Small round baler?

[CDN Farm Boy]

We run a Hesston 530 alot that makes an approximately 40" by 48" round bale. It is somewhat frustrating with the small bales because you spend so much time wrapping twine, but it runs good other wise. Parts are still available for it.

Any idea what those weigh? Like can you pick them up with the L3400?

 

[bsrfarms97]

I baled with a old case 8420 for a few years. It makes a 4x4 bale. The down sides I had with this was your gonna roll a lot more rolls. So if you store your rolls outside then this means you will lose a lot more hay. Say your gonna lose 3 to 5 inches of hay on every roll by mid winter. Well if you have 100 4x4 rolls you would have 65 or 70 rolls if they was 5x4. 3 to 5 inches on 100 rolls is way more hay lose than on 65 to 70 rolls. Plus they will still take up the same amount of space. And with a 3pt hay spear you can still handle a 5x4 with a smaller tractor. Not saying that a 4x4 isn't the way to go for you. That all depends on a number of things. I'm just saying its something else to think about. Either way I hope it all works out for you.

 

[slowzuki]

We ran the CIH version of the little hesston for a while. Makes for a lot of bales, and lots of tying, square baler was as fast in terms of tons per hour.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

I baled with a old case 8420 for a few years. It makes a 4x4 bale. The down sides I had with this was your gonna roll a lot more rolls. So if you store your rolls outside then this means you will lose a lot more hay. Say your gonna lose 3 to 5 inches of hay on every roll by mid winter. Well if you have 100 4x4 rolls you would have 65 or 70 rolls if they was 5x4. 3 to 5 inches on 100 rolls is way more hay lose than on 65 to 70 rolls. Plus they will still take up the same amount of space. And with a 3pt hay spear you can still handle a 5x4 with a smaller tractor. Not saying that a 4x4 isn't the way to go for you. That all depends on a number of things. I'm just saying its something else to think about. Either way I hope it all works out for you.

I know exactly what you are talking about. Back when I was a kid, we had them made 4x6 for that reason and the fact that the guy baling charged by the foot of diameter. 4' bale cost $4, 6' bale cost $6 but twice as much hay in it. It was all the 2wd AC 4050 could handle but we managed

Regardless of if I go small square or round, they will be stored inside.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

View attachment 333368
Makes for a lot of bales, and lots of tying, square baler was as fast in terms of tons per hour.

Ya, makes sense to me. No stopping to tie.

I'd rather small square for easier feeding but not sure how much help I'll have on hand to bale & bring in.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Check out small farm innovations, they have a real nice small round 2x2 and a 3x3

I checked out their site. Nice stuff, not so small price. The 3x3 sounds about perfect for my needs but 15k goes along way to buying the rest of the stuff I need.

I don't get the 2x2 though. Can someone explain the point of a round bale about the same size of a small square? Aside from the novelty of it, if you are still going to end up with a 60 lbs bale that you can pick up by hand, why take the slower route of round?

 

[Bigfoot62]

That thing is cute! 22 x 23?, I'd hardly need a spear, just toss them on a wagon with a pitch fork

I was thinking I could put one in each pocket! :laughing:

Seriously, that just wouldn't work for me. If we ever get back to "normal" rainfall, I bale about 200+ tons per year. It would take forever with that little bugger.

To answer your question, JD used to make a fine little 3x4 baler. I don't believe that you can buy a new one, but I see used ones advertised now and then.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

To answer your question, JD used to make a fine little 3x4 baler. I don't believe that you can buy a new one, but I see used ones advertised now and then.

That sounds ideal, I'd never buy a new one anyway. Do you happen to know the model #?

 

[crowbar032]

I've got a NH 634, which is a 4x4 round bales. Run it behind a JD 5065E which reportedly 53 claimed PTO HP (58 tested by TractorData.com) and have no issues. Personally, I believe weight of the tractor is a more limiting concern than PTO HP. Neighbor has a Hesston 540, which is also a 4x4 round baler. He runs his behind a Kubota MX5100 which is 44 PTO HP with no issues. My NH has a bale kicker on the back so you don't have to back up to dump a bale like the Hesston (so that the door will have room to close when you pull forward). If I could have found a decent 4x5 baler, I would have went that route. Everyone seemed to want that size and they were priced accordingly. Observation without back-up facts, the Hesston 540 appears to clog up quite a bit more than the NH634 if you're in big wind rows. Both of them are vintage mid 90's. Both are belt driven balers which make tighter bales than the early chain driven round balers. Around here, you can pick up a chain baler for pretty much next to nothing.

 

[hawkeye08]

Found one on CL,



If ad is still up Baler, IHI Mini Round Baler

Baler Mini IHI 850, 2009year model, Three point hook up, Makes small round bales wrapped with twine around forty pounds, simple & easy to use, great for small hobby farm baling of alfalfa, only requires 18 hp, tractor pto to operate.
Also selling three point Befco six foot sickle only used for two seasons, Nice, 3400.00
See the Balers online in use at : Small Farm Inovations in Texas, Health reasons is why we can't bale anymore.
These are near new, baler is in shop under cover.