Fences

[mml373]

I bought a small cattle/grass farm a number of years ago, and life has unfortunately dealt me with disability. I am unable to get out of the way of angry cow and unable to work with them. As a result, I started raising sheep several years ago on part of the farm and rented out the remaining acres. I put up new high tensile fence for the sheep, but the rest of the farm remained barbed wire. I would like to expand my sheep operation and will need to put in high tensile fence to replace barbed wire, where possible.

My adjacent neighbor is happy with the barbed wire that bounds our two adjacent properties and is not going to repair or have any financial sharing of repair expenses related to high tensile if I put that in to replace the barbed wire along the property line. What I think I am going to do, as a result, is to simply inset new high tensile some distance from the barbed wire at the property line use what's in between the two to provide winter stockpile hay each year. That way I won't have to really hay the pastures where the sheep remain and I can continue to avoid the expense of buying hay through winter. There are trees along the property line that lose branches every winter, so the opportunity for fence damage beneath them is great.

SO the question is...how much width is required to turn around a full-size tractor when cutting/raking/baling hay? There are other considerations as well (i.e., how many sheep I plan to have, how many acres they need to rotationally graze, and how much hay they'll eat during the winter/early spring) that will determine how much set aside I have for hay and how large my sheep pastures can be. Reason I ask about the turnaround is that I don't currently have hay implements...so haven't yet done any haying, myself. Thanks for any helpful replies.

 

[Peanut]

I had cattle until ‘18, grew and cut my own hay. The first pic below...The red line is a terrace mound, on it were peach trees. We had a 200tree orchard. I cut hay between the rows of trees, 2nd pic. Last pic is where I stacked rolls of hay. The baler didn’t wrap so I had to cover the hay with black plastic, came it 100ft rolls from lowes.

The first pic was the most aggravating area I had to cut and bale. On average about 50ft wide. There were trees on each side and a fence at the end at an angle. Trying to turn a baler around was a royal pain. I lost a pto shaft at that spot once, it failed while I was trying to turn around(smoked the clutch plate). Behind the camera the terrace was much wider, about 90ft, not a problem turning around there.

You can work hay in a narrow area, 40/50ft, without difficulty if the ends are open. Meaning the ends are wider so that turning around with equipment isn’t an issue. Sort of shaped like a Q-tip.

Last pic, I stacked in an area 120ft x 60ft. I needed the 60ft for tractor access around the stacks. I wouldn’t want to try stacking like this in a smaller area. As it was, it was still a little tight but manageable.

My baler was a vemeer 4x5, had a viacon mower, 9ft i think, and a wheel rake. I ran the baler and mower with a 50hp massey ferguson.

 

[Peanut]

One more bit… 50ft seems like a lot of space, it’s not. I had a front end loader and hay spike on the tractor, plus the baler. Sometimes when dumping a roll, it'll roll to a spot in my way for the next pass so i'd have to move it.

Another thought… plan the width according to the length of your hay mower and rake. So you’ll have an even number of passes while cutting, makes things simpler. An odd number of passes means one more trip to the far end then you have to drive back over the hay you just raked.

 

[mml373]

I had cattle until ‘18, grew and cut my own hay. The first pic below...The red line is a terrace mound, on it were peach trees. We had a 200tree orchard. I cut hay between the rows of trees, 2nd pic. Last pic is where I stacked rolls of hay. The baler didn’t wrap so I had to cover the hay with black plastic, came it 100ft rolls from lowes.

The first pic was the most aggravating area I had to cut and bale. On average about 50ft wide. There were trees on each side and a fence at the end at an angle. Trying to turn a baler around was a royal pain. I lost a pto shaft at that spot once, it failed while I was trying to turn around(smoked the clutch plate). Behind the camera the terrace was much wider, about 90ft, not a problem turning around there.

You can work hay in a narrow area, 40/50ft, without difficulty if the ends are open. Meaning the ends are wider so that turning around with equipment isn’t an issue. Sort of shaped like a Q-tip.

Last pic, I stacked in an area 120ft x 60ft. I needed the 60ft for tractor access around the stacks. I wouldn’t want to try stacking like this in a smaller area. As it was, it was still a little tight but manageable.

My baler was a vemeer 4x5, had a viacon mower, 9ft i think, and a wheel rake. I ran the baler and mower with a 50hp massey ferguson.

View attachment 128550View attachment 128551View attachment 128552

Thank you...super helpful to have the numbers. I'll be using similarly sized equipment though the tractor is probably a bit bigger because...everything seems to require more size and expense these days. I am impressed with your wrapping technique with the hay. Honestly, this is all new to me. I have much to learn.

I think I'll be able to do what I need to do, taking your suggestions into account. Thank you.

 

[Peanut]

I stacked two rows with a 3rd on top. I used scavenged pallets. My best sources were a large newspaper printing company and a small trucking companies. They always have pallets they need to get rid of.

A pallet lasted 2 to 3 years before rotting on the ground. My goal was to bring home about 40 pallets each year to use as replacements. I toss a few in the bed of my truck when i'd go to town.

The black plastic is construction/landscaping plastic. For many years it was 9mil thick and lasted 2 maybe 3 years.. Along about 2010 I could only get 7mil plastic. Garbage!!! Sometimes it wouldn't last until spring.

There are companies that make hay tarps, sort of like a scope cover for a rifle but much larger. These type tarps will last many years but they are very $$$.