Contractors baler not baling bales properly

6r 185

Member
NFFN Member
Evening
As I chew through my winter supply of wrapped baleage, I'm running into a lot of problem bales which are a nightmare to unwrap in one piece, often ending up with bits of wrap and strands of net tangled up between the layers of silage. I guess what I want to know is, how well do balers actually work? How consistent should the end product be? What's "normal"? My thinking is that every bale should be almost perfect and a modern baler is idiot proof if it's set up and working properly....or am I expecting too much?

Issues are:
-Layers of silage between layers of wrap
-Layers of silage between layers of net
-Layers of net tangled in between layers of wrap
-Cone shaped bales which have lots of silage bunched up on one end and net all bunched up on the other end
-Bales coming out of the baler with massive holes torn in the wrap, usually near the edge. Not too many of these fortunately.

Raked with big tractor and 2 or 4 rotor rake, baled with massive tractors with Krone, Kuhn and McHale combis. Worst bales seem to be coming out of the Kuhn. Not chopped.

Last year I had them mow, rake, bale and stack, the mowers left half the paddock behind, the stackers ripped holes in every third bale. This year I had them rake and bale only, and they've made a bit of a mess of that too. Tempted to change to a different contractor, maybe I'm being a bit picky. Maybe they had inexperienced drivers because COVID. It's not like I know anything about balers.

Thoughts?
I really don’t understand why some farmers let contractors make such a poor job but stick with them, plenty more fish in the sea!
 

box

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
NZ
I really don’t understand why some farmers let contractors make such a poor job but stick with them, plenty more fish in the sea!
Better the devil you know, no one's perfect. As long as the job's being done to a reasonable quality at a reasonable price in a reasonable timeframe, there's not really much to complain about. I've played the game of jumping from one company to the next (feed companies, freight companies, vets, banks, insurers, mating companies), it's all the same sh!t with a different company name on the top of the invoice. If I don't like the way it's being done, I do it myself (if possible), otherwise it's best to just look the other way, pay the bill and move on.

In this particular case, referring to my OP from a year ago, a change in management from the "old boys" to a younger generation at the start of the 2021/22 season made a big difference.

The rakes and balers arrived on time, every time, the quality of the bales was excellent despite some extremely challenging terrain and conditions.

All is well for now. They'll be back again this season.
 
Last edited:
Location
lincs
My contractor refuses to do good hard bales this year. He will only let gauge go to 12 clock on gauge rather than well in the red as previous years on a mchale Baler. Too much strain on Baler and cost of fuel and wanting to make more sh!t bales for me to pay for which is wrong. We have all got bills to pay and the price of my fuel and wrap but I do wrap myself. 110 bales from 9 acres light crop compared to 75 year good crop. Not happy
That sounds a big difference to be just down to bale density in my experience it doesn’t make that much difference to bale numbers..your a long while making ten more bales if they’re a bit softer.dry matter makes much more difference.had a field we do has done 170 off 8 acres this year!now that’s exceptional and no,my bales were not that soft!🤭
 

Drillman

Member
Mixed Farmer
I look at my bales once:

As they leave the chamber, I check if they stop rolling, or whether I've to chase it down the slope 😱

Not many flat bits of field here in the hills
I never chase bales if there gonna go I let them.

not worth the risk of damaging the tractor or baler chasing bales about.
Didn't realize they had mirrors either
i have a mirror mounted on my hat😂😂
 
I never chase bales if there gonna go I let them.

not worth the risk of damaging the tractor or baler chasing bales about.

i have a mirror mounted on my hat😂😂
drill man proper bsler drivers slwsys back up and on an angle so when you let bale out you can place it and look at bale , smile if it’s all netted or you have a loose stack , nmmm🤞🏻 as the it’s the old jd days and the habit has not gone 🙈
 

Bald n Grumpy

Member
Livestock Farmer
My contractor refuses to do good hard bales this year. He will only let gauge go to 12 clock on gauge rather than well in the red as previous years on a mchale Baler. Too much strain on Baler and cost of fuel and wanting to make more sh!t bales for me to pay for which is wrong. We have all got bills to pay and the price of my fuel and wrap but I do wrap myself. 110 bales from 9 acres light crop compared to 75 year good crop. Not happy
Wouldn't stand for that behaviour myself, sounds like he needs to sort out his issue's or be told to go away
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,287
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top