# Baling Straw



## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

Just curious how you guys typically bale straw. In the past we have taken the chaff spread off the rear of the combine so the straw is wind-rowed behind the combine. Its a lot quicker to bale that way. The down side is, you leave straw in the field. Trying to figure out how much straw I will have this year so I can get on top of selling it before harvest. I was thinking about running a disc mower through some of it as time allows, rake, and then bale. Figured that would maximize the amount of straw per acre. Any other ideas that would work better or ways you guy's go about it?


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

We run 32' stripper heads on our combines to harvest irrigated circles, then swath stubble down and bale in 4x4x8 bales . The stripper heads allow us to get the max from the stubble that is left .On a good irrigated circle most are 125 acre, we are getting 500 to 600 big bales. It depends on the year too ,last year we had some very late freezes that hurt all the wheat in this area, it didnt make as much as it does in most years.With a stripper head you leave the most straw standing = more straw to bale.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Why not just cut it short with the combine?


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

hampers efficiency during grain harvest and more wear on the wear parts


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

More efficient then going over the field a couple more times in my mind but thats me. I have never seen it done any other way here.


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## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

It runs way too much straw through the combine. Your right, not as efficient but better than the wear/tear and the potential for a fire. How heavy are those 4x4x8 straw bales? Trying to figure out how much tonnage your getting per acre.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

depends on how you measure efficiency I suppose. Rotor parts aren't cheap, combines aren't exactly easy on fuel, and the more material you are moving through the more chance you have for loss.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

ontario hay man said:


> More efficient then going over the field a couple more times in my mind but thats me. I have never seen it done any other way here.


If you run a rotary combine it grinds the straw to all but dust and dont leave you any decent straw and with the price of good straw it pays to run a stripper head and then swath it plus you get twice the amount of bales too or more. Giving 2 to 4 implants to a single animal dont sound very efficient to me either ?.imo


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

CockrellHillFarms said:


> It runs way too much straw through the combine. Your right, not as efficient but better than the wear/tear and the potential for a fire. How heavy are those 4x4x8 straw bales? Trying to figure out how much tonnage your getting per acre.


Last years 4x4's were weighing on ave. of 1380 lbs .


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Are we still going about that lol. That wasnt me. We check them all coming in thats how many they came with. And here there are alot of conventional combines. Maybe thats the difference


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

bailing behind a conventional is much different than a rotary , that does make a big difference. all of our machines are rotary.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

I have a walker style combine JD9500 just for wheat, oats and barley. I just disconnect the straw chopper and go. I don't cut that short. Remember that the more straw you take, the more nutrients you take. Since we double crop, I like to leave higher stubble to plant into. Gives the beans a little extra shade. I get all the straw bales that I can handle since they are all small square. We usually bale right behind the combine. Biggest problem is getting the windrow into the baler. It does get hung up on the outside of the pickup once in a while but that's ok with me. I don't want to make any more trips than I have to because of compaction issues. That's just me and how I do it. Mike


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Ya we cant get a double crop if our life depended on it. We shave it and apply manure. They did a study here one time and said as far as organic matter anything higher then 5" is a waste and you leave profit in the field. Thats why I never understand the guys that spread it all.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

I am strictly a no-till farmer. We do not have the rich black soil like the midwest and maybe in your area so we have to leave quite a bit of residue and stubble. It helps hold the earth together here. We are somewhat hilly and left bare, all of our topsoil would end up at the bottom of the hill. We are constantly trying to build our OM and soil health. I would be interested in reading that study if you can find it. thanks, Mike


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I will try to find it. Its off topic but im curious how do you farm in va and nd? Do you shuttle equipment or have 2 sets and how do you be 2 places at once or do you seed/harvest/hay at different times?


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Guys around here run baffles on the back of the combine to narrow the windrow as it falls out of the tail end. It doesn't take much.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

8350HiTech said:


> Guys around here run baffles on the back of the combine to narrow the windrow as it falls out of the tail end. It doesn't take much.


I rigged one up with plywood lol ******* ingenuity at its finest.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Was it Peter Johnson in on that study? Trying to find it.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I dont think so. It was a few years ago. It was done up here.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

hillside hay said:


> Was it Peter Johnson in on that study? Trying to find it.


Link what you found. Maybe he was.


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2014)

Running a stripper head is probably the best way if your after the most straw. But as far as effenciency ive always heard stripper heads put a lot of wheat on the ground. At least here in ohio in our soft red wheat. We just scalp it with our jd 9670. We have different concaves that threases the grain better and is easier on the straw. We dont leave much wheat lay on the geound and the machine handles it fine if ya go slow. Besides all that we dont have the man power to run a mower through wheat straw when we got the combine, grain trucks, balers, stackwagon, and telehandler all runnin at the same time. Just makes it a little eaiser on us i guess.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Straw length is all how you set the combine. A friend has a case rotary and his straw looks very close to conventional. Another guy has one and ot looks like it went through a bale buster. He is not half the farmer in general though.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

ontario hay man said:


> I will try to find it. Its off topic but im curious how do you farm in va and nd? Do you shuttle equipment or have 2 sets and how do you be 2 places at once or do you seed/harvest/hay at different times?


I run 2 sets of equipment but I do shuttle equipment back and forth but that has gotten old. Seeding and harvest occur mostly at different times and if they do coincide with each other, I will use my hired hands that work for me to keep everything going. They are very familiar with how I do things. I also have a friend that rents pasture from me that will run his 2 combines to harvest so that is not a worry for me other than I like to be there if at all possible. Cell phone ,text and email come in handy also. You just make it work.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

ontario hay man said:


> Straw length is all how you set the combine. A friend has a case rotary and his straw looks very close to conventional. Another guy has one and ot looks like it went through a bale buster. He is not half the farmer in general though.


There are a lot of guys in my areas that run Case/IH rotaries and they absolutely chew up the straw. Don't know how you could set up a rotary to get anything even close to a walker machine? I would like to know that trick!


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I will try to get ahold of him and find out. Its definitely a bit more chopped but not shredded. My baler wont pick up the shredded stuff and if it does bales fall apart. This straw of his is excellent. Also I used to bale with a 24t I mounted a bracket on the pickup and took a wheel off a scrap 8 wheel rake. I put a cylinder on it. It worked great when as a gathering wheel. Just another option for rows that are to wide.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

panhandle9400 said:


> We run 32' stripper heads on our combines to harvest irrigated circles, then swath stubble down and bale in 4x4x8 bales . The stripper heads allow us to get the max from the stubble that is left .On a good irrigated circle most are 125 acre, we are getting 500 to 600 big bales. It depends on the year too ,last year we had some very late freezes that hurt all the wheat in this area, it didnt make as much as it does in most years.With a stripper head you leave the most straw standing = more straw to bale.


Are you running Shelbourne Headers? A lot guys around here are switching over to those. My wife and I pulled over and watched 2 combines running with them and I have say it's a nice setup. They're still running an old IH 82 Pull-Type Combine here as she usually only combines about 10-12 acres per year, enough for grinding cattle feed. She did sow 6 acres of Barley last Fall to mix in also.

I like the idea of Combining high and then running a mower through and getting more straw. This crazy wet and cold Winter has almost depleted all the straw here and she's going to have to buy straw to carry them through until Summer. Last year my son bush hogged the stubble and baled it but that did not go so well.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Lol I used a ih 82 for years. Combined all my hay seed and grain with it. Thought I was the only one. I wish I never sold it. Cant beat scour clean


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I've been looking for a clean IH82 for a few years. A nice one is more than an IH1440/1460 4wd. Mostly all IH80's for sale that are rotted out. Was one up in Quebec last year that came with the direct cut and pickup head but it sold quickly.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I see a old ih sitting at an auction yard for spring. Its a sp deal. I cant make out model number from the road but it looks like a bigger 82. Might own me another combine come spring lol.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Under pivots our straw gets almost unmanageable ,I grow wheat on wheat for a few years at a time so if I can go in an bale straw off of it it makes it faster in the late summer to have it ready to go back into wheat, dryland we leave it , always ..............When you farm in the desert you dont have to worry about compaction, it is dry . I know I have added expenses by going in with a swather to cut straw that has just been cut, but with stripper heads , it pays to run the swathers so you can get 90% of the straw and put it in a bale. At 75.00 to 100.00 bucks a ton it pays at the end 300 to 400 ton per circle, it adds up fast . I always put down enough fertilizer when I am done to grow 100bu. wheat again, so I dont worry about what I am leaving ,Over the last few years the dairy industry has come in big time south of me a short ways and as bad as I hate to deal with them I do have some connections with some of them . .......................yes shelbournes we have been running them for several years now, works great in down heavy wheat, machines run cheaper, I think it cuts down on internal wear also except for grain elevators , its already thrashed before it goes into the machine .


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

bbos said:


> Running a stripper head is probably the best way if your after the most straw. But as far as effenciency ive always heard stripper heads put a lot of wheat on the ground..


If your putting wheat on the ground behind a stripper head you are NOT setting it right or your not operating it to fit the crop, I thought it would too , we run 4 machines and a few years I did not use them but my Dad did and my combines ran 30' straight heads, I would look behind both of them constantly , could not see much difference on the ground. We run gleaner rotaries and the trick is I think is you must push them as hard and fast as possible to do the best job, which we do that . They are getting to be very popular heads in wheat country, no-tillers love them due to the stubble height left. You have to learn to operate them ,to do a good job.If it was up to me we would run them on every combine , on all the wheat we harvest . I cut for a few who do not like them due to having a straw issue the next season. Lots of them around getting to be more too.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

I am with you Panhandle. They are absolutely the best at getting ALL the wheat even if its flat on the ground. I have been looking for one the last 2 years but they are hard to find for sale around here.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

ontario hay man said:


> Lol I used a ih 82 for years. Combined all my hay seed and grain with it. Thought I was the only one. I wish I never sold it. Cant beat scour clean


You mean like this  My late FIL bought this one the last year they made them so I've been told over the years.

One of these was taken 2 years ago and the other 3 years ago.


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2014)

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> I am with you Panhandle. They are absolutely the best at getting ALL the wheat even if its flat on the ground. I have been looking for one the last 2 years but they are hard to find for sale around here.


Maybe i should start a new topic but any tips on gettin all the wheat with a stripper? Does it not work with soft red wheat? Never heard any1 round here have much luck with one because of the grain loss. We get 0% doc if our wheat is under 13% moisture. Ive heard to make stripper work for our wheat we have to harvest above 20% moisture. Is this true? We have grain bins but to dry wheat its kind of a pain. Ive considered a stripper head but never bought one because of these issues


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Grateful11 said:


> You mean like this  My late FIL bought this one the last year they made them so I've been told over the years.
> 
> One of these was taken 2 years ago and the other 3 years ago.


Ya thats the one  mine had a pickup header. I used a ih swather. It was old as the hills. I never could find the model number. What were the numbers of the ih combines of that era that were sp?


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

http://www.tractorshed.com/contents/tpic34673.htm
I think it might be a 205? I will go check it out someday and update if I buy it.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

http://www.machinio.com/listings/1489061-Used-Swather-International-230-in-Canada
Pretty sure this is the swather. Looks mint compared to the one I had lmao. We did 200 acres a year with this junk. Hard to believe.


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## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

For as much is put up around here, i havent seen any stripper heads around. panhandle..... have you ever used them on brome? If so, how did it turn out? and whats the hay like when its mowed? That would be an easier way to justify the cost.I dont run enough wheat for the added cost but to spread it out on brome or fescue seed would be a different story. The last few years 2nd crop beans were a waste of time. more interested in the straw for wheat on wheat. and we fertilize heavy to make up for the loss if stubble.


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