Hay equipment question and my story.

Here is my story and a question. I grew up in a farming family in central GA. As the kids grew up, the three boys worked the row crops, hogs, cows, and of course worked the square bales for the cows feed during the months there was not enough grazing.

All the boys grew up and each of us moved away to pursue our different careers. I have retired and have moved back to the farm where my 72 year old father still has about 85 brood cows and cuts around 165 acres of alecia bermuda hay. We current round bale everything. When I was a kid, we square baled everything back then, of course not as much as now, because we never sold hay back then as we do now.

I am considering buying an old New Holland square baler and starting to try some square baling again. I am in no shape to load, unload, and stack by hand as we did back in the late 70s and early 80s. I am thinking about getting a W.R.Long Grapalator.

Can I get some opinions on what you folks have and are using now and opinions on what would suit my situation best. We dont have a skid steer, We have a JD 4030, A JD 4230 with a front loader on it and will be getting a new JD 5085M withing a month.

Of course we already have the equipment for the round bales, Kuhn 9' disc mower, tedder, rake, and a JD round baler.

Main question here, should I get an accumulator, (drag or table) and a grapple.

Or, should / could I operate well with a W.R. Long Grapalator?

The JD 5085M will have a front loader on it that would accept the grapple, or grapalator.

Thanks for the replies and information.

Marshall

Welcome to Net Tractor Talk Marshall. Glad to hear you are able to get back to the farm. Good for your dad still being at it.
I don't have an answer for you. I do not bale hay round or square. Square does appear to be more work for sure.
What do you use currently to move the round bales?
Is going back to square sentimental or is there a business reason for adding that option to harvesting the hay?

The grapalator would sure be a labor-savor! But you would still have to unload and stack in the barn, unless you are loading on a customer's trailer.
Just a thought, I really know nothing about them except what I've seen on the you-tube video.
Good luck!!

neighbor of mine uses an accumulator and grapple and he loves it.
I'm not familiar with your grapalator, so can't give an opinion on what's better.

The reason for going back into square bales along with the round bales is to broaden our hay market. You make more profit on the square bales for sure and at this time, my father has the round bale market and I have the work associated with it. I have 30 acres of hay and unless pop buys what I make, it sits under the barn.

A livestock feed out lot down the road stated that they would by all the square bales I produced so it got me to thinking. How best could I do this with a one man show for handling the hay. Pop will help get it baled of course, but that is where the help would end.

Marshall

My Wife's Uncle uses a New Holland accumulator & a grappler and loves it. He sells a few thousand bales a year of alfalfa to the horse folks around Lexington, Ky. Yep, if selling quality hay, square is the way to go.

$45 for a 1200lb round bale vs $96 for 24 50lb squares at $4 each isn't much contest, is it?
my share on round bales won't cover the cost of fertilizer. my share of square bales sells for about twice what the fertilizer costs - but I have to find storage until I can sell it all to the horse folks in the area.

It's Nelson at W. R. Long Inc. I'll be happy to answer any questions about the Grapalator. I've called and talked to a number of customers that have purchased one and I'm getting very good feedback.

Nelson
252-823-4570

Hi, Nelson, and welcome to NTT! You as well as your expertise will be welcome here. I've been reading a lot of good things about your products, and am glad you found us.

Fred