NH vs Vermeer vs Hesston

KyJimbo

New User
I've got a need for a small round baler. I have an excellent market for the small rolls. I've found ads for all these balers. All I know about the 503i is he's spent about $100 in new pickup teeth, about all the ad says. He's asking $4000, looks good in the couple of pics I saw of it. The Hesston 530 is suppose to be an excellent shape, and seen very little hay. Owner says it's never spent a night outside and that the only reason he's selling is that he bought a bigger baler. On the pics it looks to be hydraulic tie, but not for sure. Asking $5800. And last the NH 634 is a 1996 one owner, they say it's average about 150 rolls a year since new, electric tie, looks dirty in the pics but than that, looks good. Asking $6000. I've got good dealer support for all three within an hour or so. What's the best baler for 3 or 4 hundred rolls??
 

No comment on the Vermeer, but I'd pick the 634 over the 530, bigger baler and more capacity. 150 rolls a year is nothing. Can still get parts through NH easy.
 
The NH makes a bigger bale than the Hesston. Both will do the job fine. If you have a choice, net wrap is a LOT faster than twine and makes a better looking bale. You'd have to charge a bit more for net wrapped bales though. For me it would be a toss up between the NH and Hesston and would depend on what I wanted to make and belt condition. Belts are expensive. Check for leaks and hear it run if you can.
 
The Hesston makes a 39 inch wide roll and the NH 634 is right at 48 inches wide. Around here, the Hesston roll will sell for as much as a true 4x4 roll. No one ever measures or weighs them. The dreaded horse folks may like the Hesston roll better if they have to roll them around etc.

On the 634: check the bracket that supports the outer end of the main drive shaft/sprocket. They are not that well supported and can crack where it is welded to the main housing as well as where a bolt head comes through the main housing(frame). With that amount of rolls/year it should still be fine- no cracks.

We have two of that size Hesstons and I help maintain a NH 634, and two more Hesstons. Don't know anything about the Vermeer.

Garry
 
I have a Hesston 530. bought it used 13 or 14 years ago.
Very good machine. Makes a 39in bale. Mine has manual or
electric tie. I have baled approximately 15,000 bales. You will
have regular maintenance with bearing and belts. Have
current owner install the belt lift stops spin/shake each roller to
check for loose bearing. Also attempt to shake the pickup
teeth in the throat of each machine. This will tell about the
pickup bearing and cam they run in.

I would buy the Hesston because it is what I know. It is also
the same as a 5530 and also the same as some Case Ih
balers. I do not know what number though.

JWalker
 
Since you're familiar with the NH and Hesston, do you have a preference between the 2? It's the same for me for selling the rolls, both would bring $20-25 a roll out of the barn. So part of me says get the smaller Hesston but if the NH is a better roller, well, I'm not opposed to going that route. but most of what I read on here, people don't seem to have a favorable opinion of NH's 4x4 balers, no matter what the model is.
 
I prefer the Hesston. They are smaller, more simple, easier to work on. They never really need that much maintenance, at least ours have not. We roll mainly fescue and orchard grass. The only way to change bale density is to drive slower. The Hesston 540(CaseIH 8430) is a 4x4 baler with hydraulics for controlling density. They take a little more horsepower as compared to the 530(CaseIH 8420), so says a former dealer. The NH 634 also has springs for bale density, so not much difference there.

Many on this site do not like the Hesston, for various reasons. We make decent looking rolls and I don't scrimp on the twine. Ours
have the electric powered threader. A friend has the hydraulic threader, it takes an extra pair of remotes, or a switching valve on the baler.

Belts are about $125 each aftermarket x 5 belts. They last a long time, can be cut off and relaced a time or two and are not that hard to change. We bought our 5530 (older model) in 2001 ( 1987 model) the belts were 1 or 2 years old. They are still running. Rolls about 250-300 roll/year. A friend rolls 1,000-1,200 with his 530.

On the Hesston, you do have to stop the PTO to dump the roll, and you also have to back up a few feet if you don't have 'bale ramps'(an option add on for about $300). On the NH you don't have to stop the PTO and it has a bale kicker. Makes a difference for higher volume operators.

Without the ramps, I back up first, with the PTO still running(makes the roll a little more dense), then thread the twine, stop pto, raise gate and dump. pull forward, close gate, start pto and go. Sounds worse that it is!

Garry
 
I'm pretty sure that the CaseIH version was the 8420. With very few exceptions Hesston and CaseIH hay equipment made from 1987 until 2001 were exactly the same except for the paint and decals.
 
(quoted from post at 17:48:36 10/10/14) None of the above.

Find a NH with auto tie. Those electric ties will drive ya nuts.

Allan

Silly question, what's so wrong with the electric ties?? Don't know of it matters or not but I also just found a Case Ih 8430, that's the true 4x4 with hydraulic bale density control. But other than this thread, a lot people don't seem to like the Hesston design. There's quite a few around here though...
 
Jimbo: The electric threaders on the Hesston(CaseIH) and the NH are just manually controlled with a DPDT- center off, momentary toggle switch. Nothing to give much trouble. We made our own switch box and wiring harness for our balers. Standard issue on the Hesstons was hand operated threader. A rope and pulley setup that I have never used. However a local guy here rolls about 500/year with that rope system. He says that his shoulder hurts though!

How many rolls/year do you expect to do? What tractor(HP) do you have? Just wondering.

Garry
 

I'm running a 60hp tractor with dual remotes. Probably going to start out around 150 hundred rolls(I've got room for that many in the dry), of course the total number will depend on the size of rolls. Still going to square bale some, horse people can't seem to get enough.
 

150 rolls to start with, but I'll be looking to move to probably 3 to 4 hundred in the next couple of years.
 
You should enough power to run the 540/8430 okay. If you have not too many steep hills, look into putting bale ramps on it. Also gathering wheels became an option, instead of standard, on the later Hesstons. They do help on the turns. You can put new rubber on the old,worn wheels; or get aftermarket replacement wheels.
 
I guess my biggest fear on the Hesstons is reading about all the trouble people seem to have with them starting rolls and plugging up. Seems to be a common issue. But as I said earlier, they are quite a few of them around here and people seem to be satisfied with them, or they don't trade them off.
 
If you have hay that's not dry as it should be to cure out. Most of the belt balers can wrap that up and cause a headache . I dont mind the electric tie on my Vermeer "G" models at all. Works just fine.
 
I run a Hesston 5500 which is a mcuh older baler than you're looking at. The only time I ever had problems with it starting a bale is when I only had about 8 of the pickup teeth in place instead of the 27 it's supposed to have! The other thing is you have to have dry hay. Mine won't handle green hay and it says right in the manual it won't, isn't intended for that and that it will plug trying to do green hay. I figure that means it isn't meant for green hay! With dry hay in reasonable windrows it doesn't plug and makes a nice enough bale for a twine wrapped bale. They never look as pretty as the net wrapped bales no matter what. Any fool can plug any make of baler through carelessness or stupidity. There's a learning curve to all implements.

The electric tie is slower than net wrap for sure, but twines about half the price or more per bale. It take me some time to wrap a bale, I'd say upwards of 2 minutes sometimes. That's a big chunk of time. If, (when), I get another round baler it will be a silage baler with auto net wrap. That's going to be quite an investment though and the old 5500 makes a real nice bale now that I have better belts. Nice solid core and well squared. It's supposed to be able to make a 5x5 bale but I make them more like 4x5.
 

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