Creative Feeding

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artesianspringsfarm

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Mar 24, 2013
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Upstate NY
When something goes wrong with your equipment in a small "hobby" operation you usually have two options from what I can see, get creative or get out the checkbook. I had to laugh at today's creativity. We really purposely have as little equipment as possible, so when the loader tractor went down, this is how we got hay out to the cows. Rolling bales up one at a time on this little utility wagon and chocking them till we got out there. Actually worked just fine but I did have a good laugh when I was trying to back the wagon up. :lol2:

1526675_336428916496152_947690268_n.jpg
 
That pretty rich. LOL. I got caught bout 3 weeks ago with my cows out to pasture and it snowed. I loaded a bale in back of stock trailer hauled it down to them put chain around bale and tree and dragged it out. Gotta do whatca gotta do. There's how you want it and there's how it is. Thanks for sharing. B&G :clap:
 
TT, I don't and that was about the first thing I decided to go for when my loader went down. My second thought was to slow down and make do with what I have. Any money I do put into the farm I would like to put into cattle instead of equipment, to a point. I bought this tractor at a great price and couldnt say no since I needed something to do hay with.
 
A 3pt bale spear can be built or found used for next to nothing, and it can more than pay for itself when something like this happens and you need to move hay.
 
They are pretty cheap I believe. We have several old one lying around and if you were nearby I'd loan you one.

I agree with managing costs whenever possible.
 
Art, it is what is is. Good thinking.

There was a young lady who used to post (Crazy Farm Girl, I believe) who sent a picture of her putting out hay using an old hood of a car. Not too bad.
 
Thanks Guys. It's been on my list of "look for a steal on craigslist" items, but it will probably move up a bit in priority now. It doesnt really get us whole since the bales are all stacked 3-4 high in a pole barn so I still have to climb up and push them down before we could spear them anyway. That being said, the spear would be much easier to maneuver and use than the wagon. The one thing about using old equipment is you can let this stuff really get you down every time something breaks down or you can just keep going.
 
I like one on the back, before I try to handel one on the front. I thought that was sop. I was a teenager, when I bought my place. By some miracle I had nearly enough cattle to stock it. I didn't own a tractor. I fed rolled hay for 2 years with a ground slide that I drug with an international scout. I eventually got a 35 fergueson to bushhog with, and sit out hay. If one of the rolls was baled paticularly tight I would have to run get my future wife to sit on the hood, while I backed it in the feild.
 
A spear for the 3pt is like $350 bucks new. You can buy a whole bale trailer with a winch for $450-550. Thats a heck of a tractor to not have spears.

lavacarancher":pm04hpkm said:
Art, it is what is is. Good thinking.

There was a young lady who used to post (Crazy Farm Girl, I believe) who sent a picture of her putting out hay using an old hood of a car. Not too bad.
Click to expand...

Those were some good threads. :lol: Does she still post?
 
I know a guy who feeds by driving a steel bar through the middle of the bale. Hooking a chain to each end of the bar and pulling it with a pickup. The bale just rolls along behind him. When he gets to where he wants to feed he cuts the twine and unrolls the bales.
 
I would look for a set of 3pt. hitch forks, and adapt them to fit the loader bucket as well. That's what I did and use them all the time. Just the time saved moving hay rolls 2 at a time would pay for it fast.
 
artesian good stuff there. I have hay spear on front attaches to bucket and rear of my tractor but when I expand and buy more cattle and keep on a place down the road I have been thinking about making a spear for the 2" hitch on back of a truck and having a small atv winch to pull the spike up. I do not like leaving my equip away from home and there is no sheds to store it in on the leased property. I also agree with TT nice tractor.
 
Brute 23":jlixt9iu said:
A spear for the 3pt is like $350 bucks new. You can buy a whole bale trailer with a winch for $450-550. Thats a heck of a tractor to not have spears.

lavacarancher":jlixt9iu said:
Art, it is what is is. Good thinking.

There was a young lady who used to post (Crazy Farm Girl, I believe) who sent a picture of her putting out hay using an old hood of a car. Not too bad.
Click to expand...

Those were some good threads. :lol: Does she still post?
Click to expand...

I haven't seen a post from her in months. Don't know what happened to her but I sure enjoyed her posts. Had to read them two or three times to make sure I was getting her meaning but enjoyable never-the-less.
 
oh me id hate to say how meny 3pt hay forks an spears we have for the tractors.heck we have 3 frontend loaders.
 
Sky, why not get a hydraulic bale spike for your truck bad? I tried all kinds of homemade contraptions before I finally gave in and bought one from J&I. Prob'ly one of the very best investments I've ever made. It's built so that all you have to do is remove the spears and you can still pull a gooseneck, or they're fairly easy to remove and free up your bed. I've had mine for almost six years, it's prob'ly handled 3000 bales of hay, and still works like new. They're not quite as nice for feeding lots of hay as a flatbed with everything built in, but a whole lot cheaper.
 
Nice Rig.

Just in case your interested. You can find a spear on ebay that comes with a 2 5/16" ball mounted on top and a place for a 2" removable ball down low for moving regular/gooseneck trailers and hay for $190, free shipping. the spears are removable. I bought one but before I did I called to make sure it would hold up to hauling a gooseneck loaded with hay out of the field. He didn't hesitate and said it would with no problem. I have some pretty decent hills and the 1/2 ton won't pull but 8 haylage bales out at a time from one place and none from another. I know a 1/2 ton is small but no more than we haul and the amount of times it isn't worth it. They have a 1 year warrenty with a good guarentee for satisfaction. If your interested email me and I'll send you the link. It is pretty easy to find though.

OldCrow
 

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