Mini hay baler

[hdrockn]

As a wise soul reminded me...Work smarter not harder.

My"yard" around my home is old pasture, about 1 1/2 acres, and I mow it with the bush hog. Several years ago I bought a mini wheel rake to windrow the grass. That helped but still left me with hand raking to collect it.

At first I bagged it into feed sacks. Then I built a wooden hand baler to square bale it. Repetitive motion does a number on old joints. With this summer of plentiful rain prompted me to make a rather large purchase....a mini round baler. I finally got it this week and put it to work. Color me one happy lady!

My first attempt on a 2 acre field yielded me 32 bales at about 55-60 lbs each. YEEHAW!

 

[Texasmark]

My sweetie keeps telling me to "Work smarter, not harder". I'm starting to catch on....finally. Small Farm Innovations in Caldwell, Tx. had them for sale years ago when I bought some equipment from them. Haven't checked lately. I was going to add that you probably move them around with a hay spike on your little Bota, till I looked at your 3rd picture......must have had some help from a big brother to get them up there.

 

[1982vett]

Well that's just the cats MEOW.

 

[hdrockn]

Haha! No big brothers here.......I'm 73 yrs old and have learned a thing or two. I have a 50 Bota with forks....put a pallet on it and stacked 12 at a time....then lifted them on the stack.

 

[kenny thomas]

Seen a goat farmer here using one. His done a great job and was easy for him to feed the goats.
It seems like a new idea but Allis Chalmers started making one in 1947 and made it until the early 1960's. Only seen one of them.

 

[callmefence]

I like em , the baler and the bales.... they'd make my tractor look huge.....

 

[Little Joe]

I've thought about doing something similar, also looked at mini combines so I could grow my own grain. All that stuff is still expensive even in the mini version. And my wife reminds me frequently that if I carried out all my ideas that I'd never have time to sleep, she asks me all the time if my mind ever rests or am I always thinking of something else to do. I tell her I'm always thinking of something else to do.

 

[hurleyjd]

As a wise soul reminded me...Work smarter not harder.

My"yard" around my home is old pasture, about 1 1/2 acres, and I mow it with the bush hog. Several years ago I bought a mini wheel rake to windrow the grass. That helped but still left me with hand raking to collect it.

At first I bagged it into feed sacks. Then I built a wooden hand baler to square bale it. Repetitive motion does a number on old joints. With this summer of plentiful rain prompted me to make a rather large purchase....a mini round baler. I finally got it this week and put it to work. Color me one happy lady!

My first attempt on a 2 acre field yielded me 32 bales at about 55-60 lbs each. YEEHAW!

You did not have a very long PTO shaft after shortening to fit the tractor did you?

 

[hdrockn]

No sir......as a matter of fact I called customer support because I was sure something wasn't right. He confirmed they sent them long because all tractors are different. More likely it is a generic pto shaft for all different equipment.

 

[ClinchValley86]

That is too cool. Do they weigh about like a heavy square bale?

 

[Kingfisher]

Now you need some mini horses and cows!

 

[wbvs58]

You've put it to good usefull work, well done.

Ken

 

[hdrockn]

Put up more bales yesterday from another pasture. I had moved the cows thru this one quickly as another pasture needed grazing, so there was a lot of excess grass left. Another storm is brewing in the gulf and we are likely to get a fair amount of rain from it so there will be enough growing time left for this pasture to bound back. In answer to the question, these are about 55 lbs average wt. which is perfect for me to lift. And to Kingfisher, no mini horses here, full size, but I do raise miniature cows so I can process them myself.

 

[hurleyjd]

Put up more bales yesterday from another pasture. I had moved the cows thru this one quickly as another pasture needed grazing, so there was a lot of excess grass left. Another storm is brewing in the gulf and we are likely to get a fair amount of rain from it so there will be enough growing time left for this pasture to bound back. In answer to the question, these are about 55 lbs average wt. which is perfect for me to lift. And to Kingfisher, no mini horses here, full size, but I do raise miniature cows so I can process them myself.

Got to hand it to you for stepping outside of the way most people do and going it alone. Has the little baler every balled up and you have to dig the hay out and start again. Any way kudos to you. Is that you in the photo

 

[hdrockn]

Not yet.... I'm sure it is possible. Yes, that's me with a fresh outa the oven bull calf that I watched hatch in April.
And thanks for the compliment.

 

[Texasmark]

I like em , the baler and the bales.... they'd make my tractor look huge.....

For a small time operator (STO) working alone and producing and feeding square bales, the mentioned roller means you don't have to worry about it raining on your "parade"....your bales in the field before you can get them up and into the barn. Additionally, you can mechanically lift them, not physically. Sounds like a great idea.

 

[hurleyjd]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=song+little+bitty+house&view=detail&mid=85D069A373C576663A1285D069A373C576663A12&FORM=VIRE0&ru=%2fsearch%3fform%3dMOZTSB%26pc%3dMOZI%26q%3dsong%2blittle%2bbitty%2bhouse

You might work little bitty baler and little bitty cow into these lyrics hope you enjoy

 

[sstterry]

I saw this this moring and thought of this thread.

[media]https://youtu.be/0XiIHX6pyEc?t=31[/media]

 

[Texasmark]

I've thought about doing something similar, also looked at mini combines so I could grow my own grain. All that stuff is still expensive even in the mini version. And my wife reminds me frequently that if I carried out all my ideas that I'd never have time to sleep, she asks me all the time if my mind ever rests or am I always thinking of something else to do. I tell her I'm always thinking of something else to do.

I find that sleeping is a very necessary waste of time.

 

[hdrockn]

I thought the same thing last night while not sleeping.... Since we had our first night in the 40's the grass is done so I ordered a portable sawmill to play with this winter. Always wanted one. I'm 73 now don't know what I've been waiting for.