Demonstrations of the Louden Barn Hay Carrier • Maasdam Barns in Fairfield, Iowa

[@murrayreid2644]

Our neighbors had a big barn. Bales were placed on a rope net and same proceedure, but they could set where it dumped on the track, filling the loft from back to front. They used a small tractor instead of horses. Great fun for us kids playing in the bales and swinging from ropes in the loft. Thanks for posting this video.

[@johnnyblade1955]

Thanks for posting. We had a very similar setup, but it was no longer used by the time I came along. Never saw this equipment in action before.

[@calebsmith2792]

One of my older Brothers Roger born in 1948 would stick the forks in twelve Alfalfa bales at a time. I was born in 61 Loved pulling the bales up with the John Deere B, the hand clutch was the best because I couldn't reach a foot clutch for awhile. My Dad was born in 1912 he always stacked all the hay in the barn so perfectly.

[@randalljeffries9282]

Dad put up hay using forks back in the 60's in Washington Iowa. I remember the forks lifting 8 bales at a time. I was little and my job was to yell for Grandpa to stop pulling as the forks were tripped. He then drove his 8N ford back to the barn for the next pull. I have those old forks, had them sand blasted and sprayed them with clear coat so they won't rust. They are displayed. To this day I love the smell of hay and love the memories of good days as a kid. Thanks for sharing this video.

[@lancelot1953]

When I was young, most farm had these in their barns - some were still using loose hay and had a fork assembly that you would just "drop" on the loose hay wagon, then we (kids), would jump on it to make it take a bigger "bite" and up it went. A system of pullies would send it from one end of the hay loft to the other as we had a very large operation. Stops were installed close to the rafter track that could be put on the path of the trolley, disengaging the loaded fork and letting the load down. Great video, thank you for the memories, Ciao, L

[@Rickvtfarmer1]

I am lucky to now live on the same farm my grandparents bought in 1940 in a small town in southern VT. I grew up in the 70's and we still used the loose hay forks until 1977 when the barn burnt and we rebuilt it but my grandfather couldnt find enough track or a good fork to put in the new one so we ended up going to square bales. (boy was I happy about that!) Watching this brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the good times and hard work of those days. We had an old junk car that my grandmother would drive to pull the hay up into the loft instead of a horse! She would always go a little to fast or a little to far on the rope and WOW! would my grandfather hollar! LOL! That fork would hit the trolley and then head toward the end of the barn at what seemed like 50mph! LOL! I remember several times it hitting the other end of the barn and the whole barn swaying cause it hit so hard and fast I thought it would got through the other side!!! Thank you for posting this video and bringing back some great memories of good times, hard work, switchel, oatmeal water, and best of all--family.

[@camcordernonsense5264]

that sucks that the barn burned.

[@camcordernonsense5264]

i got the wet eyes too. makes me think of my moms farm and her stories about this equipment

[@missyrabbit5250]

that was a fantastic demo! I just got an old Myers hay trolley. I have a little barn. Thinking about hooking it up to the old tractor I just bartered for!

[@daveestes942]

used to hay at my grandfathers farm In Union Maine in the early and mid fifties he was old school and ran his farm with a large team of Durham oxen and two work horses no tractors bailers or anything motorized we mowed with one horse sickle bar mower I raked with a dump rake with one horse the hay wagon was very big hay went into the barn with a two tong hay fork pulled up by one horse that my mother would walk back and forth very hot and dusty up in the hay mound myself and one of my cousins were always stuck up in the hay mound when we unloaded some of my fondest memories go back to those days on his farm

[@jackier7737]

So cool to see the horsepower at work!

[@sherrydee7880]

I always wondered how those claws worked! As a kid, it was my job to get on top of the stack & as the crane dropped a load of alfalfa, I had to arrange it & stack it neatly until the job was done. Then we had to put huge tarps over the stacks in rainy season & those were harder to deal with if it was windy. I remember having to use my hay hooks to keep myself from being thrown over the edge when a high wind surprised us. I did this from age 10-12. Not many had seen a girl who was able to keep up the pace of the men on the dairyfarm. I learned what pride was. A hard days work! I was a city girl who became somewhat of a country girl when my Mother married a dairy foreman. I miss those days.

[@GreginND]

Thanks for this. I have all the hardware still in my barn but I’ve never tried to operate it.

[@vden02]

Oh lucky you!

[@terrywagner5842]

That brings back fond memories of my Dad and me. I was 6 years old , I drove the tractor pulling the wagon and hay loader.Then later pulled the forks into the hay loft

[@86_ThatDude]

love this. take 5-10 second clips of this and post them again as shorts

[@marknussbaum8394]

I remember using hay forks to lift bales in the barn as a kid, about 40 years ago. We used a tractor to pull the rope, instead of horses as in the video. My job was to drive the tractor forward and then back up again for the next pull. I was 12 years old, driving a jubilee Ford, and life was good. Then my dad bought a big round baler and we quit making the small bales. I do miss the socializing that went on between the hands during hay hauling days, but I don't miss the heat and dust. I still have the barn and still have the hay fork equipment in the loft, but it hasn't moved in years. Thanks for the video!

[@ronfullerton3162]

Good memories indeed! I started my "haying" life as the "hay horse" driver on an "H" John Deere. Moved up to driving the "A" John Deere pulling the 116W John Deere baler. And ended up my hay baling career "setting the forks". It was hard work, but easier than doing it by hand as they did before me mechanization. And as you said, there was an outstanding social quality to the whole process. It was a wonderful way to grow up.

[@debrabarnes4980]

Farmer Barnes Says !! I have labored with this system when I was a teen!! Did work , used a small Ford tractor to pull rope vs a horse,but not efficient in late 1960’s!! As much as elevators for loading square bales in barns!! One must remember ; that by mid 1970’s large round balers were already replacing bulk of all loose & small baling of hay & straw!! Manly for beef cattle feed !! Not to say small squares stored in barns are not still some of best of production!! Always marketable at good $$ ,or can carry over in reserve!!

[@bogdanresume]

Wonderful film

[@sjscen]

Thank you for showing us how it used to be done. Wonderful to see the things my grandfather told me about. Some thing you just cannot quite grasp unless you see them.

[@TibberProductions]

Thx so much for this. My dad wrote a story about putting hay in the big red barn at the homestead and the second part of your video shows us how it was done. I will share this link by adding it to the story that I put on our Facebook Homestead site for all of my relatives.

[@get-the-lead-out.4593]

Thanks for the video :o) Nice to see the good ol' fashioned ways of how they did it and narrated by a gentleman!

[@crslyrn]

Always enjoy seeing how things used to be done. It really makes you appreciate the advancements that have been made over the years. Stay safe.

[@tonywestbrook6436]

But it was also a time when people took pride in what they made and their name was more important than riches it seems. And American made meant much more and lasted way longer before these so-called advancements smothered quality with profit.

[@kevsousa95]

so awesome to see the things that made old farms and old life work, not a big fan of how things have changed in this modern age

[@sic-n-tiredtired4273]

Ahhh The good old days that's when men were men. Thanks for the showing that was great

[@katewizer2736]

Reminds me of our drop loader, except ours was for loose-hay specifically. My Dad was an antique-sale shopper for most of our farm implements we used in the 1970's. We still used a tractor, though.

[@phillipcleaver7063]

Thanks for clearing the mystery as how these worked , I,ve stacked thousands of small hay bales in our barns over the years , with perhaps a little adaption something like this could work with an elevator to drop bales at determined points along the barn eaves to you stacking them underneath ( ringing a large bell everytime it starts off with a new bale so you watch you don't get a bale dropped on you , safety device ! )

[@l337pwnage]

We still had the track up there, but not sure if there was anything else. I certainly wasn't brave enough to climb up and look, lol. Also, our barns were set up to have the wagons pushed in and unloaded that way.

[@quinnfischer9624]

thank you

[@robertpayne2717]

Innovation at its best.

[@finster101]

Very clever. Thanks for sharing.

[@EHSTexas]

Awesome!

[@MrCodythegreat]

thanks so much for sharing this video. my father saved all the equipment in a shed and i was looking it all over trying to figure out exactly how it worked. his claw was a little different but it was meant for loose hay not bales the trolley and pulleys are all the exact same tho

[@jkbradshaw8477]

Thanks for the video. I'm making a gingerbread barn, and your video helped me get the haymow door details correct.

[@rossbryan6102]

WE HAD A LOUDEN IN OUR BARN, INSTALLED 1955!!

[@nekbiodieselworks]

I have a century old Vermont barn and up in the peak of the roof is an old hay trolley. hasnt worked in years but there it is waiting for the day that it will be once more called back into service.

[@Razehell42]

Very Cool, Thanks for the video!

[@PlanetMojo]

I have a complete 'iron claw' fork set, but never seen it in action. The Amish in our area still use the loose hay forks -- watched it in action just a few days ago. I have trolleys as well, but never see them in action other than on the outside of an Amish barn. Thanks for the video!

[@honesttraveler3575]

great explanation of using a hay trolley!!!!!!

[@myfarmlk4165]

old gold nice to see this things

[@maddog2771]

We have one in are barn an in all the years of making hay we never used it , only my dad an grand fother ever saw it work , so it was nice to see how it worked . My brother would by hand throw the bail up to the loft an I would stack them , while my dad an grand fother drank lemonade as we busted are ass .

[@fourfortyroadrunner]

Did this as a kid, 60's. We had a Farmall regular, horse equipment dragged by the tractor. Started with dump rake, found a steel wheel side delivery, and a hay loader. Hated the loader (horse drawn loose loader). We always used a harpoon type fork. Don't know who made our carriage. Dad found a grapple, but could never figure out how it had ever been "tripped." It may have been for some other purpose, or missing hardware.

[@NSResponder]

Very clever design. I wonder what's being made today that serves the same purpose.

[@camcordernonsense5264]

i love watching this

[@isellu]

This is a very informative video. What a neat place to demonstrate the process. Thank you for sharing it!

[@PrayerefireDS]

We used one for small round bales when I was a kid. Used a small ford tractor to pull it.

[@pierrotgretillat9365]

Tank you vidéo magnifique super

[@studioubibartz8744]

in romania we use pik forks to raise bales one by one in barns

[@cozycowfarm]

Do you grease the wheels on your hay trolley? We use our trolley to put up several ton of hay a year.

[@toddjacobs3988]

I loved doing this as a kid

[@bigwheelsturning]

My Grandpa had one of those. Switched from a horse to a Ford 8N in 1950. He had the "double fork" you stabbed into the hay.

[@mgyer2218]

We had a sling laid out on the bottom of the wagon a net of sort made of rope and wood with hay stacked on top when hooked to the carrier the whole load went at once

[@denniscurless904]

As a kid used the iron claw fork and would put up 8 bales of hay at a time. Never lost the job until I left the farm.

[@fredferd965]

Why do you have the hay in the attic? The floor and walls would have to be very strong to support a load like that.

[@MargaretMAnderson]

Efficiency and reducing size of barn footprint as I understand it. Gravity did the heavy work as hay dropped to herds below, and heavier-than-hay herds couldn't be on second floors anyway as manure goes directly to cellar.

[@MSrainrun]

What state is Fairfield in?

[@WernerElmker]

Iowa

[@BrianGLee-bc7hj]

Remember when I was a kid watching Dad and Uncle work it

[@gagikgrigoryan4529]

SUPER++++

[@JanesInWarwick]

May I use 20 seconds of this video in a pioneer local history video? This style of was a common hay loading was common here but has disappeared.

[@WernerElmker]

That is quite OK. Please send me a link to the video when done :-)

[@metroplexchl]

Great video! I am buying a hay trolley that will ride along a 6"x6" beam. Do you think that the beam and trolley will be able to handle a heavy wood beam that's 300 lbs?

[@samkom33]

i used to work as a crane inspector! the hay trolley might,, but to get that trolley upset marked and legaly lift 300 lbs, you have to test the construction running a weight of 750 lbs along the6x6 if you want the trolley to be marked 300 lbs SWL Becouse you shall always test lifting equipment with 2,5 times the max weight, while say lifting chains and wires shall have 5 x safety For example a thin chain thats ment to lift 1 ton. can easy lift 5 ton without break and i have seen it lift 8 ton, but then you had to use hammer on the chain and break it to fold it back in the storage bag, hehe

[@ronfullerton3162]

The trolley will be fine. We put eight bales in at a time, and our bales we're heavy wire tie bales that ran fifty to seventy pounds each. Just make sure time and usage haven't worn or stressed any parts to an unsafe condition.

[@JustinBierschenk]

I love the video. I love watching how my grandparents would have don it. Also this is out of the blue but your voice reminds me of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. lol

[@danielthomas6739]

As a small boy I would lead the horse that provided the lifting power

[@railroadman57]

i have those hay forks in our cow barn and water`s as well still in use for the dairy cattle ,, good stuff and still work .

[@bigears4426]

The tele handler of the day

[@robertbailey369]

👍😊

[@duanelundgren7985]

DO NOT STEP ON THE TRIP ROPE!!! :-)

[@duanelundgren7985]

7/8" rope??? 1 ".... 3/4"... :-) Thanks!!

[@rossbryan6102]

WE HAD A 1"" ROPE ON OURS, ABOUT 150 FEET LONG! HAD TO KEEP COILED AND HUNG WHEN NOT USED SO THE MICE DIDNT CHEW IT! LOL NO NYLON ROPES THOSE DAYS!! LOL

[@lukedixon7271]

Just use a winch mate

[@flyinghigh5986]

💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝

[@fermewestshefford]

2 heures pour mettre 4 balles dans la grange. Perte de temps

[@Cmoredebris]

Hey...get a hay elevator!

[@ronfullerton3162]

We had a big barn, and to carry bales from just inside the door to the back would of taken forever. And if you had someone that knew how to "stick the forks", it was just as fast as the elevator and broke less bales. You just "saved" one person because you didn't need the "hay horse" driver.