American Farmers Fight Rise In Hay Thefts

[Will Rogers]

Apparently, it's not enough to be thieving copper in Newark, or looting homes destroyed by hurricanes or forest-fire.

What could be lower than stealing hay from desperate farmers?

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December 3, 2012 9:49 AM

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - As if it?s not bad enough that Missouri farmers are trying to survive the worst drought in decades, now many of them are facing a new problem that?s costing them big bucks.

Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst says thieves are actually targeting those big bundles of hay that are left out in fields prior to being harvested, hauling them off and selling the valuable commodity.

?Of course, no one brands their hay so if you hook onto it with your tractor or your pickup and make it out the gate, then it?s impossible to prove where the hay came from,? Hurst said.

With winter approaching and grass dying out, the price for fresh hay to feed livestock is on the rise, and Hurst says that makes unguarded bales a tempting target.

Ironically, it?s because of the ongoing drought that fresh hay has become so valuable with the winter season fast approaching.

And it?s not just Missouri. This trend is happening in farm states across the country, so much so that some are now putting global positioning trackers inside their bales, in case they?re stolen.

[harry]

On Dec 5, 5:21=A0am, Will Rogers homes destroyed by hurricanes or forest-fire.

Interesting story. How do they load a big bale of hay weighing half a ton or more? Why would hay be left outdoors anyway?

[harry]

On Dec 5, 5:21=A0am, Will Rogers homes destroyed by hurricanes or forest-fire.

The more I read that story the more BS it is.

How do you "hook into hay"? How are bales left out "prior to harvesting"?

Journalism has sunk pretty low in the USA.

[Attila Iskander]

# The more I read that story the more BS it is. #

First, read up on why round bales have become so popular

# How do you "hook into hay"?

One way with a pickup truck. All you need is a winch, a steel bar, an short length of cable with a loop at each end and a ramp

1) Shove the steel bar through the center of the roll 2) hook your short cable on each of the the bar 3) hook your winch to the cable 4) roll hay wheel up ramp to back of pickup

Alternately, you can install a crane on your pickup and just lift the bale on the back. <

Third method, use a car transporter, drop the bed near the bales, and daisy-chain the bales onto the bed

# How are bales left out "prior to harvesting"? #

You're right that is a bit weak But harvesting could also include removing it from the field If you just cut, dry and roll it but leave it on the filed, the "harvesting" is only partial The last step, moving somewhere else for storage or use is yet to be done.

# Journalism has sunk pretty low in the USA.

Not as low as education in England, if we go by your performance.

[Home Guy]

Harry (being in the UK) is not familiar with the size and scale of farm fields here in north america.

[harry]

I know they are moved under cover as soon as possible to keep them dry.

[harry]

How do you shove a steel bar through the centre of a hay bale? It is packed almost as hard as if it were a block of timber. And even if you succeeded, how would you get it out? I see you know as little as these journalists.

[IGot2P]

Obviously, you don't have a clue. Most balers wraps the big bales with a waterproof material so they can be left out year around. They are moved out of the hay field but normally simply to an open area where the livestock cannot get to them.

[Attila Iskander]

# # I know they are moved under cover as soon as possible to keep them dry. #

Bud do you know if they go to the cover or the cover comes to them

You keep reminding me of Ronald Reagan's aphorism "it's not that our friends on the left are ignorant. It's just that so much of what they know is wrong.."

[Attila Iskander]

#How do you shove a steel bar through the centre of a hay bale? It is # packed almost as hard as if it were a block of timber.

Never heard of a bale spear ?

# And even if you succeeded, how would you get it out? # I see you know as little as these journalists.

Funny how farmers have no trouble either shoving in or pulling out their bale spears. You have to wonder how on earth they manage to do it...

[Attila Iskander]

With harry, that's a certainty

[chaniarts]

you sharpen one end, and taper it. don't they teach thinking in england?

[Roy]

.

Face it Harry...you are dumber than a post. I can see that your education h= as been incomplete at best.

[NotMe]

I know they are moved under cover as soon as possible to keep them dry.

{{

Rolled bales are often covered with sheet plastic and left in the fields for extended periods. At least in the fields here in N. Texas. (been a bit dry here abouts over the past several years so that may have something to do with the practice)

[NotMe]

How do you shove a steel bar through the centre of a hay bale? It is packed almost as hard as if it were a block of timber. And even if you succeeded, how would you get it out? I see you know as little as these journalists.

{{

Apply sufficient force (does not take much) for both operations. (not a journalists but one who, a long time back, worked for chump change shoveling horse sh|t and wrestling hay in and out of trucks/flat bed trailers.)

[Attila Iskander]

Apparently not !

[Attila Iskander]

# # Face it Harry...you are dumber than a post. I can see that your education has # been incomplete at best.

Do you think he can sue his schools and other branches of the educational system for non-performance ? If he can, he should I'm even willing to provide testimony if required.

[rlz]

de quoted text -

For those that don't know much about how hay is processed, here is a brief rundown of the tasks involved.

1. Once the grass grows to a significant height, a tractor with a mowing attachment mows the field, leaving the grass cutting on the ground.
2. After a period of drying time (we used to wait a day or two), a tractor with a raking attachment goes over the cut grass and rakes the hay into rows.
3. Then a tractor with a baling attachment goes over each row and gathers the hays to put into bales of hay. These bales can be round cylinders or rectangle blocks, as well as fairly small (50-100 Lbs) to very large 1000+ LBs bales.
4. The bales can be left in the hay field, but most farmers move the bales into a barn for storage, or into an outside area that livestock doesn't have access to. This is to allow the hay fields to grow back. The actually moving of the bales, if small in size, can be done by hand using a flat-bed trailer and pickup truck. The larger bales are usually moved via a tractor witha pole attachment.

It wouldn't be much of an effort for someone in a pickup hauling a large flat-bed trailer with a tractor on the it to steal the hay. Just pull up to a pasture where the hay is located, drive the tractor off the trailer, pick up a few bales of hay and stack them on the trailor, drive the tractor back onto the trailer, and then drive the pickup away.

[Pete C.]

They make round bale lifts to put on the back of a pickup or other truck that have the central bale spear and a couple side spears for anti-rotation. A hydraulic cylinder tilts the assembly up and down. Tilt down, back truck into the round bale, tilt up and drive off. Takes seconds. Reverse to deposit the bale where you want it. They sell this equipment at pretty much every farm supply store.

[Attila Iskander]

Plain ingenuity and simple farm equipment design are beyond the ken of such as harry