# Re-baling grass hay



## reno12469 (Jul 7, 2014)

Anyone re balled hay from rounds to small squares? How did you do it? Looking at shredding them up with a bale buster and feeding it in by hand to the baler. I'm sure everyone is going to say leaf loss but do you really lose much? 
Thanks


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I have a friend who unrolls rounds, rakes into a windrow then bales them with his small baler. He has done this with grass hay and also straw.

He made really good money one year buying straw round bales cheap and making them into squares.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

How long will the bale buster leave the grass?


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## NebTrac (Aug 12, 2014)

Check out Youtube. There are a couple of guys re-baling rounds to small squares. One is using a DewEze SuperSlicer. Looks like a slick operation. I do know there is an outfit in northeast Nebraska that bales up grass hay and re-bales during the winter.

I used to see a semi-load go by per week of that.

Troy


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## reno12469 (Jul 7, 2014)

Looking at using equipment that's already here. Only thing we use bale buster for is breaking straw bales. Probably leaves it anywhere from 6 to 18 inches.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I have not done straw yet. But have done hay. I have a 3 point hitch bale unroller. unroll the bale on the ground. Leaves it in a row and than run square baler over and rebale. The fine hay/straw is a bit harder to unroll cause it want to all fall apart. To keep leaves on it was best to rebale with a bit of dew/frost or a light dusting of snow.

Now bales unroll best going the opposite way that they were rolled up. Basically just unwinding them. For the fine stuff unroll the same direction as they were rolled. Sometimes they hold up better. Sometimes not. With twine bales its easy to see which way to unroll from the way the twine is. Net wrap is different. If it does not unroll going forward on tractor just hit reverse and away it goes.

Clear as mud?


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I think a unroller would work a lot better then a bale shredder.There has been many posts on Haytalk over the yrs,you could do a search on here.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

hog987 said:


> Net wrap is different. If it does not unroll going forward on tractor just hit reverse and away it goes.
> 
> Clear as mud?


To me Netwrap is as easy to determine which way it's rolled(wrapped) as twine. My neighbor buys Coastal rd bales from me and unrolls them and sells sq bales to horse hay customers & feed stores. I think a FEL unroller sitting right over the pickup attachment unrolling directly into sq baler would be better than unrolling on the ground.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I have used a "hillbilly slicer" in the past......a skill saw with a worn out fine tooth plywood blade turned backwards(teeth turned backwards).

Place bale in frontal proximity of baler.

Slice bale across the top back and forth until you reach middle of bale......the bale will flop open nicely.

Now, take pitchfork and fork into running square baler.

Cheaper by approximately $500,000 than some rebaling machinery.



Regards, Mike


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## reno12469 (Jul 7, 2014)

I'm going to try one through the processor first and see how it turns out. I'll unroll them otherwise.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Vol said:


> I have used a "hillbilly slicer" in the past......a skill saw with a worn out fine tooth plywood blade turned backwards(teeth turned backwards).
> 
> Place bale in frontal proximity of baler.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the chuckle. The term idiot brick shot to the top of my mind. Glad you guys make enough money on them to make something like that worth it.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Tx Jim said:


> I think a FEL unroller sitting right over the pickup attachment unrolling directly into sq baler would be better than unrolling on the ground.


I unroll onto packed snow. A little bit of moisture helps keep the leaves on when going back over to rebale. Your set up would need another tractor. The way I do it is a one man one tractor operatoon. I could have a late lunch. Head out to rebale. Fill my shed up with about 250 bales ( the only shed I have at the moment and that many bales just about fills it up). Be back in early enough to annoy my wife before supper.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

deadmoose said:


> Thanks for the chuckle. The term idiot brick shot to the top of my mind. Glad you guys make enough money on them to make something like that worth it.


It's been quite awhile since I have split a bale, but it works....I use to do this back in the eighties some when I use to foal out mares.....I would get low on squares and have alot of quality rounds so it was easy enough to do.

Regards, Mike


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

The sweeings will also make good rabbt hay!

Ever look at the total DM losses for RB. & square bales?

in the best of times a round baler will shed a few percentagew points more hay than a square baler. This system will lower the Total Dry Matter by at the best of times 3%. But if you are desperate to sell squares and all you have is RBs go for it.

One suggest unrolling the hay on top of snow, something that we in Central Texas seldom see. Might unroll the hay on top of a heavy frost to get the moisture high enough to stop the leaf shattering,

Here in my hay barn I will have more grass leaves collect just from handling than I do for alfalfa.

One thing in your favor, leaf shattered grass hay will LOOK good while alfalfa baled the same way will LOOK like a bundle of sticks.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

hay wilson in TX said:


> Ever look at the total DM losses for RB. & square bales?
> 
> in the best of times a round baler will shed a few percentagew points more hay than a square baler. This system will lower the Total Dry Matter by at the best of times 3%. But if you are desperate to sell squares and all you have is RBs go for it.


There is a big difference how people bale hay and a difference in eq.Older rd balers had bigger gaps between belts and some even had steel slats to beat the crap out of the hay and knock the leaves off.Baleing with a newer style rd baler with a dew on it you should have near 0% loss.I stop baleing long before there is a pile of leaves under the baler.Or I'm done!!

I try to be done baleing the field with a rd baler before there is leaf shatter.The sq baler would still be sitting in the shed waiting.


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## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

hog987 said:


> I have not done straw yet. But have done hay. I have a 3 point hitch bale unroller. unroll the bale on the ground. Leaves it in a row and than run square baler over and rebale.


when I first got my 336 I tried that, had nothing but problems until I took the rake, busted the mat loose & re-raked it into a decent windrow.

If I needed to now, I'd roll the round bale out & run the tedder over it, then re-rake. Then again, the rotary rake might work.

OH YEA, I was working with Hemarthria, which had longer runners, probably 2 or 3 feet long.


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

Oh yes ! You are correct !

We all work with different climates, soil types, and management styles.

We all need to adjust for the differences.

A great example is between Michigan and New Mexico from 20 or more years ago.

In NM the organic preservatives worked well while the Michigan people found little or no benifit from the Organic preservatives. A major difference in climate there. NM has an arid climate, while Michigan has a humid climate.

I like some information that was presented from West Virginia. WV looking at humidity in their climate say with the humidity at 90% the hay will be no drier than 40% moisture.

What they are saying is cured hay after the Night Dew will be no drier than 40% Moisture. This is an average 40% moisture.

40% moisture is the magic moisture for raking hay. This is if the stems started the night well cured. Overf night the leaves pick up the dew moisture bit the stems stay mostly dry. AVERAGE hay moisture at 40%

The humidity has to be measured down at the next to the hay.

Not mentioned is if at the end of a day when the stems are 60% moisture, the leaves may be too dry to rake at 20% moisture AVERAGE 40% moisture. This is a little appreciated fact that is well known in the arid west, where the usaul time to bale maybe at Midnight. This is why I do not like using 40% moisture for raking, 18% moisture for small bale baling, and 14% hay moisture.

HERE we have a Humid climate for March, April, May, and some of June. For some of June all of July, August and some of Septemberf we have an Arid Climate.

This is why some hay baled at night needs a preservitive.


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