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[VAN DELL JORDAN <vdjor AT yahoo.com>]

The barns I grew up with all were built with equipment
to use the large hooks that might lift up to a quarter
(?) or more of a wagon load of hay up into the loft.
Once as I kid I was assigned to pull on the rope that
would release the hook and drop the hay into the loft.
 One time I decided to see what would happen if I
stood on the rope.  What happened was the hook tripped
before it got into the barn and dropped the load back
on the wagon.  I am glad that no one was standing on
the wagon at the moment.
I am told that the huge round bales which are almost
the only thing used in our community now wind up
wasting almost a third of the hay.  Though the labor
is much much less.
Van Dell

--- Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> 
> > 
> > As to dropping flakes of hay from a loft to horses
> below, that works
> > fine if you confine the horses to stalls. Of
> course, getting the hay
> > UP into the loft requires much greater effort than
> stacking it at
> > ground level. 
> 
> Don't discount loose hay out of hand.  There are
> little oddments of space 
> here where it is impractical to use a tractor (which
> I don't have anyway) and not 
> worth hitching the horse and all the paraphenalia. 
> Yet they can be cut with 
> a scythe in just a short while and all those places
> being harvested 
> incidentally here and there all summer adds uo
> without it being a killer task all at 
> once.   A little loose hay to pitch to the loft is
> light work.
> 
> A barn desigened for hay storage will have a block
> and tackle to raise the 
> bales to where they can be swung into the loft
> easily.
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