# Moving Round Bales



## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Does someone have some creative way to move round bales of hay other than a spear on a tractor?

I am trying to not buy a tractor.

I need to move the round bales especially in the winter. Some snow, lots of mud and it will be down in the field so I may have to get a tractor. If I do get a tractor, what is the minimum tractor I can get by with?

Square bales would be easy, but I can't find those, just round bales...


----------



## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Rider some people use a tumblebug, I think that's it's name. Other people mount a spike on the rear of their pickup and a winch electric or hand in the bed of their truck up near the cab....raise and lower with winch cable...Topside


----------



## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Ag Equipment USA | Product Catalog


----------



## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Round Bale Hay Buggy - Bing Images


----------



## ramiller5675 (Mar 31, 2009)

I've got a little John Deere 950 tractor with a 3-pt bale spear that is about 27hp that I use sometimes to move bales (I usually use a much bigger tractor). 

I've got a front-end loader on that tractor, so I've got some extra weight up front to counter the weight of the bale on the back, but if I'm careful (no going up or down slippery, muddy hills. etc.) I can easily move 1100 lb. bales and the front wheels only come up off the ground once in awhile (learn how to use your turning brakes).

I don't have any experience with using something like a tumblebug, so I can't comment on how easy or difficult they are to use.


----------



## CJBegins (Nov 20, 2009)

I have been known to roll a round bale onto an old car hood and pull it like a sled. You have to make sure the front of the hood is up off the ground otherwise it works more like a plow and you have to tie the bale to the hood cause it will roll off pretty easily.

In a pinch it works.
Carla


----------



## Bambitski (Mar 16, 2012)

we have been known to play the push with truck, back up, push with truck, back up, etc... But I like the old car hood idea. LOL My tractor is small. Ford 9N. And DHs tractors are being rebuilt, JD 60 and 720. One day I plan on having a bigger tractor, but we make do until then. Do what ya gotta do.


----------



## SCRancher (Jan 11, 2011)

Old car hood idea sounds like a good one - instead of rolling the bale on the hood you could tip the bale over onto a flat side onto the hood - you may not need to tie it down that way. Before getting a rear bale spear for my tractor I would use a ratchet tie down strap to my FEL on the tractor. I suppose the ratchet tie down idea could be applied to a truck and just drag the bale.


----------



## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

topside1 said:


> Rider some people use a tumblebug, I think that's it's name. Other people *mount a spike on the rear of their pickup and a winch electric or hand in the bed of their truck up near the cab....raise and lower with winch cable*...Topside


That is what we use. Bought a beat up, wrecked 4WD that runs good just for the purpose.


----------



## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

Do you have a neighbor that you can pay to move them?

Even with an old AC Widefront, I can move my hay bales, but I have to pick my battles. In Indiana, we have five seasons--winter, spring, summer, fall and mud. Mud comes twice.

No hay can be moved with my tractor during mud unless the top one to inches is frozen, as is measured with my hay fork. I have learned what I can get away with, the hard way, over a few winters.

So, I move a few weeks of hay bales when it is dry, or frozen, to where I can can feed the hay over the fence when I can't get the tractor out.

I fed most of my hay by hand last year but I placed the hay in high spots along a high tensil electric fence, ahead of time, with my tractor.

I look forward to hand feeding most of the time for my small herd.


----------



## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

CJBegins said:


> I have been known to roll a round bale onto an old car hood and pull it like a sled. You have to make sure the front of the hood is up off the ground otherwise it works more like a plow and you have to tie the bale to the hood cause it will roll off pretty easily.Carla


In pre-tractor days, I've done this. Have also 'pushed' with the brush guard on the front of the pickup. Have also backed up to a round bale, pushed two crowbars into the center of the bale, one on each end, chained tight to the gooseneck hitch and pulled with the pickup. 

This works on dry ground, grass and snow ... doesn't work well in mud.


----------



## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

sounds like you do not have very many cows....another way would be to make a hay pen were your going to feed....leaving 2 or 3 feet in between space so you can put in cattle panel the wire kind $18 each 16 foot long ...and you can roll hay ring over the hay bale like a square with the dot in center when that one is eat down move panels to cut out another bale


----------



## ramiller5675 (Mar 31, 2009)

You could always try bale grazing, where you pre-place your bales in a pasture about 30-40 feet apart, and run electric fences so that your cattle can only get to a couple days worth of hay at a time (sort of a modified strip grazing idea). 

Just move your wire past the next couple of bales, roll your bale feeders over to the new bales, and you sort of strip graze your pasture while also feeding your hay. You have to have good fences and have to have cattle that respect those fences (I don't trust my fences or cattle that much yet, so I haven't reached the point where I would put out a whole winter's worth of hay at the beginning of winter).


----------



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I used something very much like the car hood years ago, and I used one of my Belgien horses to pull it to the field to feed the cows. > Thanks Marc


----------



## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

I read about a woman who had a long piece of pipe that she shoved through the center of the bale. Then she looped a rope around the ends of the pipe and hooked the middle of the rope to her 4-wheeler. She could drive to where she wanted to go and the bale would roll along behind her.

I suppose you could use a lawn tractor (riding mower).


----------



## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

I use a truck to pull big round bales. Just wrap a chain or strap around the bale about 2 ft. off the ground, and keep it about as close to the bumper as you can get. It doesn't have to be quite touching. The flat side of the bale is facing the truck. If you pull carefully it won't push against the truck at all. I move my bales in different fields that they will be used in over the winter then take the cows to the hay when needed. This way I don't have to worry if the snow makes them difficult to move.


----------

