# Round bale formation and density



## GawasFarm (Jul 10, 2013)

So I am just trying to always improve and am wondering if I can increase my baling efficiency any.

How do you create tight round bales or do you just go as fast as you can??

For me I run around the highest tension suggested on the round baler and go faster in thin crop and slower in a heavy crop.

Reason for going slower is because the way it was explained to me is the quicker you put a crop in the less time it has to be tightened and compacted together. Makes sense to me but does it make a big difference??

What do you do on your operation? I am sure I could put more bales out per hour if I geared up but I don't want to make loose bales either since I have to haul my hay home.

Thanks guys.

Alex


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

The biggest problem I see out in the field with operators is they do fill the left side of the baler. It can be a problem on each side if you do not crowd the ends of the pickup. What I see is when the operator moves to the left side he does not get over far enough and then does not stay on that side long enough. Also the more times tha bale rolls in the baler the tighter it will get.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

mike10 said:


> The biggest problem I see out in the field with operators is they do fill the left side of the baler. It can be a problem on each side if you do not crowd the ends of the pickup. What I see is when the operator moves to the left side he does not get over far enough and then does not stay on that side long enough. Also the more times tha bale rolls in the baler the tighter it will get.


Never thought about the left side thing. I can see how that would happen with any older John Deeres with the sound guard cab. The stacks through the hood and the windows are offset.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

What kind of baler are you running?

From my experience, the best thing for making a nice, dense, well-shaped round bale is the raking job!

I now set my rakes up to give me two twinkie rolls laying side by side. I want it to crowd the outer edges yet give me enough in the center. The perfect bale for me had just the slightest dip in the center. These bales are the densest, easiest to handle and stack, and keep the best when stored outside.

Ralph


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## GawasFarm (Jul 10, 2013)

Running a Br7060 and the bales I have been creating are not lopsided or anything as I have been making my windrows 4 wide. I just want to know how fast people are feeding in the crop to the baler. Where is the sweet spot I guess between putting up rolls and having a heavy dense bale by letting the crop roll in the baler.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

When you hear the slip clutch gear down one


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

When we used a hard core baler, I didn't find a big difference between driving slow and fast. Good raking makes the biggest difference.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

The other thing to consider if you slow down is how much leaf are you loosing by letting the bale roll around more in the chamber.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I make tight and dense rolls and bale fast. I am not sure speed makes a difference when the baler has a bale density gauge. I usually bale with the gauge needle in the yellow.

The front tires of my tractor will barely straddle the width of the windrow. The hay saver wheels pull hay in on both sides of the bale pick up.

The operators manual says to bale around 5 MPH. I usually bale between 6 and 6.7 MPH.

Tractor RPMS are usually 1800 to 1850 so I am less than 540 PTO RPMS.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

The optimal speed is when the pickup tines lift the windrow up and the hay flows into the bale chamber at the same speed as the bale is turning. Basically, if you are going too fast, you tend to "push" the windrow and if too slow, the baler "pulls" the windrow into the baler. What you are looking for is a continuous flow of hay into the chamber.


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## hay king (Feb 6, 2011)

I don't know to much about you guys and your belt balers but with my fixed chamber baler the pick up is 6 feet wide with 1 augur on each side to feed the crop to the middle. So if i rake a 5'- 5'8" windrow it makes for nice tight bales with very square sides. when I go to a rake job done by someone else and the rows are narrow 4' and under I have to zig zag down the field and its allot harder to make a nice bale, so rake job makes a huge difference. If you have a chopper baler like mine that also helps make a tighter bale and I have found that going slower does make a little tighter bale say 100-200 lbs more or so. Now around here we sell buy the bale and custom baling is done by the bale so the more bales the better, Plus chopping burns more fuel.


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

I will second everybody's motion on the windrow. A good bale of hay is not made by the man on the bale tractor, it's made by the one on the rake tractor.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Fixed chamber less going slow make harder bale but only need to slow down later in the bale.



hay king said:


> I don't know to much about you guys and your belt balers but with my fixed chamber baler the pick up is 6 feet wide with 1 augur on each side to feed the crop to the middle. So if i rake a 5'- 5'8" windrow it makes for nice tight bales with very square sides. when I go to a rake job done by someone else and the rows are narrow 4' and under I have to zig zag down the field and its allot harder to make a nice bale, so rake job makes a huge difference. If you have a chopper baler like mine that also helps make a tighter bale and I have found that going slower does make a little tighter bale say 100-200 lbs more or so. Now around here we sell buy the bale and custom baling is done by the bale so the more bales the better, Plus chopping burns more fuel.


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## GawasFarm (Jul 10, 2013)

ontario hay man said:


> When you hear the slip clutch gear down one


Never did hear the slip clutch go so I think it might have been loose right from the get go.

Well it sounds like I am doing pretty much what everybody else is doing. I make my windrows just a bit wider then the chamber and shove it in. It is nice just to double check what everybody elses experiences are. What a great site we have here!

Thanks for the posts guys, Alex


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## Sawdust (Feb 24, 2014)

Not along the same lines but I do have a question. I'm looking at a Br 7060 SS. Mostly for dry grass hay. How heavy a bale can I produce with that baler. I was hoping for 800 lbs. maybe better.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Sawdust said:


> Not along the same lines but I do have a question. I'm looking at a Br 7060 SS. Mostly for dry grass hay. How heavy a bale can I produce with that baler. I was hoping for 800 lbs. maybe better.


I am not familiar with that particular baler. I do know some modern round balers can make a 4x5, 1,000 pound roll.

The literature on my 4x5 baler says it is capable of producing a 1,200 lb. roll. I have not tried baling with the hydraulic tension turned up to the max to see if I can. It would be difficult in grass hay and conditions would have to be perfect to get one to weigh that much. I have consistently made 1,000 lb. rolls before.

It would be less wear on my bearings and belts if I backed off a little.

The newer balers can pack it in. The hay needs to be dry because it is not going to breath like the loose rolls of day past.


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

I agree with the comments above. 
I can greatly tell the difference between bales that are raked with our vermeer hydraulic rake and our wheel rake. The Vermeer makes a more consistent windrow but the baler is also only 4 feet behind the rake.


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