New Holland model numbering and approximate ages

Was having a discussion with my father in law last night about our baler. And where it fits in the New Holland lineage.

So, our current baler is a NH 276. We used to use a baler that a friend owns. His is a 269.

When I was growing up, my father had a 273 (as an aside, that baler has to rank up there with total bales...dad did 30,000 small squares a year and he used that baler for about 30 years), and then about ten years after my older brother took over; he sold the 273 and bought a 575.

My uncle had a 315

I've seen other balers around with other model numbers, and I always tried to piece together the pattern.

During most of my lifetime, it seemed that NH made baler series with two or three contemporary models with varying capacities.

This is my guess, and I'm wondering if anybody could set me straight:

The 269 was part of a family, wasn't it? Wasn't there something like a 267, 269?

Dad's 273 was...I thought...the middle in a family of 271, 273, 275?

My 276 was the big model of the 272, 274, 276 family?

The 315 gets a little fuzzy. Wasn't there like a 305, 315, 325?



Within the family, the higher number was the higher capacity, right? For instance, the 276 had the highest capacity of its family?

Then what about order in time?

I put the families in the order that I thought they go (oldest to newest)

269 is older than 273...is older than 276...is older than 315...is older than 575

I also recall people talking about very old models...like a 66 and a super 66? I have no clue as to their approximate age.

The very newest model numbers also escape me.

I don't know how helpful I will be but we had a 270 and it was smallish in my opinion but did a very good job. I believe it was made during the early 1960's. The 300 series which included the 310, 315, and the 320 came out around 1978. I thought they were pretty good machines but I have heard more than a couple of complaints about the 320. Deere always made a good small bale baler and cemented their reputation with their 300 series balers which included a minimum of drive chains and a very square bale. The response to that was the 500 series balers by New Holland around 1985. Then there is the issue of the thrower or kicker. I honestly felt that the NH thrower was not the greatest as far as reaching high and back of a 16 foot wagon while the Deere one had to be careful of not over shooting the back depending on the crop. If the Deere had to be on the "8" setting the hay was probably borderline too wet to be baled. Just guessing but around here probably NH was the sales leader up until the early 1970's then Deere dominated the market. After the mid 1990's it did not matter as the round baler shoved the small square baler to the side. My take on the matter and others will have their own opinions.

I had a 268, converted it to a 269. Bought a junk 269 and swapped the hitch/pto assembly, to get the three knuckle pto. IIRC, that is the only difference between the two. Even with the longer hitch, it was a challenge to get the baler offset enough to not run over the windrow, even with a tractor set for 30 inch rows. Never did understand the NH engineers (?) design...did they ever hook that baler behind a tractor?

It was a way to lower the selling price and while it was in production there were very very few 100 HP tractors sporting 20.8 X 38 tires to crowd the windrow. I just saw a JD 328 advertised that had the 2 joint PTO and short tongue so the design persisted for quite a while. An ag engineer at a state college told me many years ago (1980's) that the biggest job a farm equipment engineer had was to bring a product to market with a low enough selling price to generate enthusiasm by farmers for that product versus seeking out a competitive product. A big reason why the long built apron chain and single cross beater manure spreaders stayed on the market.

(quoted from post at 07:47:16 07/08/17) I don't know how helpful I will be but we had a 270 and it was smallish in my opinion but did a very good job. I believe it was made during the early 1960's. The 300 series which included the 310, 315, and the 320 came out around 1978. I thought they were pretty good machines but I have heard more than a couple of complaints about the 320. Deere always made a good small bale baler and cemented their reputation with their 300 series balers which included a minimum of drive chains and a very square bale. The response to that was the 500 series balers by New Holland around 1985. Then there is the issue of the thrower or kicker. I honestly felt that the NH thrower was not the greatest as far as reaching high and back of a 16 foot wagon while the Deere one had to be careful of not over shooting the back depending on the crop. If the Deere had to be on the "8" setting the hay was probably borderline too wet to be baled. Just guessing but around here probably NH was the sales leader up until the early 1970's then Deere dominated the market. After the mid 1990's it did not matter as the round baler shoved the small square baler to the side. My take on the matter and others will have their own opinions.

Click to expand...

I wonder if the 270 was part of a 266, 268, 270 series??

If you go to Messick's website and configure the model number search it will give general dates as to the duration of production for each baler. In my brief poking around the 269 appears to be produced after the 270 ceased production. The 270 has the features that JMS refers to with the 2 joint PTO and short tongue. The Oliver 88 always got down the windrow OK with that arrangement for us. The fact of the matter back when these machines were more prominent is operators went from powering balers with 40-50 PTO horsepower to above 80 PTO HP or more. As time went on most of these guys bought newer tractors and a lot of them had cabs with A/C. So on the day when it was 85 degrees outside the more "sensible" small tractor got parked in favor of the more comfortable large tractor. At the same time the windrows got larger due to mower size and raking to take advantage of the higher HP. All this leads to the large tractor crowding the windrow. Anyhow, poke around on Messick's site and you should have a pretty good idea but I have been told that the dates are not 100 percent accurate but good enough for what you want to know.

That was interesting. Thanks.

The models weren't as cleanly spread out over time as I thought. The 273 lasted about ten years! In the meantime, all sorts of other 27x models came and went. (sorry...old college habit of using "x" to be the wild card)

I never even heard of the 28x balers

maybe this will help

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/category/1136/hay-and-forage-equipment-square-balers/manufacturer/new-holland

Sorry I thought this would show up high-lighted.

there is also a book available called

A Century of Ford and New Holland Farm Equipment by Norm Swinford

Lots of history and a very nice listing of balers by model number with many specifications (this is on pages 206 and 207)

The book is available from ASAE of St Joseph, MI www.asae.org

Actually I'm NOT SURE the book is available as it was written in 2000. I know it was available in 2005 as that's when I purchased my copy.

Here is a list of NH square balers
(S66) NH SUPER SQUARE BALER (8/55-9/57)
(S78) NH SUPER SQUARE BALER (8/58-7/61)
(S68) NH SUPER SQUARE BALER (8/58-10/60)
(65) NH SQUARE BALER (8/60-2/65)
(270) NH SQUARE BALER (8/61-7/63)
(268) NH SQUARE BALER BELOW S/N 12777 (7/63-7/64)
(268) NH SQUARE BALER ABOVE S/N 12778 (7/64-6/68)
(269) NH SQUARE BALER (8/64-6/68)
(272) NH SQUARE BALER (7/64-6/68)
(290) NH SQUARE BALER (1/64-2/76)
(281) NH SQUARE BALER (8/64-7/66)
(275) NH SQUARE BALER (1/65-5/71)
(282) NH SQUARE BALER (8/66-5/72)
(285) NH SQUARE BALER (11/67-4/72)
(273) NH SQUARE BALER (7/68-7/77)
(277) NH SQUARE BALER (11/68-5/72)
(278) NH SQUARE BALER (7/71-6/75)
(276) NH SQUARE BALER (7/71-6/76)
(286) NH SQUARE BALER (8/72-5/77)
(283) NH SQUARE BALER (8/72-4/77)
(320) NH SQUARE BALER (1/76-5/84)
(430) NH SQUARE BALER (12/77-1/80)
(425) NH SQUARE BALER (11/77-10/82)
(310) NH SQUARE BALER (1/77-7/81)
(315) NH SQUARE BALER (1/77-4/82)
(500) NH SQUARE BALER (10/79-1/83)
(420) NH SQUARE BALER (1/80-11/82)
(925) NH SQUARE BALER - FRANCE (1/80-12/88)
(940) NH SQUARE BALER - FRANCE (1/80-12/88)
(311) NH SQUARE BALER (7/82-7/88)
(316) NH SQUARE BALER (1/83-12/89)
(426) NH SQUARE BALER (9/83-3/91)
(945) NH SQUARE BALER - FRANCE (1/83-12/88)

505) NH SQUARE BALER (1/84-3/91)
(326) NH SQUARE BALER (7/85-7/88)
(575) NH SQUARE BALER (7/88-8/08)
(565) NH SQUARE BALER (7/89-8/08)
(570) NH SQUARE BALER (1/89-8/08)
(568) NH SMALL SQUARE BALER (8/91-12/95)
(580) NH SQUARE BALER (2/92-8/08)
(515) NH SQUARE BALER (1/92-1/96)
(585) NH 3-TIE IN-LINE SQUARE BALER (1/97-4/99)
(BB900) NH 3-TIE INLINE SQUARE BALER (10/00-12/04)
(BC5050) SMALL SQUARE BALER (9/0
(BC5060) SMALL SQUARE BALER - 2008 (9/0
(BC5070) SMALL SQUARE BALER - 2008 (9/0
(BC5070) HAYLINER SMALL SQUARE BALER (9/09-12/09)
(BC5080) SMALL SQUARE BALER (9/0

In modern view it is in a list like I posted them

(quoted from post at 01:45:43 07/09/17) In modern view it is in a list like I posted them

Click to expand...

Very complete!

(quoted from post at 01:41:15 07/09/17)
Here is a list of NH square balers
(S66) NH SUPER SQUARE BALER (8/55-9/57)
(S78) NH SUPER SQUARE BALER (8/58-7/61)
(S68) NH SUPER SQUARE BALER (8/58-10/60)
(65) NH SQUARE BALER (8/60-2/65)
(270) NH SQUARE BALER (8/61-7/63)
(268) NH SQUARE BALER BELOW S/N 12777 (7/63-7/64)
(268) NH SQUARE BALER ABOVE S/N 12778 (7/64-6/68)
(269) NH SQUARE BALER (8/64-6/68)
(272) NH SQUARE BALER (7/64-6/68)
(290) NH SQUARE BALER (1/64-2/76)
(281) NH SQUARE BALER (8/64-7/66)
(275) NH SQUARE BALER (1/65-5/71)
(282) NH SQUARE BALER (8/66-5/72)
(285) NH SQUARE BALER (11/67-4/72)
(273) NH SQUARE BALER (7/68-7/77)
(277) NH SQUARE BALER (11/68-5/72)
(278) NH SQUARE BALER (7/71-6/75)
(276) NH SQUARE BALER (7/71-6/76)
(286) NH SQUARE BALER (8/72-5/77)
(283) NH SQUARE BALER (8/72-4/77)
(320) NH SQUARE BALER (1/76-5/84)
(430) NH SQUARE BALER (12/77-1/80)
(425) NH SQUARE BALER (11/77-10/82)
(310) NH SQUARE BALER (1/77-7/81)
(315) NH SQUARE BALER (1/77-4/82)
(500) NH SQUARE BALER (10/79-1/83)
(420) NH SQUARE BALER (1/80-11/82)
(925) NH SQUARE BALER - FRANCE (1/80-12/88)
(940) NH SQUARE BALER - FRANCE (1/80-12/88)
(311) NH SQUARE BALER (7/82-7/88)
(316) NH SQUARE BALER (1/83-12/89)
(426) NH SQUARE BALER (9/83-3/91)
(945) NH SQUARE BALER - FRANCE (1/83-12/88)

505) NH SQUARE BALER (1/84-3/91)
(326) NH SQUARE BALER (7/85-7/88)
(575) NH SQUARE BALER (7/88-8/08)
(565) NH SQUARE BALER (7/89-8/08)
(570) NH SQUARE BALER (1/89-8/08)
(568) NH SMALL SQUARE BALER (8/91-12/95)
(580) NH SQUARE BALER (2/92-8/08)
(515) NH SQUARE BALER (1/92-1/96)
(585) NH 3-TIE IN-LINE SQUARE BALER (1/97-4/99)
(BB900) NH 3-TIE INLINE SQUARE BALER (10/00-12/04)
(BC5050) SMALL SQUARE BALER (9/0
(BC5060) SMALL SQUARE BALER - 2008 (9/0
(BC5070) SMALL SQUARE BALER - 2008 (9/0
(BC5070) HAYLINER SMALL SQUARE BALER (9/09-12/09)
(BC5080) SMALL SQUARE BALER (9/0

Click to expand...

did you forget the earliest NH model #73 that had the pickup on its left hand side?

Messick does not list a model 73 in their parts book. I did find were it was built in 1946

(quoted from post at 18:12:09 07/09/17)

(quoted from post at 01:45:43 07/09/17) In modern view it is in a list like I posted them

Click to expand...

Very complete!

Click to expand...

The list is missing at least a few balers. For instance, they list the Super 68 but not the standard 68 which was made at least from 56-58, and they must have turned out a zillion of them in that period. I don't know that there is a definitive listing available on line. Sure would be nice if there were.

We are starting to get into history of New Holland balers
The list I had was from Messick's parts book. They probably don't carry parts for the balers built in the forties.

Nolt Baler Saves New Holland
New Holland needed a product that could increase sales. It was already in the shop in the form of the Nolt baler. New Holland acquired the rights to build the baler in 1940 and production started later that year. The self? tie baler was no doubt the turning point in New Holland's history. In 1941 New Holland built 351 balers.
Even as early as 1940, United States defense industries were beginning to require enormous quantities of materials that were becoming increasingly scarce. Because the 73 baler required so little manpower, New Holland was able to get a special allocation of steel to build balers during World War II. In 1943 New Holland built 632 Model 75 balers, followed by over 2,000 balers in 1944. Baler production soared to 4,700 Model 76 balers in 1946 and the plant was tooling up to build nearly three times that many in 1948.
Diversified Product Line
By 1946 New Holland products included tractor saws, saw frames, husker-shellers, limestone pulverizers, roll crushers, jaw crushers, hammer crushers, belting, general purpose and cement mixers, and power units, as well as shellers and hammermills. Eventually the company also offered rotary tillers and potato harvesters. With the company's near-term future assured by the outstanding success of the baler, New Holland engineers could spread their wings with some new concepts. One was the Sizz-Weeder, a flame cultivator that not only cooked weeds in cotton fields but also broiled the cotton boll-weevil. The concept worked all right in the hands of a careful operator, but inexperienced operators soon began torching entire cotton fields ? so much for flame cultivation.
Sperry Corporation Brings Growth and Expansion
New Holland's success attracted the attention of the Sperry Corporation which acquired New Holland in 1947. Everybody won ? New Holland obtained a new source of capital and Sperry diversified its high-tech holdings. In 1973 the company became known as Sperr New Holland.
The Dellinger Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, made a successful ensilage cutter. New Holland acquired Dellinger in 1948 and used the ensilage cutter as the basis for the Model 600 field forage harvester. Factories in Mountville, Belleville, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, were opened. The Belleville plant began producing side-delivery rakes in 1948. The Model 700 manure spreader appeared in late 1949. New Holland manufactured over 42,000 balers in ten short years. In just over a quarter? century President Delp and his co-workers nurtured New Holland from a nearly unknown company to a spot in the top ten farm equipment manufacturers.