greybeard
Herd Master
baleage.....
Hay Baler
- Thread starter Pastor Dave
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Pastor Dave
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My main problem is the moisture. I made some homemade bales 2 summers ago, and it was hot & dry. Let it lay an hour, raked it in windrows and then hand baled with a homemade contraption. They could stack pretty well too. They all mildewed and rotted in the middles.
I've done large areas with a weedwhacker before... no thanks.
OneFineAcre
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That wouldn't have had anything to do with how you baled it but when you baled it
frustratedearthmother
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Maye an hour wasn't enough for it to dry?
farmerjan
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If the hay was growing; ie. green, then letting it dry an hour was like not letting it dry. Not to be a wise a$$. I have never made hay that it hasn't laid out to dry for at least 1-3 days. We just mowed a bunch of grass/mix. It had been frosted and we have had our freeze, and the grass has stopped growing here now. It was mowed on Thursday, we raked it this morning and baled it this afternoon. It was dry. It was also pretty thin because we didn't get much precip all of Sept and into Oct.. The rule of thumb is to mow, then tedd at least 1-2 days later, then rake & maybe bale the following day. Minimum of 3 days.
That's if the grass/hay isn't too green when it was cut; the weather is like 0% humidity, the sun is out with temps in the 90's, and there is basically no dew. We usually figure a 4 day window here. AND that is dependent on how thick it is to start with. Sometimes we will tedd twice if it is thick and we need to push getting it up. Realize that we are in the Shen valley, and we have some nice but cooler weather here than east of the Blue Ridge Mtns. But they have more humidity along with the 5-10* warmer temps. I don't know of anyone here who can cut rake and bale in less than that 3 day time.
That's if the grass/hay isn't too green when it was cut; the weather is like 0% humidity, the sun is out with temps in the 90's, and there is basically no dew. We usually figure a 4 day window here. AND that is dependent on how thick it is to start with. Sometimes we will tedd twice if it is thick and we need to push getting it up. Realize that we are in the Shen valley, and we have some nice but cooler weather here than east of the Blue Ridge Mtns. But they have more humidity along with the 5-10* warmer temps. I don't know of anyone here who can cut rake and bale in less than that 3 day time.
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Pastor Dave
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Yah, up until now or not yet, I have just showed up to bale when called. Usually hotter than Hades, but no clue how long it dried or in rows. I have a lot to learn. 
farmerjan
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@Latestarter ; I am by no means an expert and not a mechanic. But in what I have experienced, here goes. First off, have never used, or even seen a drum mower in operation so cannot even begin to tell you anything about it.
The sickle bar mower is the old standby. They are easy to operate and the v-shaped "teeth/knives" are fairly easy and inexpensive to replace. If you hit a rock or something, you will usually only damage or break or dull one or two. The bar that they attach to doesn't get alot of damage from anything, but can be bent if you're not careful to not try to mow a tree or fence post (haha); the guards are also easy to replace. It is the same principle that the "haybine" was made on, for bigger operations; the haybine has a set of rollers that the hay goes through after cutting, which helps to crimp and squeeze the stems so they will dry out faster. The sickle bar will reach out over the edges of streams/creeks and gullies because there is no wheel that the outside edge rides on. It folds down and is suspended. The flat looking board on the end helps to guide the cut hay away from the edge so that you have a clean 6+ inches to cut the next row without picking up the previous mown hay. It does keep the hay spread out in a wider swath because it basically falls right back on the ground it was cut off.
The disc mower takes more power to run but it will cut thicker grass/hay and stuff that has fallen over and such. The blades spin at a faster speed and there are 2 on each "turtleshell" (we call them). We will not do any mowing with a discbine with an open cab tractor. If they are thrown off the shaft, the speed they are spinning makes it more dangerous for them to be thrown towards the operator. It's something like 1500 or more RPM for the spinning blades. It doesn't happen often....just telling you. I don't know about a small one like this company has, but the the turtleshell, where they attach and the guts of the cutting, runs cost about $1,000 each to replace and there are 8 on our machine. They seem to last for about 5 years for us, but REMEMBER we are mowing several HUNDRED acres a year when you figure in at least 2 cuttings on each field. And my son does not waste any time mowing. It does get it down faster. We also can set ours to lay it in a tighter row. That allows the ground to dry out some inbetween and then when we tedd or just rake, we can rake it over onto "dry" ground so the underside isn't sitting on damp ground. There are many ways to make hay and different reasons for different ways.
You will need a tractor with more horsepower to run a disc mower than a sickle bar. The sickle bar will be slower , but simpler. You will have more trouble mowing it if it has gotten way overgrown and has fallen over with the sickle. Again, one trick for any mower....adjust the ground speed to the conditions. In other words, you need to keep the pto speed up and slow down the ground speed if it is thick. Drop back a gear if it is thick with the pto speed staying up there. If you want to go fast with a sickle it has to be very thin or you will mow over it rather than cut it off. They will clog if you are going too fast.
I like a sickle mower for alot of things. I learned to mow hay with a haybine, and spent my share of time replacing knives that got broken off. But it doesn't take alot of time or money to do that and I can do it by myself.
I do not run the discbine. It takes our biggest tractors, high pto speeds, and I just am not comfortable with them. My son would never go back to a haybine to mow. He's a guy and guys like all that mechanical muscle.
Reading up a little on the link on those hay "packages" it says they are designed for the smaller farmers in Europe. There are more small farms over there so it seems like they would be perfected for that.
One thing about the baler...I would not get the net wrap for the simple reason that I hate all that plastic. Plain twine works very well. We have one big round baler that has netwrap and the other is twine and we use the twine 3x more than the net wrap. Netwrap does keep it together if they sit out for more than a year whereas the twine will rot if on the ground after a year. Netwrap does work for anything we wrap as baleage. Something you small farmers would probably never have to worry about. I also would rather a square baler than a round baler in a small operation. They stack where a round bale has to have "sides" to stack against, especially the small round bales. Squares are more "handle-able" and can be made to suit the person who is handling them. More saleable too..... We make our round bales 5x5 or 5x6 (1,000 lbs and more); didn't look to see what this company offers. Something small enough for a lighter tractor to handle with a front end loader and a bale spear. That means they will have to be stored under cover. Ours will lose about 10-15% off the outside as they get wet and weathered. Good thing, it is organic matter we are putting back onto the ground so we don't sweat the "waste" . They are also rolled really tight. Smaller rounds will lose as much or more so you are actually losing more hay due to having more bales so more exposed outside layer. Something to think about. Not saying one is better than the other.
The sickle bar mower is the old standby. They are easy to operate and the v-shaped "teeth/knives" are fairly easy and inexpensive to replace. If you hit a rock or something, you will usually only damage or break or dull one or two. The bar that they attach to doesn't get alot of damage from anything, but can be bent if you're not careful to not try to mow a tree or fence post (haha); the guards are also easy to replace. It is the same principle that the "haybine" was made on, for bigger operations; the haybine has a set of rollers that the hay goes through after cutting, which helps to crimp and squeeze the stems so they will dry out faster. The sickle bar will reach out over the edges of streams/creeks and gullies because there is no wheel that the outside edge rides on. It folds down and is suspended. The flat looking board on the end helps to guide the cut hay away from the edge so that you have a clean 6+ inches to cut the next row without picking up the previous mown hay. It does keep the hay spread out in a wider swath because it basically falls right back on the ground it was cut off.
The disc mower takes more power to run but it will cut thicker grass/hay and stuff that has fallen over and such. The blades spin at a faster speed and there are 2 on each "turtleshell" (we call them). We will not do any mowing with a discbine with an open cab tractor. If they are thrown off the shaft, the speed they are spinning makes it more dangerous for them to be thrown towards the operator. It's something like 1500 or more RPM for the spinning blades. It doesn't happen often....just telling you. I don't know about a small one like this company has, but the the turtleshell, where they attach and the guts of the cutting, runs cost about $1,000 each to replace and there are 8 on our machine. They seem to last for about 5 years for us, but REMEMBER we are mowing several HUNDRED acres a year when you figure in at least 2 cuttings on each field. And my son does not waste any time mowing. It does get it down faster. We also can set ours to lay it in a tighter row. That allows the ground to dry out some inbetween and then when we tedd or just rake, we can rake it over onto "dry" ground so the underside isn't sitting on damp ground. There are many ways to make hay and different reasons for different ways.
You will need a tractor with more horsepower to run a disc mower than a sickle bar. The sickle bar will be slower , but simpler. You will have more trouble mowing it if it has gotten way overgrown and has fallen over with the sickle. Again, one trick for any mower....adjust the ground speed to the conditions. In other words, you need to keep the pto speed up and slow down the ground speed if it is thick. Drop back a gear if it is thick with the pto speed staying up there. If you want to go fast with a sickle it has to be very thin or you will mow over it rather than cut it off. They will clog if you are going too fast.
I like a sickle mower for alot of things. I learned to mow hay with a haybine, and spent my share of time replacing knives that got broken off. But it doesn't take alot of time or money to do that and I can do it by myself.
I do not run the discbine. It takes our biggest tractors, high pto speeds, and I just am not comfortable with them. My son would never go back to a haybine to mow. He's a guy and guys like all that mechanical muscle.
Reading up a little on the link on those hay "packages" it says they are designed for the smaller farmers in Europe. There are more small farms over there so it seems like they would be perfected for that.
One thing about the baler...I would not get the net wrap for the simple reason that I hate all that plastic. Plain twine works very well. We have one big round baler that has netwrap and the other is twine and we use the twine 3x more than the net wrap. Netwrap does keep it together if they sit out for more than a year whereas the twine will rot if on the ground after a year. Netwrap does work for anything we wrap as baleage. Something you small farmers would probably never have to worry about. I also would rather a square baler than a round baler in a small operation. They stack where a round bale has to have "sides" to stack against, especially the small round bales. Squares are more "handle-able" and can be made to suit the person who is handling them. More saleable too..... We make our round bales 5x5 or 5x6 (1,000 lbs and more); didn't look to see what this company offers. Something small enough for a lighter tractor to handle with a front end loader and a bale spear. That means they will have to be stored under cover. Ours will lose about 10-15% off the outside as they get wet and weathered. Good thing, it is organic matter we are putting back onto the ground so we don't sweat the "waste" . They are also rolled really tight. Smaller rounds will lose as much or more so you are actually losing more hay due to having more bales so more exposed outside layer. Something to think about. Not saying one is better than the other.
greybeard
Herd Master
- Thread starter
- #30
Pastor Dave
Herd Master
Ok, @farmerjan, still trying to get a good grasp on this process.
When hay is cut, let lay and dry abt a day. When you tedd it, it flips it over to lay other side up, right? Leave another day. Rake in windrows for a day, and bale following day? Sound right? Like I said, I have seen this occur, but haven't been hands on til called to actually help bale.
Thanks, Dave
When hay is cut, let lay and dry abt a day. When you tedd it, it flips it over to lay other side up, right? Leave another day. Rake in windrows for a day, and bale following day? Sound right? Like I said, I have seen this occur, but haven't been hands on til called to actually help bale.
Thanks, Dave
