Opinions on Small Rectangular Balers

[farming]

Hello All, looks like a great site from the various forum posts.

I wanted to get opinions and user feedback on the various small rectangular balers? Pros, cons, etc.

Need to produce perfectly square bales (not bananas) as I am looking at some of the various accumulators / bale wagons and such to mechanize the process as much as possible.

In searching the internet the AGCO group of companies is touting a new in-line design like the MF 1837 that produces better bale quality and less loss than other brands... anyone use this type? Looks like a good idea pulling everything centered on tractor.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chuck_Lind]

I've used a New Holland 315 square baler for years and it creates some of the nicest bales you can make. The knotting system on a New Holland was invented in 1941 and hasn't changed much as of this date...and is probably the top-selling baler anywhere.

Square bale pros: easy to handle, horse people like buying them, fairly simple to operate, people who mulch like the square bales.

Square bale cons: labor-intensive to pick them off the field (if no bale ejector), labor-intensive to stack them, can't store them outside like round bales.

Probably there are other pros and cons...but these are the ones I've experienced.

 

[cowboydoc]

The labor and stacking all depends on where you are. If you are out west then picking bales up is done with a stacker wagon. And you just set them in a nice pile outside.

 

[Banjo]

I just started haying this fall. Bought an old NH271 baler that did the job for me. Will likely work better after I put on new chains (all the adjusters are at the max) and find out if I can adjust the plunger to get the knife blades closer together. Sharpening them helped a lot. Using 10000 twine I didn't have a single missed tie, but I had a few when I switched to 7200. I was mostly baling long tangled grass ("wild hay"?) doing "first cut" in September. I found I was going pretty slow (down to first low in the old D14), I'm hoping that I can go faster next year. The AC D14 seemed to have sufficient power and weight.

I was looking at a few newer model NH baler the other week, and they all seem pretty darn similar (IMHO). Some now have gear drive to the (same looking) knotters, and I don't know if the rotary feed works better. I'm going to see how it goes next year, and then perhaps decide whether I need to upgrade further.

I recently saw an ad for those in-line ones. I was making some pretty good sized, (fluffy) windrows where you'd want lots of tractor clearance to make sure you didn't get snagged up on them.

After racing the rain picking up bales by hand I decided there had to be a better way. Ended up with a NH1005 stack wagon that I'm very pleased with. My fields (and gates) are a bit tight in spots, so I'm glad I went with the two wide unit as it's much easier to handle (and easier to bring home on the trailer too!). My bales were not "perfect" (in either sharpness or density) but I didn't have any pickup failures.

The 1005 model is an early one (AFAIK), it doesn't unload as a stack, it has a "single bale unload" so you can dump onto an elevator. This works pretty well ... will be better when I get better chute's made up. Since my barns aren't high enough to unload inside anyway right now, it's worked out very well. I am hoping to convert it to dump too, so I'll have the option for next year.

HTH, Andrew

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I've owned a couple New Holland balers. I have no glaring complaints with either. I now own a 338 Deere. I'd take it in a New York minute over any other baler I've ever used.

In all likelyhood, I'm buying a new round baler before next summer. Half my hay goes to feed a small herd of beef cattle I raise. The other half is sold. That part has to stay with the small squares. That's where the money is at as far as selling hay. (In my market anyway)

We still bale the old fashioned way. My wife is on the tractor, and my son and I are on the wagon. It's slow, labor intensive, and not very efficient. We have a small operation. If it was any bigger, the way we do business would have changed drastically a loooooooooooooooong time ago.

My cousin has a Steffens accumulator behind his square baler. Nice outfit, but expensive unless you do a LOT of hay. New Holland stack wagons are a great way to handle hay too, but even MORE expensive.

Bottom line is, if you want to do something easy, don't get involved in haying. Easy is expensive, and easy is relative. Even the easiest way is still a LOT of work.

And by the way, the best money I've spent on hay equipment is a hand-held "moisture meter". Takes all the guess work out of it.

 

[Banjo]

All good points. Which model of hay moisture meter do you have? Any suggestions on points to go for/avoid? Any magic moisture numbers you go by?

thanks (and appologies for any topic hi-jack) in advance Andrew

 

[plumboy]

I have the inline massey and no probs.Have only about 1200 bales through it and no bananas and maybe 5 misties.I am going to look into getting a couple of those bale bandit wagons that use the baler push the bale up/over into it.With that setup I would think you really want to make sure the bales are even and tight and non-banana like or they would spring open as they rode around in the cage or when theyre dumped.But looks to be a cheap way to get rid of some labor.

 

[Chuck_Lind]

I too, looked at the Bale Bandit wagon....specifically used ones. One thing I noticed was each one had the hitch to the baler welded and re-welded. That made me wary because there must be quite a bit of stress on that area. I wonder if the cause is the weight of the filled wagon on the tongue and/or hitch. No one was willing to give me an answer...so I took the approach.."one picture is worth a thousand words" and passed on it.

 

[plumboy]

Thats not good.Thanks for the info.

 

[farming]

All, good info and thanks.

Plumboy, a competing baler salesmen says the inline balers do not produce bales with good flakes that break apart evenly becuase the stems aren't oritented correctly... he claims you need the side feed balers for the stems to be aligned correctly for good flakes. What is your experience with the bales from your inline MF?