Hay, and the unroller.
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 2:55 pm
Bear with me a little bit here - I will try to keep the background as short as possible.
We have been looking for our homestead for quite a few years, and the search had grown tiresome and frustrating. It was always a Goldilocks scenario - this one too big, that one too small, another too expensive - none were 'just right'! About two years ago, we found a nice 5 acre place that had a footing already in place and the guy had put down floor joists and plywood. Health issues ensued and he was trying to get out of it. We took a run at it and just couldn't quite get there. The cumulative effect of no success led us to stop and give it a rest for a while. After a few weeks, we decided to just go out for a drive in the country. NOT looking for anything. So, at that point, you know what has to happen...we find a "perfect place". Well, actually in about and hour and a half we drove by 3 perfect places. Go figure.
One of them was a little bit more 'perfect' than the others, so we made an offer, they accepted, and we ended up with a nice flat 20 acres. More on that 'flat' later. This is about hay! (Someone remind me to revisit 'flat' sometime soon.)
The place had cattle for many years, which was good that it got some manure back onto the land, but bad because the cattle guy baled at least once and sometimes twice a year - most of which left the property. No organic matter going back to the land. Bad news. So I left it fallow for that first year and just brush hogged a couple times to let the grass recover. There is some good bermuda and fescue pasture, but it turns out there is a LOT of native tall grass prairie grass growing there, too!! The original bison food for millions of years!!
The second year, I brush hogged once in June, then decided would bale it since our 5 year drought had broken and the grass was doing VERY well. Found a guy to bale it for me, and he cut about 16 acres of it. The other 4 is being 'groomed' for all things growing and building - house, barn, workshop, garden beds, orchard, vineyard, etc.
Based on what my neighbors were getting for hay, I was gonna be thrilled with 30 to 40 of the large round bales that are popular in this country. About 2 bales per acre. Depending on who does the baling, they can be from 4 ft diameter to 6 ft or more. At 6 ft, they should be 1,500 lbs, maybe more. Since I have to pay the baler, I put a stop limit to halt when it got to about 50 bales, but I new it would never get there. And I wanted 5 ft bales for handling fewer numbers. We agreed that if it was going over 50 for some reason - which it would not - he would call and we would talk.
So, he was baling while I was out of town for the week. He called and told me he was at 45. I was surprised. Even more when I asked how much more there was and he said he wasn't at the half way point yet, and if I wanted to think about selling them to him, that would be good but he wanted 6 ft bales. I said go ahead and let me think about the extra money. He finished the next morning and called me to say there were 45 5ft bales. And 54 6ft bales..Ouch! I paid him and kept them all !! About 6 bales per acre - the power of organic matter!!
Now - what am I gonna do with 99 bales!!?? Create a new song, maybe...? "99 bales of hay on the ground....99 bales of hay...take one down, roll it around, 98 bales of hay on the ground..."
Our goal is to use lots of hay, manure, food scraps, etc to make a LOT of compost for about 3 acres of market garden beds. Well, we got lots of hay now... Next question is how to manage it? I am too old and frail to roll around 1,500 lbs of hay that has a flat side on the bottom where it has been sitting for a year! I need an implement!!
Which finally, after all this, gets us to the point of this. I am almost done making a round hay bale unroller! These posts will try to document the process. It isn't a new idea - I have seen many variations on the theme and found one I can manage, doesn't cost too much, and even my very casual welding skills should be able to accomplish! Bear in mind - I don't make pretty welds at all, in fact they are downright ugly, but they are so 'overdone' that they don't break. That's good enough for me.
Now I just need to figure out how to link to a picture...
We have been looking for our homestead for quite a few years, and the search had grown tiresome and frustrating. It was always a Goldilocks scenario - this one too big, that one too small, another too expensive - none were 'just right'! About two years ago, we found a nice 5 acre place that had a footing already in place and the guy had put down floor joists and plywood. Health issues ensued and he was trying to get out of it. We took a run at it and just couldn't quite get there. The cumulative effect of no success led us to stop and give it a rest for a while. After a few weeks, we decided to just go out for a drive in the country. NOT looking for anything. So, at that point, you know what has to happen...we find a "perfect place". Well, actually in about and hour and a half we drove by 3 perfect places. Go figure.
One of them was a little bit more 'perfect' than the others, so we made an offer, they accepted, and we ended up with a nice flat 20 acres. More on that 'flat' later. This is about hay! (Someone remind me to revisit 'flat' sometime soon.)
The place had cattle for many years, which was good that it got some manure back onto the land, but bad because the cattle guy baled at least once and sometimes twice a year - most of which left the property. No organic matter going back to the land. Bad news. So I left it fallow for that first year and just brush hogged a couple times to let the grass recover. There is some good bermuda and fescue pasture, but it turns out there is a LOT of native tall grass prairie grass growing there, too!! The original bison food for millions of years!!
The second year, I brush hogged once in June, then decided would bale it since our 5 year drought had broken and the grass was doing VERY well. Found a guy to bale it for me, and he cut about 16 acres of it. The other 4 is being 'groomed' for all things growing and building - house, barn, workshop, garden beds, orchard, vineyard, etc.
Based on what my neighbors were getting for hay, I was gonna be thrilled with 30 to 40 of the large round bales that are popular in this country. About 2 bales per acre. Depending on who does the baling, they can be from 4 ft diameter to 6 ft or more. At 6 ft, they should be 1,500 lbs, maybe more. Since I have to pay the baler, I put a stop limit to halt when it got to about 50 bales, but I new it would never get there. And I wanted 5 ft bales for handling fewer numbers. We agreed that if it was going over 50 for some reason - which it would not - he would call and we would talk.
So, he was baling while I was out of town for the week. He called and told me he was at 45. I was surprised. Even more when I asked how much more there was and he said he wasn't at the half way point yet, and if I wanted to think about selling them to him, that would be good but he wanted 6 ft bales. I said go ahead and let me think about the extra money. He finished the next morning and called me to say there were 45 5ft bales. And 54 6ft bales..Ouch! I paid him and kept them all !! About 6 bales per acre - the power of organic matter!!
Now - what am I gonna do with 99 bales!!?? Create a new song, maybe...? "99 bales of hay on the ground....99 bales of hay...take one down, roll it around, 98 bales of hay on the ground..."
Our goal is to use lots of hay, manure, food scraps, etc to make a LOT of compost for about 3 acres of market garden beds. Well, we got lots of hay now... Next question is how to manage it? I am too old and frail to roll around 1,500 lbs of hay that has a flat side on the bottom where it has been sitting for a year! I need an implement!!
Which finally, after all this, gets us to the point of this. I am almost done making a round hay bale unroller! These posts will try to document the process. It isn't a new idea - I have seen many variations on the theme and found one I can manage, doesn't cost too much, and even my very casual welding skills should be able to accomplish! Bear in mind - I don't make pretty welds at all, in fact they are downright ugly, but they are so 'overdone' that they don't break. That's good enough for me.
Now I just need to figure out how to link to a picture...