# rocky mountain bale sweep



## mike denison (Aug 3, 2009)

I bale about 2000 small bales of grass a year to sell. My question is has anyone used one of these sweeps? Skid steer attachment to pick up hay - Rocky Mountain Bale Sweep, LLC. This looks like a decent way to pick up hay on the cheap. Its usually dad and i so theres not a lot of extra help. I would like to use it on the front of my 2wd loader tractor (no cab) to pickup the hay. This wouldn't be as nice as a skidsteer, but i dont have one and fields are 1 to 3 miles away. I was also wondering about some sort of squeeze to pick up the stacks because it looks like when you dump the hay the stack will be a little loose. Stacking on a trailer would be tough unless you could turn each layer for going down the road short distances they could be unstable. I also wondered about building something like these tools. Anybody built anything that works good and is simple. Can't justify a high dollar system for the little i do. Thanks.


----------



## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

looks like a slick idea if your hay field is smooth as a golf course,here in stone county it wouldn't work


----------



## Beach Farmer (Jan 8, 2010)

Would you be concerned about hitting a rock with the skids and bending them up? I was thinking a loose upper link would help things float in those conditions although the pivot on the skid woudl have to be pretty stout to take any side to side movement as you are lining up to the bale.


----------



## hay hauler (Feb 6, 2010)

I would think it would be difficult to run on a tractor, reason is we run one on our bobcat and would think it would be hard to use without good visivility of the whole deal. I would say just make a skid/slead like that one that accumulates (no lifting). Then go back with a grapple to pickup the bales, gives you something to empty the barn with to.

If you want to do this with any speed you need two people to pickup hay. You can do it with one, but it is so slow, and lots of walking. One moving the trailer one runing the tractor... plus one more attachment to unload and stack...

Or get a pull type balewagon, one person, one tractor, 200 to 300 bales per hour.

We use both, and never use the skidsteer on anything more than 4 acres, it just takes to much time and work...


----------

