baling corn stalks

I want to bale a few corn stalks this year for bedding. have never done them before. will either use my IH 2400 or NI 4865. I have a sunmaster shredder and a bush hog. which is the best route the bush hog or the sunmaster? I could see where the sunmaster could make the stalks too small and since I don't have net wrap could be an issue.
could also use my discmower to cut and then rake.
thoughts?
Gary
 
I use an MC Rotary Scythe and then rake. You don't want the stalks too long,they won't eat them. The finer you can shred them up,the better they'll dry out too. The fibers in those stalks will stay wet for a long time if you can't break them up.
 
Shredding might be better . I used a Bush hog just gear down and throttle up giving it more time to shred also setting the back down and front up will shred more it's about how many times the knife has to hit it. Playing with the bush hog I could get the size cut I wanted. Also doing small square bales take the wedges out neighbor didn't on an allis then he borrowed mine .
 
Sunmaster and similar stalk choppers have been the standard chopping tool here for decades, until chopping corn heads came along. They aren"t going to chop too short or a round baler to pick up. Early Sunmaster gearboxes had a reputation to fail...they had updated units later. I don"t remember how to ID the early ones. Any stalk chopper is a high maintenance item.
 
We just use our h and s v rake. To keep the ascs office off your back you need to leave some residue in the field other wise they will make you plant a cover crop.
 
Early Sunmasters had a smaller diameter drum and longer knives. The later ones were opposite of that. Not sure at what point they changed gear boxes.
 
We just raked them with a rotary rake a fee years back. Worked ok. Left a bunch, but didn't want to dig dirt. Neighbors use a wheel Rake. Looks like it works a little better.
 

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