Once the hay has been baled, I have to get it into the hayloft, not the easiest of tasks as it is a loft and access is by a ladder. So I use the first few trailer loads, that’s the corner of the trailer in the bottom right corner, to build a staircase.
The tops of the bales are covered with planks as I found by experience, the bales either break up or you invariably step between the bales, very scratchy. The lonely bale on top is the first of the ones I use along the edge of the staircase to hold the planks in place.
By alternating the direction of the bales, it makes a structure that is stable enough to get the 250 or so bales I and my wonderful friends needed to lift, into the loft.
However, there is always the problem of getting the staircase bales up there. I will admit I try to forget about it as exhaustion usually sets in after getting the bales in but my baler, which is undergoing repairs at the moment, is likely to be returned at short notice if the weather breaks and the rain returns. Balers, it turns out, are very susceptible to rain and have to be kept under cover.
So suddenly removing the last bales hit the top of the to-do list. First up was to use shorter planks on top of just one half of the staircase. As it was just me the narrower width was OK and I could take my time and didn’t need anything to secure the planks. That did mean I couldn’t use the top securing bale as another step up into the loft so after lifting 3 bales, all that there was space for above the staircase, I then had to go round and use the ladder. Thankfully there was just enough space still in the loft to store the bales that made up half the staircase.
And that just left the last 12 bales and there was just enough space on the side out of the way for them. So the hot weather should continue as I’m now ready for the baler
