Leave Hay in Square Baler?

mooboy

Member
I always clean the hay out of the bale chamber at the end of season before storage. But during the growing season I leave the hay in it between cuttings (about 8 weeks apart). Am I harming the old baler? Just curious what others do.
 
Bale case is cleaned out each night unless baler is to be used the following day. Also a leaf blower works well to clean the machine before it goes in the shed.
 
Depends a lot on how dry the hay in the baler is. When you start the next cutting, if the hay that was in the baler comes out looking dry you will be ok. If it is rotted or moldy, then the chamber will be rusty due to the moisture in the hay. We do the same as you.
 
No harm, maybe a little surface rust that will come off with the first two bales. I leave the hay in but never leave it outside overnight. I empty mine when I put it away after second cutting, clean it out with a backpack blower and hose it out. I grease it after it's dried out.
 
Same here once done for year clean out, and back off tensioners. No hay/ straw keeps mice and other things from making a house in it over winter. That's where more problems come if anything. Then when needed for year give a quick grease job and going over. Not to heavy of grease job, or dust will collect on/in grease and work against the grease shorting life of parts. Then check tension when in field, since every years crop is different. Good to Go for baling again. For the relatively short time between cuttings(compared to winter storage) that don't bother if the hay in the chamber is dry.
 
I always blow the chaff off every night with air. Either compressed air or a leaf blower. I do not remove the hay form the chamber each night but I do between cuttings. The hay will eventually help rust the chamber where it is left in the baler.

Your baler your choice. A few minutes now or more time later????
 
my dads never cleans out his baler . but it never sits out . now that he is semi retired i clean it out before putting it away in the fall
 
growing up we never cleaned out the baler at the end of the season and it was never a problem.
I don't normally clean mine out either.

Blow the knotters off once in a while and keep it under cover.
 
We leave hay in it always and leave it inside always.

Here if you take the hay out, the chamber rusts as water condenses
on the metal unpainted surfaces.

Can't help it on the pickup area, suppose I could oil or paint that
bare metal.
 


I have never had a place to keep a baler insiide. Tarps are a disaster over winter. So I clean it out good at the end of the summer and blow it out. Then I spray the chamber down good with drain oil, grease everything and do the same in the spring.

We never clean the chamber out in summer but do put a length of sheet metal over the chamber area or sometimes a tarp.

Gotta build a real machine shed.
 
Never cleaned out and always kept inside and never any rodent problems. And never had to rebale to get tension on the first half dozen coming out of empty baler. Had a lot of partial hay and straw bales.
 
The cleaner you keep it, the better it will work in the long run IMHO. A little surface flash is nothing to worry over. I have done it both ways and the most trouble free years are the ones where I clean the baler. What I keep coming back to is simply that I never worked in a shop where they advocated putting away dirty tools. Clean it, hit bare metal with a little WD and put it in the shed.
 
I've never cleaned it out. I will bale a couple broken bales of
straw so wet hay isn't left in the chamber.

As someone else said, I think it keeps better in my climate with
dry straw in it than if it were empty, condensing humidity here.

Always shredded, would be different if left outside....

Paul
 
Never clean 327 JD out.....But whether it is going to set for a month or over Winter always fill it up with a couple bales of last years straw. And always parked inside...in shed for a few days or on barn floor over winter.

John
 
I always have cleaned mine out. While they are under
cover we have so much moisture that it would be an
issue. After purchasing the new baler a couple years
ago for what I think is crazy money, I'd take it in
the house if I could get the boss to go for it!
 
Always blow mine off with a leaf blower after each use and grease. This goes for the square or the round baler. Then they get covered up. Don't clean the bale chamber out on the square baler until the end of the year. Each baler is washed and greased before winter.
 
We would rake some trash from brush hogging, enough for 2 bales of supper dry material, & bale it. It was easier than jerking bales out of the machine. But Dad was adamant on not letting moist hay stay in the baler between cuttings.
 
Growing up (1970s and early 1980s) we never cleaned the chamber out and the baler was kept in a shed all winter. The last bales to get baled every year were always prairie hay that was dry. Same IH 440 for 15 years that way without any issues with rust or even mice chewing up the string.

On the other hand I have a 47 wire tie that I clean out, blow out and spray the chamber and knotters with liquid wrench lithium grease. I have a more open shed that can get snow and rain blown in.
 
(quoted from post at 13:30:20 01/26/15) Growing up (1970s and early 1980s) we never cleaned the chamber out and the baler was kept in a shed all winter. The last bales to get baled every year were always prairie hay that was dry. Same IH 440 for 15 years that way without any issues with rust or even mice chewing up the string.

On the other hand I have a 47 wire tie that I clean out, blow out and spray the chamber and knotters with liquid wrench lithium grease. I have a more open shed that can get snow and rain blown in.

I appreciate everyone's responses. You have given me some things to think about.
 
Always park mine inside if it is going to rain, between cuttings and at end of season I run 3 of last years bales though it and don't clean it out, never had any rust problem.
 

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