round baler filling

Keith Molden

Well-known Member
I just watched a video of a New idea and a New Holland balers in the field working. I own a Case IH 8430 and in the owners manual it says to weave the tractor while filling the baler. I noticed that neither of the tractors on the videos were weaving at all and their bales were nice and straight across. If we don't weave, our bales are cone shaped. Just wondering how they get them to fill across with what appeared to be small windrows. I know, I probably have the wrong baler, but it does make a good tight bale, sometimes it's hard to get the spear in it. Keith
 
I don't know if it was a small windrow. Been baling round bales since 1979. My V rake lays a windrow that's just the width of the baler,so I don't have to weave if it's raked with that. If I have to turn it with the rotary rake so it's narrower,I have to weave.
 
They probably had windrows more match to width. On my NH baler I don't have to weave too often, I also use a v-rake that makes rows the correct width.
 

Ditto what Randy stated if windrow is wide & flat no weaving is necessary. I make my windrows 5 ft wide for my 46'' wide JD rd baler with mega-wide pickup which is 61'' at the flares
 
With a narrow baler like my NH 847 and a large windrow very little weaving is necessary but with the wider baler like my 851 weaving is usually required to fill out the outside edges of the bale.
 
Thanks to all of you who replied. From what I'm hearing, if I rake like we did for the old AC Roto Balers (lay windrows beside each other. Does that sound right Randy?
 
Two windrows side by side does help but with my NH850 I still here to weave or it will not fill up like it needs to but your baler may not be as wide as the NH650 is. The N850 makes a 6X6 bale
 
I do have NH850 which as per the owners manual is a 6X6 bale. Ya there more like 5.5X5 but he book calls them a 6X6
 
Never weave. Depending on baler vs. windrow width it may be necessary to move from side to side. Filll one side, move all the way over to the other side, stay there a while. Constant weaving will result in too much center fill time. Take care of the sides of the bale; the center will take care of itself.
 
I agree with RickB. You're not supposed to weave. Drive 100 feet or so to the left of the windrow then 100 ft to the right. ...or vercy vicey. Maybe even 105 ft.
 
I think a lot of my trouble is that my raker never looks back (at least I like to blame him). He can't due to his neck problems so I never know what kind of windrow I'm gonna get. He's a neighbor and a darned good friend. He helps me because he wants too and will not take a penny for it so I feed his 1 horse when he needs a bale in winter. He is about 3 years older than me and has had some heart attacks and has had cancer a couple times. I told him the other day he can't rake for sh-- and I can't bale for sh-- and the horses won't give a sh-- but we get them rolled up in some fashion or other. My grandson doesn't have a problem he makes pretty darned good looking bales so I know the problem is with me. LOL
 
I have a BTO friend. One day I was over at his place and drove by his stacked rolls. I must have been looking at 6x6s as those were the largest rolls I had ever seen. Green in in his corral normally. Didn't see the color of his baler, nor him (his hands) do the baling.
 
I agree that ww distribution vs baler mouth width is what it's all about. I was making ruptured navel and lopsided bales and Tx. Jim advised me on how to do it right. I have followed his advice and had great results. That's one thing I'll give the 4x..... balers popular today. Easy to get a perfect bale with a sloppy ww.

Mine is a 5' mouth and my tractor rears are 16.9x28 setup on a 6' max width. Since I can't seem to rake a perfect ww and the crop usually is varied enough to help in the prevention, I have to weave fast to get it started (no ruptured navel) then stomp on the ww from the left for about 15 seconds, then the right and so on.
 
Like others have said, I'll weave a little when I first start a bale, then go to filling one side then the other.

I run a NH 855, always seem to have 1 bent pickup tooth that makes a noise. I'll use that as a counter...usually about 10 clicks or whatever...then switch over and fill the other side. 10 more clicks, switch back.

And every now and then, I'll still wind up with a cone shaped bale, but my cows don't seem to mind too much.

Ok, so this year I did come up with a cab tractor with AC to bale with, really can't hear the clicks anymore, but I've been running this baler almost 20 years and I pretty much know when to switch sides

Fred
 
On the comment about how the horses feel about it I had to laugh. I have said for years that urbanites buy hay for themselves not for their horses. Where I live horses live right along side cows and eat what they eat. Never see a vet truck out their way.
 
no on the weaving,,,,,rake your rows as wide as the pick up on the baler and go,,,a wheel rake works better for this
 
I second Randy's Comments, As long as I rake with my v rake two windrows next to each other, I do not have to "weave" at all. When i get caught by the rain and have to rake with my rotary, then it is a problem as the windrow is too narrow. Have not figured out how to set the Rotary to keep the width. I am using an NH 855 which also is a 5'6 x 5'6 bale.
 

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