now and every one of them has been just a crew of guys (and a few girls) pitching the bales. We do run an elevator from the edge of the loft to the back end of the trailer. You can see in the first image that I attached that my barn is set up with the main door in the middle of the front and an open area (no loft floor) for half the length of the barn - this forms a U-shape in the front part of the loft. We position the bottom of the elevator so that it rests underneath the loft floor at the bottom of the U-shape and the length is just right for the top of the elevator to stick a foot or two into the back of the trailer. With the elevator resting under the the loft floor the motor and everything are protected from falling chaff and bales of hay. From there it's 2 or 3 people in the loft, 3 or 4 in the truck and one person with a clicker keeping count on the number of bales. Usually takes between one and a half to two hours to load a truck start to finish. If the stack stays like it should, we get 629 bales on a load. Each tier of hay is 5 bales wide on edge with a sixth bale laid flat, the edges bales will then stack for a total of six high and the flat bale you get seven high (37 bales per tier). Stacking like this the number of tiers you get in the trailer will be dictated by your bale length (we get 17 tiers per load).

I've attached a few pictures to (hopefully) help with understanding the setup. The other advantage that I have is that we load out during the fall, winter or early spring when the temps are lower. We did load out in early June once and even in the morning, the trailer got pretty warm once the sun came up.

I am looking at going to a more mechanized manor of loading, but it will probably be limited to using a grapple to load. I can't justify the cost of a Bandit or anything like that so it will probably just be loading with a grab.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Looks familiar, used a little giant for years handling hay bales


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## wwwfagan72 (Aug 13, 2014)

We run stack wagons and steffen grapples, one on a forklift at our barn and one on a Cat telehandler in far off fields with a pusher table. Stack 6 layers high on the table and the push with the telehandler boom. One person with one machine can load a 53 footer with 648 bales in about 45 mins. 
We used to hand stack back in the day while running a stack wagon but since then never touch a bale in the whole process with the purchase of the first grapple. With that purchase we doubled our size and acreage and enjoy farming!


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## danwi (Mar 6, 2015)

Nice thing about hauling in vans is you don't have to worry about the weather if it rains or snows this time of year. The other thing is no matter if the bales are big small tight or loose you just close the back doors and you don't have to worry about strapping them down or tarping a load.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

danwi said:


> Nice thing about hauling in vans is you don't have to worry about the weather if it rains or snows this time of year. The other thing is no matter if the bales are big small tight or loose you just close the back doors and you don't have to worry about strapping them down or tarping a load.


That is nice about the van trailers The one problem I discovered when hand stacking them was if you always start the next tier of bales against the same wall, it can actually twist the box a little. It's not much but it can make getting the doors closed at the end a little tough. Now we just alternate which wall we start against and there is no problem. Having the trailer slanted downhill (front lower than the back) helps too. Unfortunately, the driveway to my barn is slanted the other way and can make it fun if you don't stack tight.


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## danwi (Mar 6, 2015)

A few years ago a neighbor was short of hay and I hauled around six loads for him that winter. I borrowed a van trailer from a friend that he wasn't using that winter, I would get a load of hay for the neighbor and when i got back to his farm I would park it aside the barn and he would just feed off the trailer when it was close to empty he would empty it and I would go and get another load. The other thing is how far do you have to haul the hay if it is not that far it is hardly worth the effort to load vans but if it is a little distance loading in a van is worth while.


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

Very good info on loading semi-trailers. It is much appreciated.

Thanks!
Bill


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## Northeast PA hay and beef (Jan 29, 2017)

We load 15 to 20 53 foot trailers every year. For one customer. He brings 2 people with him to load the truck, 3 in total. We put hay on portable elevator, stuck as far as we can into trailer. They bring a 20ft elevator, that they ratchet strap to bottom of trailer to use when they unload at some customers. Our customer is a hay dealer and he will not take anything direct from field or off wagon. To much risk of heating up. Having 20 ft in trailer takes care of most of the carrying away, and eliminates throwing up to top of trailer. We go back with 3 rows high then put elevator on angle to fill top 4 rows. It takes at least 5 people to load, but with good help it can be loaded in an hour twenty. Also we fit 700 45lb bales on 53ft trailer.


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