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Start real slow when you start a bale. That's the trick on a slightly older round baler. After that drive as fast as it can handle - slower makes a tighter bale, faster gets you done faster. Alfalfa is easy, grass hay will once in a long while burp as you start a bale. :) Also as you start the bale, weave so hay gets all the way across. Vermeer has manuals, get one. As the manual says, you either want a windrow around 4.5' wide, or 2.5 feet or less wide. The middle of the bale will fill up & the ends won't otherwise, and you end up with a wooden barrel shaped bale, loose ends on the bale. Those 3-4' wide windrows are tough to make a good bale with. My tying arm pressure valve doesn't work so well & the knife doesn't cut & the twine clamp doesn't clamp & I haven't bothered to fix any of that, so I just kinda run the arm manually by feathering my hyds - put the arm down to the right, then bring it back slowly so it wraps every 3" or so like they say. You can use more or less twine, whatever suits your fancy. Plastic twine is hated by everyone when it gets into the cattle or the fields, but if you store outside you have to almost, as sisal rots off too fast. If you are selling hay or storing inside, then find out if your customers want the bale to hold up well or if they want the twine to go away. Here in my part of Minnesota, 'everyone' prefers sisal on square bales, and plastic on rounds. I would suggest you start with smaller windrows, you will very quickly learn what works for you & what you want. Difficult to make windrows smaller, easier to make them bigger. The thing will gulp down a pretty big windrow if it's dry, but it's easier to learn if you're on the small side... The best, and it happens very very rarely here in humid MN, is when I can bale behind the moco that is 9' wide & I set to make a 4.5' windrow of alfalfa. Drive as fast as the pickup goes, and don't need to weave much. --->Paul
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