Moving round bales without a tractor..

[Meredith_Clark]

Recently I purchased a used tractor that turned out to be stolen (I had no idea and was not a party to any crime). The tractor was taken back and the person is now in jail. Unfortunately that leaves me out many thousand dollars and no tractor. Until the case is settled or until I can save back up I do not have the money to purchase a new one.

It’s been a terrible year for hay and round bales are the most available at this point. We’re going through about 1 a week and moving them is proving to be extremely difficult especially with mud.

Are there any creative ways to move a round bale? We have a full sized pick up truck (but now way to lift it in) a zero turn mower, and my SUV.

Please help me make this horrible situation a little better.

[NaturalSelection]

The first winter on our farm we (DH and myself) fed two horses with round bales, no heavy equipment and no barn. It wasn’t easy.

We would peel layers off the bales, throw in a wheelbarrow and feed loose until the bale was small enough for us to flip over and roll. Used 8’ long 2x4s as levers. Humorous now, but it was definitely a strugglefest then.

Edited to add that we’re back to round bales this year. We have a semi-reliable skid steer…so depending on our luck we have talked about this method as our backup plan.

Other tips…get a neighbor to help, if possible. Even if you can only get one day of help, locating bales strategically so you can roll them in “by hand” is helpful. You could consider storing outside on pallets under tarps. If no neighbors are available consider renting a skid steer for a day. I have also heard of people storing RBs in the field with the horses under tightly wrapped tarps and uncovering one bale at a time for feeding.

[Jealoushe]

Just peel the hay off the bale for now.

Can you buy them and have them put into your truck bed when you pick them up?

[Meredith_Clark]

We’re going through about 3 a week and we get a discount if we buy in balk so the guy loads up the barn and then we have to move them. We tried peeling but OMG that’s a pain and I like them to have hay 24/7 and they seem to eat the peeled hay so much faster because it’s loose.

[Gloria]

Try to roll the round bale to a heavy duty tarp, tie the two ends of the tarp to the ball of the pickup, and drag it into the pasture? It sure beats rolling the thing all the way… If you are purchasing round bales, what we did was only purchasing one or two of them. Ask the seller to put the round bale on a flat bed trailer (we do have a flat bed trailer), then just kick the round bell off from the trailer in the pasture. You may be able to put one or two round bales on the bed of the pickup but that might kill your suspension. We also used chain saw to hack up round bales and deliver pieces to the stalls. Super pain in the butt.

What is the deal with hay this year? We just ordered a load of hay, and realized that the hay price is sky rocketing from last year, and the inventory is super low.

[Bluey]

Find someone nearby with a tractor that would do that for you?

Could you borrow/buy a pull behind pickup bale buggy:

http://www.bb-manufacturing.com/~shop/hay-buggy/361765/

Farm auctions and farm dealers tend to have those, used, cheap.

Buy where they will deliver if they have a bale trailer?

[mmeqcenter]

So are you going through one per week (post #1), or three per week (post # 4)?

Depending on how many you buy at a time, you could have the person delivering them drop them all (or 3-4) in the field, and you can cover them with tarps to protect from rain, and un-tarp them one by one as they finish the previous bale.

Or you could put a grille on the front of your truck or SUV and push them.
Or two people roll them into the fields, unless you’re area is very hilly.
For either of these, lay tarp over any muddy areas you need to go through. Or build a hay hut that is accessible from outside of the paddock so you don’t have to go through mud to put it “in” the field for the horses.

[tabula_rashah]

I think we buy from the same supplier and I also don’t have a tractor. I move all of mine by hand. I can roll them and flip them by myself (it’s several hundred yards) but if my DH can help it makes it much easier. If it’s super muddy, I put a bale cover on it and then roll. It’s definitely a nice workout lol!

[DMK]

A couple years back when we had a serious hay shortage, I bought 5 bales and do not have a shed or anything to move them with… but drought and hay running out before winter even started? When I got my mitts on 5 bales I figured I would figure it out (I’m only feeding 2 horses). I had them put them in a corner in my dry lot on the rolling side and used a lot of bungies, cinder blocks, the fence line and a huge tarp to cover them up, put in step in posts and hot wire around it to keep them out.

Then I just opened it up and rolled the next bale out (by myself) and closed it up again. It was a little bit downhill which was good for starting it to roll and very bad for stopping it. That’s where some cleverly spaced cinder bricks come in. Put two cinder bricks down about 3-4 feet in front of it, slowly start it rolling, when it stops against the blocks, move the blocks a few more feet and so on. The good news is I only needed to move it far enough that they could circle unimpeded and not in danger of hitting the hot wire and for one to always have an escape route from his abusive boyfriend

[enjoytheride]

HOW many horses are you feeding to go through 3 round bales a WEEK???

That’s either a ton of horses, a ton of labor, or a ton of wasted hay!

[Meredith_Clark]

Sorry, typing on my phone and not making things clear.

We have 3 fields so we’re putting 3 out at a time. So this week we had to move 3 round bales at once. It SUCKED!!

Right now the biggest field has 4 full sized horses and even in a feeder they’re going through it fairly quickly and not leaving waste, they don’t get a new one until they eat everything !

The other field has 3 full sized horses and the last field has a large warmblood, medium pony and 3 minis. So yes, it’s a lot of horses.

I spent today with my home owners insurance to see if I could put in a claim for the tractor. Looks like no.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

Our tractor doesn’t have enough HP to lift/pull a round bale, but my 4WD Suburban does! This was years ago, so I’m trying to remember. We stuck something through the center of the bale (a 1" steel pipe using a sledgehammer maybe?) that stuck out a good bit on both sides of the bale. Then used heavy duty cloth tie downs to loop around the pipe on each side of the bale and then we tied the left and right side together at the front of the bale so the loops wouldn’t come off the pipe, and finally tied/attached the tie downs to the tow hooks on the front of the Suburban. So think of the pipe as a bit and the tie downs as reins - attach the reins to the bit, then put the reins together so they are not too snug around the bale, and knot them - then tie them off on the tow hooks. No idea if that makes sense or not! :winkgrin:

Then use the truck/SUV to push or pull the bale where you need it to go (We just pulled it by going backwards - I never tried pushing it).

[KLeaphart]

When I was younger we would have our bales loaded onto a utility trailer until one was needed. Then my mom would drive the truck into the pasture and we’d roll it right off.

It makes a huge difference if the bales are on their side or standing on the end. On their side, they are obviously easier to roll. We did have a supplier who loaded them the wrong way and it took a great deal to slide it off the trailer.

If you’ve already purchased the bales and have them stored (and have a utility trailer), I’d back up as close as you can and roll them on. You can use a lunge line tied to the one side of the trailer, wrapped around the bale, then pull towards the truck on the other side for more leverage.

[HungarianHippo]

On dry ground, I was able to drag a 1500# round with my 4wd subaru impreza and an improvised “cradle” of ratchet straps and tow straps. Roll the round onto a heavy duty tarp and secure to the tarp – it will GREATLY reduce the friction / force required to drag it.

Your car doesn’t need a hitch to pull something-- they all have a tow hook that you can utilize. Granted, a car that wasn’t made to be a towing vehicle will suffer more wear and tear, but just remember that your car’s tow hook was designed to withstand its own weight and then some. It can handle a roundbale as long as your tires have sufficient traction.

[hosspuller]

The “OLD” way of harvesting tobacco was using a sled pulled by a mule. ( small wheels would sink in the soft ground) It was actually more efficient than a tractor because the mule would keep up with the pickers without a driver.

I post this because a sled made of 2x4’s and a rope would be very effective moving a round bale for than a few feet. A tarp or such will soon be torn. A short rope to the car will lift the ends of the runners. I would suggest 2 eight foot 2x4’s nailed together on edge for each runner. (or a single 4x4) One could easily roll the bale on to the sled and secure it with rope from the cross pieces.

[kande04]

@hosspuller

The “OLD” way of harvesting tobacco was using a sled pulled by a mule.

Sounds like there’s a whole herd of horses available, and while it’s a chore to have to hitch a horse, a harness is a heckuva cheaper than a tractor. In fact, if you know how to clicker train you might be able to teach one or more of them to help you push the bales around (and it would be such a fun project)!

[mypaintwattie]

Try calling around to some of the local landscape companies. We have a local landscaper with a bobcat and he comes and moves ours out to the large fields- he has the spear attachment. The small paddocks we have to unroll a bale by hand and use a wheelbarrow. It’s a pain but the hay supply was so bad this year all we can get are round bales. Hopefully next year the drought won’t be so bad and we can get squares.

[Larbear]

I end up pushing them off the bed of my truck and then it gets rolled out in the turnout to position. If it’s muddy, we roll it on the tarps. Typically use 3 big tarps so you can roll it a bit, stop and then move 2 tarps out ahead again. Nothing nastier than rolling a roundbale through the muck! If there’s snow, then we can sometimes pull it as it slides on top of the snow.

[Meredith_Clark]

@Larbear

I end up pushing them off the bed of my truck and then it gets rolled out in the turnout to position. If it’s muddy, we roll it on the tarps. Typically use 3 big tarps so you can roll it a bit, stop and then move 2 tarps out ahead again. Nothing nastier than rolling a roundbale through the muck! If there’s snow, then we can sometimes pull it as it slides on top of the snow.

That’s the problem, we had to buy in bulk because of hay shortage so they’re in our barn, we can’t get them into the truck bed.

[Meredith_Clark]

@kande04

Sounds like there’s a whole herd of horses available, and while it’s a chore to have to hitch a horse, a harness is a heckuva cheaper than a tractor. In fact, if you know how to clicker train you might be able to teach one or more of them to help you push the bales around (and it would be such a fun project)!

I’m not sure any of my OTTBs or shetlands would work :lol: Getting a draft would only make us need more hay, although we’d have something to pull the bales.