# accumulators



## CBarM (Mar 1, 2015)

I'm wanting opinions on them. I've always been a round person, not wanting to move squares by hand like I did when I was younger. Our ground is real flat no hills so to speak. I'm thinking of starting to bale some to store and sell over winter to horse people (hay burners) for extra income. I'd like to find a used one in working order as cheap as possible. What brands would y'all reccomend and what should I look out for. I don't really want to spend a ton not knowing how it'll work out. I've got several tractors with FEL on them and a bobcat as well for grapple. I've seen some accumulators that drag the bale, some that ride and dump, and some you drive and scoop up with FEL like a skid. Any thought???


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

I bought a Kuhns after reserching them on here. They seem to be the one with the least amount of issues. Search Kuhns accumulator on here and you will find a wealth of information on them and others.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Here's an accumulator built at your back door. My neighbor has one that seems to operate fine as he's picked up some sq bales for me with his unit.

http://www.raftermequipment.com/pricing


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## CBarM (Mar 1, 2015)

Yes I've seen the rafter m unit in Cleburne area. He seemed really nice. I noticed with his they drag along the ground I didn't know if this hurt any. I wouldn't think it would. I've found a hoelscher also that's like a table they ride on and dump that's pretty reasonable. I've looked at the Kuhn's and really like them but only downfall is I haven't seen any used for sale and wasn't wanting to dump the 10k$ on a new one. Anyone ever had any problems with the ones that skid the bales along or the hoelscher ones with hydraulic valves and controls.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I think if you have thick grass and do not cut it lower than 4 inches that the sliders are OK....Hoelschers can be a bit touchy with the hydraulics and electronics and I have been told that the bale moving arm can be dangerous if you forget safety and do's and dont's. The Rafter would probably be the cheapest system to get into...I see alot of used Rafters for sale....and several Hoelschers.

Regards, Mike


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I run a Hoelscher, have never had any problems with it, and I love it. I don't want to drag bales around. The bale moving arm will get you if you do something stupid, but it's perfectly fine if you are a normal, rational person who treats it like you should treat any piece of equipment with exposed moving parts. Hell, a tedder will do some damage to an idiot who tries to inspect a tine while it's running.

You really have a few choices; Table-type with hydraulics (Steffen, Hoelscher), Manual table-type (Kuhn), or a dragger with lots of variants. If I was going to add anything to my setup, it would be a Steffen rotating, high lift grapple for unloading tall loads and getting multiple bales out of storage....But, I've done just fine without it for the 5-6 years I've had the Hoelscher.


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## cornshucker (Aug 22, 2011)

Do not own one , have never actually used one we use a NH balewagon. But have seen the Hoelschers, Steffens, and Kuhns all demonstrated at a couple of demonstrations and from what I seen the Kuhns wins on all accounts simple, reliable, and do not require extra hydraulics and such just use gravity which is free and simple. Some on this board run accumulators and there are other threads on these sure you can get good answers from these people and posts. The reason you have not seen no Kuhns for sale used is that people are satisfied with them. Just my 2 cents.


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## country boy (May 27, 2010)

I built one kinda like the long that mounts on a fel and bought a rafter m grapple with the side shift (only way to go ) got tired of help not showing up on time. only thing I can say is wish I had done it years before I would probably have thicker less gray hair and not have this permanent knot on my forehead from beating it against the wall . With no help I can rake ,bale , accumulate, load and get around 500-600 bales to the barn in a long day, but it is a long day, but i know that it will get done


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## weatherman (Dec 5, 2008)

Mike120 said:


> The bale moving arm will get you if you do something stupid, but it's perfectly fine if you are a normal, rational person who treats it like you should treat any piece of equipment with exposed moving parts. Hell, a tedder will do some damage to an idiot who tries to inspect a tine while it's running.


I run a Hoelscher too. As Mike said, if you are not careful one could end up in trouble. First year I ran the accumulator almost got myself in trouble. If it wasn't for my guardian angel, would of broken my arm. Tough lesson to learn, check and double check hydraulics are off when taking care of issues by the push over arm. I turn off hydraulics to accumulator anytime I get off the tractor or perform any maintenance.


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## CaseIH84 (Jun 16, 2013)

Like IH 1586 said we use the Kuhn's accumulator and have been pretty satisfied with it so far. It takes some adjusting and getting used to but nice piece of equipment. We use it on older New Holland baler (315) and I was worried that the plunger would take a pounding pushing bales up the ramp, but doesn't seem to at all. We also installed the air bag system on baler and the pressure is always constant on bale chamber result in pretty nice uniform bales. The load from the ramp never changes, there is always the same amount of back pressure. We have had our learning curve with it though. We bale on some hills and if you are going down the hill the deck flattens out and the bale will not always slide down at enough speed to get where it is going. So to remedy this we painted deck with the graphite paint and now the bales slide down quite nicely. Sometimes to nicely. Overall though the unit doesn't require much maintenance, just some grease and visual inspection of springs. Not many wear parts on machine. Nice unit would definitely get another. Good luck in your search.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I also use a Kuhns accumulator....they are hard to beat. Once you get it dialed in, then they are really nice about just hooking up and going.....nothing to get out of adjustment....just bale away! Probably the biggest surprise to me was being able to back both the baler and the connected accumulator into my barn pretty easily and how nimble they work with a inline baler.

Regards, Mike


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## MDill (Feb 8, 2015)

Anywhere near Stowe,VT? Doesn't seem like a bad deal.
http://burlington.craigslist.org/grd/4930157816.html

Those New Holland bale wagpns are neat, there are a couple coming up at in auction in NY the end of the month. I don't have any use for them though.


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## broadriverhay (Jun 13, 2014)

I use a Parrish accumulator . It works great, no hydraulics and no back pressure on baler. It sells for around $6000.00. I have an out front accumulator I built just like the W R Long, works great just take longer of course. I have not made any adjustments on the Parrish , just hooked it to baler and took off. Great product.


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## CBarM (Mar 1, 2015)

I'm liking the ones like the Parrish cause you can pull with with a truck or ATV. I think it may be a lil more versatile than the Kuhn's. But I may be wrong though.


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

Am I wrong , But that seems like a good deal on the NH baler and kuhns bale acc. ?


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

https://us.yakaz.com/posts/000f8jrke1rff0e6

Don't know if this link works. Deweze hay monster


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

You have to hand stack ? might as well pull and hay rack behind the baler


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

Yeah a little hand work but that conveyor runs both ways and would be handy to put hay in a loft which we still have around here!


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

That makes sense > we have alot of dairy barns around here but most here you can drive into the lofts so kick wagons are popular here


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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

CBarM said:


> I'm liking the ones like the Parrish cause you can pull with with a truck or ATV. I think it may be a lil more versatile than the Kuhn's. But I may be wrong though.


Isn't the rafter just like the Parrish. They both drag bales on the ground. I have a Hoelscher behind my baler. Yes the arm is dangerous if you don't pay attention. Follow the safety rules and you won't have a problem. Power off when you get out/off the tractor. The key to the Hoelscher is the speed and feeding of the baler. I good raker will solve a lot of problems and make your job easier.Most people around here use the Hoelscher. New or used I don't think you will find a good accumulator and grapple for less than 10g's.


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## CBrand (Oct 31, 2014)

I run a Hoelscher and like it, the hydraulics and moving parts don't bother me. Once you get 'good' at raking, have it lubed and adjusted... you can bale a lot of hay in a hurry. I wish it would stack the hay like the Steffens, it would be easier to load a trailer.... I've got about 12k invested in the accumulator and 1 grapple. Depending on where your fields are at and how much hay you are baling, you will want to consider having 2 grapples and 2 extra people. Keep the baler moving and have the other 2 grapple and load.

I may be wrong on this assumption about a Kuhns, but if you miss a knot and don't catch it right away (like me), how do you fix the bale if it's in the chute going to the top?

I like the 'wiper arm' on a Steffans and how it puts 2 bales perpendicular to the rest but don't care for the conveyor behind the chute and all the chains.


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## JMT (Aug 10, 2013)

CBrand said:


> I run a Hoelscher and like it, the hydraulics and moving parts don't bother me. Once you get 'good' at raking, have it lubed and adjusted... you can bale a lot of hay in a hurry. I wish it would stack the hay like the Steffens, it would be easier to load a trailer.... I've got about 12k invested in the accumulator and 1 grapple. Depending on where your fields are at and how much hay you are baling, you will want to consider having 2 grapples and 2 extra people. Keep the baler moving and have the other 2 grapple and load.
> 
> I may be wrong on this assumption about a Kuhns, but if you miss a knot and don't catch it right away (like me), how do you fix the bale if it's in the chute going to the top?
> 
> I like the 'wiper arm' on a Steffans and how it puts 2 bales perpendicular to the rest but don't care for the conveyor behind the chute and all the chains.


Had a Hoelscher and liked it also. Agree that when you get it all set it works great. One problem I had with it was that it seemed it would have to be "dialed in" at the beginning of every year. Always had some adjustment issues out of the gate each year. Seemed like it was always something different each year too.

I also agree that you need extra people to run grapples/trailers/wagons. It cut down on manual labor, but if you want to put up a lot of hay in one day you have to have extra people.

I switched to a 18 bale Kuhn to help my one man (mostly) operation in hopes of being more efficient without extra labor. Looking forward to this year to see how it will work.


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## CBarM (Mar 1, 2015)

I found a farmhand brand 8 bale accumulator, has anyone used one of these? I believe there similar to a hoelscher.


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## Green Fields (Jul 25, 2014)

CBarM said:


> I found a farmhand brand 8 bale accumulator, has anyone used one of these? I believe there similar to a hoelscher.


I think they may be somewhat similar but the farmhands use a chain to kick the bales off instead of dumping them off and normally the bales are flat unless you have the attatchment that turns them on edge.

I got one last year and had some problems getting it working but got it working pretty good for my last field that I baled. Here is the thread I made...

http://www.haytalk.com/forums/topic/23115-farmhand-bale-accumulator/#entry140156


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

CBrand said:


> I may be wrong on this assumption about a Kuhns, but if you miss a knot and don't catch it right away (like me), how do you fix the bale if it's in the chute going to the top?


If you catch it in the chute you can climb up it and tie it, very easy. The bale is already compressed. The trick is catching it before it goes into the accumulator table, then it's a big mess. Don't ask me how I know.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

CBrand said:


> I like the 'wiper arm' on a Steffans and how it puts 2 bales perpendicular to the rest but don't care for the conveyor behind the chute and all the chains.


Kuhns will do that(2 perpendicular) with their "tie" bale series.

Regards, Mike


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

CBarM I ran a farm hand , it was ok , but I like the Hoelscher better in fairness the farm hand had not had a good life when I ran it , I think if I was going to buy 1 I would go with a steffans but that is JMO


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

I was going to look for the link to the thread Green Fields posted.

The main reason we went from a farmhand accumulator to a bale wagon was so I (the wife) didn't have to deal with the extra length maneuvering in smallish fields and getting bales loose when they would get jammed in the accumulator. Probably for the money to get set up, one could do you well. I'd recommend two grapples (we only had one). Repurposed cotton wagons were the right length for loading.

Shelia


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## CBarM (Mar 1, 2015)

Thank you a lot that thread on the farm hand is very informative. Right now I'm looking at one its only 1500$ with grapple. I may try it to see hoiw it works its chealp enough and if it doesn't ill at least have a grapple then I can look for another maybe. Just tossing around different ideas right now.


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

RockyHill said:


> I was going to look for the link to the thread Green Fields posted.
> 
> The main reason we went from a farmhand accumulator to a bale wagon was so I (the wife) didn't have to deal with the extra length maneuvering in smallish fields and getting bales loose when they would get jammed in the accumulator. Probably for the money to get set up, one could do you well. I'd recommend two grapples (we only had one). Repurposed cotton wagons were the right length for loading.
> 
> Shelia


that's what I dealt with on the farm Hand the bales would jam alot it wasn't the baler either (348 JD ) I lost a 1lb to the ac. when I ran that baler. I decided then if I was going to bale Idiot cubes I would have a stack wagon, when you buy accumulator, 2 grapples , then tire up a trailer & truck or wagons, and to loaders and man power. I felt if you had sheds that allowed a stack wagon, again I realize there are a lot of variables involved, that just worked better for me , That Farm Hand had me PO half the time,


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## CBarM (Mar 1, 2015)

I like the wagons a lot and would use one for sure I'm just not sure it'd be the best solution for me. Most of out work is custom and lease places so we must road or haul our equipment to 80-90% of our fields. We've gone as far as about 25-30 miles as the crow flies for large fields during drought conditions to make a buck. Sometimes your not left with the choice to stay close to home. But that was several years ago we try to stay within a 15-20 min drive now. If we was just baling on out own place and not having to move bales very far I think the stack wagons would be great, am I wrong on my thinking ??


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

CBarM said:


> Thank you a lot that thread on the farm hand is very informative. Right now I'm looking at one its only 1500$ with grapple. I may try it to see hoiw it works its chealp enough and if it doesn't ill at least have a grapple then I can look for another maybe. Just tossing around different ideas right now.


Cody

If you decide not to buy the Farmhand I might be interested in it.

Jim


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## Green Fields (Jul 25, 2014)

snowball said:


> that's what I dealt with on the farm Hand the bales would jam alot it wasn't the baler either (348 JD ) I lost a 1lb to the ac. when I ran that baler. I decided then if I was going to bale Idiot cubes I would have a stack wagon, when you buy accumulator, 2 grapples , then tire up a trailer & truck or wagons, and to loaders and man power. I felt if you had sheds that allowed a stack wagon, again I realize there are a lot of variables involved, that just worked better for me , That Farm Hand had me PO half the time,


With my Farmhand I did have trouble last year with the oncoming bale getting caught on the pushover. Once an oncoming bale got caught behind the pushover arm and knocked it off it's track. After that I welded a flat steel on the pushover arm to keep any bales from getting behind it, solved that problem but the bar does stick out when the pushover arm is retracted. Still haven't really solved the problem of the oncoming bale getting pushed over now and then though. Not even really sure why it does it, the problem being not being able to see what's going on from the tractor. If there was a conveyor moving the bales from the baler like the Steffens that would probably stop that from ever happening. Also had a more rare problem of the bales not being pushed over far enough again not really being able to see why it does that. I might rig up a camera this year to record what's happening. There's a lot of play in the pushover cylinder on mine so I plan to have that fixed this year to see if that soves that problem.

CBarM one thing about the grapple, I don't have a Farmhand one so I can't say, but I'm sure it must be made for the flat 8 bale package so if you end up not using the accumulator you would probably have to stay with the 8 bale package if you want to use that grapple. Maybe though it would work with other configurations like the flat 10 or 10 on edge, maybe some one who has one can say.


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

Jeff bolted a piece of small plastic pipe - upright - to the push over arm so could see from the tractor if the arm had returned to the right place. We didn't have a lot of trouble with jams but would always be when I was baling as far away as possible where Jeff was picking up and that killed our time.

Amazingly I didn't have much problem with matching ground speed with it unloading or remembering to turn it off on turns but I can tell you how those 8 bales look spread out in a messy semicircular pattern . A few times gathering them up is a great teacher (and the faster you were going on the tractor the wider spread pattern. 

Hay here needs to be in barn before heavy dews so that extended our days way too long into the night.

The area alongside the pushover arm and frame catches leaves, dust, etc.  Raking it out occasionally helps.

Our JD 5425 had more hydraulic flow than the farmhand engineers designed. Too much pressure kept the pushover arm from completely returning to home position. Worked around that with a flow control valve -- Jeff said if you have questions on how he hooked that up he'd be glad to tell how he did that.

The grapple might be able to pick up 10 edge if it has a row of teeth under the cylinder area. Worked great for 8 flat but check close before counting on more without modification.

Shelia


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## central va farmer (Feb 14, 2015)

Had a agway 12 bale model (drags on ground) worked good except thick hay. Dragging does not hurt the hay. It likes flat land. Talked to a guy that had a hoelcher and said on hills the stack would fall over I don't know as I have never ran one but it's what I was told.


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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

central va farmer said:


> Had a agway 12 bale model (drags on ground) worked good except thick hay. Dragging does not hurt the hay. It likes flat land. Talked to a guy that had a hoelcher and said on hills the stack would fall over I don't know as I have never ran one but it's what I was told.


Hoelcher has a flat table that lines up 10 bales two abreast then dumps. Stacking in in the barn, on a trailer on in the field. If the stacks fall over ... that is the fault of the stacker or the person that doesn't tie them down.


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## JMT (Aug 10, 2013)

central va farmer said:


> Had a agway 12 bale model (drags on ground) worked good except thick hay. Dragging does not hurt the hay. It likes flat land. Talked to a guy that had a hoelcher and said on hills the stack would fall over I don't know as I have never ran one but it's what I was told.


Sometimes if you are on a hill the push over arm will slide the bales to far across the table and cause the accumulator dump before a full bundle is made.


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

http://www.hbarrysmith.com/auctions/current-auctions/

Jeff found this auction advertised on CL -- has a Kuhn accumulator & grapple. Not sure if the link will open - might have to just search for it.

Shelia


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## central va farmer (Feb 14, 2015)

gradyjohn said:


> Hoelcher has a flat table that lines up 10 bales two abreast then dumps. Stacking in in the barn, on a trailer on in the field. If the stacks fall over ... that is the fault of the stacker or the person that doesn't tie them down.


What I was trying to say was when it dumps,the dumping action would make the cube of bales separate when they hit the ground. Then it was a pain in the ass to pick up with the grapple. He said it only did this on hills, and on flat land it would dump the bales and they wouldn't seperate and it worked fine.


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## KFhunter (Apr 18, 2014)

tag - picked up a farmhand accumulator and grapple package deal

looks like a project, stuff is used pretty hard. Came with a baler flywheel pump.

The grapple is probably twice it's original factory weight with all the scab metal stuck over all the cracks and breaks.

JD 347 baler


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Last year I purchased a Hay Buddy 10 bale accumulator and grapple. I am planning to sell them since I had to purchase my own small square baling equipment and the use NH baler came with a used Hoelscher accumulator and grapple that I now have the kinks worked out of.

You can Google the Hay Buddy accumulator and grapple to see how they work.

Please PM me if anyone is interested in this equipment. I can send pictures.

vhaby


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