Feeder Forks vs Auger vs Alfalfa

Bill VA

Well-known Member
Watching some online videos of JD and IH balers with auger feed for the baler and the Ford, MF and NH balers using feeder forks.

Looks to be like the auger kind of mashes or wrings the hay as it pushes it into the bale chamber where the feeder fork mechanisms might just
slide the hay over into the bale chamber.

How is the auger vs feeder fork arrangement when baling alfalfa? Any appreciable difference in left loss and with it a baler preference?

Just curious.

Thanks!
Bill
 
grew up with a NH 270 on the dairy farm. Have owned a JD 24T for the last 7 years.
Don't really notice much difference in hay quality.
There are things about the NH I'd rather have in a baler but the forks vs auger thing isn't one of them.
 
never have liked and auger for feeding hay in a baler. they don't feed evenly and can make irregular bales in my opinion.
 

IMHO irregular shaped bales are not caused by auger on JD sq balers but by size of windrow & feeder forks adjustment.

If feeder fingers fed hay better than auger then why do so many NH balers make banana shaped bales?
 
The Oliver Roto-Flo was hard to beat. They used what amounted to a miniature parallel bar hay rake to feed the hay in to the plunger. Hesston bought the rights to it.
 
At work we run a NH 570, and a JD 340 or something? Maybe a 341? Don't know.

Anyway, JD is an Auger, NH is Forks. The NH will eat hay a little quicker than the JD, but the JD makes the NICEST bales, and is VERY consistent about it. I think that the auger provides the chamber with a very even flow of hay... Bryce
 
I have actually seen JD balers with augers make more banana bales. I have an old Case baler with feeder forks and it packs a near perfect bale almost every time, where neighbors JD baler put out a banana bale for ever 10 it makes, as well as variable length because it does not pack well. Maybe the issue is adjustment or getting the right windrow for the baler.
 
And feeder finers have no way of evening out any lumps. What the first finger gets started is what you get. No chance to smooth it out
or add to it.
 
Dad had an IH 37 with the auger, seemed OK in hay but in straw the auger would sometimes bounce. The MF 124 he got later would feed much better with the forks..
 
I don't bale much alfalfa and what I do bale is mostly a mixture of timothy... and for that I see no difference in leaf loss. I can't imagine that it would differ much anyhow as the auger is actually fairly gentle in handling.
What there is NO DOUBT in my mind about is that the Deere baler with it's auger will form a superior bale. If you set them correctly they simply don't make banana bales... and by that I mean set the rotary feeder in the correct slot. The only saving grace of that auger system is that it seems to spread the crop mat into a consistent layer that the rotary feeder can always flake properly... thus preventing the banana bale. Balers that I've used with dual rotary feeders (Ford) can make banana bales if they're not fed consistently. The Deere can go from light to heavy row and still make a good square shouldered bale. The only difference is that the bale will be denser at a lower feed rate. The main curse of the auger feeder, in my opinion... is that it just can not feed the volume of material that a larger dual rotary feed fork system will feed. Those balers WILL bale the Deere for breakfast. But unless you want to surpass the 400/bph mark that's not likely to be a factor to you.

Rod
 
My grandfather had a 14T and it would banana every once in a while no matter how much it was tinkered with. The 336 that replaced it NEVER made banana bales. Seemed once that 336 was dialed in, you were good to go for a long time. The #30 ejector on it, though, was another story . . . .
 
Less to wear out and need to be replaced with the auger style . Did hay with a NH 68 and a NH 273 both needed work on the feeding forks at on time or another. I had a JH 46 and a 47 balers and never had any work to do on the augers. All four of these balers could make a good bale.
 
Bill,
A John Deere vs. New Holland baler question is going to be up there with an oil additive question - there's going to be a lot of strong opinions...
Personally, I run a New Holland baler, and love it, but a friend of mine runs many thousands of bales of alfalfa through a John
Deere 336 every year, and it makes great bales, without a lot of leaf loss.
Around here everyone uses thrower wagons, and I think the New Holland thrower beats up the bales a little worse that the John Deere kicker
Pete
 
Thats because the auger system makes a ball of hay there every time, for the tines,to drag it into the bale chamber.When the windrow is thin it makes a small ball, when bigger windrow just a bigger ball, with a new holland sometimes it cant grab on to the hay laying in the trough. on a thin windrow.
 

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