7 Best Premium Hay Spears For Small Farms Old Farmers Swear By

Moving an 800-pound round bale by hand is impossible, and rolling it across a muddy field is a recipe for wasted hay and a sore back. A reliable hay spear turns a back-breaking chore into a simple, five-minute task, freeing up precious time for other projects. Choosing the right one for your tractor and your bales is one of the most impactful decisions you can make for your small farm’s efficiency.

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Selecting the Ideal Hay Spear for Your Small Farm

The first decision isn’t about brands; it’s about how the spear attaches to your tractor. You have two main choices: a 3-point hitch model for the rear or a front-end loader model. A 3-point spear is simple, strong, and great for moving bales from the field to storage. However, stacking bales high or placing them precisely in a feeder is much easier with a front-mounted spear where you can see exactly what you’re doing.

Next, consider the spear’s capacity and your tractor’s lift ability. A hay spear rated for 3,000 pounds is useless if your compact tractor can only lift 1,500 pounds at the loader pins. Always match the spear to your tractor’s weakest link. Overloading your front axle is a quick way to get a very expensive repair bill or, worse, a dangerous tipping situation.

Finally, think about the tines. A single, long main spear is perfect for penetrating dense round bales. But if you handle large square bales, a setup with a primary spear and two smaller, lower stabilizer tines will prevent the bale from spinning and give you much better control. The length of the main spear matters, too; a 48-49" spear is a great all-around choice for 4-foot and 5-foot round bales, ensuring you get deep enough for a secure lift without poking out the other side.

Titan 49" Hay Spear: Versatility and Strength

Titan Attachments has become a go-to for many small farmers because they hit a sweet spot between price and functionality. Their 49" hay spear, typically in a 3-point configuration, is a perfect example of this. It’s built to handle the 4×5 or 5×5 round bales common on smaller operations, with a weight capacity that usually hovers around 3,000 pounds.

This isn’t the heaviest-duty spear on the market, but it doesn’t need to be for most of us. It’s a workhorse designed for moving a few dozen bales a season, not hundreds a day. The design is straightforward, easy to hook up, and the spear itself is generally robust enough for years of service. For someone moving from wrestling bales by hand to their first real implement, the Titan is a massive and affordable upgrade in efficiency.

Worksaver SS-48S: The Compact Tractor Champion

If you run a modern compact or sub-compact tractor with a skid-steer quick attach (SSQA) front-end loader, the Worksaver SS-48S is a name you’ll hear often. Its design is lean and efficient, focusing on providing maximum utility for smaller machines. The SSQA system means you can drop your bucket and hook up the spear in under a minute without leaving your seat.

The real advantage here is visibility and maneuverability. Placing a bale perfectly in a tight hay ring or stacking a second or third tier in the barn is incredibly intuitive with a front-mounted spear. You’re not guessing where the bale is behind you. Worksaver builds these spears to match the lift capacities of compact tractors, ensuring you have a tool that’s balanced for your machine, which is crucial for stability on uneven ground.

SpeeCo S07092100: A Reliable Bucket-Mount Spear

Not everyone has a quick-attach loader, especially those of us running older, but still perfectly good, tractors. This is where a bucket-mount spear like the SpeeCo S07092100 shines. It’s an ingenious and cost-effective solution that clamps directly onto the lip of your existing front-end loader bucket.

This approach lets you get the benefits of a front-mounted spear without any modifications to your tractor. Installation is simple, usually involving tightening a few heavy-duty bolts. The primary tradeoff is rigidity. A bucket-mount spear puts leverage on the bucket itself, so you have to be more gentle. It’s not ideal for prying stubborn, frozen-down bales, but for lifting and moving, it’s a proven and reliable option that gets the job done without a big investment.

Everything Attachments Single Bale Spear Durability

When you’re ready to invest in a tool that will likely outlast your tractor, Everything Attachments is a brand to look at. They’ve built a reputation on American-made, heavy-duty construction, and their bale spears are no exception. The frames are typically made from thicker walled steel with clean, strong welds.

The real difference is often in the details. They tend to use high-quality, forged and tapered tines that penetrate bales more easily and resist bending under load. While the upfront cost might be higher than some import options, you’re paying for peace of mind. A bent frame or a broken tine in the middle of a snowstorm when your livestock are hungry is a problem that no one wants, and this is the kind of spear built to prevent that.

CountyLine 3-Point Spear for Round & Square Bales

For many farmers, the local Tractor Supply Co. is the first stop for implements, and the CountyLine brand is what they’ll find. Their 3-point hay spear is a common sight on small farms for a reason: it’s accessible, affordable, and designed for the exact kind of work most of us do. It’s a practical tool, not a specialized piece of industrial equipment.

A key feature of many CountyLine models is the three-tine design. The long central spear does the lifting, while two shorter stabilizer tines below it keep the bale from rotating during transport. This is especially useful for large square bales or oddly shaped round bales. It’s a versatile, all-around design that provides a stable, secure lift for the most common bale types you’ll encounter.

King Kutter Bale Spear: A Proven, Time-Tested Design

King Kutter is a name that carries weight because it’s been around for generations. Their implements are known for being simple, tough, and reliable. Their bale spears follow this philosophy perfectly—no frills, no complex features, just heavy steel put together in a way that works and lasts.

Buying a King Kutter spear is often an investment in simplicity. The designs are time-tested, meaning any weak points were engineered out decades ago. They are often overbuilt for their stated capacity, providing a margin of safety. This is the kind of tool an old farmer buys because they know it won’t fail when they need it most, and they can count on it season after season.

Horst Welding SHS42: Premium Forged Steel Tine

While Horst Welding makes excellent complete spear attachments, their real claim to fame is the quality of their tines. Many of the best spear manufacturers use German-made, forged tines from companies like Horst (SHW). This is the absolute heart of any hay spear, and it’s where quality matters most.

A forged, heat-treated tine is fundamentally different from a simple spear made from sharpened steel tubing. Forging aligns the grain structure of the steel, making it incredibly strong and resilient to bending. It has a smooth, tapered profile that slides into a dense bale with minimal effort and resists getting stuck. If you have a good frame but a bent or broken spear, upgrading just the tine to a premium one from Horst or a similar manufacturer can transform your implement’s performance and reliability.

Ultimately, the best hay spear is the one that safely matches your tractor’s capacity, fits your budget, and handles the types of bales you use most often. Don’t just look at the price tag; consider the quality of the welds and the tine itself. A little extra investment in a well-built spear will pay you back with years of hassle-free feeding and less time spent on repairs.