BALE BASKET

anyone on here ever use one of those bale baskets that hooks to the rear of the square baler
RICK

Friend had one had it behind a 24 t with the thrower on it had trouble tying after he took the thrower off no problem. It was a nice outfit and he liked it.

Nephew has two and loves them.

Yup. I have an older Quality brand one.

Paul

I have one neighbor that has half a dozen of them now, and another neighbor that has a couple as well. Everyone in these parts that I've talked to seem to like them, but I understand you have to back off the bale tension a bit, and can't make tight turns with them.

I had a local dealer quote me out a pair of new EZ-Trail baskets just a couple weeks ago, and the price was reasonable (or so I think) if I want to drive to Illinois and pick em up myself, but still hoping to find 2-3 used ones cheaper.

I make a bit of straw and looking to expand, but labor is my issue, as well as pretty much everyone else's issue. I figure I can make them pay for themselves in 2 to 3 seasons in lost time (waiting for someone to show up wanting to work) and labor saving (paying 2 kids $10-12 a hour to stack on the wagon). When my dad isn't busy and can drive the tractor for me it pans out, because I can stack wagons myself, but since we now work different hours, the only time that works is on weekends. As it is now, on weekends I will pay 4-5 guys plus myself and my dad to try to keep the baler moving and keep wagons empty, with baskets I think 4 of us could get by just fine. Until the barn gets quite full I can do most of the stacking in the barn myself, as long as someone sends bales up the elevator for me.

Brad

Good rigs but here are the negatives that I see. Small irregular fields and tight turns a no go. Dumps hay in a heap can break bales.

My buddy has two, really likes them. Main reason, he is a one man operation unless Im there or his son.

Presently he is baling 20 acres of alfalfa. Directly from the field we deliver to the local Amish.
Dump it next to their barn. They load it from there on the elevator to the loft.

Works well for him, until the point he doesnt have it all sold out of the field, then we have to dump and restack in the barn.

Rick

(quoted from post at 08:14:10 04/11/16) Good rigs but here are the negatives that I see. Small irregular fields and tight turns a no go. Dumps hay in a heap can break bales.

Click to expand...

Same negatives with a kicker except the bales break when landing.

I have 6 of them now and like them a lot. Negatives? You can't cheat the moisture levels, if the hay is too wet to bale the bales get heavy in a hurry, you can't make little puffballs to fool yourself.

Turning really tight when picking up hay is a big no-no.

I use them in fields down to about 1/2 acre but really 2 acres and up lets you go much faster.

They only hold about 110 bales max and sometimes require a trip up there to squeeze the last 10 bales on.

Pluses:
With dolly wheel pinned up they tow behind a pickup at 30 mph loaded or 40-50 mph empty.

Pull the lever and leave at customers place

Very few broken bales compared even to hand handling

More consistent bale weights


I now have a pin grabber type hitch like the old sileage wagon hitches and am looking forward to using it this summer.

I wish they had a model that held 250 bales though so I could move less wagon loads. We still use flatbed trailers and double hitched wagons to move 250-500 bale loads.

Yup. Have 3 and will get a couple more when funds allow it. Biggest downfalls are the size (tall and wide) and capacity. Only get 80-90 in mine because if they're heaped they won't fit in my barn. Haven't had any trouble in small irregular fields with hay. With Straw, you have to be careful turning. Corners on head lands can be too tight. The straw is more slippery and they will squirt out the side. Can be a real pain if you don't catch it quick. Mine are ez trails. That's what the majority recommended when I was asking around. Don't think I've ever had a broken bale because of dumping them. I have had a no tie when switching twine and that can make a mess when gone unnoticed. As long as you have a place to dump they're not bad. I can dump 4 loads on my hip roof barn floor before I have to move any. Pretty handy when help is scarce.

We have a ez trail and a forage King. I like the forage King for turns and the ez trail on straight runs. Forage King holds 80-90 while the ez trail holds 100-110 . The ez trail will easily go down the road at 40 plus, the forage King you have to put the front wheel up on transport lock. I paid 500 for forage King and 2,000 for ez trail .

Pics