Made some big bales this weekend

[Hay Dude]

Heres a few pics from this weekend. Fabulous baling conditions. Dry, Sunny & breezy.


Just getting this field started. My son in the raking tractor up ahead.

Finishing up with the Hesston 4910

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the Krone Big Pack 4x4 XC got to make a few bales.

 

[herm0016]

i need to learn more about hay. why cut now when the grass is short, first cut is lower quality, so you let it grow more for 2nd? I see people getting first cut here on fields that have maybe 8 or 10 inch tall growth, and half of it is seed stalk. is it to get rid of the seed stalk early? I only have a few acres but want to get as much as possible out of it to feed the sheep in the winter. we went through maybe 4k lbs jan - april this year.

 

[sea2summit]

So jelly of those balers.

 

[EddieWalker]

Really nice looking hay field!!!! As far as I know, nobody is making those giant square bales where I'm at in East Texas. If they are, they are not advertising them for sale. If I had a place to store them inside, I think they would be a lot nicer then round bales.

 

[lman]

i need to learn more about hay. why cut now when the grass is short, first cut is lower quality, so you let it grow more for 2nd? I see people getting first cut here on fields that have maybe 8 or 10 inch tall growth, and half of it is seed stalk. is it to get rid of the seed stalk early? I only have a few acres but want to get as much as possible out of it to feed the sheep in the winter. we went through maybe 4k lbs jan - april this year.

1st cutting is not short around here, about waist high. Good alfalfa will make 4 cuttings.
You're in the wrong part of the world.

 

[Hay Dude]

Heres a starter 4x4x8. Not as tight as I’d like it to be. I dont like to crank the pressure on the baler early.
Sorry the pictures suck. I take them trough dirty cab glass.

 

[Hay Dude]

So jelly of those balers.

It took a lot of work on a lot of days when people were on vacations to make the jump from round balers to big square balers.
Its a lot of expense and a lot of sacrifice.
Its nothing to spend $15,000 on one every 3 years.

 

[redman135]

Hay Dude, are big square balers significantly more expensive than round balers?
Bright side, a square baler is continuous running vs a round baler's stop start running.

 

[WM75Guy]

Really nice looking hay field!!!! As far as I know, nobody is making those giant square bales where I'm at in East Texas. If they are, they are not advertising them for sale. If I had a place to store them inside, I think they would be a lot nicer then round bales.

I see them being hauled on Hwy 19 going both ways. The horse trainer that owns North Texas Equestrian Center in Wylie bales his own large square bales on his place near Palestine for his use only. That is the only person I know actually baling them anywhere close.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Hay dude, I am curious I never see a tedder in your pictures or maybe I missed it. Are you able to get your hay dry without tedding? Down here in most places you need at least 3 good dry sunny days and you probably better run a tedder thru it twice or it ain't gonna be dry, the hay I put up this week ran about 8 to 10% moisture. What % moisture do you all like to see?

 

[Hay Dude]

Hay Dude, are big square balers significantly more expensive than round balers?
Bright side, a square baler is continuous running vs a round baler's stop start running.

A new 4x4 large square baler can run from $250,000-$300,000.
Round balers are $35,000-$50,000.
So yeah, significantly more.
It also takes 3 times the HP, so larger more expensive tractor, too.

So much faster though. Bales a flat field in 1/2 the time, a hilly field in 1/3rd the time of a round baler. Round balers have their place, but for massive production and hilly ground square balers are much better.

 

[RancherGuy]

Heres a few pics from this weekend. Fabulous baling conditions. Dry, Sunny & breezy.

It's great to know someone has good conditions. I'm outside the Houston area on the edge of the drought / extreme-drought areas in Texas this year. So far my grass is only a few inches high and 100 degree temps coming and no rain in the forecast. I've heard from a few sources that it is going to be a dry hot summer for us - and yet last year it rained so often that I could not cut most of my hay until September. Either too much or too little.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hay dude, I am curious I never see a tedder in your pictures or maybe I missed it. Are you able to get your hay dry without tedding? Down here in most places you need at least 3 good dry sunny days and you probably better run a tedder thru it twice or it ain't gonna be dry, the hay I put up this week ran about 8 to 10% moisture. What % moisture do you all like to see?

Oh yeah….we run the bejeebers out of our tedder.
Very difficult to make dry hay here. Usually tough to get it under 15%

 

[Hay Dude]

Made 15 more today working by myself (tedder, rake, bale).

Looks like our wave of nice weather ends tomorrow

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Made 15 more today working by myself (tedder, rake, bale).

Looks like our wave of nice weather ends tomorrow


View attachment 749235

View attachment 749236

Anytime you can get it baled or rolled without getting it wet it's an accomplishment, some call it winning.

 

[Hay Dude]

Did some stacking while listening to Phillies game.
We had rain overnight. Can’t bale a darn thing.

 

[Hay Dude]

Here’s some pics from todays baling. Baled about 40 large squares under partly sunny skies and cool temps. Had to deal with some steep ground today. Tilt gauge said 16-19 degrees.
Made some pretty bales I can sell to my beef customers

 

[Hay Dude]

Under partly sunny skies and 86* temps, we made 72) 4x4x8’s @ 1500lbs/each today on 26 acres.
Used the Krone on this property.

 

[EddieWalker]

On a YouTube video, the guy was saying that there are only two designs for hay bailers, the Krone and the Massey. Everyone else copies one of those two designs. He was using a Massy round bailer when he was saying this. Do you think he's correct?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Under partly sunny skies and 86* temps, we made 720 4x4x8’s @ 1500lbs/each today on 26 acres.
Used the Krone on this property.

View attachment 751697

View attachment 751698


View attachment 751699

720 off of 26 acres would be over 20 tons to the acre, we don't even come close to that down here, maybe 6 tons to the acre of alicia coastal bermuda and that would be really good grass. What type of grass is it? Was 720 supposed to be 72 bales? If not I would have never dreamed that there was that much of a difference in hay production by region.