# Bale Ski's



## clowers (Feb 11, 2011)

I have a 328 John Deere square baler, in awesome condition. Barn kept.

I am interested in the bale ski's. Would they help my baler? I Should I consider them or should I not waste the time or the money?

My baler does a fine job with no issues of any kind.

Thanks


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

From what I have read and been told first hand they probably would help....and most likely would make your baler operate more smoothly.

Regards, Mike


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## PackMan2170 (Oct 6, 2014)

clowers said:


> My baler does a fine job with no issues of any kind.


If it ain't broke.........


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

In the Bale skii's ad it states "eliminates knotter problems" & reduces fuel cost. Can anyone explain how the skii's eliminate knotter problems & saves fuel? I noticed their perforations to hold hay but side hay restrictors and hay dogs accomplish the same things. If my baler had severe rust or holes worn in chamber I could visualize installing bale ski's but other than that I don't see the advantage. I can visualize less leaf loss in Alfalfa but I'd have to witness this in grass hay

Thanks,Jim


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

HeheheHe, Jim I like your skepticism. The cool kids might disagree but I kinda see it your way.

To the op, I think these things only make sense in 3x or 4x or really dense western small bales, like a 3 string.

I fell for the hoopla 15 years ago when they were about $300 cheaper. I would have been happy if they just made a more consistent bale. I didn't see it but many claim the benefits.

More leaf retention, hehe, how would you like to be the researcher trying to determine which fragment is a stem and which is a ladybug wing?


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## bbos2 (Mar 20, 2015)

I ran them in my last two new balers. I like them. I think they do a lot better job job then just the hay dawgs. I think there statement is true abou little less leaf loss. I'm not sayin they are a must have tho. If your happy with your bales now it'd be hard to justify 800 bucks for smethimg that already does a god job.
I especially like them because I bale a lot of straw and they help me make a nice bale in even the most chopped up rotor straw.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how bale skii's improve knotter performance & save fuel.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

SVFHAY said:


> HeheheHe, Jim I like your skepticism. The cool kids might disagree but I kinda see it your way.


This ain't my 1st or even 500th rodeo in the hay field!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Ok folks, just sent a email to baleskiis inviting them to come to our forum and answer a few questions from our members about their product. Hopefully they will respond soon

Regards, Mike


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Vol said:


> Ok folks, just sent a email to baleskiis inviting them to come to our forum and answer a few questions from our members about their product. Hopefully they will respond soon
> Regards, Mike


Seems fairly simple to me......more is better, but my name ain't Thomas either


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## bbos2 (Mar 20, 2015)

Tx Jim said:


> I'm still waiting for someone to explain how bale skii's improve knotter performance & save fuel.


Kinda touched on it by saying it helps hay dawgs. Less bale recoil which would help knotter performance. I do know it uuniformly creates resistance to the whole side of the bale instead of just cranking the side doors all the way to make a heavy bale. This might save on fuel but I don't it would even be noticeable.


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## CaseIH84 (Jun 16, 2013)

bbos2 said:


> Kinda touched on it by saying it helps hay dawgs. Less bale recoil which would help knotter performance. I do know it uuniformly creates resistance to the whole side of the bale instead of just cranking the side doors all the way to make a heavy bale. This might save on fuel but I don't it would even be noticeable.


I agree completely. Its all about surface area and friction. The plastic is supposed to create less friction when the bale is going through the shute. Any change is field condition or moisture to hay and the plastic is supposed to help reduce the effect on bale. The scallops cover way more surface area of bale and you get less bounce back or spring back therefore helping knotters. We have researched these quite a bit trying to decide if the investment would be worth it. Our thinking was that these in combination with the air bag tension would really help baler make more consistent bale. I am not really sure you could measure the amount of fuel you were saving unless you were running baler on tractor barely capable of running baler in first place.


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## clowers (Feb 11, 2011)

I bale mostly coastal bermuda and t85. One of my main question was how it could save fuel and how I could measure the savings. I do like the idea of the product. Dont know how it pays for itself.


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## CaseIH84 (Jun 16, 2013)

I would think that if you were looking for the bale skiis to pay for themselves in fuel savings they would not. I think it is beneffit that they advertise but measuring the amount would be next to nothing. Thats just my two cents.


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## Tamswr (Jan 18, 2015)

We were running these in our new holland small square balers. Also tried it in our 4x3 Heston. Hard to tell if they work well or not. They maybe do help reduce breakdowns if you hit a small patch of wet hay that needs to be pushed through the baler.


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## gearhartfarms82 (May 10, 2015)

Made my own. Have ran the original. Must say large help in high humidity baling. Biggest thing i see is no build up in the chamber. And they do make a better bale in shape and density.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

gearhartfarms82 said:


> Made my own. Have ran the original. Must say large help in high humidity baling. Biggest thing i see is no build up in the chamber. And they do make a better bale in shape and density.


I agree on the build up thing. They helped to prevent that on pre cut rye.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

The saving fuel part has to be small. It is simply because of no recoil in the bale chamber. You can tell each time the plunger goes back and makes a flake, right? So a baler w/o skiis when it gets to the end of the roll, the hay recoils each time, and it makes noise..... a baler w/ skiis the hay does not recoil, and there is no noise, seriously, I thought our balers were broken. I think that is how you get nicer bales out of them.

Rodney


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Rodney R said:


> The saving fuel part has to be small. It is simply because of no recoil in the bale chamber. You can tell each time the plunger goes back and makes a flake, right? So a baler w/o skiis when it gets to the end of the roll, the hay recoils each time, and it makes noise..... a baler w/ skiis the hay does not recoil, and there is no noise, seriously, I thought our balers were broken. I think that is how you get nicer bales out of them.
> 
> Rodney


I'm trying not to be a smart-Alec but seriously with Bale Skii's one ""can't hear the baler operating""??????? I'll bet one would need something about the size of a thimble to measure the fuel saved. My JD 347 with new plungerhead brgs is noisy with or without hay in the chamber.


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## bbos2 (Mar 20, 2015)

I don't think anyone on here bought them for fuel savings. If that is your only reason to justify buying them I wouldn't buy them.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

bbos2 said:


> I don't think anyone on here bought them for fuel savings. If that is your only reason to justify buying them I wouldn't buy them.


Amen to that.

Regards, Mike


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## cornshucker (Aug 22, 2011)

Tx Jim said:


> I'm still waiting for someone to explain how bale skii's improve knotter performance & save fuel.


A little less friction is probably where they get the fuel savings I could see this in a 4 x 4 or a 3 x 4 big baler but I think that in a small square the fuel savings would be minimum at best. Some on here swear by them and others say they are a waste of money. Like everything else just depends on your experience with them and your point of view.


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## Maxzillian (Sep 11, 2014)

Lower friction won't do any good on a large square; they're all governed off plunger load so if the chamber is slicker it'll just increase pressure and clamp down tighter on the bale. That said, I think there is something to large squares in terms of where the doors are applying pressure which is a matter of the angle they're operating at. If they're too loose, the bale might be released before it gets tied off.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

IMHO to make a sq bale weight xx number of pounds it requires a certain amount of resistance so the slicker the bale chamber is then the more resistance(hyd,air or spring tension) must be applied for same weight bales.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

We had them in our old 273. That baler was getting so tired the chamber walls were thin, so we put skis in to stretch our hay making dollar. Worked great and far as I know they are still in there.

I will say that if you ever bales cornstalks or soybean straw, the skis help with bale formation. The 316 NH seems to struggle more than the 273 did.


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## Bazooka (Sep 17, 2013)

Tx Jim said:


> In the Bale skii's ad it states "eliminates knotter problems" & reduces fuel cost. Can anyone explain how the skii's eliminate knotter problems & saves fuel? I noticed their perforations to hold hay but side hay restrictors and hay dogs accomplish the same things. If my baler had severe rust or holes worn in chamber I could visualize installing bale ski's but other than that I don't see the advantage. I can visualize less leaf loss in Alfalfa but I'd have to witness this in grass hay
> 
> Thanks,Jim


Balers are what they are. I'm not very smart, but I figure if I wanted to reduce knotter problems and save fuel, I would leave the baler in the shed. No matter what baler you own and operate, from time to time there is going to be knotter problems


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

Well Jim, I didn't say you couldn't near it running. How many fools couldn't hear an empty baler running? I just meant that you couldn't hear the hay recoiling, and being recompressed.

Rodney


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Rodney

My comprehension of the English language doesn't agree with yours as here's what you stated. To me "no noise" is fairly quiet..

[/quote] a baler w/ skiis the hay does not recoil, and there is no noise, seriously, I thought our balers were broken[/quote].


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Tx, must be the slang from the younger crowd you miss out on.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

deadmoose

Maybe if my handle was Jim n Tx it would meet your criteria better?

Jim


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## baleskiis (May 19, 2011)

Good afternoon all. We were invited to respond to some of your questions so I'll try to cover them as thoroughly as I can.

*Fuel savings, tension and knotters:*

The attributes of the BaleSkiis Baler Liner are a result of the combination of:

1) the specially formulated material (yes, it's specifically chemically formulated for this product) and

2) the one-way pattern that is machined into the baler liner.

The BaleSkiis material has special properties that automatically self-adjust to changing temperatures & moisture, because even the hay in the same windrow can change temperature and moisture from the top of the windrow to the bottom. Whatever portion of the hay that goes against the metal in your baler changes friction with each stroke of the plunger, giving you varying lengths and densities of bales.

We realize that everyone's belief, including ours, was that to get a uniform solid bale you had to have more friction and/or tension. We found this not to be the case; that stabilizing friction was the key, not increasing friction. The material of the BaleSkiis has only 15% of the friction of your metal chamber.

The pattern machined into the material prevents spring-back in the full length of the chamber, not just by the knotters.

This combination of attributes results in a dense uniform bale by preventing spring-back and providing uniform friction, which is needed to prevent knotter problems because knotters need the same tension on both ends of the twine to function properly and to tie properly.

With just 15% of the friction and being able to bale with less tension, you can bale faster, get solid uniform bales without knotter problems, have less wear and downtime and use less fuel.

Therefore the decrease in fuel usage comes from:

-Less time baling

-Easier operation of tractor and baler

-Fewer stops for adjustments and fixing knotters

-Less downtime

Additional savings are accumulated when you consider the time saved in handling the bale fewer times.

Uniform bales means:

-Easier faster baling

-Easier faster picking

-Easier faster stacking

-And can even allow for less experienced people to help.

Individual farmers who've run balers side by side with and without liners have documented their own personal savings. Of course fuel savings always vary according to the size of the tractors, balers, varying hay and varying conditions.

*Leaf savings/retention:*

Leaves are saved by preventing spring-back. Spring-back occurs when the plunger retracts and the last compressed flake follows the plunger forward. The next time the plunger strokes, that uncompressed hay acts like a billows and blows the leaves and chaff out of the flak. (Please view our YouTube video for a demonstration of this.)

The BaleSkiis were tested at the Alberta Farm Machinery Research Centre (name has since change to the Agricultural Technology Centre). Over a period of three 12-hour days they tested the liner in 1 baler (to eliminate any variance between balers). Their tests were done on windrows 1/2 mile in length. They would bale one windrow without the liner, and then install the liner on the next windrow ( changing back and forth on each windrow). They ran the tests for three 12-hour days stopping to weigh, measure and moisture test each and every bale. The baler was wrapped in a tarp and the leaf loss was weighed by the gram at the end of each windrow. The tractor and baler were hooked up to a computer & sensors producing reams of paper. This information was condensed and summarized and is available on our website. These tests definitively showed a 30% reduction in leaf loss.

I hope that this information is helpful in answering your questions. Feel free to ask more.

Finally, we encourage you to try the BaleSkiis for a whole haying season. If you still don't like them, we'll refund your money. 100% full money back guarantee.

Best of luck with your haying season this year!

Sincerely,

Leland and Amy Driggs

LDAG Machinery

Eureka, MT

www.ldagmachinery.com

[email protected]


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

baleskiis said:


> Good afternoon all. We were invited to respond to some of your questions so I'll try to cover them as thoroughly as I can.
> 
> *Fuel savings, tension and knotters:*
> 
> ...


Thanks Leland for coming on and answering some questions posed by our members. I hope you and Amy have a prosperous year. Amy, thanks for answering my email.

Regards, Mike


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Wouldn't it be n8ce if all companies had a reachable voice like this one? Customer service unfortunately is lacking in this country. Krone is one easy exception to find.

Many of the rest depend on your dealer. As I have seen, results may vary.


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## baleskiis (May 19, 2011)

Hi deadmoose and all: We are a small family owned business (I'm the inventor/owner's daughter) and we do our best to remain accessible. If you ever have questions you can call Leland directly at 866-889-3846. We also run a cattle ranch along with the BaleSkiis manufacturing, so just like the rest of you, we have lots of experience (good, bad and otherwise) with machinery companies and dealers. But, just like the rest of you, we get stretched pretty thin this time of the year, so we'll call you back as soon as we can but it might not be until after we get the cows moved to the next pasture! Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,

Amy Driggs


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Thank you for your response baleskiis. Any company willing to put their money where their mouth is is a company I respect. And welcome to HayTalk!


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

It is a semi-local company but I am still not sold on the idea. I have seen them on a hard used 3X3 baler in the local shop. They had not held up well but in their defense I do not believe that they were installed correctly. 
I will say this much, anyone that puts a 1year satisfaction guarantee on their equipment gets my vote. I am also a fan of anyone that comes on here to answer questions about their product. While I am not sold on the value of the product, I would say that the customer service is excellent. There is alot to be said for hearing it directly from the owner of the company.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

Thanks for coming on and representing your product and explaining the methodology behind the testing. So many times claims are thrown out in advertising and not explained. I get that ads are expensive and wasting space on this kind of information has little payback. This forum works well for this kind of thing and I appreciate you addressing your critics and informing all.

I stand by my position that the price point is beyond the payback in my situation. The material clearly helped reduce buildup of stubborn sticky crop, precut rye straw, and if this was a large part of my business I would have a liner.

With 6 haydogs and 2 sets of wedges of in my chamber I remain skeptical on the scallops reducing Springback.

The methodology of pulling and reinstalling liner would have been a bear! Those are some dedicated researchers.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

SVFHAY said:


> With 6 haydogs and 2 sets of wedges of in my chamber I remain skeptical on the scallops reducing Springback.
> 
> The methodology of pulling and reinstalling liner would have been a bear! Those are some dedicated researchers.


I agree especially if only baling grass hay as I do. I've never baled or will bale Alfalfa because none is "successfully grown" around me. I wonder if Bale skii's cover the slots(top & bottom) in the bale chamber behind the needle entry area?? If so that might explain why there would be less leaf loss in Alfalfa


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## bbos2 (Mar 20, 2015)

Tx Jim said:


> I agree especially if only baling grass hay as I do.


In one instance skiis helped me in grass. Had a jd 338 bale some reed canary grass and it really struggled to make a nice bale. Punkey bales is what it made. Ran the nh with the skiis and it made a brick. But your probably not baling any grass as steamy as reed canary grass


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

They only cover the sides of the chamber, and the top and bottom tension rails.

Rodney


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Tx Jim,

Don't know where in North Texas you farm. I am "successfully growing" alfalfa on our place about 12 miles NE of Tyler, and have grown alfalfa successfully on four other farms in the counties surrounding Texas A&M at Overton. Need to have the proper soil conditions...


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

I use a bunch of 0.125" HDPE in my business so I made my own. I typically buy it in 100 foot rolls, 4 feet in width so was just a matter of cutting it to size, drilling random holes 1" diameter in it and bolting it in with carriage bolts. Seems to make a more consistent bale. far as noise, my 575 is noisy anyway. My only concern is retained moisture between the HDPE and the metal bale chamber.


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

Ard farm is back!!


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

sethd11 said:


> Ard farm is back!!


Been lurking. Haven't even got in the field to cut yet. Got some N down, thats it. Now it rain and rains and rains....global warming....

Everything is ready to rock, greased and fluids changed, even put a video camera on the back to watch the bailer without getting a sore neck....

least I get to read about others exploits.....


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

vhaby said:


> Tx Jim,
> 
> Don't know where in North Texas you farm. I am "successfully growing" alfalfa on our place about 12 miles NE of Tyler, and have grown alfalfa successfully on four other farms in the counties surrounding Texas A&M at Overton. Need to have the proper soil conditions...


I live 30 miles south of Ft Worth. Several neighbors have attempted to grow Alfalfa but it only lasted a couple of yrs.


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

So what is the verdict on Bale Skiis? Do they help or not? Please chime in if you have them.


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## gf5205 (Jan 20, 2009)

I have them on a JD 328. I stack on wagons with a grabber and I wanted more consistent bales. My bales have been better, somewhat more consistent length and definitely fewer small light bales. I have had fewer tying problems with them. I haven't tried to figure out the ROI but my hay is more attractive to my customers and I get more satisfaction out of making better bales. I make about 5000 bales of unimproved grass hay each year.

Greg


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Unimproved grass hay.....that is a pretty good name for it....what do you tell your customers it is? Mixed grass?

Regards, Mike


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## gf5205 (Jan 20, 2009)

Vol said:


> Unimproved grass hay.....that is a pretty good name for it....what do you tell your customers it is? Mixed grass?
> 
> Regards, Mike


I tell them I feed it to my horses.  They pick it up in field so they see it growing. We're mostly dealing with the same customers every year and most of them are friends and neighbors.


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## Nate926 (Apr 6, 2014)

I installed the bale ski's in my Massey 1837 last winter. The main improvement I have seen is that last year if I had a area of thin hay that I had to speed up to keep my bale stokes the same per bale I would get some what lose bales. Now I don't. I can be doing 2.5 mph in thicker hay hit a area of thin hay speed up to 6mph and still have tight consistent bales.


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