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Posted By Stephen D. Clarke
In my youth, many moons ago, I lived on a small hill farm in the wilds of the north pennines. Each year in the autumn I was sent up to a great height on top of the visiting hay waggon to throw down bales of hay for storage in the barn. No ppe, where would it be attached, high risk of falling several metres. How will a small family farm comply with the new Work at Height regs?
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Posted By Jim Walker
Stephen,
It is obviously a long time since you ventured into the countryside. Hay/straw is baled in great big rolls these days.
For the few remaining hay bales of the type you remember, they are usually handled by mechanical means.
Should you be unfortunate enough to fall off a hay stack, there is usually a plough or combined harvester parked below to break your fall.
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Posted By Robert S Woods
Ahh the Darling Buds of May, cream teas, floss the sheepdog playfully chasing rabbits and Dobbin the shire horse patiently waiting for the bales to be stacked on the old wooden cart.
The reality huge tractors fitted with powerful spotlights so they can work 24/7 and, shrink-wrapping machines.
The nostalgic method of collecting and storing hay is on the decline as it’s labour intensive and inefficient. Shrink-wrapped bales of silage are the in thing. Smells of cheese but the beasts love it.
As for farmers who carry on with the old method, they’ll carry on in same way as they’ve always done until they go out of business.
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Posted By Shiralee
I keep horses, hay and straw is still made and stored in the way Stephen remember's, and yes it is stacked by hand, most farmers in Essex cut hay and bale straw for the equestrian world. The farmers use an 8 bale grab to lift the bale off the field onto a trailer to move them to the farm, once in the farm, part of the load can be unloaded with the 8 grab but it cant reach very far so it has to be moved and stacked by man power. Many hay and straw stacks are approx 20' high(1,000 bales in a stack) and one gets up there by ladder and throws the bales down as they are needed. No very H&S
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