# Trying to improve use of our old dairy barn - modify old hay carrier?



## slowzuki

We use an old timber framed dairy barn owned by my sister to store our hay in, its built into a hill. The bottom parlour has all the stanchion's removed and is currently occupied by a few sheep. The building is about 40 or 45 by roughly 60 ft long divided into 4 bays. It was a drive through loft in bay 3 back in the day of loose hay but one of the doors was reframed too small to fit a wagon into and the ramp removed to make a loading dock type elevation. The hay track is still up there.

The loft is about 12 ft tall to the "sills" before the gambrel roof framing starts. The sills are tied together with big beams. There is lots of sub framing to keep loose hay out of the aisle bay. The gambrel trusses are clearspan, that it there are no posts extending up to the ridge or the knees. The ridge is very high compared to what I see on pics on the internet, I don't have an accurate number but its about 32 ft high.

When there used to be lots of people around, we used to fill the barn to the peak from the ground using long conveyors and man power in the mow. Problem now is not enough people especially young ones and not enough time. Need 3 people min to get anything done and its not easy work up there.

I've been trying to convince my sister to demo the granery and some of the loose hay retaining framing so we could drive in from the end on the uphill side via a new door (see pics) and stack squares via grapple or rounds. I'd buy 1" plywood to drive on and move around. The floor below is massively braced with posts all over, just the boards are thin except in the drive through aisle. She is not happy about this idea at all.

Next idea is to hang a horizontal hay conveyor from the hay track and cut a new door on the end to feed the new conveyor. Put an adjustable kickoff inside on the horizontal conveyor. Cons are I dislike the dust of working around falling hay and I don't like broken bales/stacking loose fallen bales that have fallen 30 feet. Pro is a couple of loads could be left unstacked if I'm unloading wagons alone.

Last idea is to fix up the drive through aisle and hook an ATV winch and battery to the hay carrier to have a little crane. It would only really work with round bales, squares would make a mess trying to get them off centre line of the barn.

I may have talked myself into the conveyor but I might add a winch so we don't have to let them fall full height. We are planning on some type of drive in storage building in the next 5 years as this current barn couldn't hold everything if we fertilize correctly. There was another hay barn on the property but the previous owner fed horses in it so it now has 4-5 feet of manure in it that rotted out the poles and the damage from cutting out a huge door on the long side without installing a lintel.


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## Vol

Very scenic view in the bottom pic slowzuki....is the barn setting on a lake?

Regards, Mike


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## FCF

New Holland made mow conveyors many years ago. Also had a conveyor that ran vertical up the side of the barn to feed the suppended mow conveyor that had a diverter for the bales. Never saw one in person just pictures. To over come the busted bale problem you made smaller bales or lighter weight bales. We had a neighbor with a dairy who made bales about 20 -24 inches long and "drop packed" them from a mow conveyor. They fed all their hay so small bales were not a problem. This also allowed him to use his children at a younger age to help unload wagons. Claimed there were very few broken bales. They used a regular elevator to get the bales to the suppended conveyor. He also said the was little loss of tonnage compared to stacking larger bales.


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## slowzuki

Mike we live on a 100 mile+ long headpond above a hydro dam that flooded all the prime bottom land and islands in the 60's. All the farms are the upland scraps left after the water was raised, most people took the buyouts and left. see some of the attached pics. Its a very nice view quickly being developed from a new highway on the other side. It has taken a lot of development pressure off our side as they can get to the nearest centre on the river in 1/2 the time.

FCF, I've seen some videos of these types of conveyors but none in person. A company called Allied made every conveyor in this area, I had never seen another brand here until last year. Allied didn't make or at least folks here didn't buy any of the proper ones for permanent mounting in mows.

Bah I'll have to add photos later, this cell phone internet keeps timing out.


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## Vol

Slowzuki, I have a 60 foot suspended John Deere 100 conveyor in my old storage barn.....have not used it in years as I never store hay in the loft(mow) anymore. It works great and has a sliding carriage so that you can make it dump anywhere along the 60 feet and also has the capacity to dump on the left or the right hand side with the flip of the carriage lever. I think this was made by JD back in the early 60's??....I purchased it from my next door neighbors estate sale. It works very well and seldom is a bale broken. And I expect that if one used plastic twine that it would even lessen further the chances of a broken bale.

Regards, Mike


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## slowzuki

Now to find one. I was talking to a friend an he mentioned one of their old barns has a long conveyor mounted at the peak. No clue how to get it down though.


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## rjmoses

A supplier here told me several years ago that he had a hay mow overhead elevator somewhere in storage. He wanted to sell it to me. If you'd like, I will contact him and see if he still has it and what he want for it.

Ralph


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## slowzuki

Thanks I'm going to look around local first the shipping would be painful


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## swmnhay

Heres one dismanteled and ready to go

http://for-sale.yakaz.com/used-hay-elevator-for-sale#lo=4&docid=0003jjek8dno8f7m


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## slowzuki

25 hours drive one way by google maps, doh! There has got to be some big dairy barns coming down in the cities around here as they expand.



swmnhay said:


> Heres one dismanteled and ready to go
> 
> http://for-sale.yaka...003jjek8dno8f7m


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## swmnhay

slowzuki said:


> 25 hours drive one way by google maps, doh! There has got to be some big dairy barns coming down in the cities around here as they expand.


Thats not so bad.Just think of all the scenery you would see on the way.









Maybe ship it?"Shipping Wars".U Ship,Get lucky and find someone going that way?AgTalk+ has a place to post also for shipping wanted.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

JD and NH made the type that Mike was talking about. We used a NH that belonged to my father. He let it go for scrap years ago when we converted the barn. Would cleaning out the manure in the other barn and fixing the rotten poles be a better thing to do? Might make your sister a lot happier. By the way, they are beautiful barns and great scenery. I had an old barn like that in ND where Lawrence Welk used to play barn dances in his younger day. The previous owner took out the mow and the barn collapsed right after I bought it. Never had time to save it. He took the mow out to put in his combine. Mike


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## swmnhay

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> . I had an old barn like that in ND where Lawrence Welk used to play barn dances in his younger day. The previous owner took out the mow and the barn collapsed right after I bought it. Never had time to save it. He took the mow out to put in his combine. Mike


I guess Lawrence Welk played in local dance hall here also.Wilmont VFW.One of the few dance halls that are left in the area.

Hats off to the local VFW keeping it going.They volunteer their time to keep it going.


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## gradyjohn

Vol said:


> Very scenic view in the bottom pic slowzuki....is the barn setting on a lake?
> 
> Regards, Mike


I agree with Mike. Your only major problem is ... its your sister's barn.


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## slowzuki

The other barn with the rotten poles is only 30x40x14, I think we only used to get 2500 bales in it for the heifers in the shed in front.

Some history on the large barn, it was built roughly in 1850-1880 range. Some time about early 1900's it was dismantled and moved about 200 miles. Later in 1940's when the original barn on my sisters property burnt, the barn was dismantled and floated down the river 300 miles to its current location. From looking at the work on the timbers, its not the same configuration as original.

Its not in great shape right now, powder post beetles have attacked some of the 24"x24" timbers inside over the years. Sometime in the next 10 years it will require major investment.



NDVA HAYMAN said:


> JD and NH made the type that Mike was talking about. We used a NH that belonged to my father. He let it go for scrap years ago when we converted the barn. Would cleaning out the manure in the other barn and fixing the rotten poles be a better thing to do? Might make your sister a lot happier. By the way, they are beautiful barns and great scenery. I had an old barn like that in ND where Lawrence Welk used to play barn dances in his younger day. The previous owner took out the mow and the barn collapsed right after I bought it. Never had time to save it. He took the mow out to put in his combine. Mike


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## slowzuki

Few pictures with water in the background near the farm, and the dam that flooded the valley in 60's.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

Slowzuki, You are truly blessed to live in an area that beautiful. I wish that I could bale hay while having that scenery in the background! And 24x24 beams, that's awesome.


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## slowzuki

Thanks! Its sort of unfortunate we sort of don't notice it after a while. I don't even own a boat anymore since my last one was stolen.



NDVA HAYMAN said:


> Slowzuki, You are truly blessed to live in an area that beautiful. I wish that I could bale hay while having that scenery in the background! And 24x24 beams, that's awesome.


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## Vol

Slowzuki....what kind of fish do you have in the lake? and below the dam? Looks like you might have lots of big game in your area? Bear, Moose , Deer ?

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay

Reminds me of Ear Falls,Ontario.Stayed below the dam there at a resort.Talk about catchin fish!!


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## slowzuki

In the waters above the dam are small mouth bass, yellow and white perch, land locked salmon, eels, pickeral, land locked sea bass, various trouts, chubb, sunfish, muskie, I'm sure there are a few others too.

Below the same but add ocean run salmon and sturgeon and barely any bass/perch.

I'm embarrassed to say I haven't renewed my license in years either. The ocean is only an hour or so away so fresh fish like haddock is pretty cheap. The salmon stocks are also really low and you basically can't take them from this river. I always preferred bass and perch for eating anyways.

As for big game, we a buried in deer, lots of moose as well, more up north. Plenty of black bear in areas.


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## FarmerCline

I have never heard of land locked sea bass before. Is it a self supporting population or is maintained by stocking?


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## slowzuki

They might sneak up and down via the salmon xfer system. Only catch them out in the middle of headpond, 170 ft deep of so.



FarmerCline said:


> I have never heard of land locked sea bass before. Is it a self supporting population or is maintained by stocking?


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## slowzuki

Talked to a friend today, he's selling me the 60 ft conveyor out of an old barn on his farm. Same brand as both our current conveyors, comes with a sled to kick bales off. Didn't have the nice hangers that hook the old hay track but you can't have it all.

Spent a bit more time in the old barn today. The problem with mounting the conveyor is the pole in the centre of the end wall. Its not holding anything up except the wall but got a measurement, its 36 ft to the peak from the loft floor, 40 ft from the ground outside on the uphill side. We have 20 feet of scaffold here already so I guess rent some more and cut that post out.


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## Vol

Shouldn't be too much trouble to weld up some hangers out of some old scrap pipe our something of that nature.

Regards, Mike


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## slowzuki

Kijiji - Craigslist ad has brought me a lead on premade hangers, following up now. Dropped the flatbed off at buddies house to load conveyor onto.

Current discussion is if we should use a pulley to hold it up in the loft so it could be lowered to work on the end bearing. Also, how to get the outside conveyor erected, with the angle looks like 60 ft to get a 45 degree incline.


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## barnrope

You could do it this way...


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## barnrope

A couple more pics of the barns. Once you get a layer on the bottom the bakes won't break. Stacking the barn this way you never have to throw any bales up. just spead them around....


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## Vol

Barnrope, does your windmill beside the barn still pump?

Regards, Mike


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## barnrope

Sorry, I came back to look at this thread. I kind of hi jacked your thread with my pictures.

Vol, I was pumping water for the cows with an old John Deere hit and miss engine when we first got the pasture and barn yard area. The last couple years we have been using the house well. The Aermotor got messed up in a wind storm a couple years ago. I have a rebuilt head ready to go and hopefully this summer we can switch it out and get the windmill doing what it was built to do. It would be cheaper and easier just to replace the pump with a submersable electric and pressure tank, or run a line from the house well, but I'm too much of a history/nostalgia freak.


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## mlappin

Used to know of a guy north of us, had a monster bank barn, maybe a hundred foot of conveyors hung by ropes. Filled the end of the barn first, unhooked the conveyor for that section then lowered it to fill the next section and so on. Conveyors were twenty five footers, had tabs welded on the ends that matched the next one.


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## Hayguy

You made need a longer conveyor outside.Unless you've got bales longer than about 36", a conveyor at 45 degrees will have shorter bales rolling back down right and left. A guide rail above the bales could help this problem. 


slowzuki said:


> . Also, how to get the outside conveyor erected, with the angle looks like 60 ft to get a 45 degree incline.


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## swmnhay

I think there was a brand that had guides over top of bale made out of tubing to keep bales from flipping off.There was a brand that went verticaly up side of barn that had 2 small augers ,one on each side.one right,one left handed.that brought the bales up in side a cage of tubing.


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## slowzuki

So far I've managed to scrounge 100 ft total of same brand conveyor with two drive ends and idler ends. I'm thinking I'll put 40 feet inside and 60 feet outside to get it up there. I'm thinking I'll build a set of wheels and adjustable frame to put the 60 ft'er on so I can move it out of the way easily after.

Looking for an old steel silo ladder or similar to attach to the barn so I can get up to the door to open and close it.


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## slowzuki

Still haven't worked out a good way to get the conveyor hung. That hay loader track its dead centre on the ridge while there is a big post centred on the end wall. Needs offset by 2-3 ft. Some 16 ft long 2x6's collar ties nailed onto the gambrels would make a great shelf to set it on and beef up the barn but thats still about 28 ft over the floor.


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## slowzuki

Got some pics of the inside of the barn. We've decided to brace 16 ft 2x6's upright off the beams and install the conveyor on a ledger board. As the hay keeps going up we'll keep adding ledger boards for the conveyor to rest on until we get close enough to the peak to work on the hay track. I'll have to remove some siding and strapping at the intermediate heights to get the outside conveyor in to it.


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## slowzuki

Update to the thread, we cut the door into the end of the barn in early summer, but not near the peak, only about 1/2 way up. Then pulled a 50 ft conveyor up to the window. We assembled the conveyor inside and it is starting to move up to the peak but its not running right now. We have to start filling the other side soon so I may shorten the peak conveyor temporarily and lay it on boards to get the other side filled as we work our way up. I've put off filling by delivering loads directly from the fields but all clients full now.


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## Hayman1

slowzuki said:


> Update to the thread, we cut the door into the end of the barn in early summer, but not near the peak, only about 1/2 way up. Then pulled a 50 ft conveyor up to the window. We assembled the conveyor inside and it is starting to move up to the peak but its not running right now. We have to start filling the other side soon so I may shorten the peak conveyor temporarily and lay it on boards to get the other side filled as we work our way up. I've put off filling by delivering loads directly from the fields but all clients full now.


Just saw this thread, interesting project. I was going to do one of these for a hay customer with a 7 fig barn but she had spent too much on gingerbread already. every board in the barn is recycled and re-dressed. If you haven't already done so, take a look at the hayrite bale moving systems-might give you some ideas and they may have some hardware that is standard that would help you.


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## slowzuki

Never did update this thread, conveyor is up in the barn. Chain is on conveyor but the idler on the end needed work. That is complete now. Needed two slack keepers or guides for the bottom run of chain to keep it out of the framing but these have proved impossible to find. Even the elevator chain sized sprockets are hard to find to make my own.

Insurance company made us disconnect the power to the building as they didn't like the old wiring, just got the panel ok'ed by the electrician after demolishing most of the circuits in the barn.

Will need to get back at this soon and finish up.


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## VA Haymaker

I'm late to this thread. Firstly, beautiful country!

As was mentioned, if you can get away with a tight/shorter bale that ought to help with the drop. I don't recall if you are selling squares, but we shortened ours to 30-32 inches just for weight and handling. When we added the kicker to our baler, that shorter length worked great. Two other things help with the toss from the baler - keeping the bales from breaking, one is we added hydraulic tension and it has been fantastic for consistent tight bales. Second we now use plastic twine, 9600/210 and truely don't have broken bales anymore.

Good luck,
Bill


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