Round baling hay

[nails]

Not at all. they wrap just fine.
Some energy must be lost having heated, but the option of leaving them unwrapped and heating further would be plain stoopid.

I've bought, from a pal who was chasing horsy money and cocked up, some week old round bale 'hay' that was near red hot - £5 / per bale I recall.
I managed to get em on the wrapper, and some cows lived very cheap that winter.

I've done 1200-1500 rounds a year for 30 years or more, so I'm getting the hang of it.

Not worried about the energy loss , it is the fact that you have an already started aerobic reaction as opposed to an anaerobic reaction with minimal mould spores. It sounds like yours was o.k but i have seen many bales spoiled through that . The wrapping is often blamed but if the reaction has started before sealing , no amount of wrap will help

 

[nails]

About the same era as you @nails... 1985/6 I think I bought the first Krone I ran a small baler for a few years after that, but laziness saw that moved on quickly soon after!

Yes i am on my third little Krone 125, getting rather worn now but it showed up many a roller and belt balers struggling in dry bitty straw.

 

[neilo]

Really!

I am just the opposite... Same as with a bit of late baling as teh dew comes down... Bale it up and leave to sweat...

To be fair, we don’t know what type of baler @Bury the Trash uses. His little bales might be soft, squidgy ones and his rounds dense?

Our little ones were always with a Welger baler you years, which baled them nearly as dense as quadrants. They would certainly have to be fitter in idiot bricks than in a round bale.

 

[jh.]

yes and a soilid as a block stack is harder to check on after .
its a fact that most fires in storage are caused by big squares nowadays, ask the fire brigade.

mainly because the pressure is on to take them in as they dont shed water of course.

with rounds however sure you are of them at baling ...it dont hurt to leave them out for a while to ascess them.

over night and into the next day after theyve been baled ,push your hand in ( mine arent so dense that i cant do that without a bit of a wiggle , or a metal spike in one or 2 and if they are as cool a cucumber inside they will be fine to take in and stack ie it was fully fit.

i also monitor mine in the shed for a week or 2 , by feeling for heat and smell. until im happy that they are totally stable.

End of last month/start of this month we had a good spell forecast for our wee patch of hay . Got it cut and then the forecast changed to heavy rain so was round chamber baled at 5 days . I'd have really liked another day or 2 but as the baler left the field the rain started and had about 75mm over the next week .

Left outside and turned every few days . Metal spikes, had some cool bales and others pretty hot . Got the grain temp probe out and the cools are under 30°c , so any over 30 have now been marked , to see how they go in coming weeks .

Usually we stack on bean can but will leave them on round with a foot between each row this year to see

 

[steveR]

Yes i am on my third little Krone 125, getting rather worn now but it showed up many a roller and belt balers struggling in dry bitty straw.

Ran mine from new, until I invested 3 years ago in a new Bellima, and flogged the old girl to @Dave W who I believe used it, then moved it on. Only the pickup that let it down really in bitty stuff, so I used to bale with a dew on the straw... The chain and slat is noisy, but so reliable...

 

[steveR]

End of last month/start of this month we had a good spell forecast for our wee patch of hay . Got it cut and then the forecast changed to heavy rain so was round chamber baled at 5 days . I'd have really liked another day or 2 but as the baler left the field the rain started and had about 75mm over the next week .

Left outside and turned every few days . Metal spikes, had some cool bales and others pretty hot . Got the grain temp probe out and the cools are under 30°c , so any over 30 have now been marked , to see how they go in coming weeks .

Usually we stack on bean can but will leave them on round with a foot between each row this year to see

Be very interesting to hear how you get on.

 

[Sid]

To be fair, we don’t know what type of baler @Bury the Trash uses. His little bales might be soft, squidgy ones and his rounds dense?

Our little ones were always with a Welger baler you years, which baled them nearly as dense as quadrants. They would certainly have to be fitter in idiot bricks than in a round bale.

So I baled half a field for someone who's tractor had died.

First half had 49 bales from his baler, youll be about the same he said.
Got 28, should I charge him for 28 or the 49 he was expecting

What's round baling now? £3? £3.50?

 

[nails]

Ran mine from new, until I invested 3 years ago in a new Bellima, and flogged the old girl to @Dave W who I believe used it, then moved it on. Only the pickup that let it down really in bitty stuff, so I used to bale with a dew on the straw... The chain and slat is noisy, but so reliable...

Is the Bellima any different ? The 130 has the bigger pick up with side augurs and the 125 standrd 4 foot pick up?

 

[Bury the Trash]

havnt farted around with inefficient small bales for years,last baler went for export to a less developed country.

belt baler here and i know when and how to use it.
there's more hay spoilt by the baler than by the weather that's fer sure.
if you cant muster patience then farming is not the best occupation for you.

 

[steveR]

Is the Bellima any different ? The 130 has the bigger pick up with side augurs and the 125 standrd 4 foot pick up?

Better reel build, and a fancy new frock seems to sum it up.... oh yes twin tie string is nice for hay, and this one has net too...

I went for the (cheap) 4ft pick-up, which does cause a few hassles with a 36ft bed combine!! However, I can just fit the row in.... I don't go far for a bale...

 

[egbert]

Better reel build, and a fancy new frock seems to sum it up.... oh yes twin tie string is nice for hay, and this one has net too...

I went for the (cheap) 4ft pick-up, which does cause a few hassles with a 36ft bed combine!! However, I can just fit the row in.... I don't go far for a bale...

like this'un?

 

[steveR]

like this'un?
View attachment 975539

View attachment 975540

Old model, KR125, cracking balers, and to mind, better styled and built bodywork....

Not quite so sure about that slope mind! The day I need to make hay there is the day I find somewhere else to farm.

The shadow of the "rake" operator tells me all I need to know

 

[thesilentone]

The hay/grass determines everything. Some grasses take more energy than others, some balers make better bales than others.

Make one bale mid density, stop, have a look, give it a kick and a shove, then make your own decision.

 

[Tubbylew]

like this'un?
View attachment 975539

View attachment 975540

I've got vertigo looking at that, would they bale the row above or rake it down to the flat bit they're already on? apologies if it's a stupid question.

 

[thesilentone]

I've got vertigo looking at that, would they bale the row above or rake it down to the flat bit they're already on? apologies if it's a stupid question.

Simple, get Granda to rake it down in bits (as he's the only one who knows how to operate a rake) and Grandson drives up and down with the window open complaining about the baler, or tractor, or Granda not making a decent row

 

[nails]

like this'un?
View attachment 975539

View attachment 975540

Austria? I have seen them gather every little forkful off those steep slopes.

 

[egbert]

Old model, KR125, cracking balers, and to mind, better styled and built bodywork....

Not quite so sure about that slope mind! The day I need to make hay there is the day I find somewhere else to farm.

The shadow of the "rake" operator tells me all I need to know

Austria? I have seen them gather every little forkful off those steep slopes.

I've got vertigo looking at that, would they bale the row above or rake it down to the flat bit they're already on? apologies if it's a stupid question.

South Tirol (technically Italy since WW1, although they speak German and DON'T like being called Italians.)

This 'field' isn't their steepest by any means - the bank at the bottom of this one you could hardly stand on.
Some was baled, having been raked down onto the ride, some was collected in bulk - by granfer funnily enough- in his 4x4 alpine tractor - I'll find some more pics.
Some was raked with a buckrake attachment on a superannuated Allen scythe - with demountable finger bar mower or rake.
Some was raked with a wooden rake* by the goon whose shadow is indeed in the pic...yours truly.

The guy had 5 cows, and a 'day job', which wasn't uncommon.
The level of subs must have been stratospheric, but the cattle farmers were absolutely king in those valleys.
The whole community turned on their presence.
The tiny farms made them the community, and the tourist dollar was completely enmeshed in their system.
No cows on the mountains, no ski slopes.

* I commented after a day raking another little patch, right below where the wife of his cousin was doing likewise, that I'd had quite a nice view uphill.
My man concurred, but advised the view wasn't as nice facing the other way.

 

[egbert]

 

[Tubbylew]

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It's good how they've hung on thus far, all of the communities on land thats steep hereabouts have been abandoned years ago, now it's all bracken and blowers in.

 

[steveR]

Austria? I have seen them gather every little forkful off those steep slopes.

Quite amazing really, and the slopes they will travel on are amazing... I wouldn't rde a bike up them...