# Round Bale Silage Balers



## goodema (Jul 1, 2015)

I am thinking about buying a new round baler specifically designed for round bale silage with the cutter options. I have heard that the horsepower requirements are 25% greater than conventional baling and speed of baling is reduced up to 50%. I am planning to bales several hundred bales of Sorghum Sudan so you cam imagine the tonnage and stress put on any baler.

Will I get 25% more density? Will baling speed be slower than conventional balers? Do the cutters really work?

Balers I really like are Vermeer 504 Pro and New Holland 460 Silage Special with Cutter. I really like several of European balers but just cant find dealer support.

Anyone with real life experience using silage balers would be helpful.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Vermeer 504 pro is same as a Welger/Lely european baler.

My vermeer dealer was just telling me they demoed one in alfalfa,the guy traded his 1 yr old JD after demoing it,he wouldn't let them unhook it even.Kept baleing and they pulled the JD trade back to town.He claimed double the bales per hr with the vermeer.I wasn't there and didn't see it for take it for what its worth.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

I have a Krone but that's not going to help you with no dealer support. Louisburg? NC?


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## IAhaymakr (Jun 4, 2008)

I also have a Krone, and it has been trouble free for us. I wouldn't buy anything that didn't come from Europe for your intentions. McHale would be an excellent choice as well.

You are correct about hp requirements and capacity with a cutter baler, but it's still worth it. Makes awesome feed.


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## goodema (Jul 1, 2015)

IAhaymakr said:


> I also have a Krone, and it has been trouble free for us. I wouldn't buy anything that didn't come from Europe for your intentions. McHale would be an excellent choice as well.
> 
> You are correct about hp requirements and capacity with a cutter baler, but it's still worth it. Makes awesome feed.


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## goodema (Jul 1, 2015)

I also looked at Mchale, really like it but kind of stuck with if it doesn't work out, dealer isn't too far away , about 2 hours.

I am in Louisburg Kansas, just on KS MO border 60 miles south of Kansas City.

My tractor is 120 HP IVT, can go bigger but have those tractors on the Andersen bale mover, if you have not seen one of those work you should , we move 65 bales off field and hour and straight to Andersen wrapper,


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## goodema (Jul 1, 2015)

Bonfire said:


> I have a Krone but that's not going to help you with no dealer support. Louisburg? NC?


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## goodema (Jul 1, 2015)

Louisburg KS


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

goodema said:


> I also looked at Mchale, really like it but kind of stuck with if it doesn't work out, dealer isn't too far away , about 2 hours.
> I am in Louisburg Kansas, just on KS MO border 60 miles south of Kansas City.
> My tractor is 120 HP IVT, can go bigger but have those tractors on the Andersen bale mover, if you have not seen one of those work you should , we move 65 bales off field and hour and straight to Andersen wrapper,


Guessing you mean Anderson? They move some hay!


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

goodema said:


> Louisburg KS


It might help to put that in your profile location.


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## MDill (Feb 8, 2015)

Krone. Hoping we switch to one at work in the next year or two. Have a BR740A right now, would not recommend it. 
For serious silage only look at Euro balers, they know what they are doing when it comes to balage. 
Between my brother, dad and I we run 3 small Krones, but without cutters.

If Vermeer is an option the 404/504 look like well thought out balers, I love the hydraulic throat (?) on those balers, if you have a plug you can just dump the plug out and keep going.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

goodema said:


> I also looked at Mchale, really like it but kind of stuck with if it doesn't work out, dealer isn't too far away , about 2 hours.
> 
> I am in Louisburg Kansas, just on KS MO border 60 miles south of Kansas City.
> 
> My tractor is 120 HP IVT, can go bigger but have those tractors on the Andersen bale mover, if you have not seen one of those work you should , we move 65 bales off field and hour and straight to Andersen wrapper,


You and I need to go to lunch some time. Too bad it's not NC.


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

swmnhay said:


> Vermeer 504 pro is same as a Welger/Lely european baler.
> 
> My vermeer dealer was just telling me they demoed one in alfalfa,the guy traded his 1 yr old JD after demoing it,he wouldn't let them unhook it even.Kept baleing and they pulled the JD trade back to town.He claimed double the bales per hr with the vermeer.I wasn't there and didn't see it for take it for what its worth.


I'am glad your the one that started it this time swmnhay.. I'am keeping my thoughts to myself about the issue any more...


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

We don't run a crop cutter just because of the maintenance cost and the extra fuel and HP requirements. also they will beat the leaves off any dry hay you try to run though them .But we have baled as of today 1456 wet bales since 5/22 of this year with NH 7060 with bale slice.. the baler just got traded in last Friday for a new RB 450 NH with slice because of the weather we are having this haying season , and it looks like more wet bales for most of the 2 cutting. but I think if I was going to run a cutter I would go with a Vermeer just because I'am familiar with them , But I sure would look hard at a Krone as they are spoken of with high regards​


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## goodema (Jul 1, 2015)

Can't you just turn off the cutters? I did think about the slice option.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

goodema said:


> Can't you just turn off the cutters? I did think about the slice option.


You can retract them on a Krone.


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## foz682 (Jan 10, 2013)

We use a Claas Rotocut roller baler with silage, it does use considerably more power when the knives are in use. 25% more density may be stretching it a little, more like 10-15% tops.

The cutter really does work well...chops it to about 2.5", makes it great to feed in the barn and the cows waste a lot less since they only get a mouthful at a time.

We leave the knives up when making dry hay as well, actually works better than with baleage, maybe there is more leaf loss but our buyers would probably pay a premium for it if we wanted, they absolutely love how chopped up it is.

I can't really recommend Claas one way or the other, ours has been great other than the odd bearing, but have had neighbors with belted models and theirs were nightmares.


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## goodema (Jul 1, 2015)

Thanks for input


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

You can retract the knives on the crop cutter but the rotor is still turning and beating leaves off.. I'am not going to say much good about a cutter has I just came in from the shop after spending 4 hrs dismantling a crop cutter on a big square baler and now will spend 1500. and 6 hrs putting it back together after a rock about the size of a baseball went though the cutter this cutter is basically the same as a round baler cutter.. when we run a rock though the round baler's with the slice it about 20. and 15 min. to fix and take alot less hp to run and does the same job as a cutter and makes a better looking bale in my opinion


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

When I have all my knives up (2-3" cut) and a rock gets picked up, it sounds awful. I've gone to a 10" cut knife setting for fields with known rocks.


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

Bonfire on the 1 we are using 4 knives on a 3' wide bale part of the problem is the way NH has built their rotor and knife bar system.. I would like to go study a Krone close sometime


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

For years we have used A New Holland round baler with "Bale Slice" . This is completely different than a rotary cutter . Takes very little extra HP and very little to keep maintained . It is only available on some New Holland round balers .


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Starting to see more Claas uniwraps around here. Saves a step too


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## MtnHerd (Jul 6, 2011)

If you have a Vermeer dealer close I would certainly lean towards them. I have ran a 5420 (their economy baler) for the last two years doing silage bales and some dry bales and it has never missed a beat. The 504 Pro is the silage special version so it should not give you any problems. You should not see any slow down in baling, just might have to start the bale a little bit slower, but once it starts you hit the speed you are comfortable with.


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## gustav (Jul 21, 2015)

Hi guys I am from South Africa and a dealer for Lely Welger been selling Lely belt balers from 2011 and must say that it is the best round baler I ever worked with there is no comparison. There is no camtrack on the Lely RP445(Vermeer 504 pro) so no need to replace that bearing on the side anymore and the tine sits on an angle iron that protects the tine 5 bars. You get 3 cutting options 13, 17 or 25 knives. But 17 and 25 you have an option to group them. For instance can select 8 or 9 knives or all 17. Or you can just leave all knives out if you like Hydraulicly. 2 months ago the Welger sales manager for Asia and Africa told me in Germany they Guarantee the belts to do 80 000 bales. Our oldest baler now has done 35000 bales and the belts are going strong. If one of your guys has an 504 pro and have issues send me a mail and I will try to help because I know that baler pretty well. weight on bales without cutters you can add 7% for 17 knives and for 25 its 10%. 1.6m bales Alfalfa 550-650kg 1st grade for highest. wheat Straw 400kg, Cornstalks 450kg, groundnuts hay 600 - 750kg. Then sorghum wet 17 knives 1.2m 1ton.

Hope it helps just remember when it hits around 10000 bales do all the roller bearings just to be safe.


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