Square bale accumlator
- Thread starter Stepper
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ToddFarmsInc
Well-known member
Well there's a couple of different types that I know of, the type that hooks up behind the square bailer, and it uses hydraulics and chains to shuffel the bales around into groups, and then theres a stand alone unit out that you just hook up to a tractor/pickup/ATV and drive around the field after the bailing is done, and it groups bales up with no hydraulics or chains. (a pretty slick setup I think)
You will need an accumulator, and an accumulator fork. The first place I would look would be a used equipment site, or your local farm equipment dealer. Check with Fastline.
I have a farmhand accumulator that I purchased second hand years ago. It has preformed pretty well, for years. I bought the accumulator deck and two forks for tractor loaders for a pretty good price.
You will need an accumulator, and an accumulator fork. The first place I would look would be a used equipment site, or your local farm equipment dealer. Check with Fastline.
I have a farmhand accumulator that I purchased second hand years ago. It has preformed pretty well, for years. I bought the accumulator deck and two forks for tractor loaders for a pretty good price.
Thanks ToddFarmsInc,
The kind that i am looking for is like a two peace set up. One peace of it is a small cart that you pull behind a fourwheeler,tractor,pick-up etc...., And the other is like a hydraulic claw that will pick up 5 to 10 65- lb square bales at a time.
I am like you i remember seeing one years ago that you pulled behind a tractor that would pick up and stack about 50 or so bales but i never got to see it unload so i am not sure how it done that.
There use to be a member who went by ironpeddler out of Tenn who i was hoping still came to the site. He was worked in saling farm equipment and i thought he might have an idea of where i might find a good deal on a set up like this.
The kind that i am looking for is like a two peace set up. One peace of it is a small cart that you pull behind a fourwheeler,tractor,pick-up etc...., And the other is like a hydraulic claw that will pick up 5 to 10 65- lb square bales at a time.
I am like you i remember seeing one years ago that you pulled behind a tractor that would pick up and stack about 50 or so bales but i never got to see it unload so i am not sure how it done that.
There use to be a member who went by ironpeddler out of Tenn who i was hoping still came to the site. He was worked in saling farm equipment and i thought he might have an idea of where i might find a good deal on a set up like this.
ToddFarmsInc
Well-known member
I did a quick search, here's a couple sites for ya.
http://www.steffensystems.com/Accumulators/
http://www.kuhnsmfg.com/Accumulator.htm
I've seen other ones too.
http://www.steffensystems.com/Accumulators/
http://www.kuhnsmfg.com/Accumulator.htm
I've seen other ones too.
ToddFarmsInc,
Thanks for the site links. You know i thought the grabbers would cost alot more than what they do. But according to the Kuhns pricing list you can pick one of thoes up for about $ 2300 new. And i have seen a different type of accumulator sit up than either one of these sites shows that i think would be alot cheaper to that would work for what i am wanting to do.
The vedio on the Kuhns website is pretty neat the way that accumulator works. The only thing is it looks like you would have problems if your baler started busting bales ?
Thanks for the site links. You know i thought the grabbers would cost alot more than what they do. But according to the Kuhns pricing list you can pick one of thoes up for about $ 2300 new. And i have seen a different type of accumulator sit up than either one of these sites shows that i think would be alot cheaper to that would work for what i am wanting to do.
The vedio on the Kuhns website is pretty neat the way that accumulator works. The only thing is it looks like you would have problems if your baler started busting bales ?
ToddFarmsInc
Well-known member
TNMasterBeefProducer":lpceojos said:
There ya go..... I guess that's why you are a "guru". :clap:
I have that video I picked up at a farm show where they were displaying one of these contraptions.... looks like a pretty good setup to me.
(I finally find it after someone else posts the website. :kid: )
Brother and I purchased a FarmHand accumulator for our JD square baler. Also purchased a set of forks for a loader tractor to go along with it. Puts 8 bales together. It works pretty well, only have trouble with the bales sliding around if you get on steep ground, but 95+% of the time it is not a problem. I works real well if you have someone driving the trailer around the hay field so you can stack on, vs taking the hay to the trailer. Can load a trailer in 15 minutes or less if someone is toting a trailer around.
We were having trouble finding reliable help to put up hay, and labor was killing us. We just happened to find this one. A friend knew this guy had it, and didn't use it anymore. We called and made a deal. It has paid for itself many times over. We put up around 5000 small squares a year, do it all entirely ourselves. Have to unload by hand every now and then depending on the barn, but it saves alot of labor and backwork.
We were having trouble finding reliable help to put up hay, and labor was killing us. We just happened to find this one. A friend knew this guy had it, and didn't use it anymore. We called and made a deal. It has paid for itself many times over. We put up around 5000 small squares a year, do it all entirely ourselves. Have to unload by hand every now and then depending on the barn, but it saves alot of labor and backwork.
ToddFarmsInc
Well-known member
Bandit....
Sounds like my story. I had some of the same issues with bales sliding around on my accumulator deck too. I welded on some square bars (sorta like key stock only a little larger) on the deck. They are large enough to do some good, but small enough that the hydraulic pusher clears, and the chain drag clears as well. I welded them on a diagonal pattern to slide the front bales back and the back bails forward to keep the stack tight. (sorta like a herringbone pattern) That has really helped alot with the sliding and moving around over rough ground.
Stepper.... I too put up several thousand bales, but I don't feed them all. I find in this area, with all the hobby farms, and the town people who live out in the country with one or two horses, square bales are more marketable locally than large round bales are. I put up 3-5 thousand bales a year, just to sell off locally. (sometimes a semi will haul off a load or two out of state)
Sounds like my story. I had some of the same issues with bales sliding around on my accumulator deck too. I welded on some square bars (sorta like key stock only a little larger) on the deck. They are large enough to do some good, but small enough that the hydraulic pusher clears, and the chain drag clears as well. I welded them on a diagonal pattern to slide the front bales back and the back bails forward to keep the stack tight. (sorta like a herringbone pattern) That has really helped alot with the sliding and moving around over rough ground.
Stepper.... I too put up several thousand bales, but I don't feed them all. I find in this area, with all the hobby farms, and the town people who live out in the country with one or two horses, square bales are more marketable locally than large round bales are. I put up 3-5 thousand bales a year, just to sell off locally. (sometimes a semi will haul off a load or two out of state)
I don't know where you are located,but there is a 8 bale accumlator and grab fork for sale in North Dakota for $500 bucks. .http://www.tractorshed.com/cgi-bin/phot ... =retrieval
iowafarmer
Well-known member
I would get one that goes right behind the baler. Sure your tractro needs to have the hydrolics cabable of doing it but its one less pass then one that you pull on the ground later after the baler goes over it. So thats one more tractor or vehicle running and with high fuel prices i would be looking for every way to save on fuel. Just my thoughts on it though.
S&S Farms
Well-known member
We run a hoelscher accumulator behind a JD 348 Put the bales on edge and bundles of ten. I like it better than the old farm hand I used at the neighbors. I like the bales on edge stack better in the barns. We will put up close to 10000 a year. Thet are made in Kansas.
Jeff
Jeff
Boy if i was closer i would be diffinately taking a look at that dude for only $ 500. I looked it up on map quest and i am 1007 miles away from it. By just looking at the pictures i can not really tell much about it.EAT BEEF":xhg67or9 said:
Iwoafarmer,
That is a good point i did not think about. Because desil i dont think is going to do anything but get higher. But the only thing that really concerns me about toeing the accumulator behind the tractor is if you start busting bales, how much hasle is it going to be to dig the busted bales out of the accumulator ?
Most of the time if i have good wind rowes i can just keep on trucking and never bust a bale, then there are thoes awe **** days where nothing seems to go right and you might bale 50 bales then start busting bales. Luckly i have not had many of thoes yet. But then i have not baled very many square bale either. Maybe 500 at a time on a good day.
But when you do start having to pull thoes busted bales off of the baler it would be easier without any thing hooked up behind it i would think ?
iowafarmer
Well-known member
Stepper":2x1jaz4c said:
I helped once with one and the accumulator wouldn't break them unless there was a bad string but then it was usually busted when it came out of the baler. You should always glance back at it though and then you see a broken one come out so you shut it down and juast grab the chunks and throw them in the windrow. I didn't think it was that big of deal. If you catch it in the first row before it gets shoved over you can get right by it easily and then once it is out you just start it back up and keep going. IT does matter what codnition it is in and what condition your baler is in. If you have a good baler that produces quality bales and your accumulator is in good shape it works slick but them if they act up it can be a heck of a time but well thats the way it is with all equipment.
ToddFarmsInc
Well-known member
clearing the accumulator deck if you get a broken bale or two on it isn't a problem. What I usually do is set the park brake, hop off the tractor (with the pto running, don't tell osha) and go back to the rear of the accumulator and manually trip the deck drag chain. the accumulator will clear itself. If there are any complete bales in the pile then, I will drag them around to make a "short stack". I can then circle around the tractor/baler/accumulator and rebale the broken bale. Later when picking out the accumulated stacks, I can take different short stacks and make complet stacks.
Also on the farmhand, you don't have to have hydraulics on the tractor, you can power a pump from the flywheel on the bailer if you want.
Also on the farmhand, you don't have to have hydraulics on the tractor, you can power a pump from the flywheel on the bailer if you want.
Stepper":15xdy22x said:
We paid $2000 for ours. Thought it was alot of money at the time, but looking back, it was pretty cheap. The forks were in good condition, and the accumulator was in near perfect condition. Haven't had any major problems with either. Also the last year we had to hire a bunch of help we spent about $2500 in labor alone. The first few years we had it, we were still putting up around 12,000 bales each year. We used to have 80 acres of alfalfa, and would square bale the 2-4 cuttings. When I graduated college and got a day job, that quickly got scaled back. I do miss it however, I love growing alfalfa.
We put up around 2500 bales of straw. Most is sold, but we will use some.
We will put up around 750 bales of brome. We will feed most of this to the bulls in winter, steers we are feeding out, any cows we have to lock up during calving, etc.
Around 1000-1500 bales of alfalfa. Feed most of this to the cows in Dec-Jan as a protein supplement, and the first calf heifers from Dec up to grass time.
We also put up around 1000 bales for a neighbor. He has a nice open front building, and I can put the hay on the trailer and unload it in the barn. Very rarely do I have to touch one of his bales.
We used to sell any hay that we knew we would have leftover. There is a really good market around here for small squares of brome, alfalfa, and straw. Like ToddFarms said, a lot of hobby farmers or smaller producers create good demand for it.
