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Photos of recent ranch duties

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Soapweed

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
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Location
northern Nebraska Sandhills
Sunrise.jpg

Sunrise
Pickingupthehaybasketoutoftheweeds.jpg

Lifting the haybasket out of the weeds
Carryingittothebalecarrier.jpg

Carrying it to the bale hauler
Readytoputonthehaybasket.jpg

Ready to attach the haybasket
Easydoesit.jpg

Easy does it
Dinnerafterworkingcows.jpg

Picnic on the prairie, after preg checking
Newlyweanedheifercalves.jpg

Newly weaned heifer calves
Heifercalvesonthemeadow.jpg

Heifer calves on the meadow
Whereismomma.jpg

Where is momma?????
Sunsetandtallgrass.jpg

Sunset and tall grass
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
Could you explain or post more pics of you Hay basket and hauler. Make Model and just how does it work.

It is a D&W Bale Hauler, invented in Valentine, Nebraska, but now made at Sandhills Ranch Equipment of Bassett, Nebraska. It carries six bales in the summertime, and has a hydraulic loading arm. Two beams with chains make the unloading easy and convenient. During the hay feeding season, a Haybuster processor is mounted on the front. With one bale in the basket, and four more behind, it hauls a total of five bales. All in all, I would give the machine a desirable rating, even though putting on and taking off the hay basket is a time-consuming uncowboylike unfun job. :wink: :)
 
Hummmm...never seen such. Interesting. We have a hay van that carries 6 bales. goose neck, has cradles for each bale that you can release and they roll off when your unloading........with a hitch on the loadin tractor. just unhitch the trailer, load the bales on with it, then hook back up and go.
 
In the hay hauling summertime mode, the loading arm is on the right side of the contraption. When bales are being picked up, the machine doesn't have to stop when a bale is being picked up. You just drive by, and slide the two arms under the bale, then swing the bale up onto the chain driven beams. By turning the chains back about six feet, the front area is ready for the next bale. The driver needs to keep track, and quit after six are loaded. Sometimes one forgets, loads seven, and the last one falls off the back of the beams. :? :cry: When you get to the bale yard, just line up where you want the bales to set, tilt the platform, and drive out from under the six bales as the chains turn backwards. It is pretty slick.

For feeding hay in the winter, you tilt the platform and back up under a line of bales. When the first one gets close to the basket, a hydraulic loading gizmo flops the first bale up and over onto the basket. When all five bales have been loaded, just tilt the platform down, and you are ready to travel. As each bale is fed, the next one is just flipped up and over, into the basket.

The processor is run with a 1000 rpm power take-off, and flails chop up the hay as it is strung in a nice windrow on the ground. If the wind is blowing, I try to feed facing and straight into the wind. This is good practice if you ever plan to fly an airplane, also. :wink: Another caution is to try to keep ahead of following cattle. Occasionally they can step in front of one of the tires, and get injured.

All things considered, the D&W is a very good way to handle large round bales. It is easy to pick up bales and haul them off the fields, and it is an efficient way to feed.
 
Soapweed said:
All things considered, the D&W is a very good way to handle large round bales. It is easy to pick up bales and haul them off the fields, and it is an efficient way to feed.

Sounds just like my contraption to feed big round bales. Only mine is pulled with a team and I only haul one at a time! :lol:

But it sure saves on fuel bills! :lol:

And my stomache get smaller by spring! :lol:
 
All joking aside, draft horses will probably be making a strong comeback with the present high cost of fuel. Horses are big and powerful, and can sure get the job done.

The first two years of our married life, Mrs. Soapweed (aka Peach Blossom) and I fed all our hay with four head of Belgians. Those years we were wintering and calving out 200 head of cows. On days when the wind wasn't blowing it was fun to use horses. The days when the wind is howling always brings out the worst in equine temperment. Runaways can happen as fast as your hat blowing off, and then things tend to get tore up and wrecked.

Anymore, my mind kind of remembers how to use draft horses, but the old back and joints would rebel. Even though we use our saddle horses almost daily, I rather enjoy doing the hay work with front-wheel-assist tractors, complete with radios, heaters and air-conditioners. Call me spoiled, but I consider the time period of today the "Good Old Days." :wink: :)
 
Right you are: these days are the "good old days". Interesting
site re draft horses, mules, & equipment:

http://www.ruralheritage.com/
 
sold the draft horses wed. haven't hitched them up for 2 years now since I went to round bales. I feed on the hay meadows close to the stacks ao I use a chain on a tractor bucket to get one bale and another on a bale spinner. hardest part is keeping the tractor on the snow road getting to the feedgrounds.
some of the guys that feed close to the road got a ball welded to the top of the bale spinners frame and just back up under a 5th wheel trailor and lift and go , set it down and knock the bales off and then spinn them off..... I have a bale on and one on the bucket befor i get to the stack i feeding so the cows are on a feedline before i open the stack gate
 

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