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["Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>]

Yeah, conveyors work great if you have a crew of at least two people to put
the hay in the barn, one to put the hay bale on the conveyor at the bottom,
and one to remove the bale at the top and stack it in the loft. A larger
crew of 3 or more is preferable, as it takes longer to retrieve the bale
from the conveyor and stack it than it does to grab a bale from the wagon
and put it on the conveyor. I like having things set up so I can do it solo,
as my son is grown and I am solo.

Of course, if you hire someone to deliver the hay and pay the upcharge for
putting it up in a loft, there's no problem. Most hay farmers I know charge
more to put the hay up in a loft versus stacking it on the barn floor due to
greater labor costs on their end. I know some hay farmers who WILL NOT
deliver to a loft, as they have trouble getting sufficient labor to do it. I
expect, if I live long enough, that a fixed income might put a damper on
paying anyone ANY extra for extra labor. Stacking hay on the ground works
for me, but obviously, not for everyone's situation!

Gloria

On 12/21/06, Marie McHarry <mmcharry AT gmail.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.
>
> That is why conveyors were invented. I don't have a loft, so my hay
> guy stacks it in the fornt of the barn. Stacking on the floor works
> fine, but it takes up a great deal of floor space. That's not a
> problem for me as my goat herd is much reduced.
>
> Marie
> _______________________________________________