Leave Hay in baler or remove

Mtjohnso

Member
DO you leave hay in the baler at the end of the season or do you remove it?
Seems like the reason to leave it in is to that there would some resistance when starting the new bale next year. The reason to take it out is so that there is no rusting in the bale chute.
So what do you do? Note this is a small square baler.
 
I take it out and feed it. If it's a bit wet, it will rot, and if it isn't, it will draw moisture and start to rot the sides of the baler. And, it only takes a few minutes....
 
I always remove it, then run my shop vac over entire baler so nowhere for moisture to accumulate and allow rust.
 
I never leave it in. Both square balers that I owned (IH-37 & Oliver 620)the previous owners would leave a bale in the bale chamber. I had to weld patches in on both balers because the hay drew moisture and rusted them out. I always back both tensioners off 20 turns, take the bale out and then turn them back 20 turns so the tension remains pretty well the same for next year.
 
Outside storage definatly remove, inside does not make much difference as long as it is good and dry.
 
Remove all hay from baler inside and out. Clean up buildups around hay dogs, knotters,etc. Important last step - spray down chamber, knotters, any area prone to rust with light oil. Grease all fittings. Grease billhooks and other areas of knotters.
 
Honestly? Depends on what else is going on. I prefer complete removal and cleaning of the baler at the end of each cutting. Anything else is just lazy and sloppy to me. I grew up working in restaurants and we cleaned all the equipment after every day. A baler is different yes, but to me it is still a matter of good practices. Clean it, lube it, cover it or shed it.
 
I leave them in during the baling season, then remove them from the chamber and blow the entire baler of with compressed air, frease and put away.
 
Our baler never set out at night and at end of season cleaned out and inspected for anything that needed repair or replacing. All bare metal was wipered down with light coat of oil and then shoved back in barn.
 

I second what Paul does. Back tension way off and feed in two bales of mulch. Leaves much more air in the chamber. No rust.
 
Oil on the chamber only lasts about 2-3 weeks to stop rust here, the bales work for a year. I suppose you could grease it all but what a mess that would be.

Baler absolutely never gets rained on here though. Its treated like its made of cardboard. Out to bale, back into shed as soon as done.
 
The two farms I worked on in the late 70's early 80's we never emptied the baler. They were always shedded.
Both those balers were still running into the 00's, a Massey 126 and NH Super 67 Hayliner.
 
Usually bale up a couple of bales of straw. Actually I think I've used the same 2 bales for the last couple of years...just cut them and feed until the hay bales can be removed. That way there's already tension in the spring and the first hay bales are already correctly formed and I don't have to stop and re-feed them through the baler. Works for me.
 
We never took the last bale out.When we upgraded to a NH 315 from an uncle he told me to always empty the bale chamber because the last bale would get stuck and break the shear bolts first thing next year so I emptied the bale chamber on that one only.
 

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