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Round baler info

Thanks for all the info...keep it coming :) Mike has been madly checking out everything you've mentioned.

A few questions...you can unroll them in different directions? how does that work?

Not much mention has been made of how you feed them, except Haytrucker. When you unroll them, how far can you spread them out? Does a spinner spread it out better? We like to have the cows as spread out as possible when eating so they are fighting over it.

Denny, we'd really like to have a big square baler, but would need another tractor to go with it, so are investigating the round balers. The guys who currently bale our hay for us use the 3 X 3 balers.
 
Mr. FH feeds with a bale processor. You can make a windrow as small as you want. He has found that starting calves on hay in the fall at weaning, it really helps to have a small windrow.

I know lots of folks don't like a bale processor. He loves his. We had a scale put underneath this one when we bought it and that way you know
what your bales weigh, you don't have to guess. It's a Haybuster 2640, I think and the scale cost $2500. I figured saving 50 ton of hay at $50/ton would pay for it. We think it has more than paid for itself. He wouldn't feed with anything else.

A friend has a Vermeer and he says the Haybuster is better. FWIW
 
I don't put much up anymore, mostly use baling as a grazing tool. When there is lots to do we use a custom outfit. One of them uses all JD rounds. I have never seen them stop for break downs. The other uses a mid sized NH square. Seems to bale forever trouble free. Like Denny we have a couple of old soft core balers that fit our needs fine. You can bale a little tougher and get away with it. They work best in a bale feeder or shook out. Rounds roll out nice. Squares flake or we just push them around. I prefer swath grazing. Then it is just the swathing exercise. When baling it is always damp here every morning. I play 9 holes every baling morning. Keeps the hay dry!
 
Nicky said:
A few questions...you can unroll them in different directions? how does that work?
Click to expand...

They unroll one way far better than the other. Just have a look at the end of the bale and you will see which way to go with it. Just unrolling them with a fron end loader works fine, or using a bale unroller (3 point) works great.
We had a haybuster for a few years, I wont have one again. They do work good for getting your cows to eat poor hay though. Our hay is very high percentage alfalfa, and when processing it you can look back and see that big green cloud in the air..... that's what's left of the best part of the hay :? . Down wind from where you feed you can see the green tinged snow for quite a ways. But to each their own, if you think it's beneficial in your operation by all means go for it.
 
We have a JD 535 which works great... the pickup is low to the ground. Not a problem unless some raker accidently puts a windrow over a small rock (well okay, boulder hidden underneath the meadow barely sticking out) then it's not so good :oops:.

I feed with a spinner which works fine. How it feeds depends on how the hay was baled. Too dry, and it comes off in big chunks. If it was baled right, you can string it a long ways, BUT the windrow width can vary. We used to have a Deweze Superslicer but it wasn't handy dragging it behind. With the amount of cattle you feed, I'd look into a feeder to really make a nice, long windrow. If you can get by with a pickup, I know several people who really like hydrabeds.

Also, I HATE big square bales. The top bales don't keep, and unless you buy a square bale feeder, they require a tractor to load them, and a flatbed to haul them which makes them usually a job for two people (unless you put the pickup in low gear :D ) and two pieces of machinery. You probably don't deal with high winds, but I do here, and squares are the most miserable things to feed in the wind, trust me on this :lol:. Jim cringes when we have to feed them since he knows I'll be back there bit**ing the entire time :wink:. This year he didn't purchase a single square bale, so I've considered it a small victory :lol:. I also dislike netwrap since it's terrible to get off once it freezes to the bale, and it makes a big mess until you can get the stuff burned up.

My preference is rounds tied with twine FWIW :D.
 
The deere net wraps-- small red band to the left & it unrolls away from you. down here we use the cow catcher the pickup have one customer who unrolls them to feed into a sq baler --works fine nh the same except for the nh black wrap, that stuff will be here when GOD comes home
 
We use a Gehl and it has done a pile of bales, but it is getting difficult to get parts for now. We had good luck with a NH 855 (chain baler) for a lot of years. It did thousands of bales. The JD are about the best going, but the Gehl is paid for.
We either bale graze, or roll the bale out using the front tractor tire. We have never used a haybuster or shredder and I saw a presentation this winter that would scare the bejesus out of anyone feeding with a shredder on the snow. The loss of fines, etc. totally changed the nutrient content of the hay and the quantity of waste was amazing. feeding into a bunk they would be pretty slick but more money than this cow outfit wants to spend.
 
From my experience feeding the hay. Vermeer bales are pretty loose and take in a lot of moisture ...mud hay heston is not any better. John Deere bales are more constant sometimes they can get way to tight. Net Wraped bales are buy far better in any brand of baler.. Feeding now Vermeer 4 x5 bales next to John Deere 4X5 bales. The Vermeer bales measure 3ft 6 inches
height now and have been stacked in a barn. The John Deere bales are 3 inches short of 5 ft and also have been stacked in a barn. Hay is from two different producers in our area. I have to feed 2 Vermeer bales to get the cows full compared to one John Deere bale. That hits my pocket book.
 
My Dad has a John Deer and the problem with it sometimes is it clogs up and is a rip to get unplugged. Maybe he's going to fast. :???: :? After being around several balers helping hay the ones that seem to keep going are Vermeers. Even when they are twenty some years old. With balers being such a large investment lenghth of time the baler will and can be used is a pretty big part of it in my books.
 
Faster horses said:
Must be the baler operator, cuz I can guarantee you, our bales are
really tight.
Click to expand...

Ours, too. Nicky, we just fed our bales with a bale processor. You can adjust them to make the rows as long and wide as you want. Cows locked up in the corrals just got a bale in a bale feeder. Our last bale processor was a Haybuster, we really liked it better than the two BaleKings we had before it.
 
Nicky if you do think about getting a square baler there is a guy back there in Oregon that sells a attachment that you could put on a old Hesston stack mover. He also makes machine that will flake the hay off but its cheaper to buy the piece that does the flaking and put it on an old stack mover. It flakes the hay right off the wagon,pretty cool machine. I bought a old stack mover with the idea of purching one of these possibliy if I don't go with a hydra bed for my pickup which i could get a flaker for those hydra beds also.
 
tenbach79 said:
Nicky if you do think about getting a square baler there is a guy back there in Oregon that sells a attachment that you could put on a old Hesston stack mover. He also makes machine that will flake the hay off but its cheaper to buy the piece that does the flaking and put it on an old stack mover. It flakes the hay right off the wagon,pretty cool machine. I bought a old stack mover with the idea of purching one of these possibliy if I don't go with a hydra bed for my pickup which i could get a flaker for those hydra beds also.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the guy who makes them lives in Baker City...our closest town. There are alot of people in the valley using them. If we stick to the big squares we don't need a feeder...I've got Mike :wink: :P
 
Nicky, this thred on balers is just like belly buttons everybody has one so I will give my two bits also. My first baler was 660 NH and we put 36,000 bales threw it with only general up keep done to it. The only problem I had with it was that in some conditions it would be hard to start a bale. As for plugging the feeder it can be done, but it is easy to unplug by opening the door . This last summer I baught a new BR7090 NH net wrap and it is a lot faster. But the net wrap is not cheep, but the extra cost I thingk can be made up in time saved. Will be able to tell you more when I run it all summer rather just a month. The big reason I baught another NH was money, as a JD, for the same baler was 6,000 dollers higher. We have good NH and JD dealers so that was not a problem. As for feeding I like feeding the net wrap better threw the bale processer better than twine as the twine wraps around the hamers more. I like feeding with the hay processer, as the hay goes farther. I figure about 30%, maybe more if it is poor hay. This just my experance so take it for what it's wearth. No snow yet, so have a good day. RD :D :D
 
No offense intended, but for the life of me I can't understand why people don't take the twine/net wrap off the bales before running them through a processor. :???:

Plastic garbage that never goes away, bound up cows, all kinds of problems that occur just because someone won't take the time to pull it off.
We don't own a processor, never have and never will but we pull ALL the twine EVERY day. If we weren't hauling it in the winter we would use all sisal.
 
No offense taken, It is just easer to let the processor gather the twine and then take it off the the hamers every second or third day and burn it to get rid of it. Cows don't get exposed to very little of it, Just make sure you take it off the hamers in a timely maner so you don't burn up your processer!! :) :) RD
 
Cattlearmy



Is the baler plugging at the start of a bale?? Check the wear on the rods that run across the drum in the bottom of the bale chamber, when they get worn the rolling of the bale doesn't start quick enough. a trip to the welder will help a bunch, the more eratic the bead the better
 
I'm late coming into this thread but I figured I'd throw my two cents in anyway.

I've baled with JD, NH, and Hesston hard cores over the past few years, and they ALL break down, despite whatever their owners say. JD's give grief with the twine and net wraps and are belt failure prone. NH's give grief with the pickups, and the external bearings on the BR780s was NOT one of their better ideas. Hesstons have different issues depending on the model (do NOT buy any Hesston older than an 856).

As far as field speed and bale weight go, that title goes to the New Holland series. We have several custom operators in our area, each have tried a variety of JD and NH equipment, and each agree that the NH is faster in the field and can roll a heavier bale. Caveat: None of those outfits had tried a Hesston 956 though.

I currently run a NH664, and I think these were probably the second best baler that NH built. The 688's had a couple minor change ups that made a difference in the baling speed.

Having said all that, the next baler I buy will likely be a Hesston 956A (or Massey equivalent). The self contained hydraulics really minimize tractor workload (less fuel burned). All other balers will increase tractor workload as the chamber gets full, crop yield goes up, or ground speed increases. The pickup is easily the heaviest built of ANY round baler currently on the market (1/2" plate on the guage wheels!). Instead of going with light, externally greasable bearings on the load bearing rollers (can't say enough how bad an idea this was), Hesston went with heavy rollers, and DUAL internal bearings on each end of the roller. I know guys who have put through 30,000 bales and not changed a bearing on 956s.

Last year I baled side by side a new JD with a new Hesston 956A. I was able to bale a full 1mph faster, and his bales that were popping out looked way scruffier than mine.

Full disclosure: I do sling parts at a Massey dealership, so read whatever you want into that :)

Rod
 
Rod, can you elaborate on the main design differences between the 856 and 956 balers?

On the 956 I like the heavier guage wheel design and one piece side access doors that also have a better latch system than 856 models. That's just external stuff I can see. Any other major changes between the two models?
 
The 956 was pretty much a whole new baler. Belt routing and chamber design is different. 856s sometimes had a hard time starting bales, even with the stuffer. The 956 has a much heavier stuffer, and when used with a short crop kit, will allow for dry, short crop to start properly. The 956 also has a wider throat (although not as wide as a BR780/6 series NH). The 956 has a new monitor on the A models, which is second to absolutely none. The 956 also has bale forming sensors in the middle of the baler. And the 856 didn't use the double outer bearings on the forming rollers, although bearing troubles were minimal on the 856.

Those are a few of the major differences. The 956 is quite a bit better baler than the 856, which, IMO, lagged well behind the JDs and NHs of those years.

Rod
 

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