overshot hay stacker pricelist

According to the dictionary, the jayhawk is a fictitious bird. But the Jayhawk at the Wykoff, Minn., home of Marv Grabau swoops through the air, bearing a 600-pound load of hay.

Marv’s Jayhawk is an overshot hay stacker, a piece of horse-drawn farm equipment patented in 1915. Manufactured by the F. Wyatt Mfg. Co. (which evolved into what is today the Hesston Corp.) in Salina, Kan., the long and leggy Jayhawk is a clutch-driven creature that stumps almost every onlooker. Measuring 12 feet wide, 30 feet long and 12 feet high with an 80-inch rear axle, the Jayhawk has a “head” (or “sweep”) originally used to lift hay into bins or cribs. “The head trips like a trip bucket on a tractor,” Marv says. “When it gets up so high, there’s a lever that dumps the load.” The sweep could hold approximately 600 pounds of loose hay as it swept overhead.

The Jayhawk dates to an era when cut hay was left in the fields, and later mounded for storage. “You had your hay windrowed with the old-fashioned dump rake,” Marv explains. “This sweep, or head, would push up, and when the sweep or head was full, you’d go over to a basket or crib – sometimes they had a crib, sometimes they didn’t – and stack it up inside. This particular stacker is 12 feet high, so you could get stacks of hay approximately 12 feet high. Then you’d pack it down and form a top on it like a bread loaf to help it shed water. You just kept moving around in the field, making these stacks until you were done.”

Last August, Marv loaded the stacker onto a trailer and hauled it to Spring Valley, Minn., for the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Fest tractor show. An unwieldy critter, the Jayhawk fought the process. “It took me three hours just to load it onto the trailer and tie it down, plus the hauling time to town,” Marv says. But it was worth the trouble. “The Jayhawk was the center of attention,” he recalls. “They had about 95 tractors there and 34 implements, and this one drew the most curiosity.

Although the Jayhawk is a deceptively simple conglomeration of steel and cables, chains and wood, Marv invested nearly 40 hours in its restoration. He had to find new rear wheels because the original ones had been removed to allow a tractor to push the stacker. “When they converted it for use with a tractor, it was just a convenience,” he says. “I don’t know if they hooked it to a loader-type tractor or not. A mechanical lift on the front of a tractor is like a fifth wheel on a truck. That’s why they had to get rid of the rear wheels.”

Marv used two tractors with trip buckets to hold the raised sweep up as he worked to loosen the gears. “I had no one to show me how,” he says, “so it was all experimental.” Replacing the 8-foot wood tines on the head involved study and patience, as well as a search for the metal “teeth” that cover the ends of the tines. “The teeth keep the head from digging into the ground and breaking the tines,” he says. “They’re factory metal.” When Marv got the stacker, it had just four tines on it. He needed eight more, and found exactly that number in Waverly, Iowa. The formidable-looking tines now stand supported by a hay bin Marv built to accompany the stacker in the field.

The Jayhawk’s glory days ended in the middle part of the last century when mechanized implements and changing haying methods made the hay stacker obsolete. “After the 1915 horse-drawn model,” Marv says, “it was called a ‘Stackhand’ farm stacker. It was the same as this, only it was self-propelled, more or less. The reason they didn’t (sell well in the north) was that the weather here is so humid that hay rots more easily, so it was better to have it in a hay mow.”

Hay loaders and balers served farmers in a slightly different capacity than the Jayhawk. “The hay loader was the other thing that would’ve come after the hay stacker,” Marv says. “I’ve got a dump rake and the old side-delivery rake here, and the horse mower. I have a chain of command of haying pieces.” Several other restoration projects await, but for now, Marv is simply pleased to be able to display his haying equipment, including the flightless Jayhawk.

TWIN FALLS • Remnants of old wooden haystackers still scatter the Magic Valley landscape. But many people today wouldn’t know one if they saw it in a field.

The most labor-intensive method was to hand pitch the loose hay to the top of the stack. Men would carry pitchforks full of hay to the top, climbing the stack as it grew.

An overshot hay stacker — sometimes called a jayhawk — held a 600-pound load of hay on a “sweep bucket” that would lift and dump the hay onto the stack. The most common method used locally was the gin pole stacker — which resembled a partially disassembled tepee — that would lift, swing and lower a load of hay into place on the stack.

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Sixth Annual Waikato Romney Fair.—February 15, 1945. 1147 MACHINERY Sc IMPLEMENTS FOR SALE FARM IMPLEMENTS.—Tractors, A.C., on rubber; another Wl2 on steel with mower. Hay Balers: 2 Boothmac No. 3, McCormick Overshot Stacker. Boothmac 4-Whel Sweep, Auto Sweeps, Tumbler Sweeps, Gate Sweeps; Massey Hay Loader; R/c. Mowers, Bamford, Case, Massey - Harris, Hercules; light and heavy Rakes; Federal 13 Star Topdresser; 2-Furrow Oliver Tractor Plough, Handle Ploughs, 2 Mac Ewan Hay Grabs. A. M. BISLEY & CO., LTD, Hamiltoo. DETROIT Tractor Mower for Fordson; Fordson Power Pulley; 12 x IBin. Blade Disc Harrows (new). Mowers: Frost & Wood. 0.8., £4O; Bamford 0.8., £35; Frost & Wood 1-Horse, £25; Massey - Harris 1-Horse. Sweeps. 4-Wheel Booth, £22/10/-; 4-Wheel 1.H.C., £22/10/-; Tumblers, £4/10/-; “Ideal” 1-Man Woolpress; 3 h.p. Anderson Engine; “Everlast” All-steel Farm Gates, any size. Ploughs: D.F.. M-11. Sulky, £lB/10/-; S.F. Light Swamp Lever; Konaki on mower -wheels, £lO/10/-; I.H.C. Overshot Stacker; Ist grade Posts. £2 8 per 100; 2nds, £lB/10/per 100; Skim Milk and Water Pumps; new 1/3 h.p. Electric Motors and all farm requirements. WE EXTEND TO ALL THE SEASON’S GREETINGS. Phone 2409, 4282; night 1439. WAIKATO MACHINERY EXCHANGE, Alexandra Street, HAMILTON. NEW & Reconaitionec Farm Machinery: Mowers: Massey 33 Ollbath; McCormick Big 0; Hornsby Oilbath; Bamford. Hay Rakes: Massey I.H.C. Tedders: BamTord. Hay Sweeps: Horse and Auto. Stackers: Giant Disc Harrows, Grass Harrows, including Tandem, Heavy Swamp Harrow"s, Ploughs (Shave, never, Handle, Swarnp, Hillside and Disc), 8.-Mac Windmill with tower, 4-Ton Tractor Trailer, Sledges and Tip Konakis, Cultivators & Moulders, Topdressers, Horwood Broadcasters, Spring Carts, Benzine Engines, Wool Chaffcutter, Trailers, Gates, Wheelbarrows, Pulleys, Shafting etc. We convert horsedrawn ploughs to tractor, with lift. 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D. and Bamford and Big 6. McC. D. Swinging Stacker. Sweeps: Tumbler and 2-horse wheeled. Disc Harrows: Evona and Steel Queen. Harrows: Chain and chain-and tripod. Ploughs: S. and D.F. BROWN’S MACHINERY, Kent Street (opp. Saleyards) FRANKTON. Phones: Day 2998, night 2104" WOODWORKING MACHINERY—For Planing Mills, Joinery Factories, Cabinetmakers, Furniture Manufacturers. Britain’s Leading Manufacturers, Thomas White & Sons, Limited, Paisley, Scotland, Oliver Machinery Co., Ltd, Manchester, England. Inquiries to sole New Zealand Agents: Geoffrey M. Shortt Limited, Tasman Buildings, Anzac Avenue, Auckland. Phone, 40-557. FARM Machinery: Nash Converted Tractor & Trailer; R. & G. d.f. Plough, Handle Ploughs; new and used Chain Harrows; 30 cwt Winch; 3-speed Pedestal Drill: 4 h.p. lowa Engine: 3-cyl. Pierce Butt. Marine Engine; 10 Chains Wire Rope; 4-ton Car Trailers, Tractor Trailers, Wood Press, Planet, Junior Cultivators, Rotary Vacuum Pump, Water Pumps.—Frankton Machinery Exchange. Kent St., near Salevards, Frankton. Phone 2995. Milking machine exchange Phone 4 417 WINTER SHOW BUILDINGS, HAMILTON (Robertson & Clark ). Reconditioned Milking Plants, RELEASER, PULSATORS, TEAT’ CUPS. Used Parts Bought or Exchanged. THE HOME OF FINE VINTAGES WELDING MACHINES *" Electric Arc. Large stocks available for immediate delivery. Complete range from Small Workshop Model of on Amp. to Large Engineering Models or 350 Amp. Designed and built by: G. R. YOUNG & CO. (N.Z.), 363 Queen Street. ONEHUNGA, Auckland. Write for Free Specifications and Pricelist Catalogue. HAMILTON VACCINE FOR MAMMITIS Whole Herd Policy of Four Inoculations: Vaccine costs 2/- per cow. P.O. Box- 181, HAMILTON. Fred Pratt, Manager. PHONE 3268. SPECIFY riTw^o best ~ Rubber**^

Good friends of my family who used to milk cows also put up hay in stacks. He is a "red man" so he had an International stacker and stack mover. In addition to putting up alfalfa hay, they used to also put up corn stalks into stacks.

While I don"t have any data to back this up, it seemed to me loaf stackers became popular in the earlier part of 1970s as a less labor intensive way to put up hay. Then, once large round balers became more widespread in the later 1970s and into 1980s, fewer and fewer farmers put up hay in stacks.

I know my dad had a New Holland small square baler and in "77/"78 he bought his first round baler, a Gehl, so we never put up any hay in loaf form. Our haying equipment lineup over the years included two New Holland small square balers, four Gehl round balers and now a John Deere round baler, but never a hay stacker.

On the plus side, I would guess you would be putting up fewer stacks compared to the equivalent number of large bales as the stacks are larger than bales. While you would need to buy both a stacker and a stack mover, maybe you become more efficient moving hay if you don"t have that far to move the stacks.

As far as disadvantages, I kind of touched on a couple points already. You need both a stacker and a mover and if you have to go long distances hauling the stacks this perhaps limits your efficiency compared to loading bales on a trailer being pull by a truck.

I also wonder how loaf stacks stand up to summer rains and winter snows compared to bales of hay. I know stackers pack the hay, but is it at the same pressure density as a baler would?

Do you have experience putting hay with a loaf stacker, whether it be 40 years or four days ago? Drop me a line, I would love to hear your stories about haying with this rapidly disappearing method.

1913DavidsonAg. Engin. 269, Field hay stackers are divided into two classes, the plain overshot and the swinging stacker. The first has a row of teeth, corresponding to the teeth of the sweep rake, on the end of long arms hinged near the ground. The hay is left upon these teeth by backing away the sweep rake. By means of a rope and pulleys the teeth are raised to a vertical position and the load of hay allowed to slide back onto the stack.1919U.S. Dept. Ag.Farmers’ Bulletin 1009.4, The overshot stacker . . is so called because the hay is carried up and over the stacker frame and delivered at one point on the stack.Ibid 5, The “overshot” stacker is in general use in the Middle West, and can be used for large or small stacks.[1929AmSp 5.56 NE [Cattle country talk], The “stacker” might be of the “over-shot” variety which shoots rather than piles the hay into stacks: the “stack-horse” (or horses) pulls, and an enormous wooden fork “shoots” the hay up.]1958AmSp 33.271 eWA [Ranching terms], Overshot stacker. A fork-like arrangement, used in conjunction with a buck rake, which throws the hay backward onto the stack.1975Independent–Rec. (Helena MT) 5 Oct 15/1, [Caption:] The arm of the overshot stacker worked like a big catapult to toss hay onto the stack. This picture shows a horse-powered overshot stacker being used.1984DoigEnglish Creek 223 nMT, An overshot stacker worked as its name suggests, tossing a load of hay up over a high wide framework which served as a sort of scaffolding for the front of the haystack.1986KlinkenborgMaking Hay 25 wMT, A hundred and fifty horses . . [were] used to pull Case or McCormick and Deering mowers or push buckrakes or draw haywagons or work the Mormon derricks or overshot stackers or beaverslides.