56 bale handlers... what are they like?

[Red Fred]

You think the trailed 56 ones are problematic. You should try the mounted 40 bale ones.

I remember when I was a boy, SCATS turned up with a mounted 40 and it was going to be the mutt's nuts, etc. Trouble was, even weighted, our David Browns lifted their noses off the ground while the hay bales sat there, so it went back.

 

[Oscar]

@itsintheblood makes a lot of hay upto 1.5 miles from buildings . Not sure what make they are but a couple years ago he upgraded his two and they can move a lot of hay fast . Ah, just thought about my reply, they use 4 string big bales not flat 8 s

 

[Northern territory]

Ours was a Russell and yes I did tip it over. Spike was a waste of time we roll it off.

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

Did you lot never get new holland bale wagons?
We had a very old self propelled 70 bale 1035. Could do 2500 a day if you pulled your finger out. Looked a bit like this

Wasnt much fun when the wind was blowing from behind..

 

[rob1]

we bought a new browns one about four years ago as we had worn the old one out, they save an enormous amount of work but they arent for idiots,we normally only carry 48 in hay especially ryegrass hay as 56 can be a bit heavy, and if we go onto the road for more than a couple hundred metres we always put a ratchet strap round the back in case a pipe bursts

 

[Dry Rot]

You think the trailed 56 ones are problematic. You should try the mounted 40 bale ones.

Tht' interesting, I'd have thought it was the opposite.

 

[ffukedfarmer]

I used to move a lot wth a chillington bale squeeze. Worked well once I got the hang of building the stacks. IIRC first and second layers the same way, then cross each layer. Used to turn the middle bales in layers 4&5 to tie the stack. Did 48 bales in hay and 56 in straw.
Was a slow job carting any distance.

well worth buying one if you make more than a few hundred in my view as they can be picked up so cheap now.

 

[bobk]

Time you've fannyed around making stacks they could be on a trailer and gone .

 

[Lowland1]

My Dad made his own in 1978 The base was an old fergy trailer ex coal board spool valves and drott and jcb rams. My Dad didn't believe in flat 8 sledges as he didn't want to be driving all over the fields so we had a Sellar bale hopper which held about 20 bales dumped them in a line then we stacked them 10 on their edges and five layers of 8 by hand using casuals. In 1981 we got a forklift and bought a squeeze for it then we stacked them by hand in 24s and 32s then lifted one on top of the other. A couple of us could stack 1500 like this in an evening. I would cart them in the next day and stack them up with the forklift without touching them. We did 10,000 plus like this. From the age of about 12 until I left home it was my job to cart the stacks in I got pretty good at it. Compared with chucking them on to a trailer with a pitchfork they are pretty good pieces of kit.

 

[Red Fred]

I suppose another other option is simply to buy up a few old 1970s flat-8 trailers and leave them loaded if you don't have the manpower to unload the bales. Even if you only go 5 high without having to get out and tie them in, that's still 120 bales per trailer, and it has the benefit of being able to move them round as required in the winter. It also keeps the hay off the floor.
I have dad's three old trailers, a Nelson and 2 SCATS own brand, which weren't used for decades until I started selling a few small bales and they were returned to service from hedgerow state with minimal effort, and are probably quite saleable now.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

Tht' interesting, I'd have thought it was the opposite.

Not so bad for picking up the heap but very prone to losing bales as you wend your way home over deep tramlines and potholed tracks.

 

[DeeGee]

Much better to have a few 20’ trailers, load 120 bales tidily on five layers with the flat 8 - no need to rope if not going on the road - and just unload and stack in the shed with the flat 8. Far quicker, safer and less faffing about IMO.

 

[Pan mixer]

I have just bought a second one, to add to my 1989 model - Browns with the central spike.

Over the years I have moved close on a quarter of million bales with one, if the stack is built right they don't fall, we move 56 of hay mainly sometimes straw.

My trick to prevent restacking is to 'zip' the top layer together with a piece of bale string - obviously doing this whilst it is on the ground but after it has been 'swept' to tighten. Bit of a fag however no heaps fall.

I stack up to 5000 hay in 56's in various yards until I get round to properly stacking them - this can be a while if they are over 18% as the heat will go after 3 weeks.

I have a gadget for my loader that will lift 56 at once and I built my hay sheds so that they would take bales 14 high, however I don't use the big grab to finally stack them though as the resiltant heap is not very safe when young ladies in jodphurs are trampling all over them.

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

I've got 2 for sale .

Have sent you a pm

 

[The Jolly Farmer]

We had a bale carrier that took 132 at a time. Twenty on their edge on the bottom then seven layers of sixteen.

 

[Michael S]

You think the trailed 56 ones are problematic. You should try the mounted 40 bale ones.

We use homemade mounted 48 bale carriers, been using them for 40 years. On two wheel drive Ford 6600/7600 they were bit of a handful. After first copying the Browns 40 carriers the later built ones were made with 100x100x10 box for the main frame and 8"x 3" channel for the bottom rails, the centre tines are much bigger than the originals too. We only cross the fourth layer and with modern tractors can get 2500 plus bales home the day they are made. With a telehandler mounted squeezer built with just the 8x3 bottom rail and no centre tine two people can stack the bales comfortably the following morning.

 

[DeeGee]

Just thinking out aloud...

Those 56 bale handlers, that take a cube of flat 8 stacked bales, are they any good at their job, or best avoided?

Get yourself a couple of 20’ trailers Emyr, much better IMO. You’ve got enough David Browns there, so just put two on each trailer of 120 bales and it’s up and away to go in a cloud of smoke.

 

[Pringles]

This is the safest way to move wee

bales any distance, (see pic) but I’m fairly sure a 56 carrier would be grand for @Selectamatic

 

[Red Fred]

I find on a small scale, the 25ft big bale trailers are a bit high for climbing on and off, and you lose a few layers in height if working with an older loader tractor. I keep the 20ft trailers for small bales and the 25 ft for big bales. The old Nelsons were very good as the front ladder sloped and there wasn't a rear ladder to get in the way of the bar on the Buzzard.

 

[Flat 10]

Go to the flat 10 system ?