Is it possible to bale hay by hand - YES!

Did the engine sit sideways? IF so, it might have been like mine a 140 W Case, made in the 50s.

Grandpa proved it too, back in the 50's. He cut it with a scythe, raked it up, carried it to the barn, and "baled" it a giant gunny sack that Grandma made on her treadle sewing machine. He stuffed the hay in, and Grandma stomped it down inside the bag. That didn't last long, though. Even wearing her long cotton hosiery stockings, the hay scratched her legs too much......

But you have made a nice beginning effort with your box. Now, as others have suggested, if you can improve the process of both growing and storing your hay, you'll have learned lots of useful stuff for your homesteading future. You're on your way.

geo

I have about 2.5 acres that is fescue, orchard grass, clover and a grass I have not been able to id. If I cut it with a high wheel trimmer wait a day then rake it, turn it the next day then put it in the corner of the shed would it do okay as hay? I would just be feeding 2-3 goats.

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Dorothy Kaye Collins

oughta do just ducky

Isnt all this work , why our ancestors just put loose hay into the hay loft? What do you gain except maybe an economy of space?

your baler looks suprisingly similar to the hand powered pine straw baler here

http://essmextension.tamu.edu/pinestraw/baling.html

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Zone 7B / 8A

lotsa people, like me, don't have barns, or don't have big barns.

As long as it is nice and dry when you carry it in, and you put it on pallets to keep it off the ground, it should be fine. With large mows of hay you start stacking on the dirt and you may find the bottom tier of bales is not so good when you take the bales out later on, but the bottom tier keeps the hay on top in good shape. With a small amount of hay you can't afford to lose any of it so you need to keep it off of the ground.

Edit to add to original poster: I think it's great that you did it by hand. Crazy, but great. My dad grew a half acre of wheat one year just to show us kids how they used to stook grain. How you took the individual sheaves and tie them up with twists of straw and set them up in stooks. It was something to see. Wish I could remember it all now, I just remember him manipulating the sheaves to tie the knot but don't actually know how he did the twist anymore.

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-Northern NYS

That old homesteading calculus comes into effect.... You either have lots of time and no money, or lots of money and no time....

I'd rather work an hour or two and buy a lot of hay, instead of engage in hard physical labor for days, to get the same final product, done by hand.

Of course, the best of all worlds is to get your neighbor to cut it, and get a share of it.... without any input at all.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming