small hay bales

Rob30 · #1 06/26/07, 09:54 PM

Looking for ideas on best way to harvest small square bales. We have limited help. A friend lent me a forage king hay basket. I hope to try tomorrow. We have been baling and picking it up with a pickup. But we are harvesting way to much now. We just bought a small hay wagon. I will be extending the bed on my baler so we can bale right on to the wagon and have one of us piling.
Also we bale loose bales. We are planning to sell some, so we need to find out how tight to bale them. To tight and my wife and kids have a hard time carrying them.

ksfarmer · #2 06/26/07, 09:58 PM

Depends on type of hay you are baling,,,I have baled alfalfa bales as light as 60 lbs and as heavy as 100 lbs. depends on how hard you want to work. and the strength of workers.

**Ross** · #3 06/26/07, 10:01 PM

Aim for 40-50 pound bales, shorten the length of the bale and tighten down the tension if they're sloppy. The bale basket needs shorter tighter bales to work well anyhow, but that shortening will bring down the weight so they're easier to handle.

Cat · #4 06/26/07, 10:40 PM

I don't like them any heavier than about 65 lbs although thankfully I haven't had to load a lot of them in several years. Okay, I take that back, unfortunately I've not had to load a lot of them in several years. (Would improve my physique, to be sure!)

This year I'll be getting some alfalfa squares & brome squares but thankfully my friend is going to deliver the alfalfa with his helpers so I'll just have to watch 'em work! The brome I'll have to do myself. <grimace>

I'm not sure what the things you've mentioned is, but we used to use a henry pop up bale loader which can be attached to the flatbed trailer and picks bales up and sets them on a platform about 6' or 7' off the bed of the trailer. You just have to stack them on the trailer. I've found a few online listings of auctions with them.

John Hill · #5 06/26/07, 11:06 PM

We used to have a simple wooden sledge dragging behind the baler. One of us stood on that and stacked the bales (six or so) at the rear of the sledge and practically on the point of balance. A good shove would move the stack off the sledge onto the ground. This is a great help when collecting up the bales with the trailer or truck.

rambler · #6 06/26/07, 11:56 PM

What model of baler do you have?

You can shorten the bales (often a little sliding stop on an arm....) to keep them lighter. Uses a bit more twine of course. Very little sliding makes a big difference.

You can increase the tension on the bales (typically 2 cranks on the end of the bale chute, crank down 2-4 turns each & see what happens) to make them tighter.

Is the 'bale basket' the type with a cute going up into a triangular type of basket, baler pushes bales up the chute & into the basket? They work pretty good, I have one.

--->Paul

dare2b · #7 06/27/07, 12:45 AM

I'm keen to learn about making small bales of hay. I have tiny acreage that I mow regularly and hate to see all that organic matter left out in my acre and a half. I'd love to figure out how to bale it so it can be hauled back and used in my garden. Was looking tonight for a bagger to add to my lawn tractor so I could at least haul the loose stuff back for a compost pile, but wasn't sure if the bagger I found would fit my little rig. Bales would be so much better!!! Advice, suggestions, and links would be a bonus! Thanks.

Rob30 · #8 06/27/07, 09:08 PM

My baler is a NH 280 I think. I also have a 68 in good shape, I have been thinking of getting field ready.
I have had problems with the bale basket. My bales keep missing the chute. I bent one bar for the needles. Then I broke a chain on the notters.
I am not that great with fixing the baler. I can usually fix something if I can figure out how it works first.
I tightened up my bales. I find about 90% are the same length. But I do get some shorter ones. Also I find I am getting alot of missed nots on one side now.
The basket is going back. I can't afford to keep breaking my baler.
I think we will start hauling a wagon behind the baler and load as I bale.
How do the big producers do it.

**Ross** · #9 06/27/07, 09:29 PM

You had the special hitch for the basket? Hooked up correctly they can't miss, it almost becomes part of the chute assembly. The big guys use the NH bale wagons or self propelled bale wagons. I have one (pull type) , it's kind of fussy to set up for a small numbers of bales. There's also bale accumulators out there. Way over priced IMO, that leave a square of bales on the ground that a grabber hooks up and stacks on a wagon. Check out a google for Netherex, they're sold in ONT, or Accumul8 (I think) and there's more.

Is the baler "missing" or is it breaking the knot? Check the brass rollers inside the cam assembly. (tractor off those knotters are hand mashers.) the rollers should be round and smooth. The knot could be hung up on the billhooks if they're out of time, or have a rough edge, or they could be worn out, the knife could be dull and not cutting clean, lots of things could be wrong. Dust accumulation is a bad one so is a lack of grease. You really have to watch carefully while it ties.

rambler · #10 06/28/07, 01:10 AM

NH has good balers. You have to be very good with setting up the timing if the chain breaks!

A manual from NH would abe a real good investment.

I can't quite follow the problems you had, bent needles or broken chains have nothing to do with a bale basket. Think a manual would help you a lot; a baler, a planter, & a combine should always have a manual....

Baskets work pretty good, can't turn too short with slippery grass or straw, but sure save a lot of work. My old NH 270 has liked it very well, after me working on the hayrack for 25+ years before I got the basket. They leave kinda amess when you dump them, but make 1-person haying possible with less issues than a bale thrower.

Stacking on a wagon as you plan to do; bale thrower & 2-7 catch racks; NH bale pickup wagons or trucks; & bale accumulators are the way big outfits handle small squares.

--->Paul

bachelorb · #11 06/28/07, 06:57 AM

I have to agree with Paul here, a manual is everything. Bent needles and broke chains are probably timing issues. Broken knots can be a number of things. I like to feed some hay into the chamber make a 12 inch long bale and trip the knotter by hand and watch what it does. keep your fingers and toes away from the sheerery though.

My WAG would be the bill hook wiper is not cleaning the knot off the billhook (the shiny silver colored thing under the gears). This can be because the billhook is pitted or rusted (take emory cloth to it), or the wiper clearance is wrong. This is usually a gorilla move to bend the wiper closer to the billhook.

But before you do any of that GET A MANUAL. I use the book more in the fieeld then I do any wrench. Oh yeah, and LUBE, LUBE, LUBE....

Good luck,
Brad

bachelorb · #12 06/28/07, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambler

Is the 'bale basket' the type with a cute going up into a triangular type of basket, baler pushes bales up the chute & into the basket? They work pretty good, I have one.

--->Paul

Hmmmmm... Paul, tell me more about this bale basket thingy. My help is moving off to college and likes girls more than haying (go figger...). My Ol' butt is tired of jumping on and off the hay wagon and my ol butt's wife is tired of driving the wagon around the fields with me yelling at her all the time.

Is this hay basket the answered prayer I've been waiting for?

rambler · #13 06/29/07, 12:10 AM

For some reason they are less popular than bale kickers around here, but there is far less things to move & break & give grief.

They typically hold 80-120 bales. Really need to have a baler that doesn't miss tying bales. Have to be a little more careful on doing sharp corners. Need a hitch centered right under the middle of the bale chute - I think many JD balers can, and can replace the pole on a NH baler with one made to center the pin. Works really good, happy with mine.

Here's a link. (Hum - not sure on the Russian page as that's a USA company, but at least you can see a pic....)

http://www.generationsales.com/Russi...railBasket.htm

--->Paul

**Ross** · #14 06/29/07, 07:34 AM

We had a basket too, had because it only holds 80-100 bales so to get 5 acres done before a rain, you need to have 6 of the things and tarps. @ $2200 each used it seemed a bit much. That or a faster way to get the dumped bales under cover fast. (read huge bale tarp) or a crew to move them into the barn. (weren't we trying to save on labor?) NH bale wagons are faster, and stack neatly. Again big bucks although I got mine for $2600 and I'd sell it for as much. We just went back to stacking on the wagon, all the kids can drive the baler now, and that'll do for now and the next 5 or 6 years.

**fordson major** · #15 06/29/07, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross

NH bale wagons are faster, and stack neatly.

also, 2 of the models single bale off load too an elevator. distance kills the system though. no one here use a allied auto stooker? had a hay guy phone looking for three in any condition, one for each of his balers.

Rob30 · #16 06/29/07, 09:43 PM

My baler bent the arm that controls the needles. It was because the basket was off line with the bale shoot.
I made a new hitch that centered the basket. But the pipe I used was to long and caught the needle bar as it tried to cycle. That broke the chain.
The baler was not missing bales when the bales were loose. However I tightened them up. Then it startted missing. I checkrd the brass pieces. One does have some flat spots.
I will check the bill hooks tomorrow.
It looks like we will be stacking on to wagons, because the basket is going back tomorrow.