round balers

I too am trying out big balers for the 1st time.
I purchased a 1st generation big baler a IH 241.
From what people have told me its not all that good. Compared to newer ones. I fortunately only have this one to compare to. Sort of like if your poor you dont know it if you never been rich.

I paid $300 at a auction for it and it bales big round bales as advertised.
I didnt have any trouble getting a bale to start or any thing.
Best part is its rated to run on 29 pto HP.
I dont plan on putting any money into this one. If it breaks it gets parked.

My plan is to get a Vermier 504G mid 80's vintage. Makes 4x5 bales and runs on 40HP. Cost around $3000.

Here is a photo of a bale from my 241 also a link to a site were I found some usefull info on older round balers.

• Baler INFO

You need a good pto, at least 1 set of hydraulics possibly 2, and a heavy tractor of at least 45 hp to run an older round baler. You would be happier with 60 hp or more (esp for a big one like a 605). The tractor needs to be heavy enough to control the weight of a heavy baler, heavy bale, & the spinning action up & down your hills.

I'm sure you want to spend as little as possible. There are many brands to pick from. These are some basics, without really getting into brands:

Belt baler is better in general. Chain baler is good, but check closely for wear & bent pipes, and they strip more leaves off alfalfa. Fixed-chamber aka soft-core balers work fine, feed great, but make a looser bale that does not store outside very well - wants to sag, let water in, mold - and you cannot change the size of the bale. You decide what fits what you are doing.

For belt balers, the oldest ones were closed throat - all the crop has to feed through close rollers, might be a big wide belt across the bottom, very difficult to feed in, start a bale, handle anything but long dry hay in a perfect windrow. Like the 605A you mentioned, and all the rest of the first generation. Spring tensioners work, but do not offer as tight a bale as hydraulic tensioning. You will learn a whole new language dealing with all that.

Something like a 605F is really popular yet, has the open throat, feeds much better. Has hyd tensioning, controls how tight the bale is, how much hay you can pack in a bale, tight bales use less twine & store outside much better. Wide belts are much better than skinny ones, you at least want a wide belt on each end.

Older balers tend to have a pull rope to move the twine roller, or hydraulic mover which requires a 2nd hydraulic port on your tractor. Newer ones tend to have all electric twine control which requires 12v, as well as a monitor to help you keep the bales tight all the way across, possibly auto change the bale size, etc.

I would look for a '80s or newer Vermeer 4x5 baler, F or newer. Or, something along those lines, Gehl & NH made some good (enough) 4x6 balers. You can vary the diameter of your bale with any belt baler, so if you want 4x4 now, great, if you want 4x6 some day you can go bigger. I guess a chain baler would be worth looking at.

I would not want an old baler with a big belt at the bottom, closed throat, all narrow skinny belts, stretched spring tensioning. That doesn't mean you won't end up with one & make good bales, but understand those are the bad traits, & are only worth $150-250.

I pesonally like Vermeer, that is what I bought 1.5 years ago, a 605F. Was a real learning curve shopping, got to use a mid-aged Gehl with monitor & a new R-something NH from my neighbor first, really helped me see what was good, what was bad, in the old designs.

--->Paul

You said: "Belt baler is better in general. Chain baler is good, but check closely for wear & bent pipes, and they strip more leaves off alfalfa."

Here I go with my big mouth again, but I gotta disagree on this one.

Depends how you put up your hay & how finicky you are. Chain balers were designed to put up hay the right way.

If you are one of these guys who bales in road gear on a 100 degree day with the wind blowing 30mph, I would tend to agree with you. I see this every year, and quite frankly, his type of baler operation never ceases to amaze me. Why cut the yield by 10% and end up with a heavier stem to leaf ratio?

There are those of us however, that refuse to bale unless there is a dew down and bale in the wee hours of the morning so NO leaves are lost.

In these circumstances and conditions, belt balers will plug and choke and the chain drives shine.

As always, this is just my opinion,

Allan

Yes, you are undoubtly right about that and are not first to say so. Thank goodness I spent those 20 years building the means which will allow me to do this. :>)

I feel very fortunate; I can now have the best of both worlds, the old and the new. Hence, this old iron hobby.

Thanks,

Allan

I will assume you are somewhere out west, where that is how one does hay. Here in the upper midwest, we beg & wait for a sunny dry day to put up hay!!!! Dew is our enemy, have to wait untile 3 or 4 pm before it goes away so you can put up a dry bale.

A person fogets how different hay is from east to west in the USA, 2 totally different situations & climate to deal with.

--->Paul

Putting up horse hay with dew on it around here (southern MN) is certain "death" for the crop.

I've already lost crops of hay just do the fact that the fog didn't lift till noon, and after 3 days of foggy mornings, by the time it was fit again, the bottom was black, or after 3 times flipping I only had stems left to bale.

Yes, I hear you there. I've got this nasty little habit of looking at the world only through my end of the scope.

Wow! 3 or 4 before the dew is off!

Here, she is bone dry at 10am at the latest. This is why we do hay and beans starting at about 2 or 3am; midnight if we get lucky.

'Course, here lately, the pivots have changed that way of doing things somewhat. A guy can insure his own dew; and getting a tractor stuck in the field is just about unheard of out here.

Why do I think you have the better end of it? :>)

Have a good one,

Allan