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Nashville, TN

The hubby is eyeballing yet another decent-sized expendature on his New Holland and/or our tractor... His excuse is (of course) the increasing size and health of my 'Crazy pumpkin patch' - as well as the sheer amount of Horse Boarders that our farm has obtained...

Since we need over 200 rolls of hay - stacked in a pyramid 3 high and covered in the giant tarp..... And the Hubby is scared that I may have pumkpin in excess of 300lbs this year..... He wants to buy some forks to install either on the New Hollands bucket or a seperate hydrolic 'fork lift' .... or on the front of the tractor - hydrolic 'flat hay fork'..

If we go with the kits that go into the bucket of the New Holland... Should we go with the Clamp-on or the Bolt-on? Or would the seperate hydrolic fork lift be a better attachment?

Hubby swears the New Holland can lift more than a hydrolic lift on the front of a tractor.. Don't know if it's true..

6/30/2006 2:08:50 PM

Benton Ky

That depends on the size of each machine. Does the tractor already have a bucket attachment on it? If not I think that would just be extra expense . A typical roll of hay will weigh around 1500 lbs some more some less. I would want the bolt on forks my self. I have seen forks attached to backhoe front bucket that actually had a piece of metal welded to the bucket. The forks had a notch and when under a load were locked on by the weight of the load. A 580 k case backhoe will lift around 3000 lbs with the fork attachment.

6/30/2006 2:48:16 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

For the larger rolls of hay you need a spear. Forks will allow the bale to roll, which creates a large problem when you have a 800 or 2000lbs bale start rolling. As far as the pumpkins go how about a 3 point boom.

6/30/2006 3:41:34 PM

[email protected]

I'm with Shannon on the spear for the hay rolls. Cheaper than forks & the best way to move them.

For a 300 pounder all you need is a couple good backs.

It wouldn't surpise me that the New Holland might lift more. Is it a skid steer?

I tried using the fork attachment on my friends L36 Kubota at our weigh-off last year. This is the type of fork set that replaces the bucket. The really bad ones just clip onto the bucket which is a real sloppy & poor lifting device.

The hydraulics had trouble with every fruit over 900 lbs. But the biggest issue became evident after I lifted the 1100 pounders. Both front tires were flat & the rims were destroyed since I had no choice but to keep lifting & moving pumpkins.

For a weigh-off a real forklift is the only way.

6/30/2006 7:11:00 PM

So. Maine

My brother in law has a New Holland skid steer ( model 785 ) and that has 2 levers that clamp down for the bucket or fork lift attachment, works very good. He lets me use it when I need it, also had no problem lifting my 978 pounder 3 years ago.

6/30/2006 9:54:02 PM

Nashville, TN

Yes, it's a skid loader.. We're not interested in buying a second spear - since Danny's afraid I'll keep growing these GPs bigger and bigger (He's got a bad back already..)... And he doesn't want to purchase two different things for rolls then GPs!! We just need the forks to stack the rolls up high - and load the GPs into the truck...

Currently, One of our primary round bail suppliers brings over a 70hp tracter with hydrolic forks on the front - and stacks them in the pyramid.. For a fee of course **grin** He's never had a problem.

Where's a good supplier at a reasonable price?

7/1/2006 6:58:16 AM