# How do you pick up your bales?



## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

What type of system do you use to pick up bales, accumulator, hay basket, bale wagon, or the old fashion way, sweat and muscle. I threw some name brand accumulators out there to use the 10 choices, although I know there are more. I know some folks, such as myself, are thinking about one soon. Thanks and hope everyone has had a great Labor Day weekend.


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## greenacres (Jun 5, 2008)

bale thrower into a thrower rack for small sqs' and tractor and loader for big sqs' with two big 20 ft racks to haul on 12 ton gears


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## JD4755 (Apr 17, 2008)

My vote went for "Other", since our stacker is home built and the bales are just a little too big to pick up by hand


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## Hayboy1 (Jul 19, 2008)

14 hay racks with two NH balers and seriously thinking of an accumulator system!!


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## 4020man (Jun 21, 2008)

I have a thrower behind my baler. Still have to unload them by hand though, but it saves a lot of labor not having to handle the hay twice.


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

We have two 15 bale Kuhns. This is our fourth year with them and have been well satisfied.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I use a Highine 14 bale mover to pickup rd bales.One person can pickup 500 bales in a day if unloading on end of field.Some of the best money I have spent in my hay opperation.


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## haymaker (Jun 29, 2008)

I have what they call a three bale accumulator for a 3x4 baler, it dumps two at a time. It works well because you can group the bales across the field more, or have the capacity to go to the end of the field and dump them. You travel across the field alot less.


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## cornman (Apr 27, 2009)

Check out the Bale Caddie 1200 and Bale Grabbers from Koyker Manufacturing in South Dakota Koyker Mfg..


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## rank (Apr 15, 2009)

We use a Stinger.


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## nwfarmer (Jun 16, 2009)

New Holland 1033 stack wagon.


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## ont hay producer (Aug 30, 2008)

7 bale racks, 575 NH baler for the small squares,2 loader tractors 2 24 foot wagons and a skidsteer for the 3 x 3 x 7 big bales.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I've got a very old NH 1000 stacker wagon....still runs pretty good but getting parts is real expensive. I'm probably going to go to a Kuhns accumulator.


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## okhillbilly (Jun 18, 2009)

I use the old Farmhand Accumulator and Grapple. Oldie but a goodie.


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## stevemsinger (Jul 8, 2009)

We use the old fashioned way.....sweat.


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## David in Georgia (Aug 30, 2009)

We use a 1010 New Holland Bale wagon.


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## Tim (Aug 23, 2009)

Just bought a MacDon 1300(?) for 3x3s. I picked up 120 bales yesterday. What a day... I think it is going to be real asset to the place once I get a bit of practice in. It was cheaper than a pro ag, and will haul more bales!


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## ButchAutomatic (Jun 4, 2008)

New Holland BW 38 Stack Cruiser


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## river rat (Jan 16, 2009)

Bale Bandit 21 bale bundle, skid loader with pallet forks or tractor with squeezer.


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## jeff outwest (Sep 13, 2009)

New Holland BW 28. Stack hay in barns with either a John Deere 6420 or John Deere 4030 with a Lewco balefork pick up 8 flat 3 twine bales. Barns were built before a squeeze was invented. New barn will be Squeeze friendly


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## chief-fan (Aug 27, 2009)

Accumulator and grapple 8 at a time.


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## Hayking (Jan 17, 2010)

We have had a hay wagon in the past but recently bought a bale bandit hoping that it will be a lot easier. its got real hard to find anyone who wants to work and haul little squares anymore.


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## suhrj (Oct 23, 2008)

I prefer my Hydra-bed. I can haul 2 large round or square bales on the back of my pickup and get them from the field to the house in a fraction of the time with nothing but the truck with the hydra-bed as equipment. It's the best piece of equipment that I own!


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## Barry Bowen (Nov 16, 2009)

I have 13 bale wagons and 2 JD336's with #30 throwers, about 20K bales per year


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## Cannon (Aug 18, 2009)

I have a Stinger 6500 stacker for my 4x4 bales


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## man of steel (Feb 1, 2010)

I made my own round bale picker upper on a 7000 Ford truck. Loads and hauls 10 at a time.


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## hay hauler (Feb 6, 2010)

NH 1049 SP balewagon


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## Riverside Cattle (Jun 4, 2008)

We use a Freeman 6000 balewagon for the flat ground. On the hills we pull a sled type buncher behind the baler and load trailers with a ASV skidsteer with a squeeze and unload by hand. The squeeze and trailer combo is a little faster as the trailer will haul 144 bales and the freeman will only hold 48 but cycle time is a bit faster.

-rsc


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## hay hauler (Feb 6, 2010)

Riverside

How do you like your freeman? I know of them but have never seen one run. Bales per hour?


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## kingranchf350 (Dec 13, 2009)

Hoelscher 1000's


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## darren (Nov 18, 2009)

I bale directly on a flat bed wagon .I have 10 of them.I just ordered a NH 1038 bale wagon.Good help is hard to find.


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## baledog (Jul 30, 2008)

1033, Lewco 15 bale fork, homemade 10bale squeeze for the skidloader


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## geiselbreth (Feb 21, 2010)

using hoelsher 10 bale had to do over probly use nh balewagon


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## farmboy9510 (Feb 16, 2009)

We bail rate onto the wagons for now I still enjoy doing it, alothough I do see a nh bale wagon in the future. Just need to wait till it pencils out to own one.


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## hayliner270 (May 21, 2010)

new holland 270 with ez trail bale basket biggest day for three people was 800 bales


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Used to use a thrower and flat racks when we were milking cows, the bigger ones could hold about 325. Could put up at least three thousand bales a day with enough help and good weather. Then went to thrower wagons, could get about 250 in one of those with a good operator on the baler. Went to round bales and use a JD 401C, carry one on back with the three point and two on front. Stack two at a time on the trucks as well. Once I get enough parts collected, plan on building something similar to a Highline to roadside all the bales.


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## dbergh (Jun 3, 2010)

NH 1048 for the small squares and occasionally use a Steffen's Hay handler as well. 
For the 4x4's we use a loader w/ bale forks and semi as well as a Hauser Built retriever mounted on a Chev. Kodiak chassis which can haul 6 4x4's per load. The retriever works great because I only need a loader on one end of the sequence and it is a quick and agile machine compared to the semi. The semi obviously hauls more bales (24) per load but the bales per hour are about the same between the two setups (and the semi requires a loader on each end of the cycle which is hard with only one loader). We also use an accumulator on the big baler and drop everything on the ends of the field so traffic in the field itself is minimized during the loading/ hauling process. Hate seeing those wheel tracks during the next cutting! 
Once we are done raking for the morning that guy can jump on the loader and run around and assemble stacks of 6 bales for the retriever while we are still baling. When we are done baling for the morning we jump in the trucks and get everything moved off the field as quickly as possible so we can start the water up right away. In our country (Southern Idaho desert) quicker water = more ton's per cutting.
Would love to have a Stinger but $$$$ don't work out for me at our scale.
The Hauser Built retriever is a quality outfit that's built like a tank and a great tool for us as we can move either size bale, short or long distances depending on need and it's only 1/4 the cost of a Stinger. Also Kevin Hauser is a great guy to work with as well.


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## Edster (Feb 23, 2010)

Started the old fasion way, blood, sweat , and alot of complaining. The crew threatened to quit unless I did something. So here is my solution.










The crew still complains but the threats of having to do hay myself have stopped.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

Man I'd hate to stack the racks with my shirt off!


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## Edster (Feb 23, 2010)

I do to. But ya can't tell kids nothing. It was about 95 that day, the humidity was up there too.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

Here's how we get the bales off the racks. The Mrs. pulls the rope with the pickup and snaps the pictures, I set the fork, and have a man or two in the hay mow to stack the bales in place. The fork will take 4 on each side with 2 down the middle for a total of 10 bales each pull. It gets the bales pretty close to where they need to be in the loft, and it is much quieter and easier than using a conveyor of elevator. We use this method in 3 old barns.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Great pics of the hay fork! Our barn has the rail, and the trolley, and the old ropes, but the two prong fork has been removed with the previous owner. It was a drive through barn and although I've hayed been horses there with the previous owners, we used conveyors. Now the aisle has poles over it to stack on, the doors have been reframed smaller, and the ramp on one side was removed so pickups could back up to the barn level with the tailgate.


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## rpierce749 (Aug 14, 2012)

John Deere 336 with thrower and three wagons


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## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

NH 570 with 72 thrower and 5 kicker racks


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## jturbo10 (Feb 28, 2011)

New Holland 1033 Stackliner


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## MT hayer (Mar 1, 2014)

Well we do mostly rounds now. Went from loose hay and farmhands with hay baskets. Good hay, just takes time. Now with the rounds we have a bale truck. A freightliner with a arm that you can more then quarter turn the bale to pick. It hauls 12. A/c works most of the time too! Either to the edge of the field or usually straight to the hay yard. The next truck will be able to put the top row on.

Other wise a big tractor with a double carrier on the back and a spear on the front. Bunch them in field for the semis and load flat side out or log style if we have the grapple. Some people have the great big carriers, but they are a lot of money for how little you use them.

I like the Koyker inline picker because it loads quick, and dumps to the side so there is nothing raised in the air. Pull it with a pickup or tractor. And really no backup, just pull up along side the last set or the end of the last trip and dump! I don't think there is any chains either? We just have a slider on our truck, so no chains to break either. Good topic!


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

When did you switch from loose hay to rounds?


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## MT hayer (Mar 1, 2014)

We did both between 92' to 95' if I remember right. Started with the new Holland 851. Those are tough balers with good pickups. They bale, posts, ..... tractors,..... elephants! Still have one for emergency standby. We had a 6600 Hesston swathed with a 14' head and the double swath. Worked really well, no raking.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Shetland Sheepdog said:


> NH 570 with 72 thrower and 5 kicker racks


Thats what we had too. I liked the kicker racks, problem was finding help that could unload them without taking all day. Most of them made it too difficult, after enough practice I could grab a bale and get several more loose at the same time where I seen the help actually climb up the pile, roll some down of the top, stick those on the conveyor, climb back up....


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

JD 250 skid loader in the field NH L775 at the barn/stack for rounds. My two hands for small squares that or those of the kids helping or the old man. Some bales i handle 4-5 times from stacking the wagon to feeding


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## R Ball (Feb 26, 2013)

Kuhns 10 bale accumulator with along with any trailer someone brings in along with our hay wagons and goose neck.


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## expensive hobby (Feb 16, 2010)

baron, one man show


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

expensive hobby said:


> baron, one man show


I see why your handle is 'expensive hobby'. I prefer (because I'm frugal) a crew. I have good help, same help every year. The can interlock better than I can. I prefer rounds but my customers don't.


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## eastsidehayguy (Aug 12, 2013)

Nh 570 and 326 with 4 bale baskets and a 1037 nh stacker wagon. Used to use kickers one year decieded my money was better invested in equipment then teenagers who want 15 an hour cash and can only unload 50 bales an hour 3 of them..


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

10 bale Kuhns Accumulator behind a NH 315.


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## broadriverhay (Jun 13, 2014)

Parrish 10 bale accumulator and a WR Long grapple. I haul to barn with grapple because my barn is right there at the field. The longest distance I travel is 1/4 mile. I can rake, bale , and haul about 700 to 800 a day by myself.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

expensive hobby said:


> baron, one man show


Really?


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## broadriverhay (Jun 13, 2014)

If the REALLY was for me ,YES really. my field is very flat , I travel back and forth in road gear. I run up to 19 mph in my field while hauling hay.


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## expensive hobby (Feb 16, 2010)

yea, long days hard to find help, bale until 5 or so then pick them up into the night, go back in morning to get what I didn't see


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

broadriverhay said:


> If the REALLY was for me ,YES really. my field is very flat , I travel back and forth in road gear. I run up to 19 mph in my field while hauling hay.


It wasn't.....


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

somedevildawg said:


> It wasn't.....


I don't see how you guys can do it tho.....I certainly understand the delimea you face however. With short windows and huge $ (to me) invested, I simply cannot afford to be unproductive because of labor shortage.....sometimes circumstances happen but I cannot let it happen unless there are no other alternatives. During times between harvest I can handle it, but during harvest......


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

A mostly one man, one wife and many dog show here. 1069 NH SP was bought after running a 1033 for years.
The wife keeps the water jug full and occasionally bales a little hay. Tried the hired help deal last year and it cost far more than it was worth.


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## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

I run the 268 New Holland small square baler and dad follows behind me with the GMC TopKick with a 20ft bed and a 20ft trailer and 3-4 Mexicans. we get about 300 a load pretty easy. We have Mexicans working here pretty much year 'round for most things on the apple growing side of the operation so help is usually always available.


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## Coondle (Aug 28, 2013)

JD 348 a 100 series Bale Bandit a couple of Chinese tractors (one 50 hp on the baler) and one of 60 hp shared between the Bandit and hayforks) , I can on a good day bale, bundle, cart and stack 1000 of those small idiot blocks.

If weather is threatening the wife after getting home from her day job drives a 6 tonne truck with 20 foot bed carrying 5 bundles to speed up the cart/stack cycle. I could cart 18 bundles double decked on truck and 16 foot trailer but tie down time ruins the cycle time

Labour got hard to get and good help became impossible so had to mechanise. Doubt if I could now even get a price for a manual handling team. The last hopeless team I was able to get was $2 per bale plus accommodation equipment and fuel.

Bought the Bandit secondhand with its own hydraulic system and pickup. Cost $AU 60K.

On 10,000 bales per year it pays for itself in about 4 years and I still have the machine to keep on using. I also do about 1000 to 2000 bales as custom work. covers my fuel and maintenance costs for the haying season.


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## matador (Jun 18, 2014)

We have a New Holland 1002. Our MF 124 doesn't produce the best bales any more, so we load them by hand onto the wagon. When we upgrade to a newer inline, we'll go back to using the wagon.


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