Living with a hay trolley- is it worth it? 

We use to play with the trolley system as kids. We'd climb a stack of square bales in one corner grab the rope, release and fly down the track like spiderman to the bales in the other corner. Dad would have killed us if he knew. It was our secret treat for visiting guests. While the adults had coffee we'd sneak up to the hay loft.

the film quality and experience with an old hay trolley was fantastic

I love the way you farm. "Simple" not all this fast paced farming.

I love that you are breathing life back into an old farm. Hard work, alot of love. But do what works for you.

You may not be farmers but you do farm the land you have. My feeling on your equipment is that you have repaired it as farmers would have years ago, make it work and not worry about cosmetics. If you ever grow corn then you’ll have to find a corn cultivator for the H. Cultivating corn is another yesteryear experience, did a lot of it on an H when I was young. Thanks for the videos, I’ll keep watching.

I like the hay trolley. So cool. Throwing hay bales stinks. I’d do the trolley.

Great video! Its fun for kids to jump in the loose hay..our family had hay and straw bales. My brother and I would arrange the bales to make tunnels and side tunnels to a secret hayfort. Then on sundays when the cousins came to visit, we would spend our time in the hay mow all afternoon. Even if it rained we had a place to play.

Love it, especially midway with the flying children! Beautiful work.

@3:25 that was beautiful. The simplest things in life are the most fun. How many kids get to say they flew thru the air onto a pile of soft hay

Back in the 40s we put up 20 acres of loss hay twice a year,

I ment to say, I put up LOOSE hay with , first an IHC loader, and now with a NI loader. At 74, Ive likely put up my last loose hay. My grandad put up squares in his bard up to the mid late 60s. He had a special set of forks that were loose so they could be stuck in individual bales.

I guess this underscores the wisdom of the Pennsylvania style barn with ground level access to both the bottom level and the hay loft. It seems like it would be worth the effort of building an earthen ramp up to the rear of the hay loft. I guess they are called Bank Barns.

I never knew why old timey homes had "prow" (the part at the peak of the roof that juts out) but seeing your hay trolley I finally understand where the architectural style came from!

Nice. Enjoyed , there was a lot of good info in this video. I for one would keep the trolley way of bringing in the hay. But, I like the old equipment and the lost ways of doing farm work. I am still looking for a Horse Sweep.

I helped my grandad with his putting up hay with the forks and trolley. He had to long after it went outa date, as he had a hog house in front of the barn with just enough space for a hay rack to get up to the barn. I first started pulling the trip rope, then later in the barn. He always used bales, and had a bailer of his own up till I was in grade school. Im 72 now.

It's cool looking and entertaining to watch! Nicely filmed

Didn't anybody ever tell you that you do the maintenance when the barn is full of hay? Wish it was that easy, right. Can't wait to see the winch in action if you get it done this year. I'll try to get a video if I get my winch working too. Also, a return weight was usually used to return the trolley automatically. A thinner rope would have been used and would disappear through the years, but the pulley is probably still there. A small sack of grain or sand would be the weight. Some also set up a rope and pulleys so the horses pulled back while backing up.

So, I guess I’m not going to get to see a whole series of videos entitled “Knotter’s Broke #1” and “Knotter’s Broke #2” or “Banana Bales” and maybe a “Gophers ate the twine”? Haha!

Really cool hay system you got there .

Your barn layout and storage area for loose hay certainly seem to be optimal for your region to reduce spoilage, and lower wastage. The 2 things that come to mind about loose hay, (for me at least) is better quality fodder, and the benefits of loose hay's aromatic qualities for the animals. The stronger scent of the loose hay helps to lower the stress of animals when they are in the barn, and together with their own familiar scents improve their feelings of comfort and safety. But best of all, your way of doing things provides a lifetime of joyful memories of home, and fun, and happy summer days. For your children, and for you. Though such value could never really be calculated for its material worth by even the best accountant, this is the only way I know of to truly spin straw into gold. Use your trolley system for as many precious days as you can. When life and the all the rest of the needs that come with it require a bailer, then get one, by all means. But don't do it before the value of present returns is diminished for you. That would be my advice.

Ive got a trooey, but no barn. I also have forks like you have. Grandad had those for his hay also

great content thanks ! also how many head will that amount of hay support for the winter ?

How do you pitch it down to your animals?

I think jumping in the hay outweighs every negative....

While I admire your antique trolley and the effort you've put into restore it I wonder how and where are you feeding the hay. I like to feed hay where I want to grow grass. So I move the feeding location every time. The cows help us recycle the nutrients where they are needed. Even the "spoiled" hay provides organic matter needed to grow more hay. I imagine if I had loose hay I'd feed at the barn. Rather than growing more grass I might get a dead zone with big losses of nitrogen.

I drove tractor on the lift rope An later on pulled the hay tripe rope

I put up hay twice in my life. once in my early 20s and last year., it is NOT a relaxing experience. I have a NI loader here, and had it hitched to a 10 X 20 trailer, and it worked me near to death.

Stay with loose hay and trolley balers are a pain and big expense

why not use a eletric winch to pull the trolly instead of a tractor

Смешно, колхозная древняя механизация .