After a long summer of doing hay by myself I got me a new baler to speed things up. I'm hoping it will make life easier.
New toy for next year
- Thread starter Bulldog
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North Idaho Wolfman
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Thats nice but the wrong color for me.....
Since I had Dennis go through my ac, it's been wonderful. Makes me shiver on a 95 degree day. Dennis was impressed with the Reflectix on the inside of the roof too. Every little bit helps.Is that Net / twine or just one wrap medium? Been running New Holland net on mine. I had zero luck with the Kubota net. Using mega balls of NH twine as well. Keep both loaded on the bailer for that 'just in case scenario.
Red is the wrong color around here unless it's a older baler. Our local dealer hates the new roll belt balers for some reason. Next closest NH dealer is 2 hrs away.Thats nice but the wrong color for me.....
Is that Net / twine or just one wrap medium? Been running New Holland net on mine. I had zero luck with the Kubota net. Using mega balls of NH twine as well. Keep both loaded on the bailer for that 'just in case scenario.
I got it with net and twine. Dealer said most people don't even use the twine but I would rather have it just in case.
Good move. Like I said, having a net fail in the field can be very frustrating so backup twine for that I might need it is a good investment.
One thing I did learn with the twine (if you have it threaded but don't use it) is, put a piece of masking tape across the top of the ball to keep it tight. I use the mega balls and once it starts unraveling, it's an instant 28,000 foot mess. Been there and did that. All it took was one time with me.
Go wax it Phil...lol
Actually before I put it up for winter I did wax it. Took me 3 afternoons and a step ladder but I got it done.
Bulldog, this is slightly off topic, but I figure you guys would know the answers. Basically what goes into choosing what type of baling twine is used on small square bales? Poly twine or what I call sisal?
I have gotten hay for 40 years from a neighbor and he always used sisal, and he has been threatening retirement. Now getting some really good 2nd cutting alfalfa from someone with dairy cows. Very pricy too. Not about to complain since it is for an old horse. Anyway he uses poly twine, and it leaves tufts of the poly in the hay. Sheep farmers generally don't want to feed hay with plastic contamination because it spoils the wool clip. Little bits of plastic don't digest out of the fleece and if woven into cloth stick out and don't take the dye the same as the wool fiber. So I was just wondering if it was price, baler, or even maybe mice chew polly twine less????
I have gotten hay for 40 years from a neighbor and he always used sisal, and he has been threatening retirement. Now getting some really good 2nd cutting alfalfa from someone with dairy cows. Very pricy too. Not about to complain since it is for an old horse. Anyway he uses poly twine, and it leaves tufts of the poly in the hay. Sheep farmers generally don't want to feed hay with plastic contamination because it spoils the wool clip. Little bits of plastic don't digest out of the fleece and if woven into cloth stick out and don't take the dye the same as the wool fiber. So I was just wondering if it was price, baler, or even maybe mice chew polly twine less????
Poly comes in different weights (knot strength) for various applications, round bales being the lightest poly, small squares being the heaviest poly.
The reason he's getting 'tufts of poly in the bales is, his twine knives are dull so instead of a clean cut, the knives partially cut the twine and the action of the bale in the bale chamber finishes the cut and frays the ends causing the 'tuft. If the twine knives are sharp, there are none. Twine knives on square bailers are cheap and changing them is not a big deal, plus, each knife has 2 cutting edges. Be nice and tell him you'll buy a set of knives if he will change them. Last time I changed mine on my 575 New Holland, a new set was under 10 bucks.
Personal opinion but I'd never feed an 'old horse alfalfa dairy hay. Alfalfa dairy hay is a good way to colic an old horse, especially an inactive one. My wife's old standard bred mare gets grass hay only.
In fact that is 90% of what I run anyway and all the hay I run goes to Lost Nation Rodeo Company for their bucking bulls and breeder cattle. They prefer grass hay over anything else. Grass with a bit of vernal alfalfa mixed in but never straight alfalfa.
Just reseeded a field this fall and they specified orchard grass with a tiny bit of vernal alfalfa so that is what I planted.
Nest year if the local fair is on and they have a Rodeo, chances are Lost Nation will be putting it on.
They have been buying ALL the hay I make for about 5 years now. Of course all in rounds. I don't run small squares anymore if you want to buy a square bailer, I have a nice NH 575 in the barn ,low hours too and all options but a bale kicker.
Mice don't chew poly as a rule. Just be careful about what you do with pulled stings. You get a length of poly twine wrapped around the spindle of your lawnmower, I guarantee it will destroy the spindle bearing.
Understandable on the ladder. I have the same issue, it's pretty high at the top of the side sheets. When I grease the upper front roll, I have to use a ladder to reach it.
Don't do squares but on round I use poly. Main reason for me is it feeds so much better and the knives cut it easier because it's smaller than sisal. Another plus is the big balls of poly are 20,000' to sisal 16,000' and the poly is less than half the price. Last for me only applies to round bales the poly twine will weather better than sisal on balers sitting outside. I don't have enough storage and end up with up to 200 bales sitting out every year.
That's interesting what you said about the wool though. I don't know anyone with sheep so have no knowledge about them. Hope this answered your question.
Well that might explain it. I bet he puts up round bales too. If poly feeds better or stores better outside, why buy two kinds?
No, not really. Case was the first round baler way back when, which is CNH_Fiat now.
I'll have to agree. I've had very little trouble from my Super I and for the last few years have far exceeded it's limitations on a production standpoint. A need for more bales a day is the biggest reason for the new baler.
In the past most of the balers around here were NH. Now while there are several people around me using Vermeer most of the newer balers are Deere. I looked at them and have baled with a couple different ones but the local dealer sucks. I lucked out and ran up on a little family run operation that sells Vermeer, Kuhn and Bushhog which covers most of my implements so it was a no brainer for me to buy from them. I don't care how good the equipment is you're dead in the water without dealer support.
I guess on big proprietary equipment that can be true. Or anything made by Deer that you can't "read". I would agree that a good mechanic is worth his weight in gold.
In my case, I put 4000 hours on my last tractor - I never broke a thing on it and never went to the dealer again. Over 400hrs on my new one and SFSG.
I have never been back to a dealer with an attachment issue (over 30 years). I have needed some repairs along the way that I tend to handle.
With the internet today making the world smaller, you have a lot more resources than we ever had before.
Riddle me this? Would you rather have something with great support that breaks a lot, or something with bad support that never breaks? For me the answer would be in the middle.
With the equipment that Bulldog and I run, dealer support is very important, especially for parts that fail and need to be replaced immediately. When you are out running forage (cutting, raking, tedding or bailing, it's of utmost importance that any part that causes any downtime can be replaced / repaired immediately so a good dealer stocking those parts, is of paramount importance because we cannot afford to wait. Mother Nature don't let us. One reason I have multiple pieces of the same hay tools. if I have a major issue, I can hook to my alternate and keep on trucking while the broken implement gets repaired.
I'm sure Vermeer makes a good reliable bailer but they are non existent here. However CNH is here and my CNH dealer is a huge multi store dealer with a large inventory of parts so I run CNH hay tools.
My Kubota dealer also sells Kubota Hay tools but I'm not fond of them for reasons not germane to this discussion.
I'm sure Vermeer makes a good reliable bailer but they are non existent here. However CNH is here and my CNH dealer is a huge multi store dealer with a large inventory of parts so I run CNH hay tools.
My Kubota dealer also sells Kubota Hay tools but I'm not fond of them for reasons not germane to this discussion.