Baler speed

[kenny thomas]

You must have a lot of flat smooth fields .....here its all up and down hills or rough or the majority of mine is.

Thats the land that has over a 1% slope there. His roughest fields in Arkansas are better than my best. Oh, I forgot you do have some of the levies to mow so there is a little slope. :lol2:

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Dun,ac, and Kenny, I think we could have a contest of who has baled the steepest field, and I don't know for sure but I think I could win.

 

[jasonleonard]

Do any of you steep ground farmers have any tricks to keep the roundbales from rolling clear out of the field? Only thing that seems to work on the hills, is to jump out of the row i'm in and dump out at a level place or gulley.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Do any of you steep ground farmers have any tricks to keep the roundbales from rolling clear out of the field? Only thing that seems to work on the hills, is to jump out of the row i'm in and dump out at a level place or gulley.

Jason, I bale a lot of hay that I have drive to the top of the hill to let the bale out, steep enough that even turning sideways won't work to let them out.

 

[dun]

Do any of you steep ground farmers have any tricks to keep the roundbales from rolling clear out of the field? Only thing that seems to work on the hills, is to jump out of the row i'm in and dump out at a level place or gulley.

I try to kick them uphill if possible. Some of them will still beat you to the bottom. One thing about baling steep stuff is you won;t have to drive over near as much field when it comes time to move them off

 

[Banjo]

I usually let one or two go to the woods. I guess it feeds the deer for the winter.

 

[James T]

I just gauge it by how fast the pickup can suck it up. I hate clearing plugs!

Besides the baler catching on fire, I don't think there's anything worse than clearing plugs. On my little Vermeer I adjust the forward speed so the baler doesn't drag it in or push the hay in front of it.

Generally, and assuming the rpm's and tensioners stay the same, the slower you go, the tighter the bale. An extremely tight bale might look pretty but a can be a bear to break apart at feeding time.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

Do any of you steep ground farmers have any tricks to keep the roundbales from rolling clear out of the field? Only thing that seems to work on the hills, is to jump out of the row i'm in and dump out at a level place or gulley.

Funny question with a funny answer here. When we first started baling there were a lot of our bales that were not "uniform", in fact lots of them looked lopsided....kinda like ice cream cones.

When teased about makin ice cream cone bales, hubby says "well that keeps them from rollin too far down the hill".....and its true!

I like watching them roll and bang into other bales. One bale stood alone on the round edge for several hours, like some sort of pasture art.

 

[James T]

You could always set-up some giant pins downhill and do some hay bowling! I had a bale do the cone shape thing last week. Sometimes if the driver favors one side of the windrow the bale will come out that way.

 

[OklaBrangusBreeder]

I have a JD 467 Megawide pick-up, 93HP tractor, and a fairly smooth field. I usually bale at about 12MPH.

Last weekend, that equated to about 35 bales an hour...

 

[Angus Cowman]

I have a JD 467 Megawide pick-up, 93HP tractor, and a fairly smooth field. I usually bale at about 12MPH.

Last weekend, that equated to about 35 bales an hour...

that must of been some thin hay

 

[OklaBrangusBreeder]

It was the best cutting I've ever had on that field. Made 155 bales of Bermuda /Johnson grass hay off 50 acres. Didn't seem as thin as some cuttings I've had...

 

[Angus Cowman]

for what we are used to around here that is thin hay
anything less than 4 bales is thin with 5 to 6 being average
I just got done baling some that was 6 pr acre or better was baling at 4mph and spitting a bale out every 61to 62 seconds from start of baling to shutting tailgate after wrapping

 

[3MR]

depends a lot on the baler and the HP tractor you are pulling it with on normal to heavy hay I run 6-6.5 mph and light hay I have ran as fast as 10mph or better
I have ran over 9 mph in some heavy hay 7-8 bales pr acre trying to get it up before a rain hit it
I was lucky was wrapping the second to last bale when started sprinkling and as soon as I got in the truck it really turned loose

I don;t have a single hay field that's smooth enough to go that fast even with a bombsight

That's exactly what I was thinking. I try to run at about 6MPH and that's about as fast as you can go. Even then I have to significantly slow down in some places or my baler will bounce higher than the tractor.

 

[OklaBrangusBreeder]

for what we are used to around here that is thin hay
anything less than 4 bales is thin with 5 to 6 being average
I just got done baling some that was 6 pr acre or better was baling at 4mph and spitting a bale out every 61to 62 seconds from start of baling to shutting tailgate after wrapping

I'd love to have a cutting where I get 6 per acre. Never seen it yet.... what kind of hay are you baling?

 

[bigbull338]

if you get 6 to an ac its 1 or 2 things.your running super tall thick hay or your baling with a lil baler.be had to get 6 bales to an ac with a 5 by 6 baler unless its super heavy rye grass an clover.

 

[Angus Cowman]

for what we are used to around here that is thin hay
anything less than 4 bales is thin with 5 to 6 being average
I just got done baling some that was 6 pr acre or better was baling at 4mph and spitting a bale out every 61to 62 seconds from start of baling to shutting tailgate after wrapping

I'd love to have a cutting where I get 6 per acre. Never seen it yet.... what kind of hay are you baling?

anything from oats which we were averaged 7 bales pr acre weighing around 1150lbs on grass they will avg 900lbs and baling anything from Bermuda to Red River crabgrass to just mixed grass hay (Johnson grass, fescue)

I have a friend that is baling irrigated Bermuda and he avg is 4900lbs per cutting which is 5 round bales pr acre or 70 70lb square bales on every cutting

 

[sim.-ang.king]

I just gauge it by how fast the pickup can suck it up. I hate clearing plugs!

I say the faster the ground speed the faster you get done, of course plugging will negate any time saved by going too fast. Ideally you want to travel just under plugging speed. On a side note why is it everytime my haybine plugs it's either thistles or poison ivy?

Just lucky I guess

Mine use to always get plugged with skunks. That's why I have someone else mow it now.
Of course the other side of the coin, is now I have more skunks in traps. :lol2: