Hay guys,
I have a summer job with a local farmer this summer. He farms Corn, Soybeans and some hay. He says we'll likely do 2-3 hay cuts, and that when we cut, I would tow the wagons back and forth between the fields and the farm (about 6 miles). I have never towed a hay wagon before. I was wondering, do they have brakes? There aren't any big hills I would go down, and I don;t really know how much they weigh loaded (small square bales), but it seems crazy to tow a trailer without brakes.
Any experienced hay wagon towers?
Thanks

 

I have done it many times. Hay wagons typically do not have brakes. Ours were 4 wheels with a pivoting tongue. Hooking a couple of these together can get a little hairy at speed. Ours would whip back and forth. Square bales range from 70 - 110 pounds each, depending on how the bailer is set. You stack 100 or so on each trailer and you are talking about some weight. Take your time, its not too bad. Just don't try to back up too much.

 

Hay wagon can be kind of a generic term. An actual hay wagon is meant to be towed behind a tractor and steers and pulls just like the little red wagon kids play with, so you're talking a VERY slow top speed. If he has a bale trailer, then it may have electric brakes. I've pulled hay wagons with no electric brakes and no straps on the hay. It's only dangerous if you drive fast enough to make it so. Besides, I was always more worried about the hay coming off and having to re-stack it.

 

same as above I have pulled them many times just watch your speed and good luck backing up it really sucks

 

Ya it will be ok just keep her steady....


Dont put your self in a positing where you have to back up! LOL

 

If it is a basic hay wagon like they said its fine just don't go fast. Here we usually use our goosenecks because we have to haul long distances. Just what ever you do avoid backing up as much as possible it sucks lol.

 

Don't try to back up, i've never seen it done. Over 15mph, my wagon is all over the road. It has tractor tires on it though.

 

I used to farm and we did that many times with a 4 wheel wagon and they were a pain on the road as others have said they can tend to whip back and forth if you go much more than 15-20 mph.

When I was much younger I had an interesting experience pulling a small grain wagon with a chebbie Luv. It had about 100 bushels of wheat on the wagon. Wheat weighs about 60 lbs/bushel. It would take a couple of pages to tell the complete story of that comedy of errors. Let me just say don't try it.

 

Thanks guys.
Since it is a pretty short distance, I'll just take it reeeeeeal slow. I get paid by the hour anyway...

 

You should have no problems. A guy around here pulls wagons with is F150.

Backing up a wagon isn't a problem. Just imagine like you've got the hitch in your hands and imagine how you'd want to push it with your hands.

Backing up doubles can be a problem. Usually when you're pulling doubles you pull in and pull out because you're not backing those suckers up without some custom steering disablers.

Regular wagons do not have any brakes. Hook and go.

I'd say that 70-110 pounds like the other poster said is right about accurate.

The number of bales you can fit per wagon depends on how the wagon has been loaded and what type of wagon it is. If it was stacked, which is very uncommon, you can fit 200-250 bales per wagon. Unstacked you'll fit anywhere between 100 and 160 bales per wagon depending on wagon type.

Whatever you do don't get suckered into stacking hay up in a mow. It SUCKS. I did it for 3 years. The first year is definitely the worst. During the first year you'll rip out little circles of skin between your second and third knuckle. It's real bad when you've got two 2,000 bale days in a row. Your fingers will try to form blisters, but you can't blister fast enough and the skin rips right off. At least that's what happened to me. After that first year I never had a problem with that again though.

The absolute worst was when it was 112 degrees in the shade one day. I was stuck up in a mow under a metal roof stacking with another guy who is in his 20s. We couldn't get the elevator angled enough so we had another guy pushing the bales off the elevator down to us so we could stack them. After a while the bales stopped coming. I was told to go down to start unloading the wagon because the other guy had sat down on a bale because he "needed a break." Halfway down the ladder I started shivvering uncontrollably. Keep in mind it was 112 on the ground. After a couple seconds I was able to get back to work unloading.

That was the worst day of unloading hay I've ever had. MISERABLE.

Long story short: Haying can be nice work. As long as you're driving something rather than stacking hay.

You should have no problems pulling wagons with your truck. The tongue of the wagon should be telescopic if it's a newer wagon. That should make your job of hooking up a lot easier. Especially when you're by yourself or trying to hook up doubles.

 

I knew an old farmer that could back 2 wagons hooked together in a barn with an old tractor. He never even pulled up, just backed them where he wanted. I have a heck of a time backing just one. You have to think backwards.

 

Pete,

If you ever get to make a decision about equipment, buy a square baler that uses twine tie instead of wire. No blisters on your hands and your fingers don't cramp up like they do with the wire tie. Also learning to use a hay hook helps things.

 

Seems simple enough:

Don't pull doubles.

Don't back up.

Don't stack, just pull.

Pop

 

Don't forget that the people behind you won't be able to see your tail lights on the truck either. And yes I speak from experience. Never gotten hit but have had many close calls. Take the entire road if you're turning left.

 

We use twine balers. We never used hay hooks.

After year 1 it was never an issue. It was just getting my hands to toughen up on year 1.

We never used gloves since you can't really get your fingers under the strings that easily when you're wearing gloves.

I no longer work there. I unloaded a few thousand last year, but then didn't do a whole lot after that. I don't have any intention of unloading at all next year. Working like a dog for 7 bucks an hour is NOT my idea of fun. Especially when I can get 10/hr for doing a lot less manual labor.

Even if I had continued working there I would never have been in on any equipment decisions. The guys that run that operation are in their 70s and have the same equipment that they had 30 years ago. No changes happening there.