Baler Capacity

Part Time Pete · Jul 21, 2017

When I first started looking for haying equipment I thought a NH 273 would fit my needs about right - after a year of looking I still hadn't come across a good one - instead I came across a 316 in good shape for $2500. I figured it was more than I need, but the price was right.
Last night I had about 500 bales worth raked up, and rain was coming - I was sure glad I couldn't find that 273... I generally shoot for 12 strokes to the bale, but at times I was down around 7...
Got done about ten minutes before the rain came
Pete

showcrop · Jul 21, 2017

And that is where you really need those RPMs!!

ptfarmer · Jul 21, 2017

The 273 has around 66 strokes per minute, while the 316 has around 90 strokes per minute.

DLMKA · Jul 21, 2017

(quoted from post at 06:56:37 07/21/17) When I first started looking for haying equipment I thought a NH 273 would fit my needs about right - after a year of looking I still hadn't come across a good one - instead I came across a 316 in good shape for $2500. I figured it was more than I need, but the price was right.
Last night I had about 500 bales worth raked up, and rain was coming - I was sure glad I couldn't find that 273... I generally shoot for 12 strokes to the bale, but at times I was down around 7...
Got done about ten minutes before the rain came
Pete

All good if you have people to help stack on racks.

showcrop · Jul 21, 2017

(quoted from post at 07:00:32 07/21/17)

(quoted from post at 06:56:37 07/21/17) When I first started looking for haying equipment I thought a NH 273 would fit my needs about right - after a year of looking I still hadn't come across a good one - instead I came across a 316 in good shape for $2500. I figured it was more than I need, but the price was right.
Last night I had about 500 bales worth raked up, and rain was coming - I was sure glad I couldn't find that 273... I generally shoot for 12 strokes to the bale, but at times I was down around 7...
Got done about ten minutes before the rain came
Pete

Click to expand...

All good if you have people to help stack on racks.

Or a thrower and enough bale wagons. I had a good thing for a number of years. One of my customers had a big indoor arena and in exchange for a discount on their hay and use of my elevator, I had the use of the indoor to pull the loaded wagons into. That went a long way towards relieving stress!

Part Time Pete · Jul 21, 2017

Yeah, on the hills it was making the old 1755 smoke a little. I knew I was crowding it - I was trying to go as fast as I could, but not break a shear bolt and lose all the time I had gained. I got it all under cover except for the last load - I had to tarp that one.
That's why we do this stuff right - for the excitement...

lastcowboy32 · Jul 21, 2017

We bale onto the ground; so you really get a compelling visual impact of just how heavy the hay is (well...was) and how hard you were crowding the baler by how closely the bales are set on the ground.

I had to borrow a friends Ford 640 to bale for a day last summer. The field had a swale down through it. The last couple of swaths next to the swale had canary grass taller than me; and the sod was touch and go as far as giving way to mud under the tires.

That double windrow was a monster, and the 640 has a pretty quick first gear...plus it doesn't have power to spare for the baler...plus the PTO cuts out if you push the clutch.

What's that mean? It means that I usually like to go 12-14 strokes per bale, but I set my jaw and dove into that wet spot with the big windrow in first gear nearly at full throttle with the mind set that I'd lose less time breaking a shear pin than getting stuck.

The old NH276 that we have went through there and churned out a few bales at four strokes per bale before I was able to get to a thinner section of windrow.

The bales on the ground were almost so close that you could touch two of them at the same time...just over six feet apart.

I grew up with my father/brother running a 273; and I'm pretty sure that the 273 would have snapped a shear pin in there.

I don't have any references on baler capacity; but it seems like my 276 has a little more that the 273....maybe not as much as a 316? Don't know.

lastcowboy32 · Jul 21, 2017

Although, from reading previous comments; it sounds like all I have to do is set my tractor to 540 PTO RPMs and count the number of plunger strokes in a minute to figure out if the 276 is a higher capacity baler?

lastcowboy32 · Jul 21, 2017

I'm glad that you got 'er done. Nothing makes me spew words that would make a sailor blush more than good hay getting rained on....and...yes...there is a sick kind of thrill/excitement to racing the weather that keeps farm boys coming back to duel Mother Nature summer after summer. Some guys get adrenaline from car racing. I get it from baler racing...

dhermesc · Jul 21, 2017

The 276

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItRZ2v2F7NE

The above video is why I went looking for one. I believe they run around 80 strokes per minute.

showcrop · Jul 21, 2017

(quoted from post at 15:15:29 07/21/17) The 276

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItRZ2v2F7NE

The above video is why I went looking for one. I believe they run around 80 strokes per minute.

watching the tractor/ baler from the front on it looks like there is a problem with the hitch-drawbar. I have never seen baler before where the pick-up was not fully out to the side.

lastcowboy32 · Jul 21, 2017

(quoted from post at 15:38:58 07/21/17)

(quoted from post at 15:15:29 07/21/17) The 276

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItRZ2v2F7NE

The above video is why I went looking for one. I believe they run around 80 strokes per minute.

Click to expand...

watching the tractor/ baler from the front on it looks like there is a problem with the hitch-drawbar. I have never seen baler before !!where the pick-up was not fully out to the side.

Great video! showcrop, do you think maybe they purposely adjusted the baler to that tongue position to fit between the windrows? They're baling single windrows with just enough room for the tractor in between. If they had the tongue out any wider, the tractor would either be running on or straddling the next windrow over.

Bill VA · Jul 21, 2017

The 316 IMHO is an awesome baler.

Can't remember, how are you getting the bales up and into the barn?

showcrop · Jul 21, 2017

(quoted from post at 17:38:58 07/21/17)

(quoted from post at 15:38:58 07/21/17)

(quoted from post at 15:15:29 07/21/17) The 276

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItRZ2v2F7NE

The above video is why I went looking for one. I believe they run around 80 strokes per minute.

Click to expand...

watching the tractor/ baler from the front on it looks like there is a problem with the hitch-drawbar. I have never seen baler before !!where the pick-up was not fully out to the side.

Click to expand...

Great video! showcrop, do you think maybe they purposely adjusted the baler to that tongue position to fit between the windrows? They're baling single windrows with just enough room for the tractor in between. If they had the tongue out any wider, the tractor would either be running on or straddling the next windrow over.

Last cowboy, generally when baling hay you have a windrow only on your right as you go around working your way in. The driver in the video elected to go down through the middle in order to halve the time that he was spending crossing his headlands. That is a one time thing, then he is back to the windrow on just one side. I don't think that he would have set it specially for that one pass.

ptfarmer · Jul 22, 2017

(quoted from post at 15:15:29 07/21/17) The 276

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItRZ2v2F7NE

The above video is why I went looking for one. I believe they run around 80 strokes per minute.

It was cranking out hose bales pretty quick, the 276 runs 80 strokes per minute.

Part Time Pete · Jul 22, 2017

Bill - I load them into kicker wagons and haul them home with the pickup - this field was about three miles from the house, so it was good I had my son hauling as I baled
The guy I worked for as a kid had a 276 - that would really take the hay. JD Seller has one (or two) and has posted how great they are
Pete

lastcowboy32 · Jul 22, 2017

Quoting showcrop:

"Last cowboy, generally when baling hay you have a windrow only on your right as you go around working your way in. The driver in the video elected to go down through the middle in order to halve the time that he was spending crossing his headlands. That is a one time thing, then he is back to the windrow on just one side. I don't think that he would have set it specially for that one pass."

showcrop, under most circumstances; I would definitely agree. Years of working with for my brother with kicker wagons and a thrower went just like you said. Generally, you go around and around with the windrow on your right and open field to your left.

However, since I farm on a smaller scale and bale on the ground; I've learned a few tricks that the people in the video might be using.

For instance, on single windrows that are tight together; if you bale around the field in normal fashion, counter clockwise; if you went to do the next row the same way, you risk running over the bales that you left on the ground. So, what do you do? You take the next windrow the opposite direction and deposit the bales in a tight "double windrow" of bales...while leaving more room for you to maneuver to take the next windrow counterclockwise...and so on.

I do the same thing in the middle of a piece. Instead of baling around and around. I'll go up one windrow, turn tight and go right back down the next windrow, depositing the bales in a tight formation.

showcrop · Jul 22, 2017

(quoted from post at 06:14:27 07/22/17) Quoting showcrop:

"Last cowboy, generally when baling hay you have a windrow only on your right as you go around working your way in. The driver in the video elected to go down through the middle in order to halve the time that he was spending crossing his headlands. That is a one time thing, then he is back to the windrow on just one side. I don't think that he would have set it specially for that one pass."

showcrop, under most circumstances; I would definitely agree. Years of working with for my brother with kicker wagons and a thrower went just like you said. Generally, you go around and around with the windrow on your right and open field to your left.

However, since I farm on a smaller scale and bale on the ground; I've learned a few tricks that the people in the video might be using.

For instance, on single windrows that are tight together; if you bale around the field in normal fashion, counter clockwise; if you went to do the next row the same way, you risk running over the bales that you left on the ground. So, what do you do? You take the next windrow the opposite direction and deposit the bales in a tight "double windrow" of bales...while leaving more room for you to maneuver to take the next windrow counterclockwise...and so on.

I do the same thing in the middle of a piece. Instead of baling around and around. I'll go up one windrow, turn tight and go right back down the next windrow, depositing the bales in a tight formation.

OK I can see that. I have never had the need to put the windrows that close together.

lastcowboy32 · Jul 22, 2017

Quoting showcrop

"OK I can see that. I have never had the need to put the windrows that close together."

I don't either. Even though I bale on the ground, I never understand why anybody would take a higher capacity baler and feed it single windrows.

The only reason I could really understand is if you don't have a tractor with any low gears.

Otherwise, I would much rather have my baler tongue swung fully open and have the space to move the baler that double windrows gives you.

Doubles also mean that you're not banging the baler around the field at high speed.

jamstra · Jul 22, 2017

I totally agree with you about the 'offset' on the baler - something wrong there! Baling close-spaced windrows is not the reason -
makes no difference. In any case these NH balers make more consistent bales when you can feed the crop right into the 'tractor'
side of the pickup, especially if you hit a thinner bit. I would normally have 'baled off' my outside headland windrow anti-
clockwise, then the other three clockwise, then started splitting the field into sections, just as the guy in the video was doing,
to cut down headland travel.
Jim

Baler Capacity

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