round baler suggestion

My question is about round balers. I would like to purchase a used baler to do this myself next year. Although I worked on farms as a kid, and have worked with equipment all my life, I'm not what you would call a seasoned farmer - not even close. I'm not interested in doing custom baling. It appears my area is pretty well supported for JD and NH equipment (parts, service). I've done some reading about the old style chain and newer style belt balers and really don't know where to go. The ideal baler for me would be one that is a known reliable model that's decent to work on, has good parts availability and makes a good bale, but is old enough, and lacking in bells/whistles/speed that it's no longer desired by the custom baler guys. My biggest tractor is a 65 Horse gas MM 670 super. I don't plan on buying a bigger tractor. Bales will be fed to my steers. Bales will be stored under cover until being fed.

Hit me with ideas suggestions!

Since this forum's threads don't bump to the top when a new post is added, when I get a little more solid as to which models I'm looking at, I'll start a new thread looking for specifics about things like "how to tell if the chains are wore out". Unless you guys want to tell me now - How do you tell if the wear parts on a NH chain baler are wore out or nearly so?

Thanks again for all the info!

There are two kinds of balers used here. The $40,000+ versions (name your manufacturer) and the NH chainer models 848, 849, 852, 853 and 855, which can *usually* be bought for "around" $2K or less (they have the bad, boogie-man, 'oh, that darn chain' stigma).

Very seldom see the old 850 and 851s with the floor chains anymore.

Now, the expensive balers do indeed make a "prettier" bale. I'm sure the cows appreciate that part. :>)

Allan

If ya put the hay up wrong, guess it would; probably make powder out of it.

I bale when the dew is down at 4am. By 11 am it usually is way too dry to bale hay.

Allan

Other than that, I'd suggest that you find an open throat baler of some sort. It will be easier to work with and make better bales, whether it be Vermeer, Deere, NH, or whatever else. The closed throat's are always cheaper, and for good reason....

Rod

• Hobby farm

John

How much to spend? Well, that's a hard call. I've seen them go for as low as $1000.00. I've found that generally, the lowest price isin't the best. Usually, if something wore out can be bought for $1000, the same model in good condition might be found for $1500, and is a far better buy! So, I don't know what to spend. $1500 would be nice, but is it reasonable? Is $3500 more likely to get me what I want? $5,000? I'd probably be hard pressed to go over $5,000, but that doesn't mean I want to spend $5,000, if $1500 would do the job for me. Kinda like my big tractor. I bought it seven years ago for 3500 with a loader, in good - not wore out condition from the original owner. Yeah, the manufacturer is no longer in business, but it just so happens that my neighbor was a mechanic at the dealership that sold this tractor new, and is better for parts/knowledge/repair work than I could ever imagine from a store front dealer. Suits me to a T, is reliable and was inexpensive. I could have easily spent five times as much on a newer, more comfortable tractor that for what I'm doing would not help me as much as the cash outlay would hurt me. It was kinda neat this Spring when I went to disc. Tractor wouldn't start after sitting all winter. With something this old, can only be two things -spark or gas (no computer). Well, it was both. Stuck float and points closed up. Both were fixed by me in the barn in about an hour. Parts from NAPA. That's what I'm looking for in a round baler. Reliable, simple, easily fixable, parts available, does a decent job and lastly, doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

As to the number of remotes. I have two. Do some/all round balers need more than two? I could install a splitter if I needed three - correct?