# Going to buy a net wrap R.B. and would like some input.



## Itsalwayssomething (Aug 19, 2008)

Tired of twine. Going to find a way to buy a net-wrapper. I know, I know... I'm opening up a can o' worms. So be it. Baling mostly grass hay for horse customers. A used baler is most likely what I can afford but I'm open minded.
Thanks in advance.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Always had good luck with my NH644. It only really ever let me down once when I had a cam roller on the pickup go out. Changed it and the other three while I was at it and no problems after that.

Only had two times I had net wrap problems.

One was a bad roll of net, was lucky to get two bales in a row before having to rethread the net, wasted who knows how much time before calling the wife and telling her to bring me a different roll. Changed rolls of net and end of problems. Took the bad roll back to the dealer and told em too give me another one NOW, as all the farting around with the bad roll wasted enough time that the last four rows in the field ended up getting washed repeatedly.

The only other time was last spring, started making first cutting, made about 70 bales to use up what was in the baler from the year before, installed the new roll and my world turned to crap from their. Everytime at the end of the cycle the knife would drop and jsut bounce off the net instead of cutting it. Had a tarp strap handy and managed to hook that to the knife linkage to get the field done.

Turned out the knife was dull, took it out and sharpened and honed it, end of problems. The old net in the baler was New Holland net made in Israel, the new stuff was New Holland net made in Greece. No noticeable difference at all, but the dull knife would not cut the stuff made in Greece but had no problems with the Israel stuff.

Other than the few things I mentioned above, that baler worked flawlessly for me for about 7-8 years. Would have kept it to be perfectly honest, but I traded up to a 740A Silage Special just for the silage option and the foot wider pickup. I definitely like the 740A, seems to have more capacity than the 644. Ran both with a Oliver 1600 Diesel that's been tweaked slightly, about 10% more than factory so figure it had about 65 PTO hp. When on the 644 when working the tractor hard enough to make the smoke roll, would blow the shearbolt on 644 if I tried to push it for too long. The 740A will kill the 1600 while still wanting more hay. Bought a White 2-110, 110 hp for the 740A, seems to be a good match so far. Honestly can't say in the long run how reliable the 740A will be as I've only run about a 1000 bales thru it since buying it.


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## hmcohay (Jul 27, 2010)

I am in the same boat as Itsalwayssomething. We have a Vermeer 605F that is flat worn out, no monitor, have to watch the belts move to level your bale.

I have talked with several in the area and they are really big on the JD 467 and JD 468. New Holland and Vermeer seem to be the round baler of choice with folks in this forum. New Holland seems to be the priced better than JD and Vermeer in this area and that is where I am leaning now. Would be interested if anyone has much experience with the JD I mentioned. I am also looking at mower-conditioners as well and would appreciate any thoughts on that as well.


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## tadd0443 (Aug 4, 2010)

New to this sight. But I will put my 2 cents in the can of worms. In my book New R.B. I like the 568 (or want) John Deere. The Deere pick up is the best. I have a New Holland Swather and other miss... equipment. So New holland is not all that bad. But when the New Holland and Case Dealers (Same hay equipment difrent paint) bothe told me when I buy a new R.B. go green that said something. My neighbor has had Deer and new holland and now back to a 568 deere he said it is the best one he has ever had. But you are looking at a used one. The older New Hollands are good and so is the deere. I started with a used Deere 567 and had lots of trouble with it to start off. Just pick over a used one real REAL hard. Look at every little thing not just the big stuff. Look for nicks in wires dings in the sheet medal weare on the theeth missing parts and all. IF You dont know how to do the work your self it can eat you alive in cost. And there is a reason for everything. like when mine was putting rap on the rolers and the bale and miss rapping alot it was just a adjustment. The last owner just slaped it together and did not pay atation to the adjustments. The dealer is your friend dont be afread to ask the teck what to look for. You can in most cases catch them with out a sales man watching. Another big thing is parts!!! How far is it to the parts house from your place? Is it in town or an hour away? I know you can get a used Dere 568 for around 20 and up depending on the use. ANd a trick i found is buy red at the green place and green at the red place. They tend to be more flexable on the price to try to move the odd paint off the lot If you know what I mean. So maby this will help you out But if you go new I would say go green. I Thank John Deere has the best round bailers out at the moment but New Holland has the best swathers out at the moment.


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## JustinShepherd (Apr 14, 2010)

We have ran New hollands for 10 years now and always had good luck with them providing you keep up on the basic maintanance. This year we swithed to a Case RB564(same as NH BR7090) with net wrap and have had zero issues with it. Net wrap is turning out to be a saviour in a very wet year as when hay is dry we can make 60 bales an hour in a good raked hay crop as opposed to about 30 tops with twine. We would never go back to twine on our own bales and we still give our customers the option of using twine but net wrap is our definite preference.


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## gman1772 (Mar 20, 2010)

Okay here we go. #1 How much hay are you baling a year? #2 What are your transport requirements for baled hay? How much tractor do you currently own? 
You said you are baling rolls for horse people. I do most of the same thing in Texas. Horse folks love 2 things, pea green hay and a little feed control. A 4x5 or 4x6 baler might fit your needs. This size allows for smaller tractors to place hay for feeding and fits side by side on a flat deck trailer with no overhang (truckers hate overhang as the DOT guys harrass them for permits). 4x5's tend to allow a little feed control over bigger bales (free choice on a greedy horse creates a fat horse). If you are baling less than 500 bales per year hire somebody, it's cheaper. Over 500 I suggest JD balers. The netwrap system is fairly reliable and mounts in the back so less muscle is needed to put in a new roll. The pickup is impeccable. You would think it was a vaccum cleaner. The coveredge wrap for a 4' bale costs 317.50 here and lasts for 210 rolls with a 2.5 wrap, that's 1.53 per roll. The galloping goat people have balers down pat. The 458 I am currently using bales #1100 bales in Jiggs Bermuda and Coastal Bermuda, #950 to #1000 bales in Pensacola Bahia. Both are about the same as the 5X5 string wrap Vermeer baler I was using.


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## hmcohay (Jul 27, 2010)

Does anyone have experience with the Vermeer? As I stated we have an old one that is shot. We always seemed to have bearing problems when eveyone else didn't with the NH and JD. One of my buddies has a newer 604M I believe and seems like he has more bearing problems than guys using NH and JD. Maybe he just complains more? I have really narrowed my shopping to JD and NH, but would like to here any thoughts on the Vermeer as an option.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I run Vermeer 605 SM.The Vermeer balers are very heavy built.The pickup teeth are rubber mounted and last a long time.I havn't replaced or bent one yet in this baler in 4000 bales.Some models have the wider pickup which is nice.

The Netwrap system is simple,no feed rolls to deal with.

Did I say I like Vermeer Balers









The M series had bearing issues,especialy the first ones out.Some were updated depending on serial #.Now there is a kit to update the rollers/bearings in M balers to SM rollers/bearings.


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## Customfarming (Oct 8, 2009)

We run a Vermeer 604M. I have ran JD balers in the past and the Vermeer is the better baler in my opinion. With the Vermeer we do not have to ease into the windrow like we had to with the JD balers. The only net wrap baler I have ran is the Vermeer we have now and have had no problems with the wrap. If you are going to stack the hay end to end I would not use cover edge. The cover edge allows water to run between the bales that damages the hay.


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## Hay DR (Oct 28, 2009)

If the net fits in the current Vermeer cradle then you can use it in the Vermeer baler. That can not be said about all of the other manufacturers. Also the M series & Rebel 5410 balers do not use a starting roller for the net nor does it need baby powder like the other manufacturers.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

I'm a JD guy for the most part but I went with Vermeer with my balers. The M series or Super M series is the only way to go with Vermeer. I have a new 605 SM and its eats hay like no other. Dealer and company support has been the best also.

I have a Vermeer 2004 554XL 4' 5.5' baler also. It plugs too easily on the starts and the netwrap sometime gets caught up on the feed rollers. The M and SM series balers have a lot simpler net feed system on them which is a lot better than Deere.

I have been told the first of the M series had some bearing issues which were corrected. The SM balers have larger bearings and don't have any issues that I know of.


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## Itsalwayssomething (Aug 19, 2008)

Very much appreciate the input. Going to look into the Vermeers. I always thought they looked well made. I'm even more motivated now then I was when I first posted the request for input... My oooold JD 410 is down for the count. The main input shaft broke in half. At the same time, two bearings burned up. Sure they're related. The shaft alone is $420 from the dealer. Add in the new bearings and that's the value of the whole machine. Already upside down with it so I don't want to throw good money after bad.

Would like to find a used shaft but I've called everywhere I could get a lead with no success. I'd like to squeeze a few more bales out of it before I scrap it. It's not worth much, even working well. Reading some of the posts here, I see why. The posts about a 410 did make me feel a little better because I thought it was just that I stunk at rolling. Turns out that I just stink at picking out round balers. It's been one of my more expensive lessons.

To answer Gman1772, we bale (sb & rb) about 200 acres, so far. It'll increase some each year. We use and sell 4x5s for lots of reasons. Not opposed to hiring it out but don't really have that option as there aren't that many round balers close by.

If anyone has any ideas where I might find a used input shaft, I'd greatly appreciate it.


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## Hay DR (Oct 28, 2009)

*Itsalwayssomething,*

Just about any baler purchase would be an upgrade over a JD410 round baler. If you can operate a closed throat baler like a JD410 then any of the newer balers will make you think you are in heaven.


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## johndeerefarmer (Jun 22, 2009)

We have had a JD 457 with net wrap for 8 years. I have only had the net wrap around the starter roll one time and that was when I forgot to rotate the rubber roll by hand after letting it set. I have never had to use baby powder on mine and I live in humid Texas. 
I have however had several bales with torn net. JD said that the build up of hay in the rear gate causes this. They recommend running at 1500-1800 rpm instead of full pto speed. This helps very much. I also stop every once in awhile and clean all of the loose hay out.

I tried to get out cheap and only use 1 1/2 wraps but found that 2 are needed for grass hay. Also be careful when moving them. If stabbing with bale spike don't slide the bale along the ground as net will rip.

Once you go to net you will never go back. Also the JD wrap does go over the edge. Makes a nicer looking bale.

My only complaint is that their is a storage area above the net for a spare roll. Unless you are a gorilla it's hard to get that roll in and out of the storage place cause it's so dang heavy. A JD rep told me that the new balers would be fixing that problem but didn't elaborate so I assume its gonna be some kind of hydraulic shelf that will lower and raise


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