which round baler?

Fordfarmer

Well-known Member
Been thinking about buying a round baler, since it now costs me $8/bale for 4x5 high moisture or $9/bale for 4x6 dry. (Typically $4000-$4500 per year) I'd have to buy a little more fuel and the net wrap, but the savings would pay for the baler in 3-4years.
I know NH, Vermeer and JD can all make good bales, so those are the brands I'm considering. Other brands are just about nonexistant in this area. Leaning hard towards NH because of dealer support.
Baler has to be net wrap capable, 4' wide, variable chamber up to 6' diameter, and high moisture capable. Which makes and models would you recommend.... or run away from? Thanks.
 
467 or 468 John Deere....great capacity and they have been built and improved on from the 435,466 predecessors which were good machines in their time. good to see you are going with net wrap,its not a baler without it.
 
We have 2 Vermeer 505 super I balers. Have baled thousands of bales with them and have done nothing but grease and oil them. I know they aren't net wrap balers but I will only buy Vermeer. John Deere make a nice bale too but no experience running one. No new Hollands in my area.
 
If you are serious about high moisture bales, then I'd go for either a Class or a Krone. I run a Class Variant 280, 4x5.5 baler, weighs over 6000lbs empty, most of my dry have bales are between 1100 to 1400 lbs, never weighed my hayledge bales (never sold any).
 
I have a 435. I'd hate to think how many tens of thousands of bales I have run through it. Some years it is grease and go. Some years I'm ready to pull it to scrap. For its age I'd say it's been good.

I will warn you with this. There are two things that will spontaneously break sitting in the shed for more than one hour: a combine and a baler. If it is running well don't shut it down no matter what. I've been known to let the baler pto run as I fueled the tractor because I am so superstitious about it. You can bale 500 bales and park it for the night and shear the pins, burn the slip clutch, and plug up the pickup on it just backing it out of the shed the next day.

They should have made a "Herbie Goes Bananas" movie with a baler. Buddy Hackett could have done a lot with that cutting torch.
 
The major brands of round balers will make bales. The tipping points to me is dealership support, parts availability, and durability. I had Vermeer balers before JD made the 66 series balers. If you have a good dealer near you then they are great. NH balers will not take baling cornstalks like the JD or Vermeer balers will. That is the majority of our baling so they are not much of a player around me.
 
Don't do corn stalk bales, so that's not an issue. JD dealer is the closest (15 miles), but service was less than stellar before it became a chain store...and it has taken a sharp downturn since. Two NH dealers that I deal with, both about 45 miles away. I guess a C-IH dealer about 50 miles away carries Vermeer, now that they're a chain store. Haven't dealt with them before.
 
(quoted from post at 22:15:33 11/11/15) I have a 435. I'd hate to think how many tens of thousands of bales I have run through it. Some years it is grease and go. Some years I'm ready to pull it to scrap. For its age I'd say it's been good.

I will warn you with this. There are two things that will spontaneously break sitting in the shed for more than one hour: a combine and a baler.

I've been using JD rd balers since their inception & owned a JD rd baler since '87. Last 2 baler I owned had 30,000 & 22,421 bales logged on their monitors. I have not experienced the breakdowns you mentioned except the 466 with Mega-wide PU attach. The 466 had a design flaw with the feeder finger crankshaft. Sure I've had some brgs fail & replaced some pickup teeth but overall the balers have been good ones except for the 466
 
If you're baling silage... as in a LOT of silage... just get the Claas. Just learn to inventory a selection of bearings, pickup fingers, strippers and cam followers and there's probably not much else you'll need in a hurry anyway. If doing silage... also forget about the stupid belt idea. Get something that was made to bale wet.

If hay is the primary concern, then that would open more doors. Personally I'd probably go with Deere in that case if close dealer support was a big thing.... but generally I'm still very much inclined to go with Claas...

Rod
 
I do not do silage bales,, but my 505SI Vermeer is a silage unit,, I have owned several NH's and leased a new JD 566 the year they came out,, I liked the JD fine just was out of my price range,, I found a great deal on a low bale 505 SI, Really Love this baler,,, it does not have the hyd tension or kicker or et wrap,, I am at almost 9000 bales through it and other than replacing a few bearings, chains and sprockets and on set of belts at 6500 bales I have had very good luck with it,, mine starts bales easy and makes the size of bales I like to handle
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