Bale hooks, start with one, then one in each hand, once you get the hang of it, its way faster and easier. We baled hay for years, stacking wagons until Dad finally broke down and bought a kicker. Great breakdown on profits as always and dangers of cutting too late in the year!
About 40 years ago, give or take, I bailed hay for the first time and I was also wearing shorts. You only make that mistake one time! My thighs looked like ground beef by the end of the day. Thanks for bringing back the memories!
You should look into Johnson Su composting bioreactors. I am a farmhand in Colorado, and my boss started using this method to make compost to apply to fields as a compost tea (we have to irrigate everything so it's easy for us to add to the center pivots). This is our first full year of doing this and we just got our 5th cutting off the alfalfa. Normally we get only 3 maybe 4 cuttings and the yield per acre is at least 10% more for each cutting than previous years.
Reminds me of baling when I was a kid visiting my grandparents' farm. I rode the trailer and helped with square bales. Still have the baler sitting in the pole shed...
a cool video would be having a seasoned farmer come in at the end of the year and do a 2 year recap with him, see where you stand, where you can improve and such
I love these videos because it really puts farming into perspective. I (like most people) assume that farming is basically a bank roll once you get all the equipment. But seeing 15 acres producing $3200, assuming that’s not your time included and not including all your support system that’s able to help you is shocking! Then to add onto all of that, you have the stress of risk vs reward with weather, not just in baling with rain, wind, etc, but also with the Final Cut. I never knew that the timing of your Final Cut could basically make or break your first cutting for the following year. Thanks for the content, you gained a new subscriber after the 14 videos I watched today lol. Keep up the great work, both farming and content creating!
This was magnificent thank you Josie for balancing your work schedule with helping out the guys Your best the fandom appreciate it. Lol Spencer with the glasses on just chilling. Like a celeb. 😂. Hilarious. Grant. His deep vocals and big heart What a tremendous man
Sept 15 is my last day to cut alfalfa, especially on new seeding, to allow enough regrowth for winter. If it was an older stand 5-6 years old and was being tore up the next, i wait as long as possible, but before a frost. I've cut and baled hay just before Christmas once, but that was just grass. Alfalfa should keep under 18% moisture, you can always toss salt on the bales if they are a little wetter(old timer trick). If you want some info on hay or hay equipment, there are 2 guys who have a really good knowledge of hay equipment west of your farm a few miles. Ask the guy who round baled your hay who they are, and he'll tell ya.
Cool video. Consider building a couple removeable extensions for the square baler so early in the day you dont have to walk so far (or bend over as much) to pick the bales up. Then can take an extension or two off as the wagon fills up. Cheers
Your moisture probe is probably more accurate on the tighter bales. They measure the electrical conductivity between the two steel pieces on the end. I'd be a little nervous baling at that moisture unless its purely dew moisture.
Also, thank you for not spraying weed killer on your alfalfa. Just in case people use the manure from the animal in there gardens. Then is doesn't kill the vegetables. Great video!
@@timmebruer5205 In order to have a clean hay field, some people use Grayzon herbicide to get rid of the weeds in there alphalfa. This herbicide will kill vegetables in the garden. Lets say a goat gets fed the hay. People use the goats manure to put in their gardens. The herbicide carries over and ends up wilting and killing the vegetable plants just before they fruit. (I've experienced it myself) Then, you have to replace the soil to get rid of the herbicide. It's a mess.
That poor girl! You need to get yourselves a new holland stackliner. I bet you could find an older 1032 for pretty cheap that would be great for what you’re doing. I’ve seen them for about $3000 so not a bank buster. The open station 4020 would be a great match for something like that.
I live just outside of Ames and have need of about 800 tons worth of grass/alfalfa round bales a year with additional square bale needs. Would love to connect and see if we can't work something out.
that is the perfect style rake for alfalfa. Your old bar rake will knock and shatter a lot more of the leafs off. Keep up the good work! I enjoy your and Grants vids!
Hey Spencer, I am a 13 year old who is VERY interested in farming and am wondering how you really made it all happen at such a low price like how you got 50 acres for only 25,500 I did some research in Iowa to figure out that it’s around 7300 per acre in Iowa which would add up to 350,000. Love your vids and the game. My dream is to be a farmer and am just wondering how you do it. Thanks😊
I paid roughly $9,000 per tillable acre. $25,000 is my land cost per year (principle payment, interest and property tax) total price just under $400k I worked other jobs/started a business and invested over the last 6-8 years to afford it. It takes outside income/capital to get started, that’s how I did it. This is just a hobby for me right now and does not provide any additional income for my “living expenses”. This is a “part time job” this is not full time hours so I have plenty of time to work my business and produce other income to subsidize this “hobby farm”. If you truly want to farm it may take 5,10,30 years to save up enough money to start on your own. You can do anything if you believe in yourself and have patience.
I'm courious on ya area for small squares cuz you could pick up more acres doing custom baling if there is a high demand with not alot people baling small squares
Yup that was the issue. Didn’t do a good job videoing and didn’t fully comprehended how it worked until later on and didn’t put it in the video. One of the bolts got loss and the brake wasn’t tight enough.
@@spencerhilbert Until a month ago, I had three - 336 balers. We make 7-10,000 small squares a year. One was totaled by an inattentive driver that rearended me coming home, so now I have two..... I have lots of experience, so feel free to reach out if you have questions. I would suggest you bite the bullet and get new brakes from JD. Not cheap, but they are good insurance. The older machines will groove them and eventually they fail.
It's been a while.... but my mom used to help out on a horse farm with show horses, western pleasure mostly. They fed alfalfa regularly, the bails were always much heavier than any other bails like Timothy or whatever else they had at the time. The best hay always seemed to me to be slightly moist, and really heavy. I think that aspect of it is completely normal. I'm not there touching and feeling and smelling it, but that cutting looks to be what we would have thought was very desirable hay at that time. I could swear they were paying $10 and even OVER that even back then... probably 15 years ago.... for good quality alfalfa. Maybe it's more competitive out your way, but I would make sure you aren't selling yourself short at $8 and $10 per bail. Unless you are selling it to people who are then reselling again maybe. I don't think alfalfa was easy to come by in our area (north Georgia) at that time, only a hand full of people growing it. And some of it could have been coming from quite a distance, so we might have been paying for it being transported as well. I don't really know, I was pretty young. In my teens still at the time. I always thought the alfalfa smelled amazing, being in that entire field of it has to smell great haha the horses definitely loved it. It would give them lots of energy, so it was fed sparingly. Sometimes only like half a flake at a time along with other hay and pellets or oats or whatever they gave that particular horse. And I was told it helped enhance their coats. And these were show horses, so that was a big priority. Anyway, yeah, good lookin hay from what I can tell without touching and feeling it.
My late father was an engineer at John Deere and was on the team that designed the first soundproof cab. By the time I graduated high school, the eighties brought farm foreclosures and thousands of layoffs at John Deere Company. But, the world needs ditch digger too. ha
![Stromae, Pomme - “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1F3OGIFnW1k/mqdefault.jpg)
I remember as a kid when friends were bailing, we all helped. Good memories.
I learned to drive in hay fields with my brothers throwing and stacking.
props to your lady for raw dogging the bales without gloves
"Your passion for farming is contagious! Thanks for making agriculture so interesting to learn about."
You should put some weights on the front so you’re not putting all of it on the back.
Every guy needs a Jose! She’s got spunk! You’re a lucky guy Spencer, she’s definitely a 10 in so many ways.
What a beautiful lady, helping her husband, that’s great to se this hard working lady helping her husband
Bale hooks, start with one, then one in each hand, once you get the hang of it, its way faster and easier.
We baled hay for years, stacking wagons until Dad finally broke down and bought a kicker.
Great breakdown on profits as always and dangers of cutting too late in the year!
Right on!
Love the 4020 I have a 3010 John deer
My grandpa has a 3020
My first time on a tractor was a 4020.
@@greggkiest1069 nice
Love the 4020 too I have a bit of autism
I have a John Deere L139. Mainly used for cutting hay and silage.
17:08 that is a beautiful scenery to work in, so peaceful
About 40 years ago, give or take, I bailed hay for the first time and I was also wearing shorts. You only make that mistake one time! My thighs looked like ground beef by the end of the day. Thanks for bringing back the memories!
Wow... Jose is a trooper! Call out to all the hard working women out there who hold families together!
You should look into Johnson Su composting bioreactors. I am a farmhand in Colorado, and my boss started using this method to make compost to apply to fields as a compost tea (we have to irrigate everything so it's easy for us to add to the center pivots). This is our first full year of doing this and we just got our 5th cutting off the alfalfa. Normally we get only 3 maybe 4 cuttings and the yield per acre is at least 10% more for each cutting than previous years.
Reminds me of baling when I was a kid visiting my grandparents' farm. I rode the trailer and helped with square bales. Still have the baler sitting in the pole shed...
Josie works hard at bail loading she is a Keeper. Thank you for the update.
she a wifey hope she got some good time after
The cleaner that you keep the knotter, the better it will work. Fond memories of bailing time in Michigan.
Clean it and KEEP IT GREASED! 😁
a cool video would be having a seasoned farmer come in at the end of the year and do a 2 year recap with him, see where you stand, where you can improve and such
Nice video Spencer I think Josie is doing a nice job stacking
💯
I love these videos because it really puts farming into perspective. I (like most people) assume that farming is basically a bank roll once you get all the equipment. But seeing 15 acres producing $3200, assuming that’s not your time included and not including all your support system that’s able to help you is shocking! Then to add onto all of that, you have the stress of risk vs reward with weather, not just in baling with rain, wind, etc, but also with the Final Cut. I never knew that the timing of your Final Cut could basically make or break your first cutting for the following year. Thanks for the content, you gained a new subscriber after the 14 videos I watched today lol. Keep up the great work, both farming and content creating!
This channel for 2 or 3 years has been interesting to watch.
This was magnificent thank you Josie for balancing your work schedule with helping out the guys Your best the fandom appreciate it. Lol Spencer with the glasses on just chilling. Like a celeb. 😂. Hilarious. Grant. His deep vocals and big heart What a tremendous man
Sept 15 is my last day to cut alfalfa, especially on new seeding, to allow enough regrowth for winter. If it was an older stand 5-6 years old and was being tore up the next, i wait as long as possible, but before a frost. I've cut and baled hay just before Christmas once, but that was just grass. Alfalfa should keep under 18% moisture, you can always toss salt on the bales if they are a little wetter(old timer trick). If you want some info on hay or hay equipment, there are 2 guys who have a really good knowledge of hay equipment west of your farm a few miles. Ask the guy who round baled your hay who they are, and he'll tell ya.
I bet that steering feels light with the mower raised up on the back and no weight on the front!!! Good looking crop for 3rd cut of the season.
Wow! that JD 4020 looks great for its age! Spent a lot of time on one of these.
That's awesome, and Grant's tractor is in good shape! Beautiful tractor 🚜
Cool video. Consider building a couple removeable extensions for the square baler so early in the day you dont have to walk so far (or bend over as much) to pick the bales up. Then can take an extension or two off as the wagon fills up.
Cheers
Congrats on y’all’s engagement!!
You are one lucky guy to find a beautiful woman that’s not afraid of a little work or to get her hands dirty!
I really like the hay and alfalfa vids
Cool to see you doing Alfalfa hay it is a lot more familiar seeing as I am from Utah
My grandpa has a 3020 Diesel with a grapple bucket and cab
Always a fan of your Videos. Great Work as always!
I really enjoy your videos! Thank you so much for sharing.
Your moisture probe is probably more accurate on the tighter bales. They measure the electrical conductivity between the two steel pieces on the end.
I'd be a little nervous baling at that moisture unless its purely dew moisture.
Great video enjoy watching keep up the great work
Nice video Spencer keep going
Great video guys. Thank you guys
Screenshot moment 😍 looks awesome
Finally hes back.
I enjoy watching your stream... Playing fs22
We used to own a goat dairy and did pretty much the same thing you usually want your hay between 12 and 10 percent moisture
That’s a good woman!! Don’t let her go!
Love the salt company shirt
Amazing work, keep it up !!! I wonder if you should spray some molasses on those fields
Btw congrats Spence on the engagement
Thats what i am doing this year i planted alfalfa and going to square bale next summer
Also, thank you for not spraying weed killer on your alfalfa. Just in case people use the manure from the animal in there gardens. Then is doesn't kill the vegetables. Great video!
What?
@@timmebruer5205 In order to have a clean hay field, some people use Grayzon herbicide to get rid of the weeds in there alphalfa. This herbicide will kill vegetables in the garden. Lets say a goat gets fed the hay. People use the goats manure to put in their gardens. The herbicide carries over and ends up wilting and killing the vegetable plants just before they fruit. (I've experienced it myself) Then, you have to replace the soil to get rid of the herbicide. It's a mess.
My first time bailing was when i was 9 and getting no help it was fun.
You need some front wait on the 4020 cab tractor while mowing
That poor girl! You need to get yourselves a new holland stackliner. I bet you could find an older 1032 for pretty cheap that would be great for what you’re doing. I’ve seen them for about $3000 so not a bank buster. The open station 4020 would be a great match for something like that.
Nice Salt Company shirt!
i got a real question how did u get the money to start a small farm how did u buy everthing with this economy? its so expensive.
great video (it was uploaded 4 minutes ago)
5
I live just outside of Ames and have need of about 800 tons worth of grass/alfalfa round bales a year with additional square bale needs. Would love to connect and see if we can't work something out.
Grants 4020 should really have some front weights for using that mower
that is the perfect style rake for alfalfa. Your old bar rake will knock and shatter a lot more of the leafs off. Keep up the good work! I enjoy your and Grants vids!
Less Go Josie ❤❤❤❤❤❤
That disk mower cuts a lot faster than that sickle mower.
Josie showing you boys how to work.
Did you get an Insta360 cam? You had some really cool shots!
Spencer, why don’t you teach her how to run the tractor so you can stack the bales?
You need some suitcase weights on the front of that tractor.
Can you do a shop tour and a tool box tour
I feel like those feilds should yeild more might want to do some soil sampling
It’s Josie
Hey Spencer, I am a 13 year old who is VERY interested in farming and am wondering how you really made it all happen at such a low price like how you got 50 acres for only 25,500 I did some research in Iowa to figure out that it’s around 7300 per acre in Iowa which would add up to 350,000. Love your vids and the game. My dream is to be a farmer and am just wondering how you do it. Thanks😊
I paid roughly $9,000 per tillable acre. $25,000 is my land cost per year (principle payment, interest and property tax) total price just under $400k
I worked other jobs/started a business and invested over the last 6-8 years to afford it. It takes outside income/capital to get started, that’s how I did it.
This is just a hobby for me right now and does not provide any additional income for my “living expenses”. This is a “part time job” this is not full time hours so I have plenty of time to work my business and produce other income to subsidize this “hobby farm”.
If you truly want to farm it may take 5,10,30 years to save up enough money to start on your own. You can do anything if you believe in yourself and have patience.
I can’t remember your girl friends name but she’s a keeper when she’ll stack hay on a wagon!
The woman saw a snake and didn't screamed histericaly!
Man, that 4020 runs like a deere. Don't blow much smoke out her until you put the coals to it. Nothing runs like deere. (Back then)
Planting first alfalfa crop this fall…any suggestions?
Are you going to do a 2 year video
You've taken great care of the 4020.
Just found your channel because i watched clarkson's farm. Whats you r option on the show??
I'm courious on ya area for small squares cuz you could pick up more acres doing custom baling if there is a high demand with not alot people baling small squares
Hi! Is another 1 year video on the way?
Its not out of time. The brake on the knotters is not holding. 336 wont go out of time unless you mess with the gears or chains.
Yup that was the issue. Didn’t do a good job videoing and didn’t fully comprehended how it worked until later on and didn’t put it in the video. One of the bolts got loss and the brake wasn’t tight enough.
@@spencerhilbert Until a month ago, I had three - 336 balers. We make 7-10,000 small squares a year. One was totaled by an inattentive driver that rearended me coming home, so now I have two..... I have lots of experience, so feel free to reach out if you have questions. I would suggest you bite the bullet and get new brakes from JD. Not cheap, but they are good insurance. The older machines will groove them and eventually they fail.
Hey Spencer, why did you take the loader off of your 4020
where do you found that helper(one in hat) ? never seen one in my country so small jet so efficient
Love it
It's been a while.... but my mom used to help out on a horse farm with show horses, western pleasure mostly.
They fed alfalfa regularly, the bails were always much heavier than any other bails like Timothy or whatever else they had at the time. The best hay always seemed to me to be slightly moist, and really heavy. I think that aspect of it is completely normal. I'm not there touching and feeling and smelling it, but that cutting looks to be what we would have thought was very desirable hay at that time.
I could swear they were paying $10 and even OVER that even back then... probably 15 years ago.... for good quality alfalfa. Maybe it's more competitive out your way, but I would make sure you aren't selling yourself short at $8 and $10 per bail. Unless you are selling it to people who are then reselling again maybe. I don't think alfalfa was easy to come by in our area (north Georgia) at that time, only a hand full of people growing it. And some of it could have been coming from quite a distance, so we might have been paying for it being transported as well. I don't really know, I was pretty young. In my teens still at the time.
I always thought the alfalfa smelled amazing, being in that entire field of it has to smell great haha the horses definitely loved it. It would give them lots of energy, so it was fed sparingly. Sometimes only like half a flake at a time along with other hay and pellets or oats or whatever they gave that particular horse. And I was told it helped enhance their coats. And these were show horses, so that was a big priority.
Anyway, yeah, good lookin hay from what I can tell without touching and feeling it.
Want to ask u can u graze cattle or horses in Iowa,is it similar to Montana
good vid
Nice work sir ❤kept up, please I would like to join your farming team work
Are yoy guys ever looking do do animals on the farm?
My late father was an engineer at John Deere and was on the team that designed the first soundproof cab. By the time I graduated high school, the eighties brought farm foreclosures and thousands of layoffs at John Deere Company. But, the world needs ditch digger too. ha
My dream tractor is 4020
Let her do the baling and you do the stacking!!
Josie is a cute kid, funny and hard working.
I can smell this video.
That's a lotta work for $3k!
First!!!! I love your videos I’ve been a fan since the beginning
No one cares that you got here first😊
@@micheleneanderson7739no one cares that you care
Growing drury units??
🐍🐍🐍
Today 30cent per kilo at Greece...😊
So 15 acres will get you about 1k per acre with 3 cuttings, not to bad.
Why dud you take the loader off
He doesn’t need it while baling and sometimes they get in the way while baling.
How much acres do you have I have
I have a 568rx John deer tractor
She should be driving the tractor and you on the wagon bud
Hi
If you slow your speed down you won't have that issue
14:51 why don't you do her work and make her drive
Chinese workboots doing the job there is see😂😂
Who's the women?
Spencer tv