# 4648 Big Bales in 72 Hours.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

From Progressive Forage Grower

Regards, Mike

http://www.progressiveforage.com/news/industry-news/4-648-bales-in-72-hours


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

WOW, impressive to say the least.

Where I can count on one hand the number of times I've been able to bale till dark and was surprised to do that.


----------



## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

That's 64.5 bales an hour.


----------



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Gearclash said:


> That's 64.5 bales an hour.


Figuring 800# bales, that's 1860 tons. Figuring 3 tons/acre, that's 620 acres. That's a lot of hay and a lot of ground.

Having been born in the Show Me State, I'd like to see more about this.

Ralph


----------



## HALLSHAY (Nov 30, 2008)

Figure more like 1300-1400lbs, they were running a 3x4. Probably more like 3000 tons from 1200-1500 acres! Next week I am going to watch a Stahlei machine run, if the weather straightens up. Eastern CO just set records for the lowest high temp for the last two days. Didn't get to 70 degrees here and supposed to be over 100 next week. Gonna take the drone with me so hopefully I will have a different view of a steamer running. If all goes well, I will be stocking my barn(1000-1500 tons) with alfalfa from this steamer and will be able to show what these machines can do. The hay I have seen coming out of these machines is awesome to say the least, but we will see how it slices.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

That's a lot of alfalfa that had to be cut at the same time to accomplish this. I wonder how they managed the raking the windrows together before baling. Because raking alfalfa at the right time to avoid leaf shatter is almost or even more important then the baling.


----------



## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

I know there are 2 of those steamers in this area and they are nice , if you dont have any humidity they do work good , if you do have enough humidity there is no need to waste your money unless you have money to burn,. The nearest farm to run one is west of me 25 miles. I would love to have a stralie machine but I will get by with a harvest tech dew machine .This season we have been getting plenty of humidity compared to most years, it is strange that we have been doing alot of bailing during the daylight hours. Right now it is foggy and misting, this is july isnt it ?That damn glowbull warming anyway and they think they know more than Mother Nature..........


----------



## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Teslan said:


> That's a lot of alfalfa that had to be cut at the same time to accomplish this. I wonder how they managed the raking the windrows together before baling. Because raking alfalfa at the right time to avoid leaf shatter is almost or even more important then the baling.


They may of raked it behind the swathers to be able to do such a feat ?


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

panhandle9400 said:


> They may of raked it behind the swathers to be able to do such a feat ?


Maybe because it probably would still dry alright in that low humidity, high temps and wind.


----------



## HALLSHAY (Nov 30, 2008)

When I talked with Dave Stahlei last year he said they were raking at night and early morning the day before the hay was ready. My big scare is pre-raking hay and getting a big wind. I was discussing with Dave the possibility of steaming the hay while raking directly ahead of the balers. I was thinking you could turn a JD sprayer into a steamer and run the raking system basically mounted under/ahead of the sprayer wheels. I thought you could hammer the top on the windrow with steam and have injectors under the rake basket as the hay is lifted. Over-steam it so you could run ahead of multiple balers and stay a certain amount of time behind the steamer like 5-10 minutes. He said it was a no go as the steaming process is almost instantaneous and the moisture would dissapear very quickly and you couldn't retain it in the windrow. Panhandle do you use any additive with your dew simulator to "stick it to the hay" and if so, what is it?

I absolutely DO NOT agree with those that preach that hay must be 40% moisture to rake. For years and years we have been able to run basket rakes directly ahead of balers at 12-15% with little to no leaf loss. It comes down to setting rakes so you have a steep angle and not flat. Short flat basket rakes roll the hay 2 or 3 times before it makes it to the center. A steep angle on a basket rake rolls the hay 1.5 times and the action is like lifting and rolling with a pitchfork. I wish I had a basket rake with 15-20ft baskets on each side.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

How would you really know you have 40% moisture before you start to rake anyways. Plus even for raking alfalfa it goes back to stem vs leaf moisture. I've never really thought about moisture levels for raking. I always wait until it is cured then it really doesn't matter what the moisture is so long as it's not sopping wet or to dry that leaves fall off.

I've often thought with a 1 big square baler in my area of Colorado one can really only bale about 40-50 acres a day after being raked that is top quality alfalfa. Sure you have days and nights where you could get more time for perfect hay, but for the most part when a person crosses that 40-50 acre limit it's either getting too dry for daytime baling or to wet for nighttime baling. But like the article said before this dew machine guys just press on to get it done. I've done that myself. Or in really dry conditions you might have just an hour of perfect alfalfa baling moisture. Most likely with the conditions stated in the article they would have been baling alfalfa stems with no leaves without the steamer for those 72 hours.

I've also noticed with my 3x3 baler the fastest speed you can go with the baler doesn't mean the best quality alfalfa either. Go to fast and it really shatters the leaves more. You can see that from the cab of the tractor. A 3x4 or 4x4 can do better because the pre chamber and chamber are 4 feet wide not just 3. So less hay coming in from the sides to get thrashed.


----------



## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Not sure how much twine those balers they used hold but I would not wanted to be the twine loader.


----------



## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

> I absolutely DO NOT agree with those that preach that hay must be 40% moisture to rake.


I would agree with that here. If I raked that wet the middle of the windrow would still have too much moisture in it by the end of the drying day.


----------



## CRE10 (Sep 28, 2013)

Wow


----------



## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Grateful11 said:


> Not sure how much twine those balers they used hold but I would not wanted to be the twine loader.





Grateful11 said:


> Not sure how much twine those balers they used hold but I would not wanted to be the twine loader.


On a 4x4x8 baler , 1 ball will do around 20 bales...............


----------



## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

HALLSHAY said:


> When I talked with Dave Stahlei last year he said they were raking at night and early morning the day before the hay was ready. My big scare is pre-raking hay and getting a big wind. I was discussing with Dave the possibility of steaming the hay while raking directly ahead of the balers. I was thinking you could turn a JD sprayer into a steamer and run the raking system basically mounted under/ahead of the sprayer wheels. I thought you could hammer the top on the windrow with steam and have injectors under the rake basket as the hay is lifted. Over-steam it so you could run ahead of multiple balers and stay a certain amount of time behind the steamer like 5-10 minutes. He said it was a no go as the steaming process is almost instantaneous and the moisture would dissapear very quickly and you couldn't retain it in the windrow. Panhandle do you use any additive with your dew simulator to "stick it to the hay" and if so, what is it?
> 
> I absolutely DO NOT agree with those that preach that hay must be 40% moisture to rake. For years and years we have been able to run basket rakes directly ahead of balers at 12-15% with little to no leaf loss. It comes down to setting rakes so you have a steep angle and not flat. Short flat basket rakes roll the hay 2 or 3 times before it makes it to the center. A steep angle on a basket rake rolls the hay 1.5 times and the action is like lifting and rolling with a pitchfork. I wish I had a basket rake with 15-20ft baskets on each side.





HALLSHAY said:


> When I talked with Dave Stahlei last year he said they were raking at night and early morning the day before the hay was ready. My big scare is pre-raking hay and getting a big wind. I was discussing with Dave the possibility of steaming the hay while raking directly ahead of the balers. I was thinking you could turn a JD sprayer into a steamer and run the raking system basically mounted under/ahead of the sprayer wheels. I thought you could hammer the top on the windrow with steam and have injectors under the rake basket as the hay is lifted. Over-steam it so you could run ahead of multiple balers and stay a certain amount of time behind the steamer like 5-10 minutes. He said it was a no go as the steaming process is almost instantaneous and the moisture would dissapear very quickly and you couldn't retain it in the windrow. Panhandle do you use any additive with your dew simulator to "stick it to the hay" and if so, what is it?
> 
> I absolutely DO NOT agree with those that preach that hay must be 40% moisture to rake. For years and years we have been able to run basket rakes directly ahead of balers at 12-15% with little to no leaf loss. It comes down to setting rakes so you have a steep angle and not flat. Short flat basket rakes roll the hay 2 or 3 times before it makes it to the center. A steep angle on a basket rake rolls the hay 1.5 times and the action is like lifting and rolling with a pitchfork. I wish I had a basket rake with 15-20ft baskets on each side.


Hall, what little I have used it I have not used any softening agent, if I did maybe my water would of went further. As much as they want for the product I did not see getting that much more cost per bale in it. Just the water alone done what we were needing to get moisture right to bale. I do think the steamer machine would be damn nice though. I got to checking around and there are several close to me that are running them, in the dalhart TX area and west a ways.


----------



## HALLSHAY (Nov 30, 2008)

Impressive!


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I'm still impressed on how they can have that much hay ready to go to bale.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

panhandle9400 said:


> On a 4x4x8 baler , 1 ball will do around 20 bales...............


But for those that haven't been around a 4x4 or 4x3 big baler. 12 balls of twine are being used at the same time. So it's not like you need to switch out a ball every 20 bales. With my 3x3 baler I can bale quite a bit with a full twine box before I would even have to worry about running out.


----------



## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Very neat video. Would take some getting time getting used to the long rig.

Fully twined up our lil 2x3 big square can do about 600 bales before stopping for twine again.


----------



## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Teslan said:


> But for those that haven't been around a 4x4 or 4x3 big baler. 12 balls of twine are being used at the same time. So it's not like you need to switch out a ball every 20 bales. With my 3x3 baler I can bale quite a bit with a full twine box before I would even have to worry about running out.


My 3x3 will run about 1000 bales when full of twine. Holds 30 rolls and pulls from eight all the time.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> My 3x3 will run about 1000 bales when full of twine. Holds 30 rolls and pulls from eight all the time.


I suppose that's about right. I was thinking maybe 800. I've never tried to test how far could I go without reloading. Nor do the math to figure it out. I just load it up whenever I'm done with a field or a day. Never have done more then 1000 in a field or in a day.


----------



## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Teslan said:


> I suppose that's about right. I was thinking maybe 800. I've never tried to test how far could I go without reloading. Nor do the math to figure it out. I just load it up whenever I'm done with a field or a day. Never have done more then 1000 in a field or in a day.


No, we run about 3-4 days on ours. We can rarely bale more than 4-5 hours a day which is 75 acres and 300 bales max.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> No, we run about 3-4 days on ours. We can rarely bale more than 4-5 hours a day which is 75 acres and 300 bales max.


Yes I can't see hardly doing more then 75 acres a day and still making decent alfalfa. Here 40 acres is more like it before it would either get too wet from dew or too dry. Grass hay is about the same. Unless it's really dry. But then the grass hay gets too dry.


----------

