Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Archives…

Hay Wagon

February 17, 2013

Alayne took these photos this afternoon as I was coming back from the hay barn with the daily load on the utility vehicle, a Kubota RTV we've had for several years. It's a tough little machine that can actually carry a half-ton — that's 1,000 pounds — in the bed of the vehicle, or as much as a Ford F-150.

Although I don't have a half-ton of hay on there, Alayne was impressed with how many hay bales I manage to stuff into the vehicle every day. Here's another view … and you can see the roof of the hay barn at the top of the hill on the left:

My normal load is 17 bales, but I threw an extra one on top today just to show off for the photo and make it No. 18!

Interestingly, back in Montana those hay bales would have weighed 70 to 75 pounds; here in New England hay bales are made to weigh a lot less — about 35 pounds. So a Montana load would have more than met the half-ton capacity of the RTV. With these much lighter New England bales I had plenty of weight capacity to spare — just not any more room.

Alayne and I got used to lifting and throwing 70 lb bales, which we did for a decade, but I must admit we enjoy the much lighter bales. We obviously have to move more of them to make up the difference in feed, but our bodies think it's a good trade-off!

—

New Shelter Challenge Contest — Please Vote for the Farm!

The latest Shelter Challenge started Monday, January 7 and ends on April 28. Grand prize in this round is $10,000, $3,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place, plus $1,000 for weekly winners and $1,000 for state winners. There are also other categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.

*** You will find us listed as Rolling Dog Farm. The state is NH for New Hampshire. ***

Please remember, you can vote every day … consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

We just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last contest, and thousands more in the previous contests. The Shelter Challenge really does bring in a lot of money for the animals here!

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Thank you for your votes!

Posted in Uncategorized

6 responses to “Hay Wagon”

Anne in FL

February 17, 2013

Is that the same Kubota Madison loved to ride with you in? Very efficient.

LikeLike

Reply
Barb Ribinski

February 18, 2013

That’s certainly a neat little vehicle. I bet it’s used for a lot of chores. Has it been warm enough for any of your snow to melt? Looks like there’s a lot left. Also, have Bentley and Scamp been to the eye doctor yet? I think I remember they were both scheduled for a checkup. How are the new guys doing? We know that Scamp is clean and groomed and looking wonderful, but I was wondering how they are doing physically. Thanks.

LikeLike

Reply
Shirley * James/Portland, OR

February 18, 2013

You are both such work horses! Thanks for all you do for the rescue animals! You inspire us all!

LikeLike

Reply
Linda Murphy

February 18, 2013

HEY! I mean, hay…..work work work!!!

LikeLike

Reply
Shirley and dachshunds Sunnie & Dieter

February 18, 2013

We ‘city folk’ are so jealous of all of your fun vehicles and quite impressed with your prowess with all of them. You all work so very hard for yourselves and for the animals and I, for, one, am so impressed!

LikeLike

Reply
Tonya Allen

February 18, 2013

I’m very impressed with your bale-throwing achievements. I always wondered why the heck they made them so heavy, but I didn’t realize that some places make them a lot heavier than others!

LikeLike

Reply