DIY hay Baler box!

[Secuono]

I found some really neat mechanical and hand balers.

This one costs 8 grand! But those rolls are just too cute!

There is a metal square hand baler, it's around $400 delivered.
http://www.barnesweldingshop.com/Balers.php



Lastly, you can make your own! We are going to see if we can't make this! Except a bit larger! I really don't want to buy hay when I have 3.5 acres I can easily let grow, cut and then bale up! I'll end up with a wicked tan by fall, but oh well!
http://essmextension.tamu.edu/pinestraw/baling.html



Anyone else make their own hay bales or thinking about it?

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

If you can do 3.5 acres by hand with one of those balers I will be thoroughly impressed! 8000 seems way to steep for that small round baler, someone could be well set up to do small squares for half that.

 

[ladysown]

I never knew there was such a thing. Thanks for informing me. Makes me want to get one myself someday should I have a small plot of land.

 

[AmysMacdog]

I just used a lawn mower with bag attachment then laid the freshly cut grass out in a thin layer to dry and turned it 3 times a day until dry. I piled it up at night to keep the dew off it. I grew all the hay my rabbits, donkey and pony needed and had some left over to mulch with.

 

[Miss M]

Cool! Those are some cute bales! :lol:

 

[LauraNJ]

I was thinking of using a weed wacker to cut it but I wasn't planning to make nice, neat bales. I was going to let it dry and then rake it up and just tie it into bundles. I guess I am going for the lazier way to do.

 

[grumpy]

ChickiesnBunnies
Lastly, you can make your own! We are going to see if we can't make this! Except a bit larger! I really don't want to buy hay when I have 3.5 acres I can easily let grow, cut and then bale up! I'll end up with a wicked tan by fall, but oh well!
http://essmextension.tamu.edu/pinestraw/baling.html

That's pretty cool, I knew I'd seen one of those some time ago. I've been seriously considering converting my old market-garden area into a small alfalfa patch. One of those would work perfectly for baling.

With a gas-operated hedge trimmer, a good stout leaf rake, and a couple of my sons, we could put up some serious feed.

grumpy.

 

[Secuono]

I need the hay to be stored in the barn for winter, so I have to make some kind of proper bales.
My acres are mixed with some steep hills. I'm hoping to fence in the two dangerous hillsides for my pigs to alternate in. Then I need to fence off an area where my sheep can loose some fat in, along with the pony living there, too. I think that leaves me with about 2.5-3 acres. Just gotta hope it doesn't rain on me! We had a crazy TStorm last night, rained over 5in, nearly flooded my koi pond! All the other critters are fine.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

hm... interesting...

I live on 250 acres so we have a regular tractor and square baler. the smallest field is over 5acres so ya hahaha... we had a round baler but its too hilly here and the bales roll away and into the creeks and the woods and just not a good thing haha so we sold it.

as for hay making *by*hand* I think it would be much easier to just cut the area with a scythe or sickle and buy roll of twine to gather it up and tie into bundles. you stack the bundles up and they dry in the field then you round them up and pile them together into a hay shock or your barn, etc.

maybe i'll do this and make a video of it to post. because its really not that hard at all. plus if you are like me and save the twine off the bales you feed out you should have tons of precut and ready to use twine. and I already use my sickle to cut forage for the rabbits and guinea pigs.

 

[Secuono]

Well, we are a bit lazy with the making of things, so I'm going to try using a big laundry bin we have to stuff the hay into and then use a wood board to smoosh it down. Probably won't be too great, nothing to really press it down the right way and the 'hay' is from a mulching blade. Terrible, not sure how 3-5in long strands will stand up to being smooshed and then moved about...might be a huge failure!
But, we will see. I'll try it tomorrow and post back, pics, too. Got to buy regular blades and see if it helps any. If not, I'll look into buying an Australian scythe and try that out!<br /><br />__________ Sun Jun 16, 2013 5:40 pm __________<br /><br />20 +/- lbs bales

2yr old 'horse quality' bales. 3 new handmade grass bales.

Pup in her newly discovered cooler dog house...the hay area...lol

Little nest I found, eggs are tiny and have brown spots.

 

[Randy]

I don't think that baler box is all that practical, thats a lot of handfulls of hay to fill it. You could fork all your hay loose onto a wagon faster, even if you add the time forking it off and then to all the animals loose is still faster I think. Also you have to factor the expense of all the twine and ligher/smaller bales use up more.

I think if one has anywhere from half an acre to around 10 acres it would be easiest and cheapest to scoop all the hay up with a hay sweep. A hay sweep is basically just a bucket made for a loader, ie on a tractor or a skidsteer(aka bobcat) and I guess one could use it on a forklift too. Once you pick up one scoop with the haysweep you pile it onto a wagon/trailor. Unloading would also be easy as you can just use the loader to take it off and stack it however you want. The only problem with loose hay is that it takes up a lot more space than bales of hay since it isn't tightly condesned but you could pack it down a bit. On the plus size you arn't knocking as many leaves off the hay like a baler would.

Here is a link to a video of a hay sweep: Part one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCrFrzE8qDU
Part 2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJPT8SvJiqU

Basically you design it yourself since it's made out of wood. You can then figure out a way to mount it onto the front of a loader (video two gives an idea). You may be able to scoop up the hay without raking it at all if you arn't going to scoop up any regrowth underneath. If you are ripping up green stuff (hay/grass) it will cause your hay to spoil in storage. Hay that is going to spoil you can feed imeadiatly. It's best to rake the hay if it isn't working out sweeping it unraked.

The guy in the video decided to store his hay in a pile and then tarp it, this works if you find that it is cheaper in the long run to buy tarps vs building any structure. Also works good if you can't fit it all inside. Make sure that you don't have any holes in the tarp as WATER WILL SPOIL HAY. You can sometimes salvage tarps by patching up holes useing caulking or some other strong adhesive.

If you live in a place that gets harldy any rain you could put up some posts and a roof to make a walless lean-to. Adding walls made of tarp would protect from rain.

Where ever you store your hay just make sure it is in a practical location to feeding it.

The benifits of a hay sweep system is its cheaper than buying a baler and using twine or hiring somebody to bale it. You don't have to physically handle the hay. Scoop it out of storage and dump as needed in your barn.

I am currently looking at using some sort of loose hay method if I get into commercial rabbit production as rabbits only eat small handfulls of hay. I could just dump it loose in the barn and feed it up that way, saves handeling bales. I will let anyone interested know how this works out.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

cant believe I just now come across this! http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/JF/JF_OTH ... %20J.D.pdf

 

[Millinex]

Debating getting some sort of bailing system myself. I've been just mowing/picking up all the clippings but I want to get a bunch stored away for winter. I have around 30 acres that is untouched right now and has just grown for a few months and needs to be cut down.. As of right now I'm just picking it all up and it's a huge chore.. lOL

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

Debating getting some sort of bailing system myself. I've been just mowing/picking up all the clippings but I want to get a bunch stored away for winter. I have around 30 acres that is untouched right now and has just grown for a few months and needs to be cut down.. As of right now I'm just picking it all up and it's a huge chore.. lOL

Put an add on craigslist for someone to come and cut/bale it and split the hay with you. Depending on hay quality a fair split is usually 50/50 or on uneven ground with poor hay quality 66/33 with the larger portion going to the farmer.