Hi-Lift Hay Spear, Finally!!

August 10
I finally found another way to lift hay.

[@EastTexasRanching]

We own a 2810. EXCELLENT tractor. Very reliable. We bought it new back in the 80's and have had very little trouble from it.

[@ghenry85]

Nifty device! We used to use a George white 3pt manure loader, with a chain holding the bale on. More of an easy counter wieght, but I have used it to do feeders when the loader tractor was down. The web site I told you about is in a reply to your last video.

[@billwhitman1529]

I suggest that you will make much better bales if you use more string wrapping the bale. A good wrap every 4" will keep the bale tight and weather so much better, also help the curing process. It's always interesting to me to see two different farmers using the same model baler and one makes nice tight bales and the other has bales that squat right out of the baler.

[@aidanbackes6420]

Great video!

[@gregorythompson2251]

You'll figure it out I'm sure glad see u got it

[@wyattholm8482]

Love you keep up the good work

[@MrAlbethke]

Orchard grass grows like a weed and with not much moisture. Not good for dairy, but no worries there with you.

[@BedeMeredith]

maybe you can take the bucket off the hydro loader, and weld up an attachment for the 3 point spears.

[@lukestrawwalker]

I looked at those years ago when they came out (that bale mover)... First thing I noticed is HOW FAR BACK it puts the bale away from the tractor... my 5610's get light on the front with just a regular hay fork lifting a 5x6 or so bale; moving it back another foot to foot-n-a-half would just make it that much lighter on the front end... or bring it off the ground entirely. Those lifts will work for little bales, but anything bigger/heavier you need either a LOT of front end weight, OR a bigger tractor. While they're a cheap but limited solution, which we ended up buying the Worksaver forklift like yours, but I'd have been money ahead to just put more with it and buy the front end loader... the Worksaver doesn't lift all that high either, truthfully. Yours does better with the top link cylinder to give it additional tilt, but still WAY more limited than a front end loader. Plus basically they're "one trick ponies" that can't do much else than lift bales almost high enough... particularly that scissor lift type. At least the Worksaver can double as a pallet forklift, to an extent (that the front end of the tractor doesn't come off the ground anyway). Still, handy but I wouldn't spend too much money on either one when I could put that toward a FAR more versatile front end loader. A front end loader is one of those things that you just don't realize how much you needed one until you get one... or how handy they are! Later! OL J R :)

[@FSGAMER35]

For the toplink cylender you could make a piece to extend the bale spear toplink up 1foot then it should work

[@1995jug]

Ask one lonely farmer about that grass he s always planting it.

[@RoseThistleArtworks]

That's interesting about the cylinder situation. I was thinking it would be good if it could tilt up a bit more. Sounds like you can fix that easy.

[@kenarnold9132]

Great! You can Ka-Bob those deer that been eating your beans! Looking forward to the aerial drone footage of it!

[@boehmfarm4276]

we'll get that drone eventually.

[@anthonybanda8192]

dad and I built our own high lift 3 point spear. it is the same as yours but it cost us about $350 to build with the lift cylinder . very handy we use it with our 6430 johndeere loader tractor to be able to move 2 bales at once.

[@boehmfarm4276]

I bought this whole get up at auction for $175.

[@anthonybanda8192]

gotta love auctions. we bought our new combine at a dealership inventory reduction auction sale for a third of the price. If you move that lift cylinder down to the lower mount hole it might tip the front of the spear some to help you reach up higher on your wagon. If not add about 16 inches to the height of the 3rd link that the lift cylinder connects to.

[@kilroyb4876]

Great video Thankyou

[@craigrasnic4178]

Hey you’re getting all fancy and high tech on us here neighbor

[@carld3184]

Question: if you used a pintle tow system that can be operated from the tractor seat of the loader could you tow the bale trailer etc around the field so you don't have to drive so far for each bale. You would need a jack or a skid on the trailer drawbar to keep the hitch at operating height when you drop off the trailer to pick up more bales.

[@boehmfarm4276]

There's quick hitching systems around. I see them demonstrated for silage chopping.

[@fredf3391]

Looks good Sparky oh it's Jacob.

[@charliedadude]

You have holes on the that you can adjust the amount ofTilting of the spear you now have it set to the least ammount of tilting up

[@carld3184]

Anything that allows you to connect to the bale trailer and drop the trailer again without having to get out of the tractor seat using the 3 point hitch. Not saying to use the same hitch on the highway but just to cut down on driving the front loader across the field to pick up bales. Move the trailer closer to the bales more often. Just wondering.

[@farmingforfunandprofit940]

We gave Geralds Farms an old fork lift mast that had been converted to 3 point..........

[@farmcentralohio]

Use one of the lower holes to mount the cylinder, if part of it hits something turn the cylinder around.

[@boehmfarm4276]

Yes, I can't believe that it didn't think of that.

[@purplefox111]

You gained a follower

[@purplefox111]

Didnt know you could do this !!

[@guymccray2479]

move cylinder end closed to tractor down that end is to high this will let it tilt up more I use scissor lifts all the time

[@7fatcowsfarm378]

How much vertical travel do you get from min height to max height? that's pretty slick! I would like to make something like this!

[@boehmfarm4276]

Enough to double stack bales on that trailer, so probably four feet.

[@7fatcowsfarm378]

Much appreciated!

[@az30crisp]

What kind of camera and mic do you use to shoot your videos? The audio is great considering the noise you're constantly around.

[@boehmfarm4276]

We use a gopro hero 4. The sound works out because it's strapped to my head in a waterproof case. the case cuts external noise, and the sound of my voice travels through my bones directly to the camera.

[@purplefox111]

My mothers family reside around the murdoch goshen area east of loveland

[@jedadruled984]

Maybe when you shorten the spindels from the lift arms, you could let the lift go higher.

[@cassidylockard1527]

Set the bale on the trailer then re-fork it. Should be able to get it higher

[@boehmfarm4276]

I should have thought of that!!

[@chugs4705]

Do a machinery tour

[@ozz5350]

👍👏👏👏

[@railroadman57]

Jacob it looks like it’s time to get a New Holland skid steer with the high-lift for your hay operations , great video thank you so much for posting it .

[@boehmfarm4276]

I would love a skid steer.

[@dehavenfamilyfarm]

Don't know much about reed canary- we stick with orchard and timothy.

[@trimerista]

nice

[@craigrasnic4178]

If you had it on the 10 or the 1466 it would probably be taller and might work the way it is

[@BedeMeredith]

for the field, id make sure I had at least 3-5 year lease set, first start with some soil tests, do a visual soil assessment in a few locations, and ph tests for starters. id drill in a cover crop mix this fall after your last cut (we can do that here because our ground dosn't freeze), and through down p & k + s mix its likely they stripped those when they took all that feed to feed cattle in the front pasture. your cover crop mix should have some legumes to feed in N on the cheap, www.midwestforage.org/pdf/465.pdf.pdf, but talk to your local seed place, modern grass seeds are far more productive these days. if you can at least be assured 3 or more years lease some tillage to flatten the field might be good, but who knows what weed seeds are just siting there ready to pop up.

[@boehmfarm4276]

We are set for long term on this field. That's why I'm willing to put some work in it. And it's the biggest single hay field. I plan on a soil test. Chances are it could use vast quantities of lime. I was thinking a mix of Timothy, red top bent grass, and birds foot trefoil. While less common, this mix can give flexibility to cutting time and fare well through moisture. And the Timothy looks good to horse customers.

[@BedeMeredith]

@@boehmfarm4276 sounds like you have done your research, just try to throw in a legume like white clover for nitrogen

[@makingithappen9722]

It can be possible to put that lift in the front of the hydro?

[@boehmfarm4276]

Yes, but the hydro doesn't leave the barnyard much.

[@makingithappen9722]

@@boehmfarm4276 Ok, just a thought.

[@America-First2024]

Bahia grass is tolerant to heat and grows well in moisture. Once planted it’s very difficult to get rid of. Unless horses are grazing. They can kill a stand of Bahia. Cattle will eat Bahia hay.

[@boehmfarm4276]

But how does Bahia survive winter? I am sure a horse could kill any good stand of grass.

[@America-First2024]

First frost/freeze will kill off Bahia until spring. Just like most grass. Bahia is perennial. The stand will get thicker through seed production. Example: our first cutting of Bahia this season didn’t happen until late July. Due to rain and muddy ground. Our hay production for one field more than doubled. It was basically two cuttings at one time.

[@lukestrawwalker]

@@boehmfarm4276 Bahia is pretty lousy for hay... tough, hard to cut, and it's not particularly palatable nor nutritious... I used to bale a LOT of it for an older fellow in town, family friend. He'd call me when he thought it was getting about time and I'd go look, stuff would be waist high and thick and look awesome. Cut it and the swaths coming out the back of the drum mower were SO wide that you could barely tell what was cut from what wasn't. Next day come to rake, it was flat on the ground looked like half of it or more evaporated. Rake it up into big windrows the rake would fluff it up big time, look like it was gonna make a LOT of hay, come back the next day to bale it and the windrows looked like 2/3 of it evaporated-- spindly little windrows tight to the ground. Start baling and roll and roll and roll and roll and FINALLY get a full bale, tie it and drop it, and start rolling again. We'd make some pretty decent numbers of bales, but nothing like you THOUGHT it was going to make. To add insult to injury, one year I started feeding some fresh bahia bales in early winter and decided I better feed up some 2-3 year old soybean bales I had made in a bad drought... we'd put them in bale sleeves but they still got some moisture between the bales and plastic sleeve and molded badly on the outside. I unrolled a fresh bahia bale from earlier that summer and the cows started eating, but as soon as I started unrolling those old moldy soybean bales the cows RACED to get there and went crazy over them... left the bahia laying there. Bahia will fill their bellies, but they seem just this side of starving to death on it... you better be ready to feed lots of supplements or some better quality more nutritious hay with it, because bahia by itself just doesn't seem to do much. That's been my experience anyway... Stuff will just about choke out EVERYTHING else and is nearly impossible to get rid of. It's also so tough it cuts like steel-- if you have dull blades it will bring your mower and tractor to its knees... Sickles better be sharp and you better be ready to sharpen them as they dull down, drum and disk mowers you better have a box of blades ready, start with new ones, and be ready to flip them halfway through the job or 2-3X more often than you would with any other forage... the stuff just seems abrasive as well as tough and just EATS blades... For those reasons, I'm not much of a fan of bahia... I'd rather have ANYTHING else but bahia, actually. Later! OL J R :)

[@tomkingd-kranch1839]

About what do you think it would cost to plant 100 acres of corn?

[@hank4440]

40-50g

[@tomkingd-kranch1839]

hank4440 I thought it would be cheaper out that way ya that is what it cost for me

[@boehmfarm4276]

Without much number crunching, including rent, every bit of $35,000.... Holy cow.

[@danielthomason5685]

Can you stick the bail lower, if you can stick bail 6 inches lower its a done deal

[@boehmfarm4276]

Everything is down all the way. The hi lift won't let the spear go as low if it was mounted direct to the three point.

[@lukestrawwalker]

@@boehmfarm4276 Tilt your spear down some before you spear the bale, then retract the cylinder to raise the back of the bale up before you lift it... should gain some travel that way... Later! OL J R :)

[@pocketchange1951]

👍👌🇨🇦❤

[@hans5978]

why don't you put the cylinder in a lower hole

[@herbmilburn8819]

Or put a higher mounting point behind the spear

[@rodder2046]

Does someone have new "yard art" thanks to Team No Strap.....

[@boehmfarm4276]

I picked those two bales up on the way with this load.

[@darrylklein2335]

I am really surprised you don’t have that on the 2+2 lmao sorry had to

[@edhoran1709]

Move the brackets for the tilt cylinder to the back side of the post. Might give you the angle you're looking for to load the second tier.

[@michelvanwerven2290]

I was thinking the same.

[@briandubach3188]

Why do you park the wagon so far away from the bales?

[@boehmfarm4276]

Why do the bales park themselves so far away from the wagon? I park the wagon in a central location to all the bales, which are where they fell out of the valer.

[@walterwilliams7417]

1 STEP AT A TIME,LOOKING GOOD.

[@MASSYMADMAN]

Right if it was me that bucket/silly fork thing you have on the front of your loader would be coming off get yourself a double spike so your loader can carry 2 bales at a time use your ford and single spike to pair up your round bales into 2’s easier to lift with your front loader and double spike

[@mrbeefhbw]

Is it just me or is the camera shake giving anyone else an odd headache?

[@guymccray2479]

also it put together wrong