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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
   
Location: MD | I'm new to the round bale scene and frankly I love not having to drop hay every morning or really even worry about it.
does everyone have a tractor? or can you use a quad or mule if your round bales are up on something they can pull it on, like a flat bed trailer? I just can't imagine buying a tractor for my two and would prefer to use rounds.  |
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 Midget Lover
 
Location: Kentucky | We don't have a tractor. We use our offroad Ford Ranger to go get round bales from my hay guy. He uses his tractor to load them in the bed. They are about 900 pounds. When we get home (it's about a 10 mile trip) we are able to roll them out of the bed into the pasture. I do use a hay ring. I'm having a hard time justifying a tractor also since I only have three, and I only use round bales in the winter. |
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 Underestimated Underdog
Posts: 3971
Location: Minnesota | We have a flat bed trailer and will role them off as we need them. |
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 World 4D Champ
Posts: 28264
Location: PA | My hay guy delivers a months worth at a time, so 4 bales. They are about a 1000 lbs each. He drops them off right near the gate, and my husband and I roll them out by hand every week. Not the easiest method. But we don't have a tractor right now, and its what we've been doing for 7 years. Someday we'll get a tractor, but for now..we make it work. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | We have a hay buggy. We can pick them up one at a time by backing into them and put them wherever we want by backing up again, no tractor required. |
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  More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | We have tractors and loaders. We also put up our own small squares and big rounds so we're equipped to handle them. |
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I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | oija - 2014-02-18 10:29 AM
We have a hay buggy. We can pick them up one at a time by backing into them and put them wherever we want by backing up again, no tractor required.
well that is a neat little tool!
I just googled it... never would have even thought those existed! |
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 Expert
Posts: 2161
Location: NW. Florida | I put a rope around it and pull it with my truck where ever I want it. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Husband, tractor and loader. |
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 Hummer's Hero
Posts: 3071
Location: Smack Dab in the Middle | We use our skid steer. But I've also had my neighbor guys (whom I buy my round bales from) just bring them over with their tractor, and paid them a little extra for the time and fuel.
Growing up, we used a bale buggy that my dad made. It worked spiffy, but it was on a wench systerm and almost broke my brother's arm once. I am pretty sure my dad still has it, but doubt he uses it much since he bought a skid steer a couple of years ago. |
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 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | Carbon Copy - 2014-02-18 10:39 AM
I put a rope around it and pull it with my truck where ever I want it.
We did this for years. Get a long rope, put it around the bale, just a few inches off the ground, attach each end to the hitch on the truck and drag it wherever it needs to go. Then we got a hay dolly and it made moving them easier, it was just a pain to lower and raise it so many times if you have several bales to put out.
We've also left round bales on the flatbed trailer, back the pickup right up to the trailer, and roll a bale into the bed.
Not having a tractor makes you have to get creative! |
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | We use my father in law's tractor and loader. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | I have a hay buggy now but before that I just used the truck to push, pull, drag, shove it where I needed it. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 941
Location: Kansas | We have a truck with a Deweze hay bed on it. Very handy because you can roll a bale out or lift it and set it in a hay round. We just bought a newer truck with a bed and should sell the old truck. It will be good for someone who doesn't want to move a lot of bales. My husband also uses the hydraulic arms to lift and carry things. We used a tractor with bale spear on the back for years. We didn't know how much we would like the hydraulic hay bed. We fork hay off of a bale for the pens at the barn when we have horses in them. He will also roll out a few feet of hay to fork-easier than scraping it off the bale. This is actually easier for me than bucking bales and climbing in the loft to get them out.
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 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | We usually just bought one at a time, so we would roll it out of the bed of the pickup at the gate (land was down hill) and it stopped rolling within a few feet of where we wanted it. If we had more then one, we would have the extras put outside the gate and when we needed a new one hubby and I just rolled it where it needed to go. I think I was just there more for moral support cause I think my husband was actually doing all the work... I just did a lot of grunting Haha! |
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 Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | oija - 2014-02-18 10:29 AM We have a hay buggy. We can pick them up one at a time by backing into them and put them wherever we want by backing up again, no tractor required.
we have one too! We haven't really used it yet as all I could get last year were square bales, but I'm hoping to just leave out round bales this year! |
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 Buttered Noodles Snacker
Posts: 4377
Location: NC | Murphy - 2014-02-18 10:08 AM We don't have a tractor. We use our offroad Ford Ranger to go get round bales from my hay guy. He uses his tractor to load them in the bed. They are about 900 pounds. When we get home (it's about a 10 mile trip) we are able to roll them out of the bed into the pasture. I do use a hay ring. I'm having a hard time justifying a tractor also since I only have three, and I only use round bales in the winter.
Ditto to eveything they said except we feed them year round. |
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 Zeal Queen
Posts: 3826
Location: TEXAS | We push them when the horses need another one LOL  |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | We don't have a tractor so I borrow a wrangler from work to off load them. That being said to move them out to the pasture we went to Lowes and bought a length of metal braided rope (like a dog tie out type metal rope) and had it cut to our specifications. We put two loops at the ends and wrap the rope around the bale and then put the loops around the ball of the bumper hitch on our pickup. Works like a charm and easy....we can move with either pickup or our 4-wheeler if we have too. |
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I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | slacy09 - 2014-02-18 2:53 PM
We push them when the horses need another one LOL
I would do this and recruit my boyfriend but he has really terrible allergies and he'd be coughing and sneezing for a week if I had him messing with hay! and I'll be honest I have tried to move them but my 120lbs self isn't moving those big a*s bales! |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | we use the tractor......the cows get it dumped in the feeders and the horses get it forked to them every morning and night......
m |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | Bale spear on the back of the tractor. |
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 Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | My hay guy loads with his tractor. When we get home we shoot them(2) off the truck. Then honey and I become the line backers and push that bail on it's side or out of a mud hole. In the winter sometimes we'll drop one in the pasture and pull it off the bed by tying to a tree, no traction in the snow. If twine is used I leave it on till it's no longer useful. If it's netting we pull it off. Sometimes drag it or push it with the truck. |
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Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | My hay guy loads with his tractor. When we get home we shoot them(2) off the truck. Then honey and I become the line backers and push that bail on it's side or out of a mud hole. In the winter sometimes we'll drop one in the pasture and pull it off the bed by tying to a tree, no traction in the snow. If twine is used I leave it on till it's no longer useful. If it's netting we pull it off. Sometimes drag it or push it with the truck. |
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 Ms. Manners
Posts: 1820
Location: Oklahoma | I used a single bale buggy before my hubby bought me a hydraulic bale spik for my truck for Christmas. Best investment ever! I have in-cab control, and it attaches/sits on my gooseneck ball hitch. LOVE IT! I can get bales moved faster and placed in more places than with the bale buggy.
Before the spike, there was a time I broke the winch on my bale buggy. I ended up using a metal tube gate as a sled - rolled the bales off and on and used a chain attached to my hitch to drag it. Great for those times when there is no other option, but definitely the most labor intensive. |
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| Spear on front of tractor. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 173
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow | Hubby and I are pretty good bale movers by now. But we are eaky 50's in great shape. I wouldn't reccommend fr everyone. Our horse farm is our gym. Or is our gym our hose farm... I get that confused. |
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 Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | Tractor and/or skid loader...... whatever is handy here.
We use those CinchChix hay nets for the bales that are put in the rings and use the tractor or loader to get the bales in the nets.
Some horses we just fork to morning and night so that bale is just set close to the corrals so that can be done easily.
Edited by rockinas 2014-02-19 8:19 AM
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | Skidloader, or just drag it in with the truck |
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 Night Watchman
Posts: 5516
Location: Central Montana | Carbon Copy - 2014-02-18 9:39 AM I put a rope around it and pull it with my truck where ever I want it.
Here too. We have it delivered, usually around 13-17 ton of rounds and about 6 ton of small squares. We don't have a tractor. The "hay guys" set them up on poles for us to get them off the ground (helps keep the bottom from getting totally soaked and moldy during the spring rain) and we just hook them up and move them into the pens with the truck.
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how do you move your round bales?