0425004x4

This year I will be hauling some hay for our barn and a couple of other people and was wondering what size trailer you guys are using. I have a 23 foot gooseneck I can borrow but I want to be able to put about 200 bales on it each trip. Is there a certain type of trailer you guys prefer or just an open one with lots of straps? Its not a very short trip either, it is about 5 1/2 hours one way up to Virginia where we get it. Thanks in advance.

wap

We put around 250 ( I think but will double check) on a 24ft 10 flat bed gooseneck.
As far as what type of trailer, the bigger the better if your goin for volume but make sure that who ever is stackin know what they are doin and to strap the heck out of it. If I can help any more let me know.

BearKiller

We haul 360 square-bale on a 32' flat with deck over the neck.

If you are going that far in eastern U.S., tarp it good, plumb to the flat.

No matter what the weather man says, it will come a downpour if the hay is not tarped.

If you are a hay-stacker, a 28' flat should haul a couple hundred bales okay.

I have a 20' x 6'wide x 7' high cattle trailer that I can load 102 square bales in.

This is six stacks of 17 bale each; if I keep them tight, I can just close the door.

jd4230

The trailer we use is 24ft you can fit 35 bales to a layer. Go 6 layers high gives you 210. We stack the sixth layer the same as the bottom so when you strap it down you are catching every bale on the edges. We use ropes with come-alongs, tie the ropes off at the back and pull the load forward. Then use some spare baling twine and tie the center row down. We have hauled this way for years and no problems so far. (knockin gon wood as I type this). Hope this helps.

Dorkweed

What he said!!

blackdiesel

never hauled square bales, just round bales. check out my gallery for pics. the hay alone weighed around 20k lbs. 4x5 bales.

BearKiller

We tie two long ropes, one at both front corners and one at both back corners.

We hook a come-along at the center of both ropes and draw it all together.

At the first, last, and a couple in the middle stacks, we go over the top from side-to-side with 2" ratchet-straps.

We can drive with the traffic like this and it will stay there.

moparguy

Tires, a lot of smaller trailers have 5k axles with a 4 D rated tires. You'll likely be overweight with 200 bales. So make sure your tires are in good shape. Carry a good spare and a good oak 2X8 or 2x10 about 4' long along with a few blocks of wood so you can change a flat without using a jack on the trailer.

And, you likely know how to stack hay, but for a long trip it needs to be good tight bales and stacked right.

Likely unneeded advise, so Good Luck.

RR

riata_ag

I haul 50 per layer on my 32' flatbed............either 6 or 7 layers high depending upon the circumstances...................

Build you some L-boards and you will have no problems with your load......We use them on our semi trailers and our goosenecks...........alot of people outside of the trucking business may have never heard of an L-board......but for hauling square bales, bagged wood shavings, etc.......you can't beat em

I can strap down 350 square bales on a 32' with 5 straps and it'll ride at least 520 miles as fast as the little dodge cummins will pull her...............

PM me if you want to build some L-boards and you need to know how.........its easy and cheap..............2 - pine 1x4x8 tied together with 2 pieces of rope= 1 L-board

Hope this helps.............

DodgeCowboy

just remember also if your using rope at the front of the trailer and the back of the trailer to either use the boards like mention or if you dont have the boards spend the time to get the ropes under the strings of the first two on the front and the last two on the back some times not all the time it will cut the twine and your perfectly tight load just went to the floor. one other thing is to know how to load the hay right the first time and if your goin more than four high put a tie teir in there like at the back of the trailer instead of goin side by side take the back and run them long ways and you will usally only loose one bale and put the tie like in the third row if you go six high. when i first started hauling haul my grandpa used a saying that he told me and i live by make your loads tight and nice just as if your mom or your grandma was driving behind you. make sure your ropes are good to go like a good poly truck rope or somthing that has not been laying out side next to the shop for two years of weather. just remember also make sure your trailers got good brakes. we do the same thing as many other people here to we put a rope on the front of the trailer and a *** a long in the middle and ropes on the back.

Chrisreyn

Maybe this goes with out saying, But...make sure IF you have tire wells that are higher than teh trailer bed, that the hay is not touching the tires......

you'd be suprised how many folks will burn up a truck and trailer this way every year, and folks you'd think would know better too
If I was hauling for a 5-6 hour drive, I'd realy be checking teh weather adn/or tarp it well as someone mentioned....

By next year, be feeding round bales....... much simpler!

0425004x4

Thanks guys, Lots of good help. I didnt realize so many of you haul hay. I'm ready to go up there with the new truck, the last three trips I made were in a 04 F-250 6.0 and lets just say in the mountins with 13,000 pounds behind it, it didnt go so well. I noticed some of you guys were pulling almost 300 bales and I'm sure you guys have duallys but I only have a 2500 and the bales average 50 or 55 pounds where I get them so 200 bales would be 10,000 pounds and the trailer would be about 3,000. Is that too much for the truck to handle, I the ford did it but that Ford was a friends I just went with him, NO Ford owner here haha.

Tree DR

Brakes, brakes, brakes, did I mention brakes!!!
Do anything you can to reduce the wind resistance, it will make a big difference in mpg and how easy it pulls. A longer trailer so your stack is shorter. I learned to make a stair step of hay in my truck bed to help direct the wind up over my 30ft gn that had a top deck also. I started with a 20' with no top deck and did it catch the wind. Then I got a 24 with no top deck still caught wind. Finally got the 30' with top deck and stacked the wedge in the truck bed and got just as good mpg as with the 20' scaleing 26,000. With the 30' I was averageing around 34,000. 300mi one way, the bales were wire tied and averaged about 72lbs. OH! brakes the first two trailers had electric brakes ok but not great like the vacum over hydrolic "DISK" on the 30'.

12valveford

Kinda Different
but we have a 24' Tandem Dually Gooseneck
and we haul 11 1800# round bales
It kinda killed the auto trans and 460 in our '96 F350
Thats why there is now a Dodge in the yard

TxDiesel007

On the tag trailer in my pic gallery

i have hauled 150 square bales, they go four or five on each row, and i stack them in a T formation so that they "tie up" with each other. If i chose to go rounds, i load five on that tag. NO issues, with either or, of coarse my hay is tarped strapped, and tied down.

Rick