# Rocky Mountain bale sweep/accumulator



## ih4me (Jan 15, 2014)

Considering buying a rocky mountain bale sweep. Does anyone have one or ever use one? I like it because you are not dragging the hay across the field, but not sure how well stacking on wagons would go. In their YouTube demo they only lay down the first layer??? I bale 55 acres part time And looking for a way to not needing so many hired hands for help.


----------



## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

I've also looked at this small square bale accumulator. Did you see a price on it?

I think I can drop several loads onto the trailer and then dismount the tractor and properly hand stack the bales on the trailer, but I don't do as much acreage as you do.


----------



## ih4me (Jan 15, 2014)

No I haven't, but it looks really simple to make if it's too expensive. I am on a budget like everyone, I just bought a discbine and 2nd tractor in the last 12 months so not looking to spend a bunch for a year or two.


----------



## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I was thinking of making one like that and getting some old thrower wagons and dump them in. A thrower costs 9k new. I could build one of these for less then 1k.


----------



## cmd (Oct 26, 2012)

ontario hay man said:


> I was thinking of making one like that and getting some old thrower wagons and dump them in. A thrower costs 9k new. I could build one of these for less then 1k.


Just find a used thrower, it will save you a lot work if they are going to end up being dumped in a kicker wagon anyways. They are out there, may take some doing to find one but they exist. I actually bought one for $40 out of a guys yard couple years ago. I put about 10K bales through it and it worked when it left for a newer baler.


----------



## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

ontario hay man said:


> I was thinking of making one like that and getting some old thrower wagons and dump them in. A thrower costs 9k new. I could build one of these for less then 1k.


Depends on what model thrower you're looking for. I wanted a 72 a few years ago. Found a super nice one for $1200 and the idiot seller sold it out from under me. Ended up finding a hyd drive 70 and made it work on my 570. Had about $900 in buying the thrower and the mods, including a 5xx style hitch.

You can buy a Deere thrower (or NH pan thrower) for pennies. And you can mount it on any color baler you want if you don't care what it looks like


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I was gonna say, if you have NH or Deere there are used throwers laying around all over the east. I sold a JD 40 for 100$, there are always NH's on Kijiji for 500$ or less. Even MF's are pretty easy to find throwers for.


----------



## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I wouldnt give 5 cents for a pan thrower. I dont even like throwers really. I am trying to figure the best way to get up alot of hay. Cant decide what to do.


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Ontario I'm not a fan of thrower wagons either only from the low capacity and long time to unload them. Filling them is fine. Grew up using them on other farms.

We are slowly feeling out what system to use in the coming years, we first started from loading bales off the ground onto wagons, then moved to towing wagons with the bale chute on the balers. Then onto trying a few other things.

I can say I really like the bale baskets after using them a couple of years. Just not the best on tight turns, have to swing wide. I can set my father up with our 336 and a basket and he can get two 100 bale loads an hour including running one load 3 km back to the barn to dump.

I wish they made a 200 bale model that could dump as easily and I'd be set with 2 of them and would use it for deliveries too. The 100 bale capacity just doesn't work well over a few km's unless you own a lot of them.

We tried a Henry pop up bale loader this year that we got for cheap. It worked really well, I'm impressed for a 60 odd year old machine. I could bury 3 guys who were working quite hard very easily. If you didn't have to worry about the guys on the trailer and had long fields and heavy hay I'd bet it could physically pick 1800 bales an hour. It filled our 300 bale flatbed in 20 min with lots of waiting for the guys on the trailer. I filled the same trailer in an hour by myself with my wife driving the truck the first day we got it. I would love to increase its height so it could fill the bale baskets too in a pinch.

We are at the point where our barn is the problem so we have been pricing new buildings and may have a lead on cheap rent for a very large but semi-low building that needs animal pens demolished. Whatever works out for that storage will determine where we go.


----------



## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Ya our closest field is 5km from us so baskets wouldnt work to good. We are currently using a stooker. What is this bale loader that you are talking about? Seems interesting.


----------



## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

How are the baskets any more efficient than the thrower wagons? (We're probably going the SP stacker route but I'm always kicking around ideas)


----------



## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Im leaning toward building a kuhn type rig. Doesnt look to complicated to build.


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

They self-unload so if you are dropping at a customers you can pull the lever and go. Same at your own elevator, 2 mins and gone. With 2 baskets you have about 20 mins available per trip. 3 baskets you can travel further but the baler will eventually catch up to you. You can pin the dolly wheel up too so they tow pretty well at 30 mph+. A local farm has 4 or 5 and their ground is 10-15 miles+ away.

They work well with delivery and old dairy mows, I don't think so much with large storage suitable for stackwagons.

The guy I bought my baler from used one as an accumulator, they rigged a remote open close on the gate. Hired man baled and dumped by wagons, farmer used a long hay hook to drag the bales into groups of 18 and used a steffen accumulator with a rotator to load wagons. He said 300-350 an hour was no trouble.



8350HiTech said:


> How are the baskets any more efficient than the thrower wagons? (We're probably going the SP stacker route but I'm always kicking around ideas)


----------



## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

So essentially no advantage aside from personal preference.


----------



## cmd (Oct 26, 2012)

If I had a crew of ambitious boys standing around all the time I'm sure the basket would work, but sometimes all I can do is get all the wagons backed under roof. The only customers I have that are close enough to deliver like that- get me to put the hay in the barn. I really don't get the hate for a bale thrower. A belt thrower is pretty forgiving, a pan kicker though can be a pain if you get a random length bale here or there. I own a thrower and have run kickers, for me, I'll take the thrower but going across steep hills the pan kicker is the way to go.


----------



## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I know a guy that died from a kicker. Almost took his head right off. Not sure how he did it. Probably stupidity.


----------



## cmd (Oct 26, 2012)

ontario hay man said:


> I know a guy that died from a kicker. Almost took his head right off. Not sure how he did it. Probably stupidity.


#1 rule running a pan kicker, turn the PTO off before you go near it.


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

The empty wagon in 5 sec matters for some, not others. Like a thrower wagon though they aren't good for much else. Can't put big squares or rounds in them.



8350HiTech said:


> So essentially no advantage aside from personal preference.


----------



## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

and lock it out. Isn't there an accumlator inside that can hold pressure? I sold my pan kicker before using it.



cmd said:


> #1 rule running a pan kicker, turn the PTO off before you go near it.


----------

