Stuck Bale (Ford 532 baler)

You could use straw, but that sounds like more work to me. If you just starting the season your press may not be shined up good yet. I have an IH 46 and I cover everything with oil before I put it up for the year. It sat in a dealers lot for 2 years before I bought it and it took forever to get things shined up. I like empting the press when I leave the field, because I don�t know when I will be baling next. I sell most of my hay off the rack. Most of the time I can trip the baler and loosen the press I can remove the last bale without too much trouble. Straw is a little harder. As far as starting out in a new field. I just retie the first bale. Usually I have to bale about 4 to 6 bales before I get the press set the way I like it, and it may change if I started on the outside windrow. I have baled enough that most of the time I only have to change the setting is a turn or two.

John In Iowa

If you take the last bale out, next time you bale hay the frist few bales will be loose until the bales start getting tight in the bale chamber again.

Thanks guys!

Also, if I cleaned out the baler between uses I would have the previous mentioned problem of the first couple of bales would be too loose. So one day someone here gave me a tip:

Before starting out, feed a couple bales of straw into the baler to pack the chute. Trip the knotters before starting on your first windrow of hay so that the straw is separated from the hay. Those first two bales of straw will drop out the back first. When you're all done with that field, trip the knotters again and go back and feed the straw back into the baler to push the last bales of hay out. Then when you start again you have a packed chute and all your hay is in the field.

This can be particularly handy if you use the baler on various different kinds of hay or for various different customers. Every field keeps its own variety of hay and your baler stays packed and ready. Works for me.

That's a good idea, Jim...

I may 'borrow' it, myself...

Steve