I LOVE you posted this.

Moving round bails was the #1 reason I upgraded to my 3046R from my beloved 1025R. This weekend will be the first weekend we move bails.... so excited!


This post made me smile.

-- Ken

 

I move round bales with my 3039R all the time. Either a ballast box on the rear or a 3 pt bale spear. You can also stack them two high on a low trailer with ease. Just make sure you are on level ground.

 

Looks good but I really feel like the ROPS should be at full height for an operation like this. I realize the risk of rollover is very slim, but better safe than sorry.

 

My trusty old 2025R can move two 4x5s at a time too, one on front one on back. I can stack them two high on my trailer but can only unload them two high on a hay wagon.

 

@MTB98 Can you stack them two high on a goose neck trailer when the deck is 30" high?

 

I probably wouldn’t be able to stack them, probably could unstack them two high though.

 

I wish my 790 had hydraulics enough to handle bales but there's a sticker on the loader saying don't use it for round bales, lol. Doesn't matter as our 5 x 6 bales are too heavy anyway. I've contemplated getting a 3 ph spear just for occasional use but we have other tractors that handle the bales much better.

 

I wish my 790 had hydraulics enough to handle bales but there's a sticker on the loader saying don't use it for round bales, lol. Doesn't matter as our 5 x 6 bales are too heavy anyway.

Yes, I am in the same boat. Our tightly wound 5'x6' round bales are so long and heavy that I don't even try to move them with a 4 series tractor. The 6 series handles them with ease.

 

I like using my pickup 😁😁😁

 

One of my brothers used my tractor to stack bales two high before and I did it today. The trailer is a deck over goose neck and a 3R is the smallest that you would want to use. I had no problem lifting 4x5 bales to the top of the loader travel. There is a lot of leverage with a bale that high in the air and the mushy loader control in a 3R cab doesn't help with smoothness, either move the joystick real slow or get some jerky moves that rock the tractor.

The bigger problem is a small cab, with the loader all the way up you can't see it without leaning forward. You are also not as high off the ground as in a larger tractor so it's hard to judge where the bale is. I think I only had 5" or so of loader travel left when setting a bale on top. If you have a larger tractor when loading a taller trailer use it, if not use lots of caution.

A 320R loader has a maximum lift height of 103.3" or 8 1/2 feet, no way you are using a 2 series to load a deck over trailer with two high bales. Also the loader moves in an arc so the higher you go the closer to the tractor the load is. I wouldn't have tried it if I didn't have a cab, way too much weight too high and close to me.

One of my brothers weighed a load of 1st cutting 4x5 hay bales and each bale was about 880lbs. One brother has a 5520 and another a 6 series that the normally use for round bales, also a 95hp JD skid steer, so I will stick to one layer of round bales with my 3039R.

 

Large bales high in the air are a bit touchy. You definitely want to use something with a spear rather than forks, especially without a backrest. Any bales that come off forks will roll down the loader arms and end up right on the operator or in the windshield if using a cabbed tractor.

 

@Treefarmer Forks should only be used to lift a bale a couple of feet. Any higher and you should only use a bale spear. When stacking two high don't touch the loader control when backing away from the bale it could move the spear and pull the bale back at you. My 3039R cab isn't big enough for the bale to come through the windshield but it could do a lot of damage to the tractor. If you have a choice between an open station and cab tractor, pick the cab.

 

... Bale Spear on the 3pt and pallet forks on loader...

Do you have a hydraulic top link? If not, how do you have the 3pt spear set up? Every time I try, the bale always droops down in the back (I do not have a hydraulic top link).

 

I do not have a hydraulic top link. The spear I have is pretty long though and also has two lower stabilizer spears that may assist in holding it up. I have seen some spears that are shorter in length that may not go far enough into the rear of the bale to hold it without sagging. You may be able to tighten your top link all the way in to get some further lift out of it if it extended.

 

Depending on the trailer and delivery company being ok with it I sometimes have to push 3x4x8 bales off the side of stacked too tall. These bales weigh in around 1200 so lifting 2 is out of the question. Hay spear works great and we put up 60 bales a year with my 3039r cab. Getting a 5 series next time though