Moving haylage around - is 150 kg manageable?

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diddy

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Hi everyone,

Have been having big bales delivered once a week (i.e. 1 at a time) for the last couple of years. However, planning ahead, I'd like to get a bulk delivery as it's one less thing to worry about during the winter! I know some people manage to push the 250 kg bales around but I just haven't managed to do that even with my beefy OH so looking at other options!

I initially thought of going for small (20 kg) bales but having worked out the numbers it will cost be literally twice as much so am thinking this might be the best compromise. So I was wondering, those of you that use medium (150 kg) bales - can you move them easily enough between 2 people, with a cart or whatever? I can get square bales of that size & figure they'll be easier to move but want to check before I go crazy stocking up over the summer!

Anyone who uses the 150 kg bales - how do you move them? And have you done any damage to yourself doing so?!

D. x
 
You will need a pretty hefty cart or barrow to move 150 kg bale about! 150 kg is over 20 stone, do they come in round shape? That may be better to roll about than the big round ones. It takes 5 people to upright a big round one on our yard,
 
At my previous yard, they used to push 250kg round bales into the feed area to use them by getting 3 or 4 people to roll them. I couldn't help as I have a bad back. I've also seen people use a sack truck to move bigger square bales, but I think anything like that risks injury. Do you have or could you build a lean-to where you can have the bales delivered and open them and fill haynets in there? The other idea is to look for a compromise on bale size - I'm actually an ag journalist and I met a contractor in Essex last year who makes very dense conventional bales weighing in at 70-90kg which you can move by hand. Don't know where you are but worth shopping around?
You can get a round bale mover to go behind a quad, but I think they are pretty expensive.
 
My husband and I must be hulks or something then as we can move and upright normal size haylage bales between the two of us. It's not easy but it is doable. So I would say yes 150 should be easy but I guess you won't know unless YOU try :-)
 
How far do you need to move them? could you do it bit by bit?

I had big rectangular haylage bales delivered and stood on end, that way I can cut down the wrapper and move the haylage in sections. I had the bales delivered as close to where I wanted them as possible, fenced them off away from the animals then threw over whole sections in to their field as needed

Not ideal if you want whole bales in the field but no messy unwinding of bales/falling apart bales etc
 
If you're thinking of getting a number of 150kg square bales then they will come on a pallet, usually of eight. I certainly wouldn't want to try shoving one off a pallet, they are stacked far too high and they seem to stick to each other. I just leave them on the pallet in the yard and take off the slices needed and put them into those big green gardening bags made of tarpaulin material. Once the bale is half used it is possible to shift it.
 
150kg is very heavy! I suppose two people could move them somehow but I can't help but think someone at some point would get hurt.
 
I use big bale haylage, it is stored by the side of the house. When I cut open a bale, I just barrow the lot in slices/wedges into the hay barn and store it there loose, uncovered until used up. It does not go off and stores nicely for 2-3 weeks. Takes me on my own approx 20 mins to move it into barn (50 yards), and about 10 mins with help from OH/ Son.
 
"150kgs is 20 stone", she says! Well, that is 3cwt to me! Funny how we have to convert measurements to what we are comfortable with!

I haven't tried to move haylage with anything except the tractor loader but for years I moved 4x4 hay bales by dragging them with the quad or Landrover using a long rope. If it doesn't matter if the wrap is damaged, that would probably work for 3cwt square bales. I also used to load the 4x4s either into the 8x5 Ifor Williams trailer or the quad trailer.
 
I have big bale haylage, not sure on the weight, rectangular bales not round (maybe about 4ft high). My haylage provider taught me to roll them over a tyre - put tyre on floor at foot of the bale and push over on to it, the tyre acts like a little spring-board and sort of flips the end up, you have to be quick to get underneath and lift/push it back to the upright position but its works brilliantly once you've got the technique!! Still takes two people but it means I can move mine from the storage area to the feedroom where I use it a bale at a time.
 
Round ones yes, square ones no!

I'm 5ft and I can move a round bale on my own, including flipping it over so it is the either the right way up, or sideways to roll it
 
WE have 10 large bales delivered at a time but fortunately we have a tractor with a grab to stack them. When we need one opening we roll one onto a pallet & tyhen use a pallet truck to manoevre it to where we want it. The yard is concrete so it works well. If it was chiping or road plannings the pallet truck wouldn't work.
 
If the haylage bale is round then yes you should fairly easily be able to roll them about. 150kgs is only just over 300lbs. My large rounds are between 800 and 1200 lbs; the lighter ones I can roll into place on my own, not the heavier ones though but I only use the lighter ones in the stables so the heavy ones I put into place with the tractor.
 
I have noi experience of these 150kgs square bales, but aren't they just like very large small squares? In which case, why move them? Can't you carefully open one end and take off slices as per a small bale, seal the end up again, and then move the slices around with a wheel barrow? Sorry if this is a stupid suggestion but I'm here to learn.
 
'Two and a quarter pounds of jam make about one kilogram'

Your metric to pounds and stones conversions are way out folks!!

PS. A litre of water's a pint and three quarters. :)
 
hubby and i manage to roll 250kg bales around without too much issue, then get it onto its end. as long as you dont have to go uphill with it! i am not very strong
 
Thanks for all your replies, although some of you guys are making me feel completely inadequate! How on earth do you push those big bales around?! I guess in my defence, we're trying to move them on a wet field so we slip & slide all over the place but I'm still not convinced that we could move them on a nice concrete yard! I'm liking your various tips though & will try them out!

Sounds like the solution might be to just leave them in place & take what we need in a wheelbarrow or whatever. I was just fantasising about leaving the whole bale out for them so I don't need to decant them into builders bags & re-cover them with tarp etc. like I've done the last couple of years :)

Thanks again!

D. x
 
I 20 150 kg bales delivered last autumn and fortunately managed to get them stacked next to the stables, but when I ran out I could only get 300 kg bales! Supplier managed to get some of them up the hill, but I've had to barrow haynets every day since end of January. Previously we've had round bales which were rollable but to get them up the hill we had to roll them onto a hurdle and tow them up with the Kia. As a result we've both got seriously bad backs! I'd add we're not in the first flush of youth though.
 
diddy said:
Sounds like the solution might be to just leave them in place & take what we need in a wheelbarrow or whatever. I was just fantasising about leaving the whole bale out for them so I don't need to decant them into builders bags & re-cover them with tarp etc. like I've done the last couple of years :)
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We leave ours in situ where they have been delivered and wheelbarrow the haylage to where it is needed. They are rectangular bales and I cut a flap at one end of the wrapper - with the flap still attached at the top of the bale - and just pull the sections out one at a time. Because the flap is still attached at the top, it hangs down and protects the rest of the haylage from the weather, so no need to decant it and recover it.
 
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