IN THE FIELD
Baling options for a smallholding
I
Once it's cut and raked, what
do you do with it? It's hardly
worth calling in a professional
baler for what is no more
than a couple of hours' work
and which will yield 20 to 30
bales at maximum.
If you will be using it yourself
as fodder, bedding or as
mulch one alternative is to
make a classic haystack,
preferably under cover, or at
least covered with a tarpaulin,
taking off whatever you need
throughout the winter using a
pitchfork, and a high-sided
trailer for transportation.
Yet, there's money to be had
in that grass, if you can
manhandle it into liftable,
storable units.
So before spending upwards
Bale box: Filling the bale box with
hay and compacting by standing on of R60 000 on a mini round
it. Note the ends of the two baling
baler, or upwards of R70 000
strings hooked to the outside of the
on a second-hand square
box.
f you live on a couple of
hectares and you don't
have horses, chances are
you will finish up each year
with a couple of paddocks of
long grass which needs
cutting and removing before
each fire season.
baler (assuming you have a
suitable tractor), consider
some cheaper, simpler
alternatives.
At the very basic, you can
build yourself a bale box.
This is a large, sturdy open-
topped rectangular wooden
box which will yield a
rectangular bale which is
looser and larger than a
standard small square bale,
but which, if properly done,
will weigh 15-20kg ~ about
the same as a standard
machine-made square bale.
Using a bale box is a two-
man job. First, two lengths of
baling twine are laid at the
bottom of the box with their
ends hanging over the ends of
the box. Next, hay is dumped
into the box and spread
evenly into the four corners.
When the box is about three-
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quarters full, one worker
climbs into the box and using
his feet pushes the grass
down and into the corners to
keep the bale even, while the
second worker adds more
hay. Once the now-com-
pacted grass reaches the top
of the box, the strings are
drawn up over the grass and
tied off as tightly as possible
to form a bale. The bale is
removed by upending the
box.
The construction of your bale
Continued on page 41
Bale box: Removing the bale by
upending the box.