Feeding hay with horses on the Y6, 1-22-11, Part One

[Soapweed]

On Saturday, January 22, 2011, the Sandhills Cattle Association held their annual Ranch Tour in the Hyannis-Arthur area of Nebraska.
One stop was at the Y6 Ranch, where Wade Kramer demonstrated using a six horse hitch to cable on and feed loose hay from a stack.

Pulling on half a stack of hay

Hay being loaded

Six horse hitch as seen from the drawbar end

One more slight tug

Hay loaded on the haysled

Now going around to hook back up to the sled

Honest-to-goodness six horsepower motor, enclosed in genuine leather

Getting into position

Reverse gear about to be engaged

Backing into place

A little bit more

Another couple feet

About to hook the pin

Now the hydra-fork needs to be put back down

Calmly waiting for further instruction

Ever onward

Pulling out of the stackyard

Load in place ready to be fed

Circling the yard

Turning to go out the gate

View from the front

 

[Faster horses]

That was really interesting to watch (especially when in a warm house :wink: ). Thanks for the pictures, Soapweed. How much
weight do you think is in that load of hay?

 

[Soapweed]

That was really interesting to watch (especially when in a warm house :wink: ). Thanks for the pictures, Soapweed. How much
weight do you think is in that load of hay?

I am guessing a full stack to be about six tons, so this half a stack would be about three tons.

 

[little bow rancher]

how many ton do you think there might be Soap

 

[GM88]

This is what I enjoy about this site. I find it very interesting how everyone does thier chores and how thier cattle look. Thanks soapweed and everyone else for all the photos.

 

[RSL]

That is cool. I bet that ranch has pretty low overhead.
After yesterday and the JD, that looks REALLY appealing. I have forgotten the cold already.

 

[bverellen]

Did he mention how long it takes to get the team rigged up and ready to go? And I wonder, do the horses need to be hooked up in a particular order, like sled dogs or my children are? :wink:

Thankyou for sharing the pics.

bart. †

 

[Justin]

pure horsepower

thanks for the pictures, Soapweed. :tiphat:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Oh damn, I showed this to Tam and now she thinks she needs more ponies. :roll:

 

[HAY MAKER]

Oh damn, I showed this to Tam and now she thinks she needs more ponies. :roll:

Let her go........you never can tell,them ponies just might come in handy someday
js

PS Quite a 6 horse power story Soap.

 

[Shortgrass]

Great post! Brings back memories. McMurtrey and Ravenscroft's used to feed that way, along with several others in the late 60's when I was with Hub. That was a long time ago. I have a collar with a mirror in it hanging on the back porch that I used on "Dutch".

 

[Justin]

Oh damn, I showed this to Tam and now she thinks she needs more ponies. :roll:

go get her some small square bales and have her go out and feed those. :lol: :wink:

 

[Hereford76]

so how many folks were in the audience? thanks for the history lesson.

 

[Dylan Biggs]

Good job, great pics!

 

[jeff in ca]

Pretty efficient way to feed cattle. I am curious as to what it costs to put hay loose? Baling hay in any form looks expensive compared to this method. As a 40 something person it is cool see the "Old ways" of how hay is put up still in use. My dad and uncles used to talk about putting loose hay as kids in the forties. They also talked about how they put themselves through college hauling hay by hand. Now there is another endangered species, someone who will hand load a hay truck..

 

[Soapweed]

so how many folks were in the audience? thanks for the history lesson.

Just guessing, there were probably about a hundred people in attendance.

 

[Big Swede]

I've got a question, if the snow gets very deep can those horses still pull a load like that? Very cool pictures by the way, thanks Soap.

 

[Soapweed]

I've got a question, if the snow gets very deep can those horses still pull a load like that? Very cool pictures by the way, thanks Soap.

There is a lot of power in six head of horses abreast. It is amazing how big a snow drift they can blunder through.

 

[Shortgrass]

Once, I was scooping out the barn onto a hay sled like the one pictured. I had a D4 hook on it. When I tried to pull out, the crawler spun its tracks, and I was sitting on her belly. Johhny had a 6 horses abreast hooked up. He hooked on the back of the sled, and pulled the whole outfit out of its hole without the crawler engaged.