Reviews on silage, grab bucket combination

morphy87

Thinking of purchasing a new grab, bucket combined, as it would be handy for cleaning out straw sheds, has anyone any of these buckets and what are they like? Do they work ok for throwing in bales of silage?

Bass Reeves

Have you a 100++HP tractor ideally probablyup in tge 150HP bracket or ideally a loader. Bucket grabs are worse that tine grabs when handling bale and tine grabs are a disaster. Your bale is going to be 2-3' out from front of loader and the implement is 3-500kgs heavier than bale spike

BIL uses a grabs to feed bales it has his tractor wrecked and he is only feeding about 150 bales a year. Bales are substantially larger than 10 years ago.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123887303#Comment_123887303

I’d say that would be driver related more-so than bale related.

We’ve a TL90 here that feeds a couple of hundred bales a year for the last 17 years with a tine grab and both the loader and tractor are as tight as they were 17 years ago.

F series Fiat in another yard with a rough Rossmore loader that was fitted for small money at the time and would have a few thousand bales fed since too and no ill effects on the tractor.

We’ve every implement you can nearly think of for handling and feeding out bales and the tine grab is by a long shot the best implement to use for winter feeding if you’re any sort of a driver at all.

893bet

yeah I don’t get the hate in the tine grab. You can grap from the top of the bale. And twist such that the grab is above the able with the bale hanging below just barely off the ground and way closer to the tractor that with a bale spike.

Grab can also be used to clear the feed face easily as required.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123887334#Comment_123887334

Yep. It’s the quickest and safest way of carrying and feeding bales. A spike will have the bale at least 3 foot further out in front of the tractor and leave a smaller tractor very unsteady without a decent weight block in. Also when the silage needs to be pushed in just close the grab, tilt it fully down that the bottom tines are facing the ground then keep it an inch above the concrete and push in the silage with the frame of the grab. You’d fly along a 5 bay passage in a minute or 2 going forwards and backwards and push all in.

morphy87

Thanks for all the feedback, I have a tine grab and it’s perfect, just I want something that would be handy for cleaning out straw sheds, that’s why I was considering buying a grab and bucket all in one, I’m just wondering how this would work for feeding bales

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123887344#Comment_123887344

How will a spike have the bale 3' further out in front of a tractor than a tine grab. Tines on a grabs struggle to go completely into a bale and you have the weight of the implementation on top of that

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123887334#Comment_123887334

IIt's nothing to do with hate. Maybe a lot is to do with shed design. If you are double feeding inside a double slatted then a tine grab may be the best option bit generally you are breaking up bales. I only split bales in half. Shed is designed to feed one row on feed passage outside shed and has a wide passage inside to feedtge other row. Never have to split bales. I can push bales in with spike.

Generally bales are divided in two using spike. But carrying a full vakenon a grab compared to a spike is a lot harder on the loader and the tractor. I be very reluctant to be using a bucket grab to carry a full bale around the yard

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123888133#Comment_123888133

You open the grab, put the bottom tines of the grab into the flat side of the bale, close the grab, lift the bale then you can tilt in the bale until it’s touching the weight frame on the front of the tractor if you like. With a spike all you can do is lift it straight up and the bale is off out in front of you leaving a smaller tractor very unstable if they’re any sort of decent bales.

Jim Simmental

is anyone using the Mchale bale Splitter (994) on the front loader ?

might be handier than on the back of the tractor

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123888227#Comment_123888227

You san do virtually exactly the same with a tine spike or a dung fork, I always tilt bales back when travelling accross the yard and I can place tines very low on the bale as well. Anyway evennif I could not the extra 4-400 kgs weight difference of a grab over a spike nullified any advantage of that

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123888671#Comment_123888671

You’re confirming what I said originally about the problem being driver related and not machine related. If you stick a spike in a bale, lift it up and then tilt it forward like I’m saying about the grab then the bale will fall off.

Where is the extra 400kgs coming from? According to the Atkins and Rossmore websites a 4 foot Rossmore tine grab is 200kgs. A bale spike is 75-80 so the weight difference is 120kgs.

Just think logically for a minute about what you’re saying. You’re trying to claim that your brother in laws tractor is wrecked because of an extra 120kgs for a grab instead of a spike!? In no world can that make sense. If that’s the case it would be cheaper for all farmers to get their contractors to go back to Claas 44 or RP12 Welgers and make small bales to save the tractors. If the tractor is wrecked it’s not the tine grab that wrecked it, it’s the man in the seat.

Also you can’t split a bale with a 2 prong spike unless they’re either unchopped bales or very stemmy silage. Good quality silage in chopped bales should fall apart when you stick a spike in them.

Downtown123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123887372#Comment_123887372

It allll depends on what you’re driving it with.

If you’ve anything less than 110hp a bucket grab with bales will be too heavy.

For what you want if you don’t have a tractor a second hand bucket grab and an ordinary bale shear is what you need. It ain’t easy driving a shear bucket to break a bale. It has to be much easier to drive a bale shear

Downtown123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123887372#Comment_123887372

It allll depends on what you’re driving it with.

If you’ve anything less than 110hp a bucket grab with bales will be too heavy.

For what you want if you don’t have a tractor a second hand bucket grab and an ordinary bale shear is what you need. It ain’t easy driving a shear bucket to break a bale. It has to be much easier to drive a bale shear

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123888817#Comment_123888817

The Rossmore is not your average tine grab on Irish farms here is an example even on the light side as its a singke ram 4'. Most tendvto ve larger and twin ram. Admittedly this one was slightly adapted at one stage

20251008_112354.jpg

Here is my bale spike probably lighter than the average but 120kgs would exceptionally heavy for the average bale spike. Mine is nearer 50kgs than 100kgs.

20251008_112347.jpg

The only weight 3" in front of the loader is the spikes. The further weight is away from. Front of the loader the greater the pressure on the loader.

On silage mine is grand did 600grns plus on fairly averaged dairyX continentals last winter. Ya if you are balung water they fall apart. Mine is made 7-10 days before end of May. Bales split in half admittedly you will not carry a cross a yard but you can place side by side in front of a pen

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123890032#Comment_123890032

The 4 foot twin ram Rossmore type grab is by far the most common type of grab on Irish farms and they’d be far from light and they weigh 200kgs. If you want the 3’8” single ram version for a small tractor it’s only 155kgs, see spec sheet below from rossmore website. Most spikes are 70-80kgs so 120kgs is the difference in weight between a spike and a grab, not the actual weight of the spike.

If your spike is 50kgs then 150kgs is the weight difference between the 2. Certainly nowhere near enough of extra weight to wreck a tractor.

Yes you’re right, the further weight is away from the loader the more pressure you put on it. That’s why if you’ve a smaller tractor that has you worried about weight the grab is the superior option as you can leave the bale in a t the headlights of the tractor instead of out in front of the loader like you have to with the spike. I cant open your pictures, it comes up as media not found. Could be because I’m on the phone. I’ll take a pic tomorrow of o get a chance of what I mean about how to carry the bale with the grab.

All of this is irrelevant to the OP though, and to come back to their original question, I think a grab bucket would be a prick of a yoke for bales.

dodo mommy

Anyone use a shearman bale shear? What are the opinions on it or any bale shear? I see they can be bought with a TAMS grant.

limo_100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123900864#Comment_123900864

there is a full write up on bale shears in this weeks journal and a full price list. I have applied for the grant for one myself. But think I would lean more to the tanco or the Cashel. The tanco is the lightest at 400kg

dmakc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123900864#Comment_123900864

Whatever you go with I'd highly recommend adding outside tines. They normally come with 5 but the outer 2 are great for working with silage already on the ground I know cashel have this option but tanco don't

Say my name

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901700#Comment_123901700

I have the shearman. The tines the way they are just spot on for taking the bale out of the stack. There's no tine on the side sticking into the next bale. I'd split the bale and then push in the silage with the blade down but not fully down. There's a big wide face on the blade.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901408#Comment_123901408

Roughly what would these be cost after the grant?

limo_100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901741#Comment_123901741

I don't have the paper on me and I did read it last thursday but I think about 2500 but I could be a few hundred off either off. but not too bad. I wonder can the grant be got on the hustler bale unroller?

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901408#Comment_123901408

what did they say about the Keltec? Thought that was supposed to be the best design?

limo_100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902006#Comment_123902006

not sure I didn’t read about that one. But they didn’t say anything bad about any of them. I wouldn’t be interested in the keltic one. It only suits a diet feeder and also probably needs a teleporter.

893bet

They are some money considering how little there is to them.

morphy87

Anyone that bought the bale shear for taking the plastic off are ye happy? Does it quicken the job up? So with it been such a good year price wise it might be a good piece of equipment to buy. How long would you be waiting for the grant approval before you could buy?

Jim Simmental

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901408#Comment_123901408

What type of a tractor are you going to use it on ?

Would a 90 HP tractor be fit for one ?

limo_100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903238#Comment_123903238

I have a 5455 112 hp id say it would be ok but wouldn’t go for a keltic as they are too heavy. 90hp should be ok with a tanco(400kg) and a good weight.

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123887372#Comment_123887372

Could you buy some flat plate steel and make up a bucket that fits inside, and clamps to, you're tine grab? I know some manufacturer offers this option. Like threads on which bale handler type is best - it would be nice to have every type of grab but for the few times you would be using its often easier to have one general purpose one. Some amount of bale slicers on the market now thanks to grants

Dunedin

do the bales have to be grabbed from the side and then opened or can they be grabbed as a standing bale on its end and opened?

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904823#Comment_123904823

I was thinking about this also. I assume either way but more chance of not getting the plastic and net retained if taking it as a standing bale?

Downtown123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902788#Comment_123902788

Depending on your local office; anywhere north of 6 months minimum. Put it this way you won’t have it for feeding this year if you’re depending on the grant to buy it. You’ll need lucky to have it for 12 months time given the backlog allowing for no money left in thepot