overshot hay stacker in stock

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.

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.

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.

An alternate system my father developed for use building stacks on a farm in Grand Forks County, North Dakota, employed a hydraulic hay stacker mounted on a tractor (in our case, a 1941 John Deere A).

On a fine summer day more than 165 years ago, a rancher in the Flint Hills of Kansas hitched a team to an overshot hay stacker and, with his hired men, went to work stacking hay.

I thought I should thank everyone for responding to my letter (Farm Collector, July 2002) concerning a hay stacker. I received one letter and two phone calls.

In 1900 the company was moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, where Dain produced harvesting equipment including sickle mowers, hay loaders, hay stackers and side-delivery rakes, as well as other pieces of farm equipment such as pump jacks, farm mixers, feed mills, corn cutters and hay presses.

RMHF5GT7–Barn and hay derrick on a farm in Idaho. The hay derrick, also known as a Mormon derrick, was commonly used throughout the Rocky mountain region for

RMP3JM96–"Beaverslide" stacker. The "beaverslide" was patented as the "Sunny Slope Slide Stacker" in 1909. It was a big improvement in hay handling and stacks

RM2DANT23–An old engraving of farm machinery being powered by a horse. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. Here the horse is circling around a wooden wheel that is connected with gears to a belt drive at the base of a straw stacker. This machine lifts the hay or straw up a ramp to the top of a haystack. An animal engine is a machine powered by an animal. Horses, donkeys, oxen, dogs, and humans have all been used in this way.

RM2AN6A96–Knight"s American mechanical dictionary : a description of tools, instruments, machines, processes and engineering, history of inventions, general technological vocabulary ; and digest of mechanical appliances in science and the arts . Hay- Stacker. Hay-tedder. (Husbandrij.) A machine toscatter hay to the sun and air. The hay-tedderwas invented about 1800 by Salmon of Wobum,England, and is more useful iu the humid climateof that country than in the United States. Jt con-sists of a pair of wheels supporting a reel consisting Fig. 2460.. Hay- Tedder. of an open cylindrical frame, foi-med byceedi

RM2M593MH–New Hay Sweep and Stacker. 1926 - 1956. Central Plains Region (Kansas City, MO). Photographic Print. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Pierre Agency. 1954-1972. Decimal Correspondence

RM2ABXNP6–AN IMPROVED HAY STACKER AND BUILDERS" DERRICK. IMPROVED HAY STACKER AND BUILDERS" DERRICK. earresponaence. A Universal Language. Award of the Nobel Prizes., scientific american, 1901-12-21

RM2ABWT94–RECENT INVENTIONS. Combined Whip and Cane. Combined Rowel and Croze. Bed-Clothes Fastener. Hay Stacker. Comparison of English and American Railway Cars. Great Gold Bars. Dress Form., scientific american, 1882-12-09

RMPFKDWN–. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. ^.^*^A h I I ji".^^^ Fig. 281. stacking alfalfa in tlie West with the alfalfa-stacker. ing effect as fertilizer and renovator, it is rated as either the hand by far the most desirable forage plant in cultiva- tion. In California and elsewhere it has produced in a season, under the most favorable conditions, when irrigated, six to nine cuttings, and in Okla- homa, without irrigation, has yielded nine cuttings, averaging one and one-half tons per acre of cured hay. The hay is a large factor in live-stock-rais- ing, and it is coming to b

RMRFNY6D–. Catalogue of seeds for farm and garden. Vegetables Seeds Catalogs; Fruit Catalogs; Gardening Equipment and supplies Catalogs; Commercial catalogs Missouri Kansas City; Vegetables; Fruit; Gardening; Commercial catalogs. 64 TRUMBULL SEED CO. Dain Automatic Stacker. Advantages of the Dain Automatic Hay Stacker Over All Others. It is the only Stacker operated and moved on an ordinary farm wagon, no time lost setting, unloading and leveling the ground. No weights, springs, complicated levers or rollers.* The only Stacker operated suc- cessfully in windy weather, FACTS FULLY DEMONSTRATED. Over 50

RM2ABX740–CARPENTER"S VEHICLE WHEEL. 4 41. AN IMPROVED HAY STACKER. A DOUBLE COMBINATION LOCK. A SAFETY DEVICE FOR INCLINED ROADS. MACHIN"S HAY STACKER. FARNSWORTHI COMBINATION LOCK Fig. 1., scientific american, 1891-03-21

RM2ABX9WP–A ROTARY WATER METER. WOOLLENS" METER FOR IRRIGATION DITCHES. ARTISTIC AND COMFORTABLE FURNITURE. Photographic Properties of Cerium Salts. AN IMPROVED HAY STACKER. ALLEN"S HAY STACKER. For Closing Milk Bottles Air "Fight. ARTISTIC AND COMFORTABLE FURNITURE., scientific american, 1893-05-27

RMRH878Y–. Breeder and sportsman. Horses. Jackson"s Improved "Eclipse" Hay Stacker and Loader. Mounted on Wheels. Weight, i,5«0 lbs. Price, si 00. Rakes are $5U each. This is my standard stacker, and is, I think, an improvement on all others, as it is lighter, stronger, and dumps the hay at any desired height, instead of carrying it all np over itself, without regard to height of stjack. This latter point is quite important in stacking in windy weather, as with the "Eclipse" the hay is only raised as high as necessary to dump it on the stack, and is not scattered by the wind. The up

RM2ABXHPC–230 A NEW HAY-STACKER. THE BUNDY ACETYLENE GAS LAMP. BUNDY ACETYLENE BICYCLE LAMP. frientific AInerican. I. Paris Exposition Appropriations. BUNDY ACETYLENE HAND LANTERN. A CHEAP FORM OF AIR-BATH. BY PROF. RICHARD K. MEADE., scientific american, 1899-04-15

RMRH879G–. Breeder and sportsman. Horses. 244 lite §.tteete una M>pmtetwm. April 13 625-631 Sixth Street,} SAN FRANCISCO. BYRON JACKSON S149--169Bluxome St., I SAN FRANCISCO. "Eclipse" Hay Stackers, "Acme" Hay Rakes and Bucks, IRRIGATING & HARVESTING MACHINERY, ENGINES, BOILERS, PUMPS.. Jackson"s Improved "Eclipse" Hay Stacker and Loader. Mounted on Wheels. Weight, i,5«0 lbs. Price, si 00. Rakes are $5U each. This is my standard stacker, and is, I think, an improvement on all others, as it is lighter, stronger, and dumps the hay at any desired height, instead of car

RM2ABX0J3–IMPROVED TUBE CUTTER. HAY STACKER. SOSEBIAN"S HAY STACKER. ICE CUTTING MACHINE. ELLIOTT PAGE & LEWIS" ICE CUTTING MACHINE. Care of the Hands. PLUMBER"S FURNACE. CLEGG"S PLUMBER"S FURNACE. s. To Clean the Hands. FEED MECHANISM FOR SHINGLE MACHINES. PURVES" FEED MECHANISM FOR SHINGLE MACHINES. MINEO"S IMPROVED TUBE CUTTER., scientific american, 1886-05-22

RM2AG3421–. The story of agriculture in the United States. feed the many thousands of horsesand mules used in the cavalry and transportation servicesof the army. The revolving horse-rake had come intouse before the War; but a much greater improvementwas the spring-tooth sulky rake. With this, a boy anda horse could do the work of many men. But the hay had still to be cocked and stacked byhand. The side-dehvery rake and the hay loader andhay stacker have completed the apphcation of machineryto this branch of farm work. Meanwhile, the hay forkand carrier have come into use and another hard and disagreeabl

RM2ABX4PD–Harvester stalk fodder H. F. Longworth Jr 404044 Hat A. H. Fritsch 410.934 Hay fork C. E. Patric 404107 Hay loader A. Lasack. 404096 Hay stacker "I". H. Palm 406.222 Headgear device for holding D. M. Fuller. 404081 Heater. See Car heater. Heating furnace T. Kruse 404006 Heating furnace for steam boilers C. S. Servoss 404.6 Hedge. P. M. Mishier . . 404949 Hinge. L. K. Smedes 404313 Hoe scuffle C. H. Bill 404156 Holdback vehicle R. F. Dulany 404035 Holder. See Blank holder. Harrow tooth holder Lamp shade holder. Pen holder. Vessel holder. Hook. See Lock hook

RM2ABX8W8–BUILDING EDITION. JULY NUDIBER.-(No. 810 "oiriesis =lb Wersonat. TO INVENTORS. INDEX OF INVENTIONS For which Letters Patent of the United States were Granted July 19 1892 AND EACH BEARING THAT DATE. Hay stacker P. Bernard 478979 4 4, scientific american, 1892-07-30

RM2AKH9PE–Soil culture and modern farm methods . any with a tractor and gangs). The time and costof making and storing hay is reduced three hundred per cent throughthe efficacy of the mower, loader, stacker and baler. The modemgrain drill is indispensable and many other tools and appliancescosting thousands of dollars are regarded as indispensable. Theelevated water tank at the barn, the gasoline engine to grind feed andshell corn save time and labor. But, how about the home, the housewife and the children? Is theequipment of the farm home in keeping with the farm? Does thehousewife enjoy the modern con

RM2ABXHDR–PHYSICAL AND SCHOOL APPARATUS INDUCTION ROCK DRILLS AIR COMPRESSORS SIMPLEST. MOST EFFICIENT and DURABLE. (RAND DRILL CO.) NICKEL AND Electro- Plating Hanson & VanWinkle If you want the best CHUCKS buy Westcott"s Westcott Chuck Co. Oneida N. Y. U. S. A. BARNES" New Friction Disk Drill. FOR LIGHT WORK. Hay stacker. W. H. Ney 618.623.ter. See BMW° baster., scientific american, 1899-01-11

RM2ABX357–BENEDICT"S COLLAR OR CUFF BUTTON OR STUD. A DEVICE FOR UNLOADING AND STACKING HAY. HOYT"S HAY UNLOADER AND STACKER. AN IMPROVED COLLAR OR CUFF BUTTON. AN IMPROVED GATE SPRING. CLOTJGH"S GATE SPRING. Apantlesis. AN IMPROVED BRAKE BLOCK FOR VEHICLES. POSSON"S BRAKE BLOCK. An Ingenious Experiment. AN IMPROVED STAND FOR DISPLAYING GOODS. MAXSON"S STAND FOR DISPLAYING GOODS., scientific american, 88-03-17

RM2AKMA6Y–Popular science monthly . used, the blade frequently clogged itself.The hay was raked by the samemethod. In the fall the automobile wasused to run a stacker. The lift rope ofthe stacker was attached to the frontaxle of the car and when the operatordesired to raise the load of hay he wouldback the automobile until the stackerhad cleared itself. Then it would belowered by reversing the machine, let-ting it down gently, whereas horseswould jerk the stacker and let it downabruptly, with a bump. The Reinforced Concrete Principle Ap-plied to Automobile TiresANEW tire has been patented whichcombines

RM2AX5JR1–Farm crops, their cultivation and management, a non-technical manual for the cultivation, management and improvement of farm crops . Combined Sweep Rake and Stacker. ^ MEADOW AND PASTURE GRASSES 97 TIMOTHY Timothy is the most important and the most extensively grown ofany of the meadow grasses in North America. It is the standard grassfor hay purposes and finds a ready sale in all of the hay markets. Soil and Climatic Adaptation.—Timothy is a northern grass andseldom does well in North America south of latitude 36 degrees, exceptingin high elevations. Cool, moist weather during the early part

RM2AX7YJD–Successful farming : a ready reference on all phases of agriculture for farmers of the United States and Canada . Combined Sweep Rake and Stacker.1 MEADOW AND PASTURE GRASSES 235 TIMOTHY Timothy is the most important and the most extensively grown ofany of the meadow grasses in North America. It is the standard grassfor hay purposes and finds a ready sale in all of the hay markets. Soil and Climatic Adaptation.—Timothy is a northern grass andseldom does well in North America south of latitude 36 degrees, exceptingin high elevations. Cool, moist weather during the early part of thegrowing seaso

RM2AFRG8R–. Western agriculture. MACHINERY FOR HEEDING AND HARVESTING 175 part of the stack in a short interval of time and raise the hayto a height of from twenty to thirty-five feet. The hayforkor nets and wagon with a hay loader are used successfully incase there is a long haul. Where the hay is stacked in thefield the sweep rakes and swinging stacker make a good com-bination. The latter method seems to afford the most rapidmethod of putting up hay.. Figure 58.—Threshing machine. Wagons. The wagon is the most universally used im-plement on the farm. On account of this fact, perhaps,there are more sty

RM2AJAGP6–The model farms and their methods : giving the experiences of over one hundred successful farmers in the various branches of husbandry in different portions of the country; stock raising; fruit growing; dairying; title drainage; cost and profits of mixed husbandry, etc With over one hundred illustrations and plans of buildings . hay in a dayas these two rakes will carry to the stacker, which will varyfrom forty to sixty tons. LITTLE GIANT STACKER. This consists of the foundation A H in the drawing, whichis fourteen feet long and eight feet wide. The two uprightsC D, are fourteen feet high ; an

RMRGAGMJ–. Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. Fig. 35.—Stacking alfalfa hay, showing the side-swing type of stacker. special-type drop-side wagons so that they go direct into the car. This saves the labor of shoveling. Where the beets are not dumped the company receives them at the loading station and requires the farmer to shovel them into piles on the ground. Beets are delivered as they are harvested. To market potatoes it is necessary that they be sorted, graded, and sacked. This is done by running them over a screen and picking. Fig. 36.—Stacking alfalfa hay,

RMRGAGNB–. Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. GROWING FIELD CROPS IN SUGAR-BEET DISTRICTS. 41 station, where they are either dumped or shoveled off the wagon. On an average, for the Greeley district the farmer hauled his beets 1.54 miles. Where cars are available and the yards at the factory are of sufficient capacity to receive the beets, they are dumped from. Fig. 35.—Stacking alfalfa hay, showing the side-swing type of stacker. special-type drop-side wagons so that they go direct into the car. This saves the labor of shoveling. Where the beets are not dumped th

RMRFNY6W–. Catalogue of seeds for farm and garden. Vegetables Seeds Catalogs; Fruit Catalogs; Gardening Equipment and supplies Catalogs; Commercial catalogs Missouri Kansas City; Vegetables; Fruit; Gardening; Commercial catalogs. HAY STACKERS i and rakes. tub Dain Junior Hay NEW, NOVEL AND COMPLETE. Stacker. Strong, Durable and Easily Operated.. IN POSITION FOR STACKING. Will Build ii Hick 25 Feet High When Completed. Extreme Sim- plicity. Nothing on Earth Like It. It is the only Stacker made except the Dain Automatic that will deliver the hay into the center of the stack from top to bottom. With this

Ask any farmer/rancher over the age of fifty, what they believe is the biggest change in their operation during their lifetime, and they will likely say, “The method of putting up hay.” Harvesting corn is often mentioned; however, both comments will be followed by, “It used to be a lot of work.”

In the tri-state region, hay has been a prominent factor in most livestock operations from the time the area was homesteaded. At the end of the open range days, the region was known for not only its grazing characteristics, but the excellent grasses suitable for preservation. Because of weather conditions, it became apparent that the grasses needed to be preserved for livestock feed, especially during the winter. With the homesteader came the primitive methods of harvesting and preserving hay. The process started with cutting the hay by hand with sickles and scythes and bunching it, by hand, into small stacks. There were many attempts to improve on this method. Primitive cutting devices (mowers) were developed, as were rakes, sweeps and stackers, which all required work horses and mules to operate, and were extremely labor intensive.

One invention was made by Lige Hollenbeck. He patented several things, such as an elevator grader, a silo lifter, and a bee tomper. While spending a summer helping his brother Earl put up hay in the Nebraska Sandhills, Earl had fixed up a makeshift hay sled by taking cottonwood logs and putting planks on them, then with the use of a stacker rope, cabled hay on it when snow was on and fed cattle that way. Earl said, “By gosh, if I could just figure out a steering apparatus on it, I’d get the old chassis of a grain separator and underslung and make me a hay wagon.” Lige said, “That wouldn’t be very hard to do,” so on a rainy day he went to the shop and with the use of tin snips, tin, wire, and some little wheels off some toys made a steering apparatus, and with that model, began making hay wagons, setting up a plant at Long Pine, Nebraska. Many ranches in the tri-state ranching area benefited from Lige’s “Hollenbeck Hay Sled.” Elijah (Lige) died in 1945 at the age of 74, and at the time of his death was still making and selling those sleds, according to his book, Memories of a Sandhills Pioneer.

Although many early day ranchers made hay stacks by hand, they soon began using cages filled by a giant fork pulled by horses. The most popular types were the slide stacker and the overshot stacker, although these contraptions also required a number of hardy workers, especially those that “topped” the stacks by using a pitchfork to round off the tops of the giant stacks so as to better shed water. Various inventions were created in an attempt to improve on these stackers, like the “Jay Hawk,” which was invented by a Kansas Farmer. The Jay Hawk was of a simpler design, but quite awkward to operate, thus not as prevalent in our area. In the 1940s, when tractors began appearing in hay fields, the method of stacking hay remained the same, with the exception of tractors replacing horses. After World War II, military-surplus Jeeps also appeared in hay fields, pulling rakes.

According to Todd County Rancher, Glen Huddle, horses were the primary source of power in the family ranch hay field. “When I grew up, we were still using horses. I went to the service in 1951, and when I came back, dad had got a couple tractors and farmhands, but we still used the slide stacker and round cage.” Huddle said, “Those old timers would not believe how haying has changed today.”

Undoubtedly, the biggest change has been in the invention and use of the big round baler. In 1936, a man named Innes of Davenport, Iowa, invented an automatic square baler for hay, pointing the way to a round baler that became somewhat popular in the 1940s. Both balers did not work that well, according to “A Brief History of Twine”. In the late 1960s a Pella, Iowa farmer told Gary Vermeer that the process of making hay had him on the verge of leaving the cattle business. That tempted Gary to begin designing a “one-person hay system,” a baler that a single person could operate and one that opened a whole new level of productivity in the field. The introduction of the Vermeer round baler in 1971 has had a major influence on how cattle producers now harvest hay. Without a doubt, the invention of the big round baler has shaped the industry that feeds and fuels the world.