Bale weight and pros of chopping?

[Jerry]

Have the option of a contractor with a McHale Fusion to do some haylage for sheep.

How heavy are fusion bales roughly?


And what are the advantages of have the grass chopped?

Wastage, quality??

 

[michael N123]

Ours are all over 750kg with dryish stuff and less waste less time spent hauling and stacking and less plastic used

 

[Werzle]

Less plastic, less bales, less pulled out the feeders under feet etc

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Depends how the man sets it. Fusion has the potential to be as good a bale as you can get, but if yer man doesn't fill it up no advantage.

Presuming good driver, no problem at all, and better bales for being chopped. Less bales, less plastic, less haulage and better compacted = better grub.

 

[Mr Mackay]

Our baler man does not like v dry stuff to chop, with his Fusion . He chops all our dryish silage but complains if its getting more like Haylege
I dont blame him as the wetter stuff makes the knives slip through easier- must use more diesel in hay stuff !

There again ,someone will be along in a minute , to tell me they do it all the time

 

[d williams]

Ours are all over 750kg with dryish stuff and less waste less time spent hauling and stacking and less plastic used

They won’t be that weight for 24% haylage

 

[michael N123]

They won’t be that weight for 24% haylage

That was haylage like nearly hay the wetter stuff makes the wrapper cock a wheel have to be careful with the hs2000 if it’s pointing downhill as it will fall over forwards if you don’t hit the stop button fast enough bales be well over a ton

 

[Jerry]

Depends how the man sets it. Fusion has the potential to be as good a bale as you can get, but if yer man doesn't fill it up no advantage.

Presuming good driver, no problem at all, and better bales for being chopped. Less bales, less plastic, less haulage and better compacted = better grub.

Experienced contractor been running two fusions fur a good few years and decent drivers.

He’s just some done haylage fur me that I did not chop as it was for belly fill cattle type stuff I was given for nothing if I cleared it up. (Basically poor grass but plenty of it, 19 bales of 3 acres)

Will cut sheep ground soon and want quality over quantity at this stage. It’s still pretty green and just starting to head.

 

[michael N123]

Experienced contractor been running two fusions fur a good few years and decent drivers.

He’s just some done haylage fur me that I did not chop as it was for belly fill cattle type stuff I was given for nothing if I cleared it up. (Basically poor grass but plenty of it, 19 bales of 3 acres)

Will cut sheep ground soon and want quality over quantity at this stage. It’s still pretty green and just starting to head.

The older belly fill type stuff is better chopped stops then pulling it out the feeders

 

[Jerry]

The older belly fill type stuff is better chopped stops then pulling it out the feeders

Don’t have issues with cattle wasting stuff, sheep on the other hand are masters at it!

 

[michael N123]

Don’t have issues with cattle wasting stuff, sheep on the other hand are masters at it!

Tidying up where sheep feeders have been makes you wonder why you bother sometimes can soon fill a muckspreader where a couple of ring feeders have been all winter

 

[M-J-G]

We have a chopper Welgar with 23 knives, and I've used a variety of numbers of knives right up to all of them and I find it makes no significant difference to how much grass goes in a bale.
Driving at a sensible forward speed for the last half of the bale is just the only way to make much difference to how dense a bale is when using a fixed chamber baler.
Drive sensibly and you'll make a bale that's like stone, knives or not.

I rarely use knives now.

 

[Skintagain]

13 knives for ring feeders. Full knives the bales just explodes when net comes off.

 

[neilo]

Chopped bales and tight pressure = less oxygen in the bale = better fermentation.
In a dairy farmer’s clamp you won’t find any long grass, and it will be compacted well to exclude oxygen. Why would you not look to do the same in a bale?

Agree with above point about setting up though. Been very happy with local contractor (Fusion) but have had someone else baling this year to contra standing grass he’s bought. He also has a Fusion, but is baling it as he would his own, rather than to ‘charge by the bale’. I put 14 bales on my trailer last week and the Merlo hitch was struggling to lift the drawbar, which it’s never done before.

 

[Werzle]

I prefer the half chop option to the full set of knives tbh, bales fall apart on you with the full chop and they are very heavy to handle.

 

[Skintagain]

Chopped bales and tight pressure = less oxygen in the bale = better fermentation.
In a dairy farmer’s clamp you won’t find any long grass, and it will be compacted well to exclude oxygen. Why would you not look to do the same in a bale?

Agree with above point about setting up though. Been very happy with local contractor (Fusion) but have had someone else baling this year to contra standing grass he’s bought. He also has a Fusion, but is baling it as he would his own, rather than to ‘charge by the bale’. I put 14 bales on my trailer last week and the Merlo hitch was struggling to lift the drawbar, which it’s never done before.

A Jcb would be ok

 

[Fendt516profi]

They won’t be that weight for 24% haylage

Did some a week ago average 40% average 613kg did some today average 52% average 500kg

 

[gone up the hill]

10% extra in a bale if its chopped!

The width of your swath will thou have the biggest impact either positive or negative on bale weight/ tightness of the bale!

 

[Mr Mackay]

There is no doubt that chopping the grass allows it to pack a tad tighter . Fusion bales are frequently over 750 kg , and thats dryish silage .
If wet then the loader soon tells you considerably more !! Not nice to handle IMO
I was merely pointing out its a bugger trying to chop vey dry haylege , you need the knives sharp as , and even then it makes the baler grunt
Film wrapped instead of net if you can and the bales a guddun !

But I would agree that the bales will just fall aprt when fully chopped (which for our tub feeder is a must , saves fuel and time ) but for people using rings ,take a few knives out maybe

 

[Poorbuthappy]

We have a chopper Welgar with 23 knives, and I've used a variety of numbers of knives right up to all of them and I find it makes no significant difference to how much grass goes in a bale.
Driving at a sensible forward speed for the last half of the bale is just the only way to make much difference to how dense a bale is when using a fixed chamber baler.
Drive sensibly and you'll make a bale that's like stone, knives or not.

I rarely use knives now.

But thats baling your own.
Contractors tend to drive like fury (understandably), so it does make a difference to have it chopped.
But I do agree changing down a few gears would also make the difference.