I’m supposed to be watching my children, walking my dogs, and helping my wife in the kitchen…but instead I’m laying on my bed watching men unload hay from a truck…what a great Saturday!
As a dry van trucker that’s done more than a fair share of farm loads (be it bales, gaylords, or ibc’s), you guys did a good job. For trucking your bales rain or shine, and to get the best of both flatbed (easy side load/unload) and van (weather protection), request conestoga or ‘covered wagon’ trailering…flatbed trailers with roll-away canvas shells, kind of soft-shell dry van.
As a trucker , sliding them out works great , until you happen to find a trailer with a lot of nails in a wooden floor . Aluminum floor trailers would slide easier than wooden floors . Great video !
@@FarmingInsiderStoughton Z Plate trailers have smooth floors and smooth sides. I used to get loaded with empty beverage cans, and not a single one would dislodge after a rough 600 mile trip. I also have been loaded with hay bales this size. I got loaded on the ground, no dock. Soon enough, the tractor was able to push the whole truck with the brakes set. I climbed in, and stomped on the brake. He was able to shove the hay in clear to the front. At the other end, they had a mobile ramp, and they couldn’t get the damn thing lined up with the trailer. I told them to drop the thing in the ground, and I’ll back up to it. First shot. They used a machine with the claws to go in and get the bales out. Had I known about this, I probably could have just hitched the straps to the machine, and drive forward to let off the bales right into the ground!
Any responsible driver would preclean a trailer prior to loading any load, including removing the nails. I've not seen too many drybox trailers with aluminum floors. What would be ideal is to not only preclean the trailer but to apply a lite coat of wax on the floor.
One time we had to move a lot of soil that was almost pure clay. We lined the dump truck beds with plastic. I'm thinking that plastic on the trailer floors would make the hay slide a LOT better.
Fascinating and an excellent idea with the board. A loading dock would be a very cool addition to the farm. This is a side of farming I've just never seen or thought about before. Thank you for the video.
We are planning another barn soon if the budget allows, I think we are convinced to have a loading dock at or near that barn for purposes like this. Thanks for viewing!
Before loading first first bundle into box, place 4x4 angle iron 6 feet long on floor with two 40 ft. 4 inch wide straps attached near each end of angle iron. Lay the two straps flat on floor the length of box and stack bundles on top of straps. To unload, after unloading easy to reach bundles, attach straps and slide all remaining bundles back together to desired location for unloading.
We load vertical with straps to pull 4 bundles at a time. Run the strap through the strings to keep in place on the first set. Put in the next set. Attach the strap ends to each other and repeat. Should be about 8 straps. Just pull them out at the unload 4 at a time then. And not pulling on strings.
I've been farming for 30 years and I make 40 pound bales! Anyone who has to handle hay every single day, will tell you, they stop making them 50 pound bales. It's amazing what a 10 pound difference makes. The 50's stack better, but the 40's don't kill ya!
Good job, ya gotta do what you gotta do. I have unloaded box trucks with JCB Load Alls before, just like that, except instead of straps used a rope and grapple. I also used Front End loaders, Lulls, and Grade Alls (Lulls and Grade Alls can reach the back of the trailer.) May I suggest that since you had to "get" a trailer anyway, a Walking Floor trailer would be the best in this instance. As the operator unloads the bales, just "walk" the next ones up to the edge, easy peezy.
When I give my Baron a " C section", we use a steel pinch bar, Its about 5 feet long, and the point threads right through the twines. I havn't unloaded a van trailer yet. you can grab some bale twines too. I agree with your Dad Run a rake Low and Slow.. Keep up the good work. Love the video's.
Dad incorporated a concrete loading dock into the side of our barn bridge. Never used it much for hay, but it's still there if we need it. Good video! We occasionally ran close to idle time charges on the trucks. One outfit was $60/hr., but one driver told me they charged one guy $95 cause they didn't like him. At least it wasn't us.
It’s nice to have! We have had some machines and such over the years that it would have been convenient to have a dock for. I guess I am glad we are still being told a $60/hr charge. They must like our business a little
Demurge/ detention is basically the same thing. In the oil fields they use demurge. I've never heard it used in dry van, reefer, or open deck. Personally I would never haul hay in a dry van, although I believe that is the best way to transport hay. I've never hauled hay myself but I rented a dry van trailer that someone before me did. It took me months to get all the hay cleaned out of all the crevasses and several weeks to get it to an acceptable level to haul food grade products again. On open deck hay is a big hassle as a driver. It is our job to secure it in a way to keep it on the trailer and not become a hazard on the road. Without long Veeboards the straps sink right through the hay and loosen up plus the load needs to be tarpped. If it starts raining before you can get the load tarpped, then your likely to be overweight as the rain just gets soaked up by the hay. From what I've seen transporting hay just doesn't pay enough on open deck to justify the costs of buying the needed Veeboards and then finding a place to store them in between hay loads. Sure you could use them on some other types of loads as well but you won't need even close to as many Veeboards. I'm sure there are some truck drivers that would disagree with me on the Veeboard issue and consider them essential flatbed equipment, but not for my operation and the type of freight I haul... I've been driving semis for a little over 8 years and have done dry van, reefer units, power only, oilfield vacuum tankers, and open decks. The past 3 years I've been an owner operator
I don’t disagree with you on most points. Flats are hard to secure and you pretty much need to get out after about 45 min to 1hr of driving to tighten your straps back up. With a leaf blower, we have gotten vans pretty darn clean, pretty fast. Maybe the trailer you rented didn’t haul bundles, but maybe hand stacked them. There is a considerably less amount of chaff than there is from hand stacking and hand unloading in the trailer.
@@FarmingInsider yes on the dry van side I always used a leaf blower after every load. The problem was hay gets stuck behind the logistics posts and shippers would reject the trailer if they saw any on food grade shipments. Many places are much more strict about it than you guys seem to be. As far as how it was loaded onto that trailer I have no idea. Stopping to check your load securement within 50 miles from a shipper and then every 150 miles or 3 hours (whichever comes first) is mandatory for all open deck drivers regardless of type of freight hauled
I broker hay on the east coast and haul regularly in a dry van. it's definitely the easiest method but you are right. Once there's hay in there it's a nightmare to get clean. you get most out with a leaf blower but soon as you get down the road there more. I don't do any food grade loads because of this. I got refused once and that was enough to know better.
I actually find the bundles leave less. At least in my experience. Maybe because where I get mine the bales get to tend to get thrown to the front for us stacking. Unloading is messy to. But it has helped once I got a wooden moving dolly from harbor freight and not carrying them to the back. I've expanded enough customer base now that it would probably be worth getting a tractor to unload like y'all did in this video. Do y'all do much straight orchard? That's our most popular "imported" grass. Native is coastal Bermuda @@FarmingInsider
Loading Docks have been a great investment for our hay operation. We use concrete retaining wall blocks, we have built docks at all 3 of our farms, one is a double 90 degree dock, one is a triple dock and the last is a single dock. in your situation a portable ramp would be ideal.
Good on the fly ingenuity. Suggestion is to add $100 to the machine inventory for two large grappling forks. Hook one on each side and you're smiling. Great grandad loaded barn after barn that way.
When you guys were pulling on the strings without the board, I felt like it was going to sling back and hit me in the face. Excellent movie once again!
As a widow, hauling and unloading is now up to me .. it ALWAYS amazes me how FEW of the smaller farmers know the actual weight of their bales. (I think they must rely on what the person baling their field tells them what they've set their baler at - which is MOST OFTEN 15-20# heavier than the actual weight of the bales). As a "vertically challanged senior citizen", I just can't throw around the 100# bales any more😢 I have a bale scale, and if I'm able to pick up a bale and move it, I can tell fairly close how much it actually weighs on the scale. I've been "shorted" as much as 550# on a ton (which gets mighty expensive when hay is going for close to $400/ton!!!) By taking photos of some of the scale weights, weighing & recording EVERY BALE I unload, the tonnage that has come up short is usually remedied by the farmer.. It just makes for a LOT of extra time & work to weigh each bale, plus the cost of another trip to pick up the missing weight. I'd much rather buy 40-50# bales and be done with it!!! Those I CAN still handle and stack!! (with the bigger bales, I'm lucky to get them 3-high in the barn by myself!! and if I have to HIRE someone to help me stack, it just adds to the $$ cost of the hay). Thanks for making your hay bales WORKABLE for just about anyone!🤠
Oh, your story reminds me of what a hay supplier tried to pull on me and another horse owner. He claimed the bales were 90#. Hah! I ended up taking my bathroom scale up to the stables and weighing, and tagging, each of the bales, some of which were under 40#. The few 90# bales in the load were all moldy! We had been shorted more than a ton on the order of three tons of hay. We got our money back after a hard discussion!
We don’t have docks at my job, we park flat bed trucks next to the doors and pull one bale at the time with a small tow strap to get through the twine and a rope attached to it. It’s easier when they are two stack vs three.
Man as someone who’s loaded and unloaded these trailers by hand in the summer with a 4 person crew we loaded them in about 1&45mins but it depended on how close we got to the hay in the barn with the trailer and it was one busty job inside lol 😂 but it paid good money for just couple of hours!!
@@FarmingInsider yes. I get complimented on my bales all the time because I make good tight bales and mine are almost always between 50 and 60 lbs unless the hay just gets too dry. I am planning my bale scale system for my baler so I'll be able to have an instantaneous and average bale weight over a field to try to make everything even more consistent.
@@thebalerman A long time ago we use to have someone else bale our hay for us. We got charged by the bale for the service. The bales were loose, light and very hard to stack. The person doing it either did not really know what they were doing or set the baler to bale light in order to get more money. That's why we purchased the equipment and started baling on our own. We don't go as far to scale them constantly but we have gotten pretty good at making a consistent size and weight. Our customers are much happier with our hay now than they were then.
@@FarmingGeeks yeah I make good tight consistent bales now. But working on a scale system for the baler just to keep tabs. This would basically tie in with a moisture sensor and give you more of the picture.
About 55 years ago I would find myself trying to keep up with a baler while stacking 7 high right up to the last few inches of the front of the hay wagon. It seems I was told the bales were about 70 lbs each. But, that's an aging memory, so it might be wrong. It was a dairy farm, so all this hay was for their cows. I was the only one on the wagon, with one of the farmer's family members driving the tractor that pulled the baler that pulled the wagon. My arms got so cut up from the hay because I didn't wear long sleeves. Too hot. I was paid what I was worth.....$1.00 per hour. Good times.
I handled hay bales, oat or alfalfa, from my 16 th birthday until I turned 50. Started driving hay trucks. I NEVER touched a 40 or 50 lb bael. 130-134lb for oats 140-145lb for alfalfa. Heaviest bales were 160 lb oats. The farmer was trying to save money on twine. They cut my hay bucking days to zero. At that time I worked for one person that had his own truck trailer, boom lader, and bale elevators. Two full loads every day , 412 bales on 412 bales off. I was in good shape until I started driving
You might want to check out a LIVE FLOOR BOX VAN TRAILER. It can unload or load by moving a series of panels that moves the load in or out. By the time you get the first off the next level is at the waiting for you. I have seen this before at truck shows. Steven Sipes
Try chain link fence . On the floor front to back, with a pipe so fork lift can hook a chain and pull everything to rear of truck. when finished roll up fence and return to shipper.
Btw, we made a set of crude but awesome pallet fork extensions to unload semis of straw bales coming in for our landscape company. Of course you’d never be able to lift them up with the fork set being so long but basically we used heavy wall steel pipe and welded 3’ long 3” c channel to the end for the fork. We’d slide up under the bale stack and tilt back as much as possible which would give us just enough love to slide the stack to the back of the trailer. Then we’d grab the stack with stack with the skidsteer. It worked great and didn’t hurt the bales. Saved the guys and the driver
Farming has always got challenges. Video was amazing and I’m left with different feelings after watching. Being a farmer tue struggles are endless and we always pull through and make it look good half the time. Lol. As a logistics dispatcher and truck driver of the past I feel horrible for the driver. Being yes in a day cab no sleep or rack time so just bored the whole time. Being a gamer though I’d be content walking around looking at the operation but still bored after a while.
two ways to deal with it, build a off loading loading ramp, or dig down in for a trailer to back down in it. put some safety railings up so no one falls in. pour a slab for the ground level back in trench. if you do it right for a flat bed trailer, at ground level, you'll be at near ground level... saves those aluminum flat beds from getting twisted up, been there done that.
Take two L shaped steel bars with two D rings weld to your pulling end. Run the bars down each side of the trailer. Curl the L down to drop in behind the Bales. Connect to D ring and pull the bales out.
I don’t know the pulling capacity of your telehandler, but you could ask your shipper to use a “t-bar” setup. Basically, installing wood stringers with a rope or chain running perpendicular to the stringer. You tie on to the rope and pull a whole group of bales to the back all at once.
Here's my favorite lads, fricken awesome video mate, I've seen a merlo telehandler that telescopes 3 times,, they would reach right to the front of a box? Probably not seeing side on. You are explaining everything you do in great detail, don't let the trolls that missed physics and common sense class at school get ya down. Keep up the great work mate from New Zealand.
@@FarmingInsider yeah once you showed the side view I thought whoops no way, but yes a loading ramp and a skid steer would be ideal! And hey tell those mate's of yours to be a little more understanding of your camera work. Your channel will take off! I promise. I mention you a lot on other posts.
I'll take a 50 lb bale any day. We live out here in Arizona and our bales are three stringers the average 95 to 105 lb. I do miss my Midwestern bales of hay when as a kid bucking bales at 50 lb a piece.
When you load the trailer, put a strap on the ground from the rear of the trailer to the doors hooked onto a fork that rests on the back wall, then pull the strap and all the bails should hypothetically come out all at once
you have made yourself a good old fashion Pallet puller (or a version of) - I use a hook and a chain to get pallets etc out of my truck - seen this board trick years ago (Australia)
I run telehandlers for construction and have the same issues with box vans and bad pallets. We use a strap round the back and down both sides. I think I would use the long reach forklift.
If you have a concrete plant close see if they make 2x2x4 or 2x2x6 foot blocks out of there extra concrete. We’ve got around 400 we use to make bunkers and I took some and laid them on their side then used some 3/4” roadstone on top to make a dock/ramp. Works great. We only had to pay $25 each for them. They use a good hook in these not rebar. Rebar will rust and could break if you move them after a few years. I actually use a grapple to move mine around. 6 footers weigh around 3300#
Just buy rolls, fill the box truck up with rolls, truck backs up to a table that lifts up and tilts, rolls roll out! If you think I'm joking When Flogers was in kansas city thats how the got the coffee beans off the box truck, i had seen many a trucks back up on the table and dump beans, it lifted them almost 90dgr. I want to say it would shake out the last bean good to the last drop.
With a ramp or a loading dock the height of the machine used needs to fit into the box van with the ROPS up........We purchased a 5045 E Deere and had it speced with construction tires and weighted to handle the bundles.....We load right out the Baron, onto our own trailers for delivery by our trucks as needed to contract customers TSC and others sell right out of our trailers
I knew the strap wouldn’t work. It would just snap. I used to do that for at least three months on a farm. We use a lull and two spears that were about two more feet longer than yours and the lull got all the way in there for the most part, then we took the rest off by hand, either way farm work is hard, but thank God there is a machinery to do it
Your farm seems to have most of the logistics of hay handling down to a science. Its great to see how differant folks handle similar issues. When baling horse hay, most farms perfer the lighter bales since its usually the ladies taking care of the barn. Im not saying that there aren't women who can't handle heave bales, just would perfer lighter ones.
When I was trucking and hauling loads like this we put heavy cardboard under them left some out on edges and hooked them it worked pretty good sometimes it didn't
We do round bales, two straps end to end all the way around one side to the other side. Pull all 5 of them off the trailer at one time, about two minutes and tailer is off loaded.
If you unload quite a few containers, then invest in making/purchasing a ramp to the truck container or have a loading/unloading dock. You then drive a small forklift into the trailer and unload easily. You would unload a container in less than 15 minutes.
I think if a 53' L x 8' W x 5/8" Tk piece of nylon/rubber mat was placed on the floor of the trailer, were after the last push is extracted . it has hole shackles at the end were you could just hook up & pull the next stacks to be extracted ( "a walking floor" ) . then it could be rolled back out into the empty trailer for the loading !
I was thinking of a flat steel plate on edge with drop down fingers that you could slide between the bale and the side of the trailer. Need one for each side. Weld on a hook for a chain.
As you say most people that claim 50+lbs bales of grass hay are full of it or else they are over moisture. My coastal or Tifton 85 bermuda is usually 45-50lbs. Alfalfa bales are denser and can get to 60+lbs.
Funny thing is here in Australia only lucerne (alfalfa) is considered horse hay while grass hay is used to feed other stock because it’s inferior but some farmers are now putting grass into wrapped bales for their stock due to better quality than hay
hi, very interesting videos, but the first ones that I thought of when you have to pull hay from the flatbed, why not a hook on each side of the undrrst bundle. Greetings from Sweden
Question we have a ranch in Santa Maria California. Prices for hay is crazy $22.00 a bale most of our bales are 90 to 100 lbs. is it worth it to rail car it in from outside states like Ohio or Wyoming
Take a cattle pannel and cut it the width of the trailer and put it in the front of the trailer with a long chain on both sides, and load hay in. Take the chain and hook to the loader and pull backward and it should pull it all back at once
👍 carry on. Nice job 👍 inside truck should have a built in hydurloc push wall behind the bails. From new Zealand 🌎👍 or rollers on the floor built in across. sweet As 👍 thank you Thank You very much 😂❤ your welcome 🤗
I used to load the flat bed off the field by hand Then load the barn off the trailer by hand. Not quite to this scale, but close enough. Now that your work is done, is it miller time or some card games?
Enjoy your content. Any reason why y’all don’t use bale clamps. Can pick up a full New Holland bale wagon load. A bale clamp can unload a flatbed in two shakes. One other thing, it appears that your farm is into dirt farming too, reference the large grain storage and grain leg. Can we see some of that too?
I’ve seen bale clamps and I just don’t think they are a super good fit for us. The side grapple we use works really well for our bundles going in and out of these boxes. I would like to get more row crop work on video, but this hay stuff is a full time gig and it seems like I (the main camera man) doesn’t cross over much anymore :/
Brother, don't know why I was unsubscribed from your channel. Hope you and the family are well and have a great New Year. We are still cutting grass hay and it's been hot in Rio Grande Valley Texas. Blessings.
Aussie's have walking floor trailers that walk the whole load rearward so each row can be unloaded without the need for telehandlers or dangerous procedures
Historically, Hay was hauled more from Rural Areas as a backhaul when Freight prices were in the toilet and companies weren't willing to pay deadhead. Usually Hay and grain were hauled to just cover fuel.. I've seen Hay, grain, and even bulk potatoes hauled in dry vans. Just depends on customers desires..
I’m supposed to be watching my children, walking my dogs, and helping my wife in the kitchen…but instead I’m laying on my bed watching men unload hay from a truck…what a great Saturday!
Good job guys! Called improvisation. Busting bales is money & time lost. Ya done well boys!
Whoever came up with the
Board is a genius, give a raise
It was my dad. No raises for him lol
I am old 73 maybe like your dad I said to myself get a plank the first 5 seconds I watched the video nothing like many tears of experience
As a dry van trucker that’s done more than a fair share of farm loads (be it bales, gaylords, or ibc’s), you guys did a good job.
For trucking your bales rain or shine, and to get the best of both flatbed (easy side load/unload) and van (weather protection), request conestoga or ‘covered wagon’ trailering…flatbed trailers with roll-away canvas shells, kind of soft-shell dry van.
We would love to use conestogas but they usually are a pinch shorter than dry vans and our bundles wont fit :(
@@FarmingInsider fair point
As a trucker , sliding them out works great , until you happen to find a trailer with a lot of nails in a wooden floor .
Aluminum floor trailers would slide easier than wooden floors .
Great video !
thank you! We did another truck just yesterday and it was smooth sailing
@@FarmingInsiderStoughton Z Plate trailers have smooth floors and smooth sides.
I used to get loaded with empty beverage cans, and not a single one would dislodge after a rough 600 mile trip.
I also have been loaded with hay bales this size.
I got loaded on the ground, no dock. Soon enough, the tractor was able to push the whole truck with the brakes set.
I climbed in, and stomped on the brake.
He was able to shove the hay in clear to the front.
At the other end, they had a mobile ramp, and they couldn’t get the damn thing lined up with the trailer.
I told them to drop the thing in the ground, and I’ll back up to it.
First shot.
They used a machine with the claws to go in and get the bales out.
Had I known about this, I probably could have just hitched the straps to the machine, and drive forward to let off the bales right into the ground!
Any responsible driver would preclean a trailer prior to loading any load, including removing the nails. I've not seen too many drybox trailers with aluminum floors. What would be ideal is to not only preclean the trailer but to apply a lite coat of wax on the floor.
Thank God for walking floor trailers!
I did a load like this to the Biltmore back in 2007. I was so happy when I got there and realized it was drop&hook on delivery.
Walking floor trailers for the win ;)
One time we had to move a lot of soil that was almost pure clay. We lined the dump truck beds with plastic. I'm thinking that plastic on the trailer floors would make the hay slide a LOT better.
That’s not a bad idea
Fascinating and an excellent idea with the board. A loading dock would be a very cool addition to the farm. This is a side of farming I've just never seen or thought about before. Thank you for the video.
We are planning another barn soon if the budget allows, I think we are convinced to have a loading dock at or near that barn for purposes like this. Thanks for viewing!
In WA & ID hay is loaded on flatbeds, two flatbeds to one tractor. Awesome to watch them going through town in convoy.
I love the effort and the results. Thank you!
That is a genius move, well done.
Before loading first first bundle into box, place 4x4 angle iron 6 feet long on floor with two 40 ft. 4 inch wide straps attached near each end of angle iron. Lay the two straps flat on floor the length of box and stack bundles on top of straps. To unload, after unloading easy to reach bundles, attach straps and slide all remaining bundles back together to desired location for unloading.
... OOOH! ... 4:10 " The Ancient Mesopotamian Pallet Shuffle "... Spliffing Good Inovation... 🏴✌️🥸
I was going to make the same suggestion.
We load vertical with straps to pull 4 bundles at a time. Run the strap through the strings to keep in place on the first set. Put in the next set. Attach the strap ends to each other and repeat. Should be about 8 straps. Just pull them out at the unload 4 at a time then. And not pulling on strings.
We just tried this yesterday morning. I’m hoping to hear positive results from the customer
I've been farming for 30 years and I make 40 pound bales! Anyone who has to handle hay every single day, will tell you, they stop making them 50 pound bales. It's amazing what a 10 pound difference makes. The 50's stack better, but the 40's don't kill ya!
I remember the 100lb wire tied alfalfa bales average was 80 to 75 pounds
Back in the old days, 60# bales were standard. 100# if you had really good string or wire tieing systems.
@@brianjohnson6053 Yep, and we often carried them 2 at a time and threw hundreds a day by hand without thinking about it.
@@mrsqueakthecat.8061 then walk to school in a blizzard, uphill both ways???
And didn’t reduce price .
I remember 70 pound bales .
Good job, ya gotta do what you gotta do. I have unloaded box trucks with JCB Load Alls before, just like that, except instead of straps used a rope and grapple. I also used Front End loaders, Lulls, and Grade Alls (Lulls and Grade Alls can reach the back of the trailer.) May I suggest that since you had to "get" a trailer anyway, a Walking Floor trailer would be the best in this instance. As the operator unloads the bales, just "walk" the next ones up to the edge, easy peezy.
When I give my Baron a " C section", we use a steel pinch bar, Its about 5 feet long, and the point threads right through the twines. I havn't unloaded a van trailer yet. you can grab some bale twines too. I agree with your Dad Run a rake Low and Slow.. Keep up the good work. Love the video's.
Dad incorporated a concrete loading dock into the side of our barn bridge. Never used it much for hay, but it's still there if we need it. Good video! We occasionally ran close to idle time charges on the trucks. One outfit was $60/hr., but one driver told me they charged one guy $95 cause they didn't like him. At least it wasn't us.
It’s nice to have! We have had some machines and such over the years that it would have been convenient to have a dock for. I guess I am glad we are still being told a $60/hr charge. They must like our business a little
Kind of seems like a few geniuses here !
In Europe you have trailers with a walkingfloor, it pushes any kind of load to the back of the trailer.
That would be awesome
Walking floor trailers exist in NA
Great video. Very informative. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much!
Demurge/ detention is basically the same thing. In the oil fields they use demurge. I've never heard it used in dry van, reefer, or open deck.
Personally I would never haul hay in a dry van, although I believe that is the best way to transport hay. I've never hauled hay myself but I rented a dry van trailer that someone before me did. It took me months to get all the hay cleaned out of all the crevasses and several weeks to get it to an acceptable level to haul food grade products again.
On open deck hay is a big hassle as a driver. It is our job to secure it in a way to keep it on the trailer and not become a hazard on the road. Without long Veeboards the straps sink right through the hay and loosen up plus the load needs to be tarpped. If it starts raining before you can get the load tarpped, then your likely to be overweight as the rain just gets soaked up by the hay.
From what I've seen transporting hay just doesn't pay enough on open deck to justify the costs of buying the needed Veeboards and then finding a place to store them in between hay loads. Sure you could use them on some other types of loads as well but you won't need even close to as many Veeboards.
I'm sure there are some truck drivers that would disagree with me on the Veeboard issue and consider them essential flatbed equipment, but not for my operation and the type of freight I haul...
I've been driving semis for a little over 8 years and have done dry van, reefer units, power only, oilfield vacuum tankers, and open decks. The past 3 years I've been an owner operator
I don’t disagree with you on most points. Flats are hard to secure and you pretty much need to get out after about 45 min to 1hr of driving to tighten your straps back up.
With a leaf blower, we have gotten vans pretty darn clean, pretty fast. Maybe the trailer you rented didn’t haul bundles, but maybe hand stacked them. There is a considerably less amount of chaff than there is from hand stacking and hand unloading in the trailer.
@@FarmingInsider yes on the dry van side I always used a leaf blower after every load. The problem was hay gets stuck behind the logistics posts and shippers would reject the trailer if they saw any on food grade shipments. Many places are much more strict about it than you guys seem to be. As far as how it was loaded onto that trailer I have no idea.
Stopping to check your load securement within 50 miles from a shipper and then every 150 miles or 3 hours (whichever comes first) is mandatory for all open deck drivers regardless of type of freight hauled
I broker hay on the east coast and haul regularly in a dry van. it's definitely the easiest method but you are right. Once there's hay in there it's a nightmare to get clean. you get most out with a leaf blower but soon as you get down the road there more. I don't do any food grade loads because of this. I got refused once and that was enough to know better.
I actually find the bundles leave less. At least in my experience. Maybe because where I get mine the bales get to tend to get thrown to the front for us stacking. Unloading is messy to. But it has helped once I got a wooden moving dolly from harbor freight and not carrying them to the back. I've expanded enough customer base now that it would probably be worth getting a tractor to unload like y'all did in this video. Do y'all do much straight orchard? That's our most popular "imported" grass. Native is coastal Bermuda @@FarmingInsider
The image stabilization is much appreciated.
Thank you! It’s a lot better viewing
Loading Docks have been a great investment for our hay operation. We use concrete retaining wall blocks, we have built docks at all 3 of our farms, one is a double 90 degree dock, one is a triple dock and the last is a single dock.
in your situation a portable ramp would be ideal.
I might have to ask you for pictures. We need one
Good on the fly ingenuity. Suggestion is to add $100 to the machine inventory for two large grappling forks. Hook one on each side and you're smiling. Great grandad loaded barn after barn that way.
When you guys were pulling on the strings without the board, I felt like it was going to sling back and hit me in the face. Excellent movie once again!
It was an anxious event lol. Thank you for the support!
Hey, that was good work. Good video too. Food for them cows or goats or whatever needs it.
As a widow, hauling and unloading is now up to me ..
it ALWAYS amazes me how FEW of the smaller farmers know the actual weight of their bales.
(I think they must rely on what the person baling their field tells them what they've set their baler at - which is MOST OFTEN 15-20# heavier than the actual weight of the bales).
As a "vertically challanged senior citizen", I just can't throw around the 100# bales any more😢
I have a bale scale, and if I'm able to pick up a bale and move it, I can tell fairly close how much it actually weighs on the scale.
I've been "shorted" as much as 550# on a ton (which gets mighty expensive when hay is going for close to $400/ton!!!)
By taking photos of some of the scale weights, weighing & recording EVERY BALE I unload, the tonnage that has come up short is usually remedied by the farmer..
It just makes for a LOT of extra time & work to weigh each bale, plus the cost of another trip to pick up the missing weight.
I'd much rather buy 40-50# bales and be done with it!!! Those I CAN still handle and stack!!
(with the bigger bales, I'm lucky to get them 3-high in the barn by myself!! and if I have to HIRE someone to help me stack, it just adds to the $$ cost of the hay).
Thanks for making your hay bales WORKABLE for just about anyone!🤠
Oh, your story reminds me of what a hay supplier tried to pull on me and another horse owner. He claimed the bales were 90#. Hah! I ended up taking my bathroom scale up to the stables and weighing, and tagging, each of the bales, some of which were under 40#. The few 90# bales in the load were all moldy! We had been shorted more than a ton on the order of three tons of hay. We got our money back after a hard discussion!
This is why walking floor trailers are valuable makes quick work of it I do however understand there trying to show what methods are easier.
I used to drive a truck with a 60 series Detroit. Just like that van truck. Badass
awesome truck!
We don’t have docks at my job, we park flat bed trucks next to the doors and pull one bale at the time with a small tow strap to get through the twine and a rope attached to it. It’s easier when they are two stack vs three.
Man as someone who’s loaded and unloaded these trailers by hand in the summer with a 4 person crew we loaded them in about 1&45mins but it depended on how close we got to the hay in the barn with the trailer and it was one busty job inside lol 😂 but it paid good money for just couple of hours!!
It’s amazing how many people don’t know what 50lbs actually feels like.
It is amazing, but in their defense they have also likely been duped before
@@FarmingInsider yes. I get complimented on my bales all the time because I make good tight bales and mine are almost always between 50 and 60 lbs unless the hay just gets too dry. I am planning my bale scale system for my baler so I'll be able to have an instantaneous and average bale weight over a field to try to make everything even more consistent.
@@thebalerman A long time ago we use to have someone else bale our hay for us. We got charged by the bale for the service. The bales were loose, light and very hard to stack. The person doing it either did not really know what they were doing or set the baler to bale light in order to get more money. That's why we purchased the equipment and started baling on our own. We don't go as far to scale them constantly but we have gotten pretty good at making a consistent size and weight. Our customers are much happier with our hay now than they were then.
@@FarmingGeeks yeah I make good tight consistent bales now. But working on a scale system for the baler just to keep tabs. This would basically tie in with a moisture sensor and give you more of the picture.
50s lol we loaded wire tied 75 and 80 pounders
About 55 years ago I would find myself trying to keep up with a baler while stacking 7 high right up to the last few inches of the front of the hay wagon.
It seems I was told the bales were about 70 lbs each. But, that's an aging memory, so it might be wrong. It was a dairy farm, so all this hay was for their cows. I was the only one on the wagon, with one of the farmer's family members driving the tractor that pulled the baler that pulled the wagon. My arms got so cut up from the hay because I didn't wear long sleeves. Too hot. I was paid what I was worth.....$1.00 per hour. Good times.
No your not wrong where im at 100lb wire tied alfalfa bales were the norm 50, 60 were basic range hay idiot cubes
I handled hay bales, oat or alfalfa, from my 16 th birthday until I turned 50. Started driving hay trucks. I NEVER touched a 40 or 50 lb bael. 130-134lb for oats 140-145lb for alfalfa. Heaviest bales were 160 lb oats. The farmer was trying to save money on twine. They cut my hay bucking days to zero. At that time I worked for one person that had his own truck trailer, boom lader, and bale
elevators. Two full loads every day , 412 bales on 412 bales off. I was in good shape until I started driving
You might want to check out a LIVE FLOOR BOX VAN TRAILER. It can unload or load by moving a series of panels that moves the load in or out. By the time you get the first off the next level is at the waiting for you. I have seen this before at truck shows. Steven Sipes
That sounds like a walking floor
Try chain link fence . On the floor front to back, with a pipe so fork lift can hook a chain and pull everything to rear of truck. when finished roll up fence and return to shipper.
Btw, we made a set of crude but awesome pallet fork extensions to unload semis of straw bales coming in for our landscape company. Of course you’d never be able to lift them up with the fork set being so long but basically we used heavy wall steel pipe and welded 3’ long 3” c channel to the end for the fork. We’d slide up under the bale stack and tilt back as much as possible which would give us just enough love to slide the stack to the back of the trailer. Then we’d grab the stack with stack with the skidsteer. It worked great and didn’t hurt the bales. Saved the guys and the driver
Do you have any pictures?
Farming has always got challenges. Video was amazing and I’m left with different feelings after watching. Being a farmer tue struggles are endless and we always pull through and make it look good half the time. Lol. As a logistics dispatcher and truck driver of the past I feel horrible for the driver. Being yes in a day cab no sleep or rack time so just bored the whole time. Being a gamer though I’d be content walking around looking at the operation but still bored after a while.
It's new challenges everyday
two ways to deal with it, build a off loading loading ramp, or dig down in for a trailer to
back down in it. put some safety railings up so no one falls in. pour a slab for the ground level back in trench. if you do it right for a flat bed trailer, at ground level, you'll be at near
ground level... saves those aluminum flat beds from getting twisted up, been there done that.
Take two L shaped steel bars with two D rings weld to your pulling end. Run the bars down each side of the trailer. Curl the L down to drop in behind the Bales. Connect to D ring and pull the bales out.
I don’t know the pulling capacity of your telehandler, but you could ask your shipper to use a “t-bar” setup. Basically, installing wood stringers with a rope or chain running perpendicular to the stringer. You tie on to the rope and pull a whole group of bales to the back all at once.
Here's my favorite lads, fricken awesome video mate, I've seen a merlo telehandler that telescopes 3 times,, they would reach right to the front of a box? Probably not seeing side on. You are explaining everything you do in great detail, don't let the trolls that missed physics and common sense class at school get ya down. Keep up the great work mate from New Zealand.
Thank you very much!! Our JCB’s are also a 3 stage boom and won’t make the front. That would have to be a tremendously big machine
@@FarmingInsider yeah once you showed the side view I thought whoops no way, but yes a loading ramp and a skid steer would be ideal! And hey tell those mate's of yours to be a little more understanding of your camera work. Your channel will take off! I promise. I mention you a lot on other posts.
That means a lot. Thank you very much for the support! A little bit better everyday is what we strive for
I'll take a 50 lb bale any day. We live out here in Arizona and our bales are three stringers the average 95 to 105 lb.
I do miss my Midwestern bales of hay when as a kid bucking bales at 50 lb a piece.
When you load the trailer, put a strap on the ground from the rear of the trailer to the doors hooked onto a fork that rests on the back wall, then pull the strap and all the bails should hypothetically come out all at once
You could make some slip sheets with tie off loops on them and slide them out very easily and also load them easily
i just though about the same thing. With a rack under the trailer for storage.
you have made yourself a good old fashion Pallet puller (or a version of) - I use a hook and a chain to get pallets etc out of my truck - seen this board trick years ago (Australia)
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I run telehandlers for construction and have the same issues with box vans and bad pallets. We use a strap round the back and down both sides. I think I would use the long reach forklift.
Do pallets slide alright on those floors?
A+ for ingenuity and effort!
Always a good video.
I appreciate that!
Try skirt trailers. Tie down might be trucky
If you have a concrete plant close see if they make 2x2x4 or 2x2x6 foot blocks out of there extra concrete. We’ve got around 400 we use to make bunkers and I took some and laid them on their side then used some 3/4” roadstone on top to make a dock/ramp. Works great. We only had to pay $25 each for them. They use a good hook in these not rebar. Rebar will rust and could break if you move them after a few years. I actually use a grapple to move mine around. 6 footers weigh around 3300#
in europe we do alot with walking floor trailers, even bales!
Use an open trailer, or, have a frame in first behind the bales. Use tele to pull on frame and PUSH bales forward from rear. 🙄
We'd have to synchronize that with the hay producer on the other end. but we have a loading dock now
Rube Goldberg honorable mention!
Just buy rolls, fill the box truck up with rolls, truck backs up to a table that lifts up and tilts, rolls roll out!
If you think I'm joking
When Flogers was in kansas city thats how the got the coffee beans off the box truck, i had seen many a trucks back up on the table and dump beans, it lifted them almost 90dgr. I want to say it would shake out the last bean good to the last drop.
With a ramp or a loading dock the height of the machine used needs to fit into the box van with the ROPS up........We purchased a 5045 E Deere and had it speced with construction tires and weighted to handle the bundles.....We load right out the Baron, onto our own trailers for delivery by our trucks as needed to contract customers TSC and others sell right out of our trailers
Oh yes, that would be a real sad day if your machine didn’t fit well.
We don’t drop any trailers anywhere. We haven’t gotten into that practice.
Man you're not kidding about your chicken scratches 🤣
Nice work!!
Skid steer pallet fork cable or a semi cable in front and a oak tree.😊 1500 pounds each by now😊
RV tow straps would work👍
I knew the strap wouldn’t work. It would just snap. I used to do that for at least three months on a farm. We use a lull and two spears that were about two more feet longer than yours and the lull got all the way in there for the most part, then we took the rest off by hand, either way farm work is hard, but thank God there is a machinery to do it
Your farm seems to have most of the logistics of hay handling down to a science. Its great to see how differant folks handle similar issues.
When baling horse hay, most farms perfer the lighter bales since its usually the ladies taking care of the barn. Im not saying that there aren't women who can't handle heave bales, just would perfer lighter ones.
I would agree with you. Right around that 45lb mark is the sweet spot
How about putting cardboard on the bottom of those bales close to the cab? It just needs a bit of momentum to start sliding.
That’s extremely smart actually. We’ve since installed a loading dock but that would have helped
When I was trucking and hauling loads like this we put heavy cardboard under them left some out on edges and hooked them it worked pretty good sometimes it didn't
We do round bales, two straps end to end all the way around one side to the other side. Pull all 5 of them off the trailer at one time, about two minutes and tailer is off loaded.
Our small bales in Nevada are generally between 100 & 120 lbs.
We do 40 to 50 pound bails because I don’t want to pick up 100 pound bails. 😂
Lol exactly!
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On the project here average alfalfa idiot cube was between 75 and 80 pounds wire tied and thrown by hand with hooks
If you unload quite a few containers, then invest in making/purchasing a ramp to the truck container or have a loading/unloading dock. You then drive a small forklift into the trailer and unload easily. You would unload a container in less than 15 minutes.
You need wheels on the back of the forks so they work like a dolly in the trailer.
That’s a pretty awesome idea really. Then we could push the extensions a little further
At the DC I work at theres a specialized forklift with a special front end that is essentially a giant spatula. Would be perfect for these.
I think if a 53' L x 8' W x 5/8" Tk piece of nylon/rubber mat was placed on the floor of the trailer, were after the last push is extracted . it has hole shackles at the end were you could just hook up & pull the next stacks to be extracted ( "a walking floor" ) . then it could be rolled back out into the empty trailer for the loading !
I was thinking of a flat steel plate on edge with drop down fingers that you could slide between the bale and the side of the trailer. Need one for each side. Weld on a hook for a chain.
We did this again the next time pretty smooth in 44 minutes, but thats a very interesting idea
@@FarmingInsider emailed you a drawing of a hay hook that should make life easier.
As you say most people that claim 50+lbs bales of grass hay are full of it or else they are over moisture. My coastal or Tifton 85 bermuda is usually 45-50lbs. Alfalfa bales are denser and can get to 60+lbs.
Yes sir that’s exactly right
Funny thing is here in Australia only lucerne (alfalfa) is considered horse hay while grass hay is used to feed other stock because it’s inferior but some farmers are now putting grass into wrapped bales for their stock due to better quality than hay
hi, very interesting videos, but the first ones that I thought of when you have to pull hay from the flatbed, why not a hook on each side of the undrrst bundle. Greetings from Sweden
Question we have a ranch in Santa Maria California. Prices for hay is crazy $22.00 a bale most of our bales are 90 to 100 lbs.
is it worth it to rail car it in from outside states like Ohio or Wyoming
It would not be worth it. Our prices are not far behind that on a per lb basis
Take a cattle pannel and cut it the width of the trailer and put it in the front of the trailer with a long chain on both sides, and load hay in. Take the chain and hook to the loader and pull backward and it should pull it all back at once
Yes it is. It would make your job a lot easier. Steven Sipes
The trailer should have a live bottom floor!
agreed
👍 carry on. Nice job 👍 inside truck should have a built in hydurloc push wall behind the bails. From new Zealand 🌎👍 or rollers on the floor built in across. sweet As 👍 thank you Thank You very much 😂❤ your welcome 🤗
That's a great idea, maybe we'll try that on the next load!
I used to load the flat bed off the field by hand Then load the barn off the trailer by hand.
Not quite to this scale, but close enough. Now that your work is done, is it miller time or some card games?
Just make one of those fabric Loops for pickup truck beds
that would work good
Put nylon skids / flat under the hay
It’s not us loading it unfortunately
Just a thought, have you tried heavy duty plastic on trailer floor, then pull with straps.
It’s amazing what people go through to save money. no dock put it on a flatbed. ( but of course that would cost a little more so not an option)
Une si grande entreprise avec de la boue dans la cour! formidable🤮
Good thinking to the guy that decided to double the boards
It was my dad. It was a great idea
@@FarmingInsider he knows what he’s doing
A couple of straps on those bales in the back that have to be moved forward would probably be better if the straps were put on before loading.
it's definitely better to have them in before
Enjoy your content. Any reason why y’all don’t use bale clamps. Can pick up a full New Holland bale wagon load. A bale clamp can unload a flatbed in two shakes. One other thing, it appears that your farm is into dirt farming too, reference the large grain storage and grain leg. Can we see some of that too?
I’ve seen bale clamps and I just don’t think they are a super good fit for us. The side grapple we use works really well for our bundles going in and out of these boxes.
I would like to get more row crop work on video, but this hay stuff is a full time gig and it seems like I (the main camera man) doesn’t cross over much anymore :/
Just noticed you guys are local, I live stream around the Cleveland and Northeast Ohio area
Wonder if those soft shell semi trailers wouldn’t work.
They usually aren't the right dimensions
Brother, don't know why I was unsubscribed from your channel. Hope you and the family are well and have a great New Year. We are still cutting grass hay and it's been hot in Rio Grande Valley Texas. Blessings.
I wish you guys good luck! Keep hammering down
I used to buck hay, nothing like getting to a field expecting 50lb or 60lb bales and then working your ass off with green or wet super tight bales
How about a “Slider trailer”, a sliding curtain side like the steel haulers use.
You'll learn. Need to talk to some old timers
Seems like a flatbed tilt/dump situation would work, but that's just a commoners pov
I think it probably could
Aussie's have walking floor trailers that walk the whole load rearward so each row can be unloaded without the need for telehandlers or dangerous procedures
... ONE OF ' NEWTON'S LAW'S I BELIEVE... 🤔🏴🖖 2:19
Hay is usually hauled on a flatbed. Never heard of loading it in a van in my 4.5 million miles.
30 loads into 2023 and maybe only 6 were on flats
Historically, Hay was hauled more from Rural Areas as a backhaul when Freight prices were in the toilet and companies weren't willing to pay deadhead. Usually Hay and grain were hauled to just cover fuel.. I've seen Hay, grain, and even bulk potatoes hauled in dry vans. Just depends on customers desires..