Getting that time

Gather App
There is no argument that big squares take the cake as far as tons/hr baling, efficient hauling, and efficient space stacked.

But they present a lot of logistical mountains for small time operators.
Big ones being cost of equipment (big aquare balers cost roughly double a round baler), tractor to run it needs to be much larger ($$$), then add on the bale package that is not as weather proof.

You mention 4" of rain and 4-5" of spoilage. I leave round bales outside for 2 seasons and might have that much spoilage.
 
Dave said:
That stack I pictured last week was 71 bales by myself 73 year old self before lunch (I don't move as fast as I use to). Loaded them on the trailer with a 55 HP tractor and stacked them with a 83 HP. My rainfall allows me to stack out side. Where I lived on the WA coast I got 60" of annul rain. Didn't have to drive too far to get to 100+" areas. I knew guys over there with who had big squares. They picked them up and stacked inside which was the point of my original comment. If you are stacking them in a barn you can fit a lot more hay using the square bales. I don't know the HP requirement on the baler but I do know a couple years ago B was using a 125 MF tractor to bale with. I have fed way too many little squares, lots of dry rounds, lots of wrapped haylage, and for the last 7 years since moving here it has been 3x4x8 squares. These big squares are the easiest and quickest to feed in the winter. And feeding just a portion of a bale they beat all other methods hands down. I have fed a few 4x4x8 big squares. They are a pain to deal with so the demand for them dropped off except for dairies or feed lots where it is going into a mixer wagon.

Oh a few years ago hurricane/typhoon Hillary did a bunch of damage in CA. We got the tail end of the storm here. It dropped 4 inches in a little over a day. Hay uncovered in the stack. The top layer soaked in 4-5 inches. I fed that hay that winter. The cows wouldn't clean up the wet part but ate the rest just fine.
Click to expand...
we put up round bales of grass hay and some small squares for the horses but we also feed large squares of alfalfa to some of the horses especially the yearlings and weaners. It des make life a lot easier and when I add the cost of feed in i'm starting to consider far less feed and more access to alfalfa to all of the horse we can do that with. The large squares are far easier to handle
 
chevytaHOE5674 said:
There is no argument that big squares take the cake as far as tons/hr baling, efficient hauling, and efficient space stacked.

But they present a lot of logistical mountains for small time operators.
Big ones being cost of equipment (big aquare balers cost roughly double a round baler), tractor to run it needs to be much larger ($$$), then add on the bale package that is not as weather proof.

You mention 4" of rain and 4-5" of spoilage. I leave round bales outside for 2 seasons and might have that much spoilage.
Click to expand...
I would dispute that square balers are better tons/hr. You can only pull them so fast. You can make rounds at 12 mph.
Around here custom guys make squares and that makes sense. Not many owner operators do. The bigger outfits chop silage, which is many times more efficient than baling dry hay in terms of acres covered, and ration formulation.
 
Silver said:
I would dispute that square balers are better tons/hr. You can only pull them so fast. You can make rounds at 12 mph.
Around here custom guys make squares and that makes sense. Not many owner operators do. The bigger outfits chop silage, which is many times more efficient than baling dry hay in terms of acres covered, and ration formulation.
Click to expand...

I was at a demo where both Massey and Krone had big square balers clipping along at 10-12mph and they don't need to stop to wrap and eject a bale. No way the round baler can compete with that.
 
chevytaHOE5674 said:
I was at a demo where both Massey and Krone had big square balers clipping along at 10-12mph and they don't need to stop to wrap and eject a bale. No way the round baler can compete with that.
Click to expand...
They’ve come a long ways then. Three or four years ago 6 mph was all you could do. And 200hp was. Of enough, 300hp ior more if your ground is steep. And now we are about to see mass produced round balers that don’t stop to tie. Cant see squares being the future.
 
This demo was 3 or 4 years ago already. Indeed they had 300+ hp tractors in front of them to pump out the bricks.

Guessing any sort of continuous round balers will be priced well out of reach for most folks, probably more in line with a big square baler cost wise.
 
chevytaHOE5674 said:
This demo was 3 or 4 years ago already. Indeed they had 300+ hp tractors in front of them to pump out the bricks.

Guessing any sort of continuous round balers will be priced well out of reach for most folks, probably more in line with a big square baler cost wise.
Click to expand...
Lots of internet chatter lines up with what I’ve seen locally. But perhaps some guys are baling at 12 mph.
https://www.haytalk.com/threads/baling-speed.69465/Either way, continuous round balers and large square balers are well enough suited to the custom guys. Bigger operations that do their own feed seem to be more fond of chopping silage. Dry balers can’t keep up with that regardless of shape.
 
The older big square balers were much slower. The newer ones like the Krone Highspeed models can move right along 9-12mph just like a round baler. At the demo I went to Krone had a video of baling at 24mph in a lite crop.

Chopping is the way to move volume if you have a large crew to get it done.
 
Silver said:
They've come a long ways then. Three or four years ago 6 mph was all you could do. And 200hp was. Of enough, 300hp ior more if your ground is steep. And now we are about to see mass produced round balers that don't stop to tie. Cant see squares being the future.
Click to expand...
Here they refer to round bales as "old school". The vast majority of hay is put up in squares. The few rounds you see are for their own use and not sold. The irrigated dirt farmers most common rotation is 2 years of potatoes, one year of wheat, and 4 years of alfalfa. That means a lot of hay is raised to sell which means it is getting hauled. The squares stack on a truck so much better than rounds. The hay either goes into sheds or is covered. Their biggest markets are export, dairies, and feedlots. However there is a lot of cattlemen who aren't able to raise enough hay on their own ground.
 
Dave said:
Here they refer to round bales as "old school". The vast majority of hay is put up in squares. The few rounds you see are for their own use and not sold. The irrigated dirt farmers most common rotation is 2 years of potatoes, one year of wheat, and 4 years of alfalfa. That means a lot of hay is raised to sell which means it is getting hauled. The squares stack on a truck so much better than rounds. The hay either goes into sheds or is covered. Their biggest markets are export, dairies, and feedlots. However there is a lot of cattlemen who aren't able to raise enough hay on their own ground.
Click to expand...
Which gets back to squares being a good option for custom guys. There were guys going to squares here but most have gone back unless they are doing custom work as well.
The guys that are chopping think we are all old school lol
 
In my life, (all in Texas and the old south), I've never seen a big square bale, but the pictures and vids I've seen sure make it look easier to stack with good (big) equipment.
How are big squares fed?
 
greybeard said:
In my life, (all in Texas and the old south), I've never seen a big square bale, but the pictures and vids I've seen sure make it look easier to stack with good (big) equipment.
How are big squares fed?
Click to expand...
All you need is a flaker to feed them, in my case the same machine that unrolls round bales will also flake a square. They typically aren’t any heavier than a round bale so the same loader tractor will handle either.
 
greybeard said:
In my life, (all in Texas and the old south), I've never seen a big square bale, but the pictures and vids I've seen sure make it look easier to stack with good (big) equipment.
How are big squares fed?
Click to expand...

Actually you don't need big equipment to stack them. I have a NH TC55 which is 55hp and actually their biggest compact tractor. I stack them 3 high with that tractor but that is all the higher it will reach.
A lot of them (maybe the majority) get fed by setting them on edge on a flat bed or trailer pulled by a tractor. Put the vehicle in low and let it idle across the field. Climb on the back and flake them off. B's hired man feeds about 40 bales a day using that method. He is done feeding by noon if there isn't some other wreck occurring which requires his assistance.
 
Last edited:
I feed both round and 3x4 squares. Rounds I have to roll out with the bale spears or off the hill. Looking to get a 3-point bale unroller this fall so I can unroll exactly where I want. Squares I feed off a utility trailer because I don't have a flatbed pickup. As Dave says, put the truck in low range and 1st gear - have to be careful and not slip or something and have the pickup get away. Alfalfa bales can be a little tight between flakes so need a pitchfork to wedge them apart and kick them off. Plan is to feed a lot more rounds than squares this next winter so I can do it all from the tractor. For hauling (40 miles from my hay guy) and stacking, I much prefer the squares. I can stack them 4-high with my Case IH Farmall 65C. I usually just have a semi haul in the round bales. I only put rounds on the ground due to spoilage between bales of I stack them. Rounds take up way more stack yard space than squares, but suffer way less water damage if we get decent moisture.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top