How many bales of hay can you get in a pick-up truck?

[cfarmher]

No, thats not the first line of a joke.

We are buying hay tonight and I would like an idea of how much we can get on the back of our pick-up (its a standard bed). They are regular square bales.
How high can we stack them? We need to bring rope, right?

Please help me to not look too ignorant to the hay man.

[moosemaniac]

I have a cap on my truck and I can fit about 15, depending on how I pack 'em. Without a cap, I'd use a rope and maybe a tarp to keep 'em in. Then you should be able to get in a bunch more.

Ruth

[Irish Pixie]

We can get 54 on our long bed truck- but that's only going a couple of miles from the field to the barn.

Stacy

[moosemaniac]

Originally Posted by KincoraFarm

We can get 54 on our long bed truck- but that's only going a couple of miles from the field to the barn.

Stacy

Dang, Stacy. That cap has to come off!

Ruth

[boren]

I suspect you can probably stack them higher than what the truck can really carry. I've put 30 bales easily into our trailer, assume light bales that's 50*30 = 1500lbs. If it's a 1/4 ton pickup you're carrying a lot of weight. Now assume they are 75lbs each...and you're up to 2250lbs. Watch your load and watch your speed. One extra trip isn't worth bending the bed out of shape.

[Irish Pixie]

The truck we used last year was 3/4 ton, so the weight of 54 bales wasn't a huge deal. This year we have a 1/2 ton so we'll probably lighten the load.

Ruth, DH is insane when loading hay...it makes me very nervous having hay stacked that high. Oh, and according to DH only sissies use tarps and ropes...again the man is insane during haying season.

Stacy

[justgojumpit]

Depends on the size of the bale! Even small quare bales vary wildly in size and weight.

justgojumpit

[rich2748]

We get 20 in the back of an F150 and hauled 20 miles with no problem. If you have a short distance to go and not many starts and stops or if you have sides on the truck you could get more. If you tie them you could get more too.

[Lancelotacres]

All depends on how you stack them. I get 41 in a standard 8 foot bed with the tailgate down. 11 on their side in bottom of bed, 12 on second row, 12 on third row, and 6 six down the middle on top. Tie a rope to front of bed and cinch it down to hitch or bumper.

[georgiarebel]

Thought you meant round bales when I first read the post. c I've got a long bed, but never hauled square bales. Looks like I could fit quite a few back there. I pick up 4 round bales with a 18ft trailer when I need them.

[Ken in Maine]

I can get two round bales or 30 square "kicker" bales in my 1/2 ton short bed stepside GMC.

I do use a bungee cord over the top "just to be safe".

[cfarmher]

Originally Posted by rich2748

We get 20 in the back of an F150 and hauled 20 miles with no problem. If you have a short distance to go and not many starts and stops or if you have sides on the truck you could get more. If you tie them you could get more too.

20 must be the magic number for an F150, thats what we have and thats what worked for us.
Thanks

[GoatsRus]

Be sure to take rope or bungees. All the hay guys will tell you "Don't worry, it will ride" as they stack the bales higher and higher on your truck bed. We found out the hard way after we "lost" 3 bales because we were told "it will ride". We now buy smaller portions or take something to strap it down. "it'll ride" is now the saying between me and DH every time we see someone with their truck loaded down and no straps.

[mpillow]

I think our load is 33 bales without tieing down for 5 miles...shortbox 3/4ton

[caberjim]

30-36 square bales in an F-250. I usually toss a few straps over for safety and peace of mind. Could probably do more, but that;s as high as I can really reach to stack them safely. Only go a couple miles down the road.

Last time, tho, the guy just dropped off a hay wagon full of bales in front of our barn. We unloaded at our leisure and he came back for it a week later. That was so much easier. Helps that our place is inbetween his hay fields and his farm.

[nduetime]

We have a short bed and were able to stack 34, 60 lb bales. the key is to make sure they lean to the inside so they do not fall off. My Dh is a old navy man and beleives highly in rope, i think he just likes to show off his knots!

[coso]

On a half ton you can put 51 on if you put 11 in bottom, two rows of 12, one row of 10 and tie off with 6 down the middle. But I would tie it down with a rope if you are going very far. Thats a pretty good load. If you are doing wire tied bales that weigh a lot I wouldn't put that many. I'm talking 50 to 60 lb bales.

[ladycat]

It sure would be nice to have a pickup. With all the seats in the mini-van, but nothing else stacked in there, it will hold 6 bales (2 bales in the middle seat and 4 bales through the hatch with the back seat folded down).

If the seats were taken out, I suppose one could squeeze 8 to 10 bales in there.

There is loose hay ALL over the car LOL But it smells good in there.

[Irish Pixie]

Originally Posted by coso

On a half ton you can put 51 on if you put 11 in bottom, two rows of 12, one row of 10 and tie off with 6 down the middle. But I would tie it down with a rope if you are going very far. Thats a pretty good load. If you are doing wire tied bales that weigh a lot I wouldn't put that many. I'm talking 50 to 60 lb bales.

We have 50-60 lb bales too, DH gets the extra 3 on by putting two half way on the cab of the pickup (extend cab) and the last on the very top of the stack. I doubt highly we'll be doing 54 this year- we got a new-to-us truck and it's still pretty- the old truck was not even close to being pretty.

Stacy

[KimM]

Yup, same here.

Originally Posted by Lancelotacres

All depends on how you stack them. I get 41 in a standard 8 foot bed with the tailgate down. 11 on their side in bottom of bed, 12 on second row, 12 on third row, and 6 six down the middle on top. Tie a rope to front of bed and cinch it down to hitch or bumper.