Best round baler for corn stalks

Thinking of buying a round baler, and will use it also on corn stalks. Any ideas or thoughts on which brand is better suited for both hay and stalks? Deere, New Holland and Vermeer are available around here. Probably be a new or late model one.

John Deere 567 or 566. Make sure you get the mega wide pickup and mega tooth option. Net wrap is a must for corn fodder bales if you intend to store them outside. Netwrap is quicker in the field to. I tend to stay away from new holland hay tools. People around my area bought NH because they are cheaper but now most run Deere hay tools.

NH al the way. I have used both JDs and NH and will not go back to a JD piece of junk. As for corn stalks a NH chain baler will work well and now days since they are getting old can be picked up cheap

I would go with a John Deere 566, 567 or 568. Like Stuart said get the Mega tooth not the mega wide. The mega wide works very well in hay but not near as good in shredded corn stalks. A 535 is a good starter baler, they are a little cheaper. They are a little harder to run but will still make good fast bales.
OLD I would like you to come up here in Iowa and watch 200 bushel corn stalks being baled. Good friend bought the newest/greatest New Holland baler last fall. He was going to help me bale my stalks and then I would shred his.
I have a JD 567 mega tooth. In eleven hours I baled 635 bales, 70" tight average weight 1400 lbs. He was baling in the same field right beside me. He baled 345 bales they weighed 970 lbs. So I was averaging about a bale a minute. I make 7500 to 9500 bales of stalks a year. If I was using his baler I would take nearly twice as long.
We switched off and drove each others tractors and balers. He was able to get close to my production on my baler. I was not able to do any better than he did on his NH baler. The pickup just would not take the windrow in as fast. Since it was taking it in slower more of the fine leaves and such where falling out between the belts. I think that is why his bales where lighter. They where tight but just did not weigh up as much.

I think Vermeer makes a real nice baler, just they have less dealers, so won't win a popularity vote. They typically innovate the new better ideas in round balers, so a new or near new model should serve you well.

Locally you see way more reddish (New Holland/ Case) balers than Green. Actually see more off-brand models than you see JD. Some of those imports from Europe are pretty fine round balers, if you have support for them.

--->Paul

Sorry old but my Dad owned a few NH Chain balers and even when brand new they did a terrible job baling corn stalks. JD Belt baler is the way to go. There is a reason they dont make chain balers anymore. They may be a good baler for a hobby farmer or weekend warrior. After JD made the 535, NH was out of business in hay tools.

Thanks for agreeing with me. I do have a question for you. We have a lot of JD 567 balers around here. Dairy farmers need corn fodder for bedding and they mostly run 567 or newer balers and the best they could do and myself included was around 25 bales an hour in corn stalks. I am eager to hear if you were baling hay or corn stalks and were getting 1 bale per minute. Most I get in a day is 250 bales taking 8 rows of corn at a time. I go around 3 mph.

You can believe what you want and I'll believe what I want and me I like NH hay equipment and will not go back to the JD stuff

Its not an opinion its a fact. My Dad ran several chain balers and they did not even come close.

As I said you believe what you want and I'll believe what I want now drop it KID

I think that we will probably go with Vermeer. I like some of the features that they have. I think that their pickup tines are better suited for stalks, and the little seperator in front of the belts I think helps make a better bale. But I could be wrong!!! Thanks for the different opinions. Harold

Call me a kid all you want but I have baled more round bales than you have and owned more brand new balers. I am not some hobby farmer nor a weekdend warrior. I am soley a dairy farmer and that is my only source of income. I have run more chain balers than most. I bale several thousand bales a year. Just because you are an older gentlemen doesnt mean you cant learn something new.

(quoted from post at 04:30:34 05/29/10) Sorry old but my Dad owned a few NH Chain balers and even when brand new they did a terrible job baling corn stalks. JD Belt baler is the way to go. There is a reason they dont make chain balers anymore. They may be a good baler for a hobby farmer or weekend warrior. After JD made the 535, NH was out of business in hay tools.

Click to expand...

I'm not a NH man but they sell the most round balers hands down its not even close. The industry figures from the AEM show this. I do sell baler belts and JD does sell around 2000 round balers a year so don't feel left out that's a good number.

I own NH but am not going to get into the JD - NH argument.
Corn stalks are abrasive on baler belts, very few corn stalks are baled in this area but most that do bale them use a Claas drum type baler.
For my use the baler I have works for me but if I were baling a lot of stalks I'd swap for a Claas drum baler.

I own a JD 568 and bought it brand new.What few corn fields the cows don t get turned into in the fall I hire the neighbor with his Vermeer to do the baling.Would not put my JD through that