# Small Square Baler Capacities



## Wyoming (Dec 23, 2010)

Hello-
I am new here and would like to present a question that has probably been answered before, but I can not find it.

With a very well maintained small square baler, appropriately sized tractor, and capable operator, how many bales can said baler punch out in 8 hours?

In other words, how many bales do you make in one day?

My reason for this question is this. I have experience in producing 3x3's and 4x4's, but may be taking a job operating a large ranch that would like to possible put their hay up in small squares for a variety of reasons. The operation has good labor force and we would like to look at the feasability of such a venture. Thank you in advance for your time.


----------



## Wyoming (Dec 23, 2010)

I apologize; I meant to post in the machinery forum.


----------



## dubltrubl (Jul 19, 2010)

I probably average about 200 bales/hr. I say probably because I've never really timed it. Most of the stuff I do has irregularly shaped fields and I lose some time turning and such. I generally put up about 600 bales in a day because that is what I can pick up and get in the barn by myself in one day. One man operation here, but if I had help moving the bales while I was baling, I might be able to get another 200 bales in a day. I say might, because it depends on the proper baling window/conditions too. This is grass hay so if your dealing with legumes I'm sure it will be different. Hope this helps some.


----------



## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Dubltrubl's numbers and reasons pretty much echo mine. My baler can handle more, but when the bales come streaming out too fast, my Hoelscher accumulator chokes and I have a train wreak. That happens very seldom and I'm happy with the baling rates I get. It is an interesting question and I'd like to see some numbers from guys like Okhayballr.


----------



## Haymike56 (May 3, 2010)

I am running a NH 316 with a hoelsher behind a JD 6400. when I am by myself I can put up about 800 bales if I start by 11:30 am. Thats baling and getting them on the rack by 8:00 pm. This year I had a a cusom baling job for oat straw just had to bale and drop the bundles on the ground. I baled 2000 starting at 12:00 noon and pulled out of the field at 7:30 pm. Those were the "good" days. LOL.


----------



## enos (Dec 6, 2009)

348 JD on a 80hp massey I get about 300 an hour in big windrows with no stopping, prime conditions to get that. Have done 400 but bales get messy looking.


----------



## OkhayBallr (Dec 18, 2009)

This field I was having to run A2-3. It was tieing every 6 sec.(10 a min/600an hr) It will be interesting to see how this year goes with the bale baron, ill have to be more careful with bale lengths getting outta hand.....


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

They are some nice windrows. Are they Bermuda? Might have to hook the 7320 to em. LOL


----------



## OkhayBallr (Dec 18, 2009)

yessir, they were bout too big. It was Midland 99 2nd year field. I had the 7320 on the rd baler at that time. I like the chit outta that 6430 for lil balin', has more than enough power and turns great.


----------



## MikeRF (Dec 21, 2009)

Whenever this question comes up there is always a huge variation in answers. Lots of variables affect the outputs in different peoples operations.
In our case, on a baling day we have three guys. One rakes ahead of the baler and helps hauling bundles when he is finished. One concentrates on baling and the third starts hauling before stacking in the barn. 
In first cut baling 27ft windrows like those in Okhaybllrs pic, our 575 with Bale baron will comfortably average between 4000 and 4500 bales in an 8 hr afternoon. (33 inch 45lb bales) This number the hauling crew can also get straight into the barn leaving nothing in the field overnight.


----------



## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

400 to 450 is pushing things. Hard. It's bee done (here and elsewhere) but the bale length will vary more than it ought to. 300 is pretty easy in decent hay. Normal rule of thumb is that 3 little balers equal one 3x3 baler.

Rodney


----------



## GOOD HAY (Aug 8, 2010)

View attachment 1103
Our best day this past season was 1426 bales in 41/2 hrs with 65hp tractor and NH 570. We usually bale in the area of 250 per hour 38" 45# bales. We don't get many 8 hour days in a season but six is more like it. The bottle neck is getting the hay picked up and in the shed. Lots of luck with the new job.


----------



## hay hauler (Feb 6, 2010)

Think we do about 2000+ in a day with a NH 580 making 36" long, 80 pound bales, ususaly don't get more than a 8 hour window to bail, but sometimes we do...

Thought about 3 string bails....?


----------



## Wyoming (Dec 23, 2010)

I have not seen a 3-stringer for some time. Who makes them currently?


----------



## wileyjd (Sep 2, 2010)

Freeman still makes a good 3 string in central washington this is used for Timothy as to the baling with a NH 580 we do around 300 a hour baling mostly midnight to 6 am high desert baling


----------



## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Do the math. 
Take the strokes per minute at maximum PTO rpm's, Figure no more than 3" for a charge/wedge. 36" long bale is 12 strokes per bale. 90 Strokes/min is = 7.5 bakes a minute or 450 bales an hour. For 105 strokes a minute is 8.75 bales a minute or 525 bales an hour..

Then you can bale when the humidity is high enough to hold the leaves but not so high to encourage mold or worse. 
HERE, for day time baling that is roughly 3 hours. In theory that comes to better than 1,500 bales in a day. In practice it is closer to 500 bales a day.

Suggested strokes/hour is 15 & that slows you down. Getting down to make adjustments in bale length and weight slows you down. Dead Head time on corners and short rows really eats into your time.

A broken bale really eats into your time/total bales.

A reasonably skilled baler operator can recognize when bales are too long or short. The engine sounds and the slip clutch should clue an operator in that the bales are too heavy or light.

The key to good baling is an intelligent rake hand. The key to good windrows is the operator on the mower.

Picking up bales. You want to plan ahead so the bales put up when the humidity is in the 60% to 65% range go on the outside of a stack or the top. Usually these are the last bales into the barn. 
Hay that is bales with 55% humidity should be ok on deeper into the barn


----------



## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

You simply can not stuff 50 lbs of skat into a 5 pound sack.

Cut no more than you can bale in a day.


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Wilson pointed pretty much everything out. Turning around on the ends, cleaning up little wisps of hay here and there, changing a roll of net wrap all cut into my productivity while round baling. Best I have ever done was making a 900lb bale every 24 seconds, add around 16-18 seconds to wrap and discharge so theoretically I should be able make roughly a bale and a half a minute for a total of 90 round bales an hour. Realistically figure on 30-50 an hour maybe 60 tops after all the time sinks are figured in.

Figure 18-20 fifty pound small squares in one of my round bales.


----------



## MikeRF (Dec 21, 2009)

Hay Wilson's math and what he says is absolutely correct.
Hence the only way to increase your 92 stroke per minute small baler capacity is increasing your flake size above 3 inch (pushing more hay into each stroke). While this makes the occassional customer grumble, it is something I am prepared to put up with if it means getting more tons of hay in the barn at the end of the day.


----------



## filshill (Dec 29, 2010)

dubltrubl said:


> I probably average about 200 bales/hr. I say probably because I've never really timed it. Most of the stuff I do has irregularly shaped fields and I lose some time turning and such. I generally put up about 600 bales in a day because that is what I can pick up and get in the barn by myself in one day. One man operation here, but if I had help moving the bales while I was baling, I might be able to get another 200 bales in a day. I say might, because it depends on the proper baling window/conditions too. This is grass hay so if your dealing with legumes I'm sure it will be different. Hope this helps some.


>Sounds similar to my operation. Wondering how do you put away 600 bales by yourself.


----------



## dubltrubl (Jul 19, 2010)

filshill said:


> >Sounds similar to my operation. Wondering how do you put away 600 bales by yourself.


I use an accumulator and grapple. I usually pull the accumulator behind the baler, then pick the bundles up with the grapple. Majority of the time I can go straight into the barn from the field. I have one field 1 1/2 mile away that I must trailer the hay to the barn. That one takes a bit longer therefore I don't always cut the whole field. As stated in an earlier post, I cut no more than I can put up in a day.
Steve


----------



## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

*how do you put away 600 bales by yourself*dubltrubl
That is reasonably easy. 2.5 hours to bale and 5-6 hours to put the hay in the barn using a New Holland 1003 bale wagon. Hauls 83 bales at a time, figure two loads an hour. Just Me My Self and I doing the work.

I usually cut 8 alfalfa acres or 5 bermudagrass acres at a time. Really shooting for 400 to 500 bale work load.

mlappin That is what I figure, 1 RB = 20 squares. I figure 35 squares = a ton.

hay hauler Last person I knew who put up that many small squares was an alfalfa grower near Vernon, TX. Had three balers baling at night. 
That was a number of years ago.


----------



## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

I guess it goes with out saying that not only do you need a window to bale but a pretty good window of time just to put hay away? Hay Wilson, I thought Texas would offer longer times for baling but your information sounds like you must have humid conditions? Alot of your windows of opportunity sounds a lot less then ours even this far North? We seem to get some decent windows to bale but often we get done just in the nick of time up here, that is why dropping hay on the ground here would be risky.


----------



## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Fairly typical for us here in Central Texas, which is different than East Texas or the West Texas is a good dew on the ground until 7 AM. I usually do all my raking at first light and need to be done raking by 8 AM.

Usually the free air humidity will be 65% down at ground level between 10 & 11 AM. I normally will start baling as the humiodity is going down through 65%. At this time the on the go moisture tester will be hunting between 18% & 20% hay moisture. 
By the end of the first baling round the hay moisture will be a solid 18% with some dips to 16%. 
Normally I am finished baling by 1 maybe 2 PM. Some times the last half of thelast windrow will be shattering leaves more than I like, but usually I finish with some humidity to spare. 
One time this year it only took 35 minutes to go from too damp to bale to too dry to bale.

Go to East Texas and they may be starting baling around 1 PM and be able to bale until dark. 
I am right on the devide between the Humid East & the Arid West. When I baled at night I usualy could start baling an hour after sunset and have 5 hours before the hay became too tough to bale.


----------



## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

Thanks for the explanation, so your windows are short because of conditions becoming too dry? What usually is your ambient humidity once you have to stop? Makes me wonder what is worse, baling when too dry to too moist?


----------



## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

1300-1400 per baler per day thrown into a wagon....38" 50lb bales...without any breakdowns (knock on wood)


----------



## BCFENCE (Jul 26, 2008)

hayray said:


> Thanks for the explanation, so your windows are short because of conditions becoming too dry? What usually is your ambient humidity once you have to stop? Makes me wonder what is worse, baling when too dry to too moist?


Dry hay wont mold and it will sell.


----------

