"harry" wrote in message
...
On Dec 5, 8:26 pm, rlz wrote:
On Dec 5, 12:35 pm, "NotMe" wrote:









"harry" wrote in message

...
On Dec 5, 2:09 pm, " Attila Iskander"
wrote:

"harry" wrote in message

...
On Dec 5, 5:21 am, Will Rogers "W.Rogers"@Where the Wind Comes

Sweepin' Down the.Plain wrote:
Apparently, it's not enough to be thieving copper in Newark, or
looting
homes destroyed by hurricanes or forest-fire.

What could be lower than stealing hay from desperate farmers?

---------------------

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/12/...-fight-rise-in...

December 3, 2012 9:49 AM

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - As if it s not bad enough that Missouri farmers
are
trying to survive the worst drought in decades, now many of them are
facing a new problem that s costing them big bucks.

Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst says thieves are actually
targeting those big bundles of hay that are left out in fields prior
to
being harvested, hauling them off and selling the valuable
commodity.

Of course, no one brands their hay so if you hook onto it with your
tractor or your pickup and make it out the gate, then it s
impossible to
prove where the hay came from, Hurst said.

With winter approaching and grass dying out, the price for fresh hay
to
feed livestock is on the rise, and Hurst says that makes unguarded
bales
a tempting target.

Ironically, it s because of the ongoing drought that fresh hay has
become so valuable with the winter season fast approaching.

And it s not just Missouri. This trend is happening in farm states
across the country, so much so that some are now putting global
positioning trackers inside their bales, in case they re stolen.

#
# The more I read that story the more BS it is.
#

First, read up on why round bales have become so popular
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-1772/BAE-1...

# How do you "hook into hay"?

One way with a pickup truck.
All you need is a winch, a steel bar, an short length of cable with a
loop
at each end and a ramp
1) Shove the steel bar through the center of the roll
2) hook your short cable on each of the the bar
3) hook your winch to the cable
4) roll hay wheel up ramp to back of pickup

Alternately, you can install a crane on your pickup and just lift the
bale
on the back.
http://www.google.com/search?q=pickup+truck+crane&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isc...

Third method, use a car transporter, drop the bed near the bales, and
daisy-chain the bales onto the bed

# How are bales left out "prior to harvesting"?
#

You're right that is a bit weak
But harvesting could also include removing it from the field
If you just cut, dry and roll it but leave it on the filed, the
"harvesting"
is only partial
The last step, moving somewhere else for storage or use is yet to be
done.

# Journalism has sunk pretty low in the USA.

Not as low as education in England, if we go by your performance.

How do you shove a steel bar through the centre of a hay bale? It is
packed almost as hard as if it were a block of timber.
And even if you succeeded, how would you get it out?
I see you know as little as these journalists.

{{

Apply sufficient force (does not take much) for both operations. (not a
journalists but one who, a long time back, worked for chump change
shoveling
horse sh|t and wrestling hay in and out of trucks/flat bed trailers.)-
Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

For those that don't know much about how hay is processed, here is a
brief rundown of the tasks involved.
1. Once the grass grows to a significant height, a tractor with a
mowing attachment mows the field, leaving the grass cutting on the
ground.
2. After a period of drying time (we used to wait a day or two), a
tractor with a raking attachment goes over the cut grass and rakes the
hay into rows.
3. Then a tractor with a baling attachment goes over each row and
gathers the hays to put into bales of hay. These bales can be round
cylinders or rectangle blocks, as well as fairly small (50-100 Lbs) to
very large 1000+ LBs bales.
4. The bales can be left in the hay field, but most farmers move the
bales into a barn for storage, or into an outside area that livestock
doesn't have access to. This is to allow the hay fields to grow
back. The actually moving of the bales, if small in size, can be done
by hand using a flat-bed trailer and pickup truck. The larger bales
are usually moved via a tractor witha pole attachment.

It wouldn't be much of an effort for someone in a pickup hauling a
large flat-bed trailer with a tractor on the it to steal the hay.
Just pull up to a pasture where the hay is located, drive the tractor
off the trailer, pick up a few bales of hay and stack them on the
trailor, drive the tractor back onto the trailer, and then drive the
pickup away.
#
# So the cops won't notice anyone transporting a tractor on a trailer
# along with several tons of hay?

Why would they
Truck mounted forklifts are a dime a dozen, and hardly a gay goes by without
on such rig being seen.

You really have to stop projecting your "provincial" perspective on other
places