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?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I think your dealer is just trying to sell his product. The cut stems do lie different from an inline compared to a standard baler and in fact it is harder on the hands with an inline as the cut stems are in line with the twine. That is the only real difference in my mind. It all comes down to your area and if you have a good dealer. I do not have a good Agco dealer around here. There is a MF dealer but they deal with vineyard equipment mostly. I have never seen an inline baler in this area and would not want to own one and have a problem as you would be on your own to try and figure it out. NH and JD balers have been around a long time and there are a ton of people that can help fix any type of problem with those balers. So if you have a good dealer who sells quite a few inline balers then I would not hesitate to buy one if it meets your needs.

 

[plumboy]

I'm not an expert like robert and the rest here as I am a newbie at this,But it loads and packs the bale the same as a side fed baler.Its just rotated counter-clockwise 90*.The only difference is the string is over the cut edge,that, and it seems like it loads better cause of the way it grabs and loads the chamber.Flakes apart just like the rest of them.

 

[HammerFour]

I was looking at those bale baskets online, now that you mention the hitch problems, that is a lot of weight carried up pretty high to be rocking back and forth on a single axle...

I wonder if you added another axle or a dolly wheel and balanced the load between them, would it save the stress on the hitch tongue?

Oh, and we have an antique JD 14T baler we bought last year. We have had some challenged getting it working correctly but I think a lot of that was just learning how the knotters work. The thing has paid for itself twice over using it to hay with last year and this year, we obviously are doing this small scale and low budget.

 

[plumboy]

I called eztrail last week and priced their bale basket.It was 4k delivered.There are none in my area and nobody knew was I was talking about so I dont have a way to look old ones over.The salesman told me they have only one competitor.Said they never have probs.The eztrail basket does have a dolly wheel on the front,matbe something new.

 

[rambler]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I called eztrail last week and priced their bale basket.It was 4k delivered.There are none in my area and nobody knew was I was talking about so I dont have a way to look old ones over.The salesman told me they have only one competitor.Said they never have probs.The eztrail basket does have a dolly wheel on the front,matbe something new. )</font>

Bale baskets have always been 3 wheeled as I know? I have one, older competing model, works well.

--->Paul

 

[jgh]

20051120

Salesman at a local area JD (small chain) location has owned one for 20 years and loves it but he brought it from PA? or somewhere when he moved here. He can sell them (James River Equipment is the dealer), but has not yet or at least any time recently. The $4 delivered sounds about right. PM me and I will put you in touch with him by e mail (don't want to post his addr without permission).

I am holding out for a stack wagon as I do NOT want to handle those **** bales at the barn. But as some have said, the eztrail or its competitor may be the only thing that works for some.

I would not forgo considering the towed bale wagon(s) as an option. It requires either a person in the wagon (my wife, very talented bale stacker) or for the operator to stop every once in a while to stack (can be good to avoid tractor fatigue, but then there is bale fatigue...).

They can be reasonably priced used, so you could pick up more than one and tarp them as you fill them so unloading might be put off (possibly let customers tow it to their barn for unloading if the liability is not a problem--make sure they release you and have insurance, etc--I am NOT an atty).

Just my 2¢ worth of random thoughts,

Jim

 

[ddelawaredale]

I've got the new idea 5210 baler it is identical to the massey you were talking about. If I had it to do over I would have gotten the next step up. There are three models in the 14 x 18 bracket, I've got the middle one. Once the paints out of the chamber and the knotters get polished it runs like a top I've done about 11000 with mine. The first 2000 had a few skips but once i got through that it hasn't missed. Hesston New Idea Massey and believe it or not case have sold identical balers they are made in the Hesston plant

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Case-IH use to own 50% of Hesston which is why the Hesston and Case-IH hay equipment was the same. When NH bought Case-IH they had to sell their share of Hesston. Now the Case-IH hay equipment is just re-painted New Hollands. Either way they are all good machines.