Putting up Loose Hay with Farmall Cub, John Deere Hayloader 

Funny, I feel like our hay work was like an action movie...ok, a slow action movie! "In a world, where cows need to eat..."

When my grandfather put wet loose hay in the barn where there was no chance to dry it again he would salt it to keep it from getting hot. He farmed with 2 teams of horses, never had a tractor.

@@williamgillette4086 not at the bottom half of the stack its got to be dry as a bone

if it's not super dry beware. fire happens. You can get a thermometer gizmo and check it. Fun vid!

A lot of torque! It’s a handy little tractor! We love it! Thanks for watching!

James Carpenter we love having it working too! Makes picking up hay so much easier.

Nice loOking hay

My mother told me they had a work horse that knew when to stop.it pulled the hay off the wagons with the forks that dumped it in the mow.the track and trolly thing is still up there. I was little kid remember the old workhorse was allowed to roam the pasture for the rest of his days.

Mark Gamble work horses are pretty smart. I have heard similar stories of milk wagon horses learning their routes. If a milkman got delayed, the horse would just continue on to the next house on the route, forcing the milkman to catch up!

My grandfather always used a hay loader. I was fascinated by it but as a kid I wanted him to use a more modern baler. LOL

leslie holman We like to think we follow a scientific methodology. Everything we do is just a series of experiments. If something doesn’t go our way, we didn’t fail. We just discovered how not to do something! Haha! Thanks for your comment and thanks for watching!

Where are you located

Yes, we really like that all our equipment, tractors, and vehicles are paid for. It is hard when shiny new machines are so enticing! We really enjoy the speed of putting up loose hay, and think we will love it more once the barn is built with the hay trolley in it. Cozy Cow Farm just refurbished a hay loader down the road from us...check out their cool video too!

My grandparents are the same way. They don’t barrow money for anything. It’s sad that the generation I’m growing up in has no common sense on how to save for what you want instead of asking for a handout from other people.

None of you guys would be able to run a large scale farm then, we don't make enough money to just write off a 300 to 500 thousand dollar check for a tractor or piece of equipment, to be able to grow, you have to take chances and you cant just sit around until you have a couple hundred thousand dollars just sitting there. the main reason that we have to borrow money if because we don't make enough in the first place and if you did, you would just get absolutely pounded by taxes!

Noah Pedersen that’s ok though... I have no desire to run a large scale operation. I have nothing against them. In fact, I’ve worked for many large, well run, dairy farms. And I learned so much from them, and many are still mentors. But if I can make a living off a little plot of land with my few cows producing a value-added product, then I’m happy. You are right though, I could never make it just selling a commodity. Thanks for watching!

The_theory 09 if you dont want me to take out a lone, how am I supposed to get started? There is no way I can save up enough cash to start a farm without lones, and I am not talking about a little hobby farm, I am talking 100 acre 4 row corn planter, 10 ft disck size farm

Thank you for the kind words! We enjoy putting up loose hay, but understand bales have it’s place. The best part is we get to labor together. Thanks for watching!

That is a good point- what happens when the baler doesn't work? The window of making hay is always very narrow and its really bad news when equipment breaks down. The more simple the setup the better in that sense. Also the price of the baler becomes a factor. And storing the baler. Both costs money that you need to make back. Stacking&storing square bales is probably just as much work as loading&storing loose hay? It seems to me that for a smaller operation/homestead the loose hay is better?! For bigger operations with big tractors the big round bales are probably best.

There is certainly a lot of wasted grass along the roads. I have seen farmers bailing the grass in the medians of freeways before! For us though, it is not an option as we are certified organic. Sounds like you have a good system going though! Thanks for watching!

@@vnthomas16 Yes your Hay is definitely better...

Farmall Fanatic welcome aboard! Why farm some if you can Farmall?

Freeman Hochstetler we can’t build the barn fast enough! We’ve already started putting up hay, so unfortunately that means one more year of outside stacks. Thanks for watching!

Bruce B glad you enjoyed the video! Yes, balers can bring out the colorful language! Thank you for sharing your memories. And thanks for watching!

Quite the contraption, eh? It works so well though... And saves so much labor... We love it! Thanks for watching!

mike jackson Well, serving in the military isn’t exactly lucrative! Haha! 😂 And now going into farming, I’m just trading one low paying job that requires long hours, hard work, and usually outside in adverse weather conditions for another! But, we’ve built everything on the farm ourselves, paying as we go, and bought old equipment that we fixed up ourselves, so we making a go at it! It’s an adventure! Thanks for watching!

Thanks! Our little cultivating tractor isn't very fast... if it was it'd probably bounce you out the seat! We do rake faster when we're using our New Holland tractor though. Here, raking really isn't a function of drying. We do most of the drying in the swath, only raking a few hours before picking up just to make it easier to pick up. With our hot temperatures and very low humidity, we've gone from mowing to put-up in 48 hours. No tedding, no conditioning. The weather can be quite unpredictable in our mountains, so having these short windows can be advantageous when trying to beat the rain. Thanks for watching!

Garret Newton yeah, our little cultivating tractor doesn’t have much speed to begin with, HaHa! And if it did, it’d probably bounce you out of the seat! We use our New Holland tractor for raking sometimes, and it’s much faster... and smoother! Thanks for watching!

Those old cub lowboys only have about 12 horsepower.

Michael Rhoads I know IH made some modifications to later ones, but I think my tractor is 9 HP!

curioushooter The hay from the large stack was fed out of a separate feeder, so no mess there. The smaller stacks we would open up the cattle panels into a “U” shape and then put a feeder panel across the opening. That worked really well too. We’d use a potato hook to pull hay from the back of the stack to the front where they could get at it.

Oby-1 Haha! 😂 Lucky for us, it’s not ALL summer... It is hard, but rewarding work. I’ll pass on your words to Buttercup. Thanks for watching!

micah grubb In general, I feel that the loose hay we put up is better quality than when we baled hay. But I’m comparing two different processes of the same hay. Not necessarily two different types of hay. I have no doubt that there is superior baled hay out there. In fact, we still buy some baled hay. Loose hay can also be of very poor quality. But, with all things being equal, and just focusing on the processes , I would have to give the upper hand to loose. Thanks for you comment and thanks for watching!

Interestingly, loose hay stacks develop a "rind" that does a pretty good job of protecting the inside. We still tarp the top, but even with the sides exposed we loose very little. Thanks for watching!

@@vnthomas16 Same thing with round bales which are left out. Only a few inches of the outer layer is wasted. With square conventional bales the water soaks right in and spoils the whole bale

We paid $200 for our hayloader, but probably had another $500 into it to get it field ready.

Kyle H Thanks for watching!

Fiona C “Hay” to you too! I like this old, simple equipment. And I don’t like bucking bales. So, it’s a win-win for me!

Clint & Erin Turner we used to put up hay in small squares... and frankly, I much prefer to put it up loose. Loading the wagon is easier for sure, and this year we added a grapple to unload, so that makes it much nicer. Thanks for watching!

Sounds like a very impressive system! We're looking forward to getting our hay trolley set up for unloading. Thanks for watching!

Colin Bateman we hope to use horses someday. I have an old IH #9 high gear horse drawn mower I plan to restore someday. Thanks for watching!

Lee Hilton that’s a good idea! Thanks for watching!

That's a lot of hay! HaHa! When we bought our Cub, the previous owner offered to throw in an old dump rake for free, but unfortunately we didn't have room on our trailer. Oh well. Glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching!

G Koplitz we baled for years before we switched to loose. We’d never go back. The only advantage bales have is if you’re treating hay as a commodity, and are shipping it. Bales also take less space to store a given amount, but the loose hay quickly self-compresses and the stack shrinks appreciably, allowing successive cuttings to go on top.

Arne Toft hello there! Tromping on hay is hard work, but I bet kids would have fun doing it! Thanks for watching all the way from Denmark!

Ha! Very funny! It can be hard to find good royalty free music. Virginia now tries to limit music overs, and uses the YT free music. Thanks!

We love the Cub! It’s a hard worker on our farm!

Thank you for sharing your memories and the kind words. They are sincerely appreciated! Thanks for watching!

allen2905 welcome aboard! We’re glad you’re here! Thanks for watching!

wanna be farmer I don’t know... but welcome aboard! We’re happy to have you here! Thanks for watching!

Wow! That sounds like quite the operation! Must have been something to see! Our haystacks have worked out well enough so far this winter. Looking forward to a barn, though.

Irv Farmer first off, pickup trucks are way overpriced! But that is a discussion for a different time! Haha! We used to bale, and I would never go back. Baled hay does have its place. Obviously if you’re dealing with hay as a commodity, buying and selling, you have to bale it. That makes sense. We occasionally buy baled hay ourselves. But our hay we raise never leaves the farm. We have since mechanized unloading, so I now find haymaking to be less labor intensive than it was when we baled. Our cows seem to like the loose hay better than baled (including our own baled hay). The biggest drawback to doing loose hay is the lack of bale twine lying around to make repairs with! Haha! Thanks for watching!

Those Two Stupid Soldiers I agree with you! With every advancement in farming technology, there is less labor for the farmer. It’s still hard work though...

Habenze I don’t know why, but our girls like machinery... Even today they’ll follow a truck or tractor down a fence line! Thanks for watching!

@@vnthomas16 following the food, I got a Spitz does the same thing.

I like your style!

We’ve tried stacking around a pole before. It worked ok, but our preferred method now is to make a big hoop out of cattle panels (our biggest hoop used 6 of them) and then just throw the hay in the centre. We still do stomp it down, but it does a nice, neat job of forming a hay stack. Thanks for watching!

We put up our grass hay in small squares, but the legume hay is better quality put up loose. That’s why we choose to do it that way. I feel (or my body feels… Haha!) that there isn’t much difference labor between the loose and the small squares. The loose is definitely easier to put in the barn!

That old horsedrawn stuff was well built. Keep it well lubed and don’t pull it too fast and it’ll probably last forever…

Paublus Americanus AMERICANUS thanks for sharing! If you look at our more recent haying videos you’ll see we used a hay grapple like you described to unload. While it was designed to be used with a trolley system in a barn, we used ours on the end of a boom pole and it worked great! Of course, once our barn is built, we’ll use the grapple as it was rightly designed. Thanks for watching!

Scott’s Small Farming and Things . Thanks! I like driving in circles!

Flatbed Trucking, Sam Rides. It’s amazing how expensive new equipment is! Haha! Thanks for watching!

We seeded in 2011, but they are holding up well! Thanks for watching!

David Thanks! We have about 35 acres in grass, but we don’t put it all up in hay.

Hi! We use a hay sling on the wagon to get about the last 1/4 of the load. Works great for getting the wagon cleaned off! But yes, we use a grapple for the rest. Thanks for sharing!

Salmo Jack Hay! Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

We have a barn now (be sure to check out our latest video!). So, that makes storing hay much nicer of course! We still plan to do a couple outside stacks for early Fall hay feeding to supplement our pastures at that time of year. Round pool tarps might be worth looking into! We do loose a few inches of hay on the bottom, but it is negligible. We might try putting the stack on pallets in the future. Thanks for watching!

Michael Rhoads I’ve seen hand balers and they have certainly intrigued me. We’ll have our barn built this year, and with that a hay trolley. That will complete our haying “system” so labor should be greatly reduced. In fact, this year, using the grapple to unload has been a game changer! Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching!

I have heard of folks salting loose hay, especially in areas where it’s a little bit of a challenge to get hay to dry down completely. I believe it helps with palatable too. Lucky for us, our low humidity and high temps usually mean we can dry down no problem. Thanks for sharing!

I have heard of folks salting loose hay, especially in areas where it’s a little bit of a challenge to get hay to dry down completely. I believe it helps with palatable too. Lucky for us, our low humidity and high temps usually mean we can dry down no problem. Thanks for sharing!

Hi there! Since this video, we have built a barn with a hay trolley for unloading. It works great! Before that though, we did rig a jib pole to the front-end loader of our big tractor, with a hay grapple and the end of the jib. That worked great for unloading! Certainly sped things up and reduced labor!

austinwagoncompany what we learned was we’re not very good at stacking loose hay outside! Haha! Actually, all the hay fed out well and was well preserved (it was all tarped). The cattle panel hoops worked the best and are pretty easy, just throw in the hay and stomp it down. The hay would knit together in the stack, so the best tool we found to extricate it was a “potato cultivating fork” aka a “refuse hook”.

We actually thought about it. I don’t think our tractor could move it though. Once that hay is in there and packed down, those hoops hold 2-3 tons. Maybe if I had a bigger tractor! Thanks for watching!

Rosalie Semrau hello! Once the hay sweats out, we’ve never had any problems with moisture under the tarps. A frame would be handy though. Unfortunately, we’ll never have a chance to try that since we have built a barn since we filmed this. Thanks for watching!

Welcome aboard! Thanks for watching!

Good morning! I’ll preface by saying it is possible to put up terrible loose hay, just as one can put up excellent baled hay. We have put up both loose and baled on our farm, and all things being equal (forage type, time cut, etc), we still have to give the edge to the loose hay. One of the big reasons is that with loose, you can safely put it up a percentage point or two higher in moisture, which results in less leaf shattering. Especially with legumes. Also, the mechanics of loose hay are gentler, no baler knives, no plungers, also resulting in less leaf loss. We do not condition or tedd, but we never did when we baled either. No need to as we’re blessed with the weather that way. From a quantifiable standpoint, our RFV has consistency been averaging 30-40 points higher since we switched to putting up hay loose, and from an observational standpoint, our livestock will choose loose hay over baled hay. Thanks for watching!

Those Two Stupid Soldiers our hayloader was so rusted when we got it you needed a tetanus shot just to look at it! Haha! 😂 We were able to identify it by looking at other hayloaders in better condition and old literature and comparing features. Thanks for watching!

Yes indeed! A haystack will develop a "rind" that will protect the inside. Since our haystacks are smaller, we choose to tarp ours, since even though they will also develop a rind, a larger percentage will be lost relative to the stack size. We have also self-fed out of our haystacks and it is quite convenient! Thanks for watching!

ABB 4323 indeed it is! We use the Cub just as much, if not more than our new tractor.

John Logan thanks for the link! We’d seen that before, and it just confirms our lack of hay stacking skill! Ha! Thanks for watching!

I don't think it matters how hay is put up, it all seems like hard work! We find it rewarding though. Thanks for watching!

loose hay is easy on the back and wallet try a beaver slide and font end loader with long forks

Martin Benton I can assure you, after putting up hay all day, there is usually a pizza involved! Haha! Thanks for watching!

@@vnthomas16 ha ha ha. My pleasure. I definitely enjoyed it.

Aaric Hale we’re glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

I do it both ways. Just depends if I feel like making left or right turns! Haha! Thanks for watching!

Thanks!

Thank you for your support!

Thanks for sharing! Yes, the cows really seem to like it. It’s funny to watch them work some long stem hay into their mouth!

Keith Fink, the build dates of the tractor driver and stacker are too new to be of much interest I think... We did talk of trying to rig of some sort of self feeding system. We’ll have to see what we come up with! Actually, someday we do want to bring draft horses onto our farm. We’ve done some workshops and really enjoyed working with them. I do have a 1941 IH horse-drawn sicklebar mower, but it needs a lot of work.

Howdy and welcome to the Thomarosa! Nice to have you visit!

Gary Page we enjoy it. We sure don’t farm for the money! Haha!

Gary Arsenault Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks! And thanks for watching!

Yeah, I’d rather move loose hay rather than baled hay anytime! Thanks for watching!

How dry it is

Terrible way to store hay

We did not have a barn when this video was made, which is why we did the outside stacks. We have a barn now, which is great for storing hay! Thanks for watching!

Hello! Those old time farmers had a lot going against them for sure! In regards to our loose hay, once we mechanized unloading, I actually found it less labor intensive than when we baled. Definitely never going back! Thanks for watching!

You’ll have to check out some of our more recent videos... We built a big barn! Complete with a hay trolley for unloading!

I know! Right?!? Haha! 🤣

It’s such a great tractor! Thanks for watching!