How agriculture works thread

[ArlyA]

History of the round balers! Was kind of interesting and they've been around a lot longer than I imagined.

 

[ultrarunner]

Round Bales fundamentally changed how the dairy farms processed hay for my grandfather/uncle.

For centuries the loose hay was stored in the hay loft…

With round bales the need for haylofts faded as wrapped bales were field stored.

 

[sixdogs]

Round Bales fundamentally changed how the dairy farms processed hay for my grandfather/uncle.

For centuries the loose hay was stored in the hay loft…

With round bales the need for haylofts faded as wrapped bales were field stored.

Plus, you could put up more hay in a day than most old-timers ever dreamed of.

 

[LouNY]

Round Bales fundamentally changed how the dairy farms processed hay for my grandfather/uncle.

For centuries the loose hay was stored in the hay loft…

With round bales the need for haylofts faded as wrapped bales were field stored.

That would depend a lot on the climate and ground moisture of your area. Around here the old Alis Chalmers small rounds had to be put in the haymows. Otherwise just like the large rounds of today the waste was tremendous when stored on the ground.
I forget the actual percentage of waste is with the big rounds but even just 6" of garbage hay from mold and rot is a large percentage of a 5' round bale.
There are people that will stack net wrapped round bales outside and swear the waste isn't that much, they haven't put a sharp pencil to those numbers, that said those drier climates with less ground moisture and rain can get away with it for beef animals but the percentage of waste is still quite large.

 

[ultrarunner]

Grandfathers farm went from loose to round with no square bales in between..,

 

[sixdogs]

Grandfathers farm went from loose to round with no square bales in between..,View attachment 3829538

What tractor is that?

 

[ultrarunner]

Steyr which is part of Case IH, New Holland, and Case

Steyr founded in 1864 was part of Daimler and also renown firearm manufacturer.

Tractor is 1948 diesel nominal 12hp crank start.

I remember cold winter starting required a glow plug lit with a match and then screwed into the cylinder head just before cranking…



The hay wagon was retired when this arrived…

No more manual labor loading and unloading the hay wagon.

 

[ultrarunner]

Starting with match lit glow plug and crank