ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the major alternatives available for purchase by livestock producers. A wide variety of hay and forage equipment is available for producer. Specific systems presented are the traditional baling system with hand hauling, automatic-bale-wagon system, round-bale system, large rectangular-bale system, loose-hay-stack-wagon system, and haylage system. The most common haying system for livestock producers continues to be the traditional baling system. The least-cost traditional baling system is to use custom crews for annual production of less than 200 tons and to own equipment for annual production exceeding that amount. The complement of operations for a traditional baling system varies for individual farms but generally consists of mowing-conditioning, raking, baling, and hand hauling of bales from the field to storage. To prbduce the highest quality hay and operate an automatic-bale-wagon system at maximum efficiency, the field manager must be capable of coordinating all harvesting and handling operations.
