HAY!
I worked out a deal with a local farmer and was able to use his square baler to bale our 11 acre field. We sowed it last fall with a Timothy/Orchard grass mix in order for us to acquire decent hay for the alpacas in the winter. The goal was to keep enough for our needs and sell off the rest. I was busy baling the hay when my wife Tara came home for lunch and snapped a few photos.
Everything went fairly smooth except Jansen and I could have used a few extra hands to help haul it to the hay barn. In a perfect world, the idea is to have the trailer towed behind the baler and a person is manually stacking the bales as they are made and pushed safely out of the bale chamber. Then you haul it to the barn where you stack it under cover. However, I don't live in a perfect world and I do not have a wagon to tow behind the baler so, the bales are dropped on the ground for later pickup. This is the most physically demanding method to handle the bales because you have to lift the square bales off the ground to a trailer and also stack them on the trailer. Then you take them off the trailer and stack them in the barn. Essentially you're handling each square bale 4 times!
My buddy Jim (only a few weeks out of surgery) drove the truck with the trailer attached, and my son Jansen helped me pick them up out of the field and stack them in the barn. Man, were we tired after that job. I was sure glad he was there because he helped me out tremendously. Thank you Jansen and thank you Jim! 188 bales later it was definitely, "Go home, relax, it's Miller time!" Just in time as the lightning bolts were striking all around us!
Just for laughs I weighed a couple of bales and they tipped the scales at 65 lbs ea. It wasn't easy throwing those around. There we are stacking them in the hay barn.
If there is anyone out there who needs some decent hay, I have roughly 250 bales for sale. It is being tested by the University of Tennesee and I haven't gotten the forage analysis back yet. Just e-mail me @ Ron@ambrielacres.com if you're interested.
Everything went fairly smooth except Jansen and I could have used a few extra hands to help haul it to the hay barn. In a perfect world, the idea is to have the trailer towed behind the baler and a person is manually stacking the bales as they are made and pushed safely out of the bale chamber. Then you haul it to the barn where you stack it under cover. However, I don't live in a perfect world and I do not have a wagon to tow behind the baler so, the bales are dropped on the ground for later pickup. This is the most physically demanding method to handle the bales because you have to lift the square bales off the ground to a trailer and also stack them on the trailer. Then you take them off the trailer and stack them in the barn. Essentially you're handling each square bale 4 times!
My buddy Jim (only a few weeks out of surgery) drove the truck with the trailer attached, and my son Jansen helped me pick them up out of the field and stack them in the barn. Man, were we tired after that job. I was sure glad he was there because he helped me out tremendously. Thank you Jansen and thank you Jim! 188 bales later it was definitely, "Go home, relax, it's Miller time!" Just in time as the lightning bolts were striking all around us!Just for laughs I weighed a couple of bales and they tipped the scales at 65 lbs ea. It wasn't easy throwing those around. There we are stacking them in the hay barn.
If there is anyone out there who needs some decent hay, I have roughly 250 bales for sale. It is being tested by the University of Tennesee and I haven't gotten the forage analysis back yet. Just e-mail me @ Ron@ambrielacres.com if you're interested.
posted by Ambriel Acres Alpacas | 5:14 PM
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