[qcfarms]

I am looking to grab some land that is approx 15 miles away from my farm. It will get me about another 50A of grass hay that I can bale. My concern is that it is quite a distance from where I'm at and don't really want to road my equipment that far. I am just a small time operation but would be able to transport equipment back and forth with a gooseneck trailer. Most of the land around me has been leased up and definitely not for sale. I am currently baling off of my 80As (approx 15A) and would like to make it a pure cattle operation with the hay that i need coming from the other property. It would be more than enough to feed my cattle as well as sell to local horse and cattle operators. I'm sure many of you transport your hay equipment to and from fields via trailers.......just wondering what big issues (if any) you may be having?

 

[somedevildawg]

It is a bit of a logistics battle depending on what type (squares, rounds) for me 15 miles is doable but tough. I have to get all my hay back to my barn (squares). But I took on a field last year that was only for rolls and not too bad because I leave them in the field (although u do have to be concerned with theft!) I transport the equipment 15 miles by mobiling on the road and not trailering, we take as many dirt roads as possible even if its a bit farther than asphalt. 20 miles or more is where I would seriously think about trailering equipment.

 

[qcfarms]

Good point on the type of bales. Right now all I do is small square but am looking to get into the round bales as well. I am in the process of building an accumulator/grapple so gathering and loading the small squares should not be as much of a challenge as it has been in the past. This future property does not have a barn so I would have to load on my gooseneck to get them back to my barn unless I can sell them in the field which is always a timing issue. Hate to leave squares out in the field. I can run mainly all dirt road to the property so I would guess maybe an hour or a bit more (one way) on the road which isn't too bad.

 

[carcajou]

15 miles is only an easy hour with a tractor, hardly worth the time to load, chain down and unload.

 

[Tim/South]

I load and haul tractors for anything over 7 miles. More about saving tractor tires than anything else. Dirt or gravel roads might be different.

We pull the baler and rake with trucks.

 

[somedevildawg]

I load and haul tractors for anything over 7 miles. More about saving tractor tires than anything else. Dirt or gravel roads might be different.
We pull the baler and rake with trucks.

I agree...it's all about the tires, I can visually see the rubber disappearing off of my tires when running on the asphalt. Balers, rakes, tedders, all get pulled by truck hitch.....mower and bandit by tractors going to the field

 

[treymo]

Spread across 115 miles with the custom deal and my fathers ground is spread over 60 miles. Haven't hauled anything yet. We roaded balers from one end to the other and it was about a 7 hr trip ha

Trey

 

[MT hayer]

An hour drive with the tractor isn't bad. Considering your running a square baler, it doesn't work the tractor hard so the road might be good to get the paint off the manifold! If I was going to haul a square baler I would trade for an inline Hesston. simply because they are easier to haul.

I sure agree with the tires though. Pavement is tough on them. I haul most all of mine because it is so far and then I have tools and such with me if no one can help move and a pickup or truck to go home. How is the traffic?

 

[fe390man]

If you already have the resources to haul high amounts of hay, then Id think it would be worth it. But if You are hauling that distance back and forth with only the capacity of a few hundred bales then Id probably look into your options. At the least, I can haul 1200 at any given time. Definitely helps with time management.

 

[GawasFarm]

Hauling squares back would be the issue. Takes time to trailer home. Is building a hay storage on site an option?? could even store some equipment if that was the only place you were haying.....just a thought

 

[qcfarms]

All of the travel can be done via dirt road and there is minimal traffic on those roads. So it wouldn't be a bad trip....just take some time. As far as small bale capacity, my trailer can haul around 300 bales per load so yes it would require quite a few trips. Plan would be to grapple on both ends.....working on the grapple design right now. As far as building a barn onsite that would definitely be an option and one that I am pricing at the moment. There is plenty of room to build so just matter of deciding the size and amount of $$ that I want to spend on storage. Appreciate all the comments!

 

[NDVA HAYMAN]

My farms are 25 miles apart. I drive the tractors hooked to a pc. of equipment or pulled by a pickup. I am not that concerned with the tires if that's what it takes to keep baling. I do have barns at each farm and if they get full, I just stack it outside and sell the bottom bales to a cattle guy or take them home and feed my own cattle. I will have to say that I also have enough equipment that I can leave at each farm but it's been a long, slow process to get there. I keep my better equipment at the home farm and the older equipment at the other one. The biggest problem is that hay will be ready to cut and bale at the same time. You gotta have enough help to get it done or some will be left behind and get too mature. I am sure that you realize that hay making is all about timing both help and equipment. It can be done and will make you a better operator.

 

[8350HiTech]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I'd actually prefer a nicely paved road with wide shoulders and some traffic over a dirt road with minimal traffic for transporting equipment.