# Medium Sized Square Balers



## dlauffenburger (Jul 27, 2011)

Currently we are baling round bales for feeding cattle outside and small square bales for horses inside, with only 2 people doing the baling i am trying to find a better option to replace handling the square bales. The horse stalls are not configured to easily utilize round bales inside. I have seen posts refering to large square balers that i could stack and handle with a Front End loader, but can't justify the 15 to 20 thousand price tags.

Is there such a thing as a medium sized square baler (6 to 12 hundred pound bales) that is reasonably priced.

If there isn't a medium sized unit, can someone provide me with some recommendations for reliable older large balers that i may be able to find used.

Thanks for any assistance.


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## Hayking (Jan 17, 2010)

We have a 4755 hesston which makes a 3x3 you can adjust the length to different sizes we make ours about 7.5 ft long in Alfalfa it will make a 1000 lb bale grass will weigh from 750-850. A 135 pto HP tractor is probably the smallest I'd try and pull it with.


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## Cannon (Aug 18, 2009)

I would go with the recommendation of hayking. That works well for horse people with small tractors of skidsteer loaders


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I would love to see a medium sized square baler that produces square bales weighing in the range of 300 lbs and could be pulled with a 100 HP tractor. A lot of horse people I know have compact tractors in the 20-40 HP range that cannot pick up a big round bale or big squares. This size bale could be trucked, stacked and fed much more handily.

2x2x4 up to 3x3x4 would be a nice sized bale that people could load easily on a small car trailer or pick up bed, hand feed in the stall, move with a small tractor and FEL or skidster, put on a hand cart, stack a full load in a semi-trailer van easily. On my side, I wouldn't need a 175HP+ tractor to pull it. Sometimes bigger isn't better!

Oh yeah--And costs under $40,000 new.

Just wishin'!!

Ralph


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## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

I think on of the issues for feeding the larger squares is that you need to have an applicator for preservative because don't they have alot of problems with dust in the center because the bale density is so high?


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

dlauffenburger said:


> The horse stalls are not configured to easily utilize round bales inside.
> 
> If there isn't a medium sized unit, can someone provide me with some recommendations for reliable older large balers that i may be able to find used.


To feed rounds in the stalls, you'd have to get a unroller. It would be a mess! I sympathize 'cause I have the same problem. The big square balers take a lot of horsepower, and I don't think they are any easier to feed.

You might consider getting an accumulator and grapple for your square baler. I use a 10-bale Hoelscher. I can bale, load, and unload into the sheds without ever touching a bale. I only need my daughter (or one of her students), for short periods, to drive the truck and trailer.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

hayray said:


> I think on of the issues for feeding the larger squares is that you need to have an applicator for preservative because don't they have alot of problems with dust in the center because the bale density is so high?


Around here all large square balers have applicators, it's a must. If you wait for the dew to come back on after it's dry enough to large square bale, you'll have a very short window in the evenings and by morning it's really wet again.


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## Haymike56 (May 3, 2010)

I feed from round bales in the barn. I just set one down near the stalls and use an old hay saw or a chainsaw and cut it in half. As you cut it they will lay out flat and you can feed them with a fork. A little bit messy but with a little work it is cheaper than new equipment.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Haymike56 said:


> I feed from round bales in the barn. I just set one down near the stalls and use an old hay saw or a chainsaw and cut it in half. As you cut it they will lay out flat and you can feed them with a fork. A little bit messy but with a little work it is cheaper than new equipment.


I have done the same thing. I use a old plywood blade turned backwards(teeth pointing to rear) in my skil saw. Cut the round bale to the center and it flops out real nice. Just be sure you have it in the location you want. Fork off what you need.

Regards, Mike


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

> I would love to see a medium sized square baler that produces square bales weighing in the range of 300 lbs and could be pulled with a 100 HP tractor. A lot of horse people I know have compact tractors in the 20-40 HP range that cannot pick up a big round bale or big squares. This size bale could be trucked, stacked and fed much more handily.


A New Holland D1000 will do just that. 2x3 square, 5 to 9 feet long, will make a 500 lb bale at 8 ft in alfalfa and grass. Two bummers, though. They are early 90's machines and are aging, and the operator owner MUST be mechanicaly inclined, as they are touchy and most NH dealers have no clue how to trouble shoot them. 100 hp will pull them, see sig. We have 28000 bales on ours, like the bales it makes very much, and was much more affordable (compared to 3x3) when dad bought it back in '99.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Gearclash said:


> A New Holland D1000 will do just that. 2x3 square, 5 to 9 feet long, will make a 500 lb bale at 8 ft in alfalfa and grass. Two bummers, though. They are early 90's machines and are aging, and the operator owner MUST be mechanicaly inclined, as they are touchy and most NH dealers have no clue how to trouble shoot them. 100 hp will pull them, see sig. We have 28000 bales on ours, like the bales it makes very much, and was much more affordable (compared to 3x3) when dad bought it back in '99.


Thanks! I have never seen a D1000 hereabouts. I checked Tractorhouse and they have a few 2000's listed and they look kinda like the NH BB series.

Ralph


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

You don't want the D2000. That's a 3x4. From what I hear they were nightmares. The D1000 can have its issues but they are manageable. There is also a D800, same bale size as D1000, but lower capacity feeder, and no electronics for bale density control or knotter mistie monitoring. I'd pass on those too. The D1000 has no real design similarity to the later models as it has a continuous feeder and a single knot four knotter system.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Gearclash:

I see a 1993 D1000 listed at $10,000 that has 22,000 bales on it, "excellent condition". It's about 350 miles from me. Do you think it's worth checking out?

Ralph


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Well, 22000 is a few bales. Figure to spend a thousand or so in parts getting everything up to speed again, and a few weeks time. The price is pretty attractive though, if it is as advertised. I've never seen a good usable looking unit below 15000 or so.
A 1993 model will most likely have the low speed knotters. 
Twice I have run our D1000 on an 85 hp tractor, so power requirements are not that big a deal. Also they weigh around 9K -10K lbs. 
Figure that these balers have a little less capacity than a NH780A 5x6 round baler, or about 3 - 4 times the cap of a small square. 
PM me if you want to know all the details on these things: I'll be happy to help.


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## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

Hey Gearclash, good advice! Any reason a d1000 couldn't make a 50" bale? IF so what do you think a mixed hay bale would weigh? I would like to cube bales for easier delivery. Also how heavy of twine do you use? Thanks Ray


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

I think a 50" bale would be at the extreme short end of factory adjustment, however as the bale length is purely mechanical drives and stops, anything could be done. 
Weight would be around 250 lbs, assuming average density settings. 
We've been using 350/4000 twine as long as we've owned the machine, never had a problem that could be blamed on the twine size.
I would start to worry about excessive knotter wear with these really short bales. The D1000 knotters share many of their parts with the NH small squares, but for some reason everything seems to wear much faster and wanders out of adjustment much sooner.


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## jimmyjohn21 (Oct 26, 2021)

dlauffenburger said:


> Currently we are baling round bales for feeding cattle outside and small square bales for horses inside, with only 2 people doing the baling i am trying to find a better option to replace handling the square bales. The horse stalls are not configured to easily utilize round bales inside. I have seen posts refering to large square balers that i could stack and handle with a Front End loader, but can't justify the 15 to 20 thousand price tags.
> 
> Is there such a thing as a medium sized square baler (6 to 12 hundred pound bales) that is reasonably priced.
> 
> ...


have been in the custom hay business since 2002 and have found that the people who have horses that are looking for an alternative to small square realy injoy going to my medium square bales which measure 22x32. As these bales if baled right keep better thn 3x3 and 3x4 bales as they tend to breath better. Have also found that 1 foot of these bales is equal to 1 bale of small squares. Can make bales from 3 feet to 10 feet long. have found that horse owners prefer a 6 foot bale. We bale with a claas 1100 baler which works very well on a small tractor with about 85 horsepower on most applications. In very hilly areas you prefer to use larger horsepower


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