Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Talk to me about Hay Bale Spears

I'm in need of a hay bale spear/fork to fit a John Deere 521 Quick Attach loader. I want the two tine fork style, not the single tine spear style.

It's looking like the John Deere branded one are going for 6-700 dollars. I ain't paying that much that's for sure. I can order a Titan Distributors spear for $350 and free shipping. Anyone have experience with that brand?

Where else should I be looking? The used market is pretty slim pickings around here.

The Titan

Round bale spear === Kentucky phallic symbol.....

Sorry....that's all I got.....

We've got an FFC with Alö mounts and no complaints. Ours is on a much larger tractor. They're really pretty simple and if used as intended, I don't see you wrecking it.

You don't need all those tines.
They will actually make it harder to enter the bales

I bought a single tine spear for less than $50 at TSC because it had been there so long.

It was marked down from $299

^^^x1

One long tine and one short tine.

Craigslist is your friend for used implements

Sent you a PM

Unless you are trying to get two bales on the forks at once, I would go with the single long tine with the little short sticker that keeps the bale from spinning. Very easy to use.

We have used the TSC 3-point hitch ball fork on some very big tractors to carry two bales at once. They work fine for years at a time.

Just don't stick any of them in the ground while picking bales out of the ditch. They break the welds doing that.

Depends if you are picking up round bales or big squares. If big squares , 3x3 or 4x4, you need at least two spears or you will constantly have one side dipped down.If you are only lifting 3x3x8 bales and not 4x's, make sure you get the 3 ft spears,or you will constantly be digging into the next bale

The trouble with John Deeres is you have to buy those John Deere implements for the loaders. Kabotas take any Universal skid steere implement.

Another option if you already have something that can be added to,you can buy just the spears and weld on the tapered receiver to it.Tractor Supply, or a rural True Value will carry them. Then you just put the spears on when you need them. I think they only run a couple hundred bucks.You are paying for the heat treating as they are not just mild steel spikes

Make sure you loader lift can handle the weight capacity

I use a bale spear on my Bobcat skidsteer. It is a Titan and has held up just fine for two years. I have one spear and below it to each side are two short spears to keep the round bales from turning.

Round bales will only turn once as soon as you pick them up, so I don't see why some think it's a problem.

I try to spear them in the center, but if you spear them a little off-center towards the high side, they won't be likely to spin much anyway.

The bobcat is just tall enough to load the second layer of bales on the trailer so I spear them about six inches below the center and the two small spears keep them right where I want them and give me about a foot more lift than if I go 6" on the high side of center.

I bought a spear that attaches to my bucket. 1 long spear, 2 short ones. Slips over the lip of the bucket and a chain wraps around the bucket to hold it in place. Simple and cheap and effective.

Where did you find that? I have a homemade set of forks for my three-point and would like to lift them with a set of forks without having to remove my bucket.

Ed

I bought one of those recently.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JLWFQ0C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Had a client with 100 4x8 round bales he needed stacked in rows and get them out of the field.

Put this spear on my 45hp tractor and went to move the bales.

Speared the first one and had hell lifting it. But, it lifted, and off to the fence line I went. The pitch of the bucket was lowering as I was moving. I went to raise the tilt, and POW! Blew the hydraulic line controlling tilt on the bucket.

When that assy. is at the end of the bucket, that weight has a LOT of leverage on the tilt. It sticks WAY out there, as opposed to a bucket full of material.

It will also fit on my 100hp tractor. May work better on that one.

I believe I bought it at our local farmhand store.

If you like, I can text a pic to anyone interested. Not too much to it and how it attaches.