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| I wished I had some photos to share with ya....
A few years ago Dad sold out of the dairy business. We put up +/-25,000 small squares each summer up until then. We also baled ~100 ton of round bales to supplement the small squares.
But, for small squares we had two balers. A JD 336 & 348 each with Farmhand 8-pak accumulators on them. the 10-pak would have been nicer but it's even more weight cantilevered at the end of the loader. We loaded in the field with a 4020 equipped with an 8-pak grapple, and with our skid steer (NH LS180), unloading in the hay shed, also equipped with an 8-pak grapple.
We'd get creative in loading racks in the field to maximize the amount of bales that were loaded on each trailer. We had up to 4 - 9x20 hay wagons with 10-ton gear under them. When we introduced the tandem dual 32' gooseneck into the equation.... boy, could we haul hay! Every once in a while we were able to use a 48' semi trailer (on a dolly) that was pulled by the front wheel assist.
I believe at our peak we could load, haul, and stack away ~3000 bales in one day with out having to touch a single one. And still get the cows milked. I have to give credit to Ma' and the little brother to fill in as drivers when needed, of course.
If we were stacking in the loft... with a crew of 4-8 of my football teammates, we'd stack a max of 1200 bales in ~4 hours. There was no need to push any harder than that.
Having said all of that, it's tough for me to think that was ~15 years ago already. Wow...
To answer you initial inquiry. I'd have to say the biggest improvement to speed/efficiency/labor/ect. to our haying operation was the 8-pak accumulator behind the balers and the 8-pak grappel on the loader.
BTW...
Dad still has the Deere 348 with 8-pak & grapple that he'd be more than willing to let go for the right price/cause.
Good luck,
-Jack | |
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