For years I hauled hay with a couple of trailers, a flatbed trailer that would haul 8 bales at a time and a smaller one that would hold 3. You needed a tractor to load and unload, it took two or three people to manage all the trailers and the tractor, and you had to haul a ten foot wide load down the road. But, I was of the mindset that I didn't want to spend money on "frivolous" things like hay trailers that only served one purpose, so I toughed it out and refused to waste money on a hay trailer while I was still "building the business".
I don't bale a tremendous amount of hay compared to some of the bigger farms, but last summer I hauled over 300 bales of hay (150-170 tons of hay) and I finally reached the limit of how much I was willing to suffer for the sake of not spending any money. So I splurged on a hay trailer and now I wish I had bought one years ago.
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| Loading It Up, One Bale at a Time |
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| Loaded in Record Time and Ready to Hit the Road |
The money I spent on that hay trailer was money well spent, and now I'm wondering if it might be worth it to spend some more money on some other stuff to make my life a little bit easier (I'll need to hunt up a crowbar to pry open my billfold first).
I've never seen a hay carrier like that but it is pretty nifty. I helped build one for two of my classmates in highschool shop but it hauled them side by side like you said and required a tractor on the other end to unload too. It was a lot of welding.
ReplyDeleteAs my brother and I grew up and left the farm, my parents had to start investing in equipment to make their lives easier. Now that they are much older, they are still doing the same thing so that they are farming more land than they were back then but without any full time labor to help them. Still, I have to help them pry open their wallets from time to time too.
There are a couple of dealers that sell these hay trailers locally, and they seemed to be selling a lot of them every time I was looking at buying one. It's funny that sometimes you can't easily buy something unless a local dealer is willing to stock something.
DeleteThey come in a variety of sizes ranging from a 21' bumper pull model to a 42' gooseneck version, so there's a hay trailer out there for everyone.
I've wanted to buy one for about three years or so, and probably could have paid for part of one with all the extra wear and tear on the tractor. Sometimes not spending money costs me money.