# Are Old Small Square Balers Trustworthy??



## OKrookie (Jan 10, 2010)

I am looking for a used square baler for alfalfa, and I want to pay under $5,000 to get started. I have seen quite a few NH273 that fit that price range. Does that old a baler frighten anyone?? Also, I just bought my property last year and was talked into growing alfalfa for a few horse friends that want their hay uncrimped because of blister beetle issues. Besides longer drying times, would the uncrimped alfalfa pose a problem for these older square balers??


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

If you are a reasonably good mechanic and you have a dealer who will get the parts that is a good baler. 
If a square baler is not abused it will last forever, and 17 years. Leave it out in the weather and it can rust out in just a few seasons. 
Be sure to get a Operators Manual, & a Parts Manual. 
Have two sets of knives, and sharpen them by filing or with a good slow wet wheel.

There some areas that wear in a baler, so each winter take it apart and check for wear and replace any bearings and chains that you have any doubt of.

The advantage of a newer baler that is designed for high production is obvious. Here we expect only two hours for day time baling. That is between real close to beeing too damp to when the leaf shatter becomes a factor. Some times we get 3 hours. When I was younger and felt up to baling at night I could get 4 or 5 yours of baling done, between leaves first stop shattering to the hay being too damp to bale. 
Baling day or night I stacked the hay in the barn before the morning dew could get on it.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

OKRookie,
Glad to see you back. When you previously mentioned seeding alfalfa in bottomland soil in northeastern Oklahoma, I entered a comment to you, but the site crashed and all was lost. I will try again. Hopefully, I won't crash the site...

For years people have stated that alfalfa does well in bottomlands. However, here in northeast Texas, our bottomlands are usually excessively wet during parts of the year, except during a spring drought. You may be in a similar situation in NE Oklahoma, and you may be well ahead of what I am going to write relative to site selection for alfalfa.

In my previous job, I related site (soils) selection for alfalfa to NRCS soil series classification descriptions. Please click on the following link to review how to determine if your soils are excessively wet for alfalfa, or if they are suitable for this forage.

Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton

Under the heading "Forages, Crops and Soils" at the upper left of the open site, click on "Soils Research"

Then click on "Selecting Coastal Plain soils for alfalfa"

Be patient when going over this information as it takes a while to lead up to the NRCS soil series classification information that is important to selecting soils for alfalfa.

When you have gone over this information, you can access your farm/ranch site in a Soil Survey Manual for your county, determine the soil series where you plan to seed alfalfa, and then look up the soil series descriptors/description to determine if your proposed site for alfalfa is suitable. Or, you can look up your bottomland on Google Earth, note the Latitude and Longitude indicated for that site, then go to:

Web Soil Survey - Home

and enter the latitude and longitude, put a box over the bottomland, and then click "Soils" and this web site will show you the soils on your land. From there you can go to the NRCS web site:

Official Soil Series Descriptions (OSD) | NRCS Soils

Click on "Soil Series Name Search" and then enter the name of your soil and click process to see the official soil series description.

If I can help you through this process, please let me know.

vhaby


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## Barry Bowen (Nov 16, 2009)

I echo a lot of what haywilson has to say. Older balers are fine especially if you are very handy and have good basic mechanical skills, you are willing to put in the time, and understand what you are looking at and working on ( or can learn quickly).

273 was a fine baler in it's day, and can still be fine if it is in good shape. I have seen them go for 400-800 in basic working order in this area, but not many to be found.

If it has been sitting outside for years full of hay, walk away from it period. If it was stored inside, there are possibilities. Remove any hay from the baler and really look at the plunger, and the rails it rides on. All of this is rebuildable, IF and only if the baler is still straight. If the rails are not straight, time to walk away. Knotters and feeders can be worked on as long as the baler is structurally sound. Get the manuals and you can go through it from end to end and you could have a nice working machine when you are done.


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## BCFENCE (Jul 26, 2008)

I would think an old baler would be fine if you dont have much hay. The past several years i used my dads baler, 327 JD, I would have to think that baler had 200 thousand bales through it, I went completly through the baler after it started giving me problems. You name it i replaced it in the baler, I still had problems every now and then. I guess what im trying to say is if you dont have much hay it wuld be fine, Becaus its no fun when you walk behind the baler all day trying to fix it or you get hay rained on because your baler was broke or You got to keep rolling your hay because your baler is broke( big rolls here bring 20 to 30 dollars) .
When you bale hay here you dont quit after it gets to dry, Because it will be raining in a few hours or the next day, If the sun is shining you better be in the hay field.
Just my 2 cents, THOMAS


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## OKrookie (Jan 10, 2010)

vhaby, thanks for the navigation help. I think I found what I needed. Let me know if you can view this report: Official Series Description - VERDIGRIS Series and whether this is what you were talking about.

I had a little confusion because I was putting in the map unit name "Vd" instead of the more general soil series name of "Verdigris".


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## Heyhay..eh (Aug 7, 2009)

I guess it comes down to the fact that anything you buy used has the potential to be a good or a bad purchase. So the older baler you buy can be a good solid performer or a junker. There is no reason to shy away from a well maintained older piece of equipment if it fits into the demands of your operation. If you under capacity any equipment you will be in trouble, old or new.

For 5000, you should be able to pick up a reasonable baler but before you sign the bill of sale and lay down the cash you might want to put the baler under power either at you place or at the point of sale. a 10 minute run trough as many cycles as you can will give you some idea as to what might be wrong with the equipment.. Some things won't become evident until you put some hay trough it. If you have a friend/neighbour who has some greater experience than yourself bring them along to help you inspect or even hire a baler mechanic to look over your choice.

If you find one that suits you will need to ensure that you have a manual and that you take the time to go through a full service, replace any parts that need replacing, don't patch it with haywire and get to it later.

Personally I have had good success with used balers but I have sourced them from farmers who had a reputation for looking after their equipment or from dealers who knew the equipment they were bringing in. Paying a premium price in those instances was worth it in the long run. In the square category I bought a JD 337 about 15 years ago. In that time it has gone through about 500 in parts and made about 100,000 bales. It is still answering the bell when the need arises. Doing more rounds now so the 337 might now only see 500 bales per year.

Good luck & take care


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## OKrookie (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks Heyhay for your input. If I can find a used baler that turned out to be as reliable as your JD 337, I would be very pleased. I will make sure and ask the right questions and also request to put power to it. I have both a NH and JD dealership within 5 miles of my property, so that makes me feel a little better about a used one.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

OKrookie,

You did well. Sorry for your temporary confusion about what to enter in the soil series name search.

The Verdigris soil series description indicates that it is well drained. The "oll" at the end of the word Hapludolls indicates that the Vertigris belongs in the soil order Mollisols. The Verdigris series developed on floodplains, but this soil no longer is subject to flooding. The actual Verdigris soil that was described is indicated as having moderate acidity in surface depth and slight acidity in subsurface depths. From the description, it appears that the Verdigris series should be suitable for alfalfa. If you want to absolutely be sure about subsoil acidity, you might want to collect sub-samples from the 12 to 24 inch depth from about five locations in this field, put them into one bucket, mix them, and send a composite sample to a laboratory for pH analysis.

Now that you have been through this process, please tell me how to make the instructions that you followed more clear and easier to understand i.e. what were points of confusion, etc. in going through the process?

Thanks!


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## lonnie (Jan 25, 2010)

just because you have thoose dealers near you need to make sure they have some one that know balers both the bealer in my area are with in 5 miles but neither have anyone that knows anything about balers the closest one is 90 miles


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## OKrookie (Jan 10, 2010)

lonnie, point well taken. If one of them has a qualified person who knows balers, would you make that fact the trump card in deciding which brand to buy??


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## chief-fan (Aug 27, 2009)

I would not be afraid of an older baler. I still use a NH Super 69 with good success. Talk to the previous owner if at all possible and if buying from a dealer, make them show you the shop order to see what all they did to it. Anything mechanical is going to break down - sooner or later. I run mine for 2 years with no problem. Them last year with no warning I took both needles and the yoke out at one time. I have 2 good NH square baler mechanics close and we have not figured out why it happened as it was still in time. Several have mentioned to be sure and get the operator and parts manual. Jensales.com probably has the biggest selection of manuals around. Good luck with your new purchase.


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## Charlie N (Dec 6, 2009)

I bought a 269 2 years ago from a retired NH man who buys and sells older ford tractors and balers.The old girl didn't miss a tie in 900 bales last year.It isn't pretty but will get the job done.If you go to new hollands web site and get a parts schematic.A manual will help with adjustments.Good Luck.


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## Va_plowboy (Jan 12, 2010)

An old baler needs alot of TLC. Have to baby it and it will do you right. We have a '68 ford 532 baler that my great granny bought new. They baled about 5000 bales a year for 30 some years until we bought a roller. It set for about 8 years and I have started using it again in the last 5 years to bale about 500 bales a year. Dad thought it wouldnt run when I pulled it back out but I greased it up and oiled it good. Cleaned the 8 year old dust out of it and sharpened the knife in it and baled 3 bales and broke a u-joint. Baled 5 more after I fixed it and broke the main belt. After that it has been running like a top ever since. I blow it out with air every year and oil it up good before I put it up. It's one heck of a machine really. And you could prolly find one like that for 500 bucks. Maintenence is the key to keeping a baler running, that and keeping it in the dry.

I remember when I was about 12 (29 now) dad would let me bale and the tractor burst into flames. It was an old ford 4000. They thought a wire ground out on the fuel tank and burnt into it. I was so scared I just jumped while it was in gear and it actually spit out about three more bales before the tractor finally shut off.







Burned the tractor to the ground though.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

Don't be afraid of an old inepensive small square baler. We run 2000 to 4000 bales per year through the old New Hollands from the early 60's. Balers from the late 50's to the early 70's are plentifull around here and most were well mantained. They come up on auction sales often and usually bring from $100 - $700.


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