Time and motion studies and economic evaluation of conventional bale handling technique in New Zealand

Abstract

Hay is the most important field crop in terms of land acreage in almost all the dairy farming countries of the world. In the United States, hay is the crop ranked second after wheat, both in monetary value and in acreage harvested. Almost all the hay to be stored is handled in one of two forms – loose or baled. In New Zealand, hay accounts for about 51% of the total arable land. It includes 1,068,000 acres of grasses and clovers and 190,000 acres of lucerne. On the Canterbury Plains themselves, hay occupies 79,000 acres of grasses and clovers (7.4% of the total grass and clover acreage) and 89,000 acres of lucerne (47.7% of the total lucerne acreage).

Studies of bale handling methods and management are, becoming controversial topics among researchers. It should be recognised, that mechanisation is progressing rapidly and that the mechanised systems of handling hay will become a necessity in dairy farming countries.

As seasonal labour becomes scarcer and more expensive, the management of hay-making operations is becoming increasingly important.

The popularity of hay baling is explained by the following factors -

1. Baling machines have been improved and more sophisticated machines are being introduced. 2. Baled hay is easy to handle and is a necessity when hay is being shipped. 3. Baled hay requires less storage space.

With the current trend in proliferation of machines, various combinations of machines make possible different bale handling systems. The task of selecting a system that is most economical in terms of cost per bale, time consumption, and labour involvement becomes increasingly complicated and little work has yet been done in this area of machinery selection. Systems analysis of hay handling may offer a considerable opportunity to improve operations and to reduce handling cost. The components or operations of hay handling systems are defined as baling and arranging bales, loading in the field, transport, unloading and stacking. Because many alternative machines exist for each operation in the system, systems analysis provides a means for evaluation and planning each operation in a context of a unified system of hay handling.

This study has been limited only to time and motion study as well as economic evaluation for various bale handling systems which are presently operating throughout New Zealand and thus the tasks of building a model, testing and implementing have not been undertaken. Simulation technique has also been used to study the truck-mounted sideloader versus bale wagon performance and manned sledge versus mechanical handling of bales. Weather impinges upon many aspects of agricultural production. Most directly, it affects the various physical operations in the field, restricting both time available for specific tasks and the efficiency, with which they can be completed. In hay making, weather is also important as it decides whether the hay is of high quality or not when harvested. The probability of consecutive haying days and the probability of closed days have been established and given in Appendix B. With reference to day to-day weather forecasts recorded by weather services, farmers with the help of these distributions should be able to make a good prediction on weather to start making hay and so avoiding some risk in their operations.