I recently drove through the Avon Valley on my way from Flathead Lake to Elliston, and was very interested to see that folks there still put up hay in stacks, unbaled, and they use a very interesting contraption called a beaverslide to do it. A friend told me it was usually done with a team (horses or mules), but some people have modified it to use a car engine instead. It sounds like a very useful and interesting piece of appropriate farming technology, as well as being local, but unfortunately I had used up all my camera memory at the Sepp thing, so was unable to take any pictures while I was there. I was wondering if, now that haying season is here, someone in the Missoula or surrounding area could go to the Avon Valley and take a video to share with the rest of us permies of ranchers building the haystacks using the beaverslides. It's not that far from Missoula by Montana standards, and I think it a lot of folks would find it interesting.
I think it depends on slope...the beaverslide is not the issue, in fact, if you were to have a nice large slope facing south, and built a pier off the top of it...dump the hay into a cage below it..you don't need the beaverslide...truthfully though I think I prefer a hayloader or similar..not as big, not as hard to take down the road to the neighbors.....
Now what would be a cool toy, is a hayloader that empties into a pike basket..a cone cage with a wooden spike up the middle..pack the hay in..flip the cage...instant haystack...
That would be a very efficient way to do it. I'm always looking for alternative ways to make and store hay, as the usual are so fossil fuel intensive.
What I was wondering about the slope was how easy it would be for the teams to gather the hay, since they appear to be pushing, rather then pulling, the hayrake.
I really don't know how well it would work...since I make all my hay by hand, I really need to build myself a scoop rake that i can push along to gather a windrow...think of the same thing but with me pushing...I don't have many animals..so it is the best use of my $$ to do it that way..
I bale by hand too..need to build a better baler...going to put one of Tiller's int. models together...hopefully soon...
We have pictures of my dad haying this way back in his day with horses .I have to admit I was happy when we stopped doing the loose hay this way and had the tractor,,LOL,
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