# Bale Baron



## PHD (Dec 12, 2008)

Pics I took at Penn State Ag Progress Days of Bale Baron. This could be the ultimate bundling machine literature expects 5-600 bales per hour using Hesston knotters-http://www.balebaron.com/Video.html


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## TBrown (Nov 27, 2008)

What was your opinion of these machines after you got to see them in person? Do they look well manufactured? Was the manufacturer well educated? Have they done much testing on them to work the bugs out?


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

My opinion (I saw that one at APD as well) was that it HAS to be be better than the bale bandit. Those freaking metal straps have got to be a killer. A completely different waste product, for end users and producers. The guys that were there didn't seem to be able to comunicate what they knew, or at least the guy I talked with. But, I know they use a shorter bale, normal big baler twine, and there's no stopping (down time) for changing the rolls of strapping. I didn't look real close at the machine if it was well built or not, I have no intention of buying one. I do know the bandit uses conveyor and chains to move the bales rearward and upward, and the baron uses some sort of table? Not sure how it all works, but it seems that it's a better idea.

Rodney


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## PHD (Dec 12, 2008)

We were able to also see 3 machines at Binkley and Hurst in Lancaster County this Dec. I believe they are well built. They most knowledgeable person at Binkley’s was unavailable the Sat we visited They have made a few subtle changes on machine, actually calling it a different model. I have spoken directly to Mr. Horst, the inventor of the machine/ owner of the company. I believe he will continually pursue excellence and will be a man of good integrity. Plans are to make available at some point a model which has a 35 hp Kubota engine with hy pump for those who have older tractors without adequate capacity (should have 25 gal per min). He believes the machine (capacity 4-600 bales per minute) makes more sense being pulled behind baler than as standalone pull behind unit.Hence there are no plans a present to make standalone pull behind. What I think would be an improvement would be to design a ground pickup integrated into machine so that when done pulling behind baler, you could unhook, pull behind a tractor, picking bales off ground and bundling from another baler you had running the same day.-double duty. As far as parts-nothing looks like you couldn’t pull off shelf to fix if you had to. The knotters are Hesston-well proven. The limit switches are fairly common, and the slave computer is likely used in industrial applications and should be easily available as well(of course you need proper programming) We also talked about bundles of 12, 15, & 18 as well as the standard 21. I asked because this would enable one to wrap bundles for equine market (Europe and Canada already feeds balage to their horses) The Arcusin pull behind tractor bundler (made in Spain and used Mainly in Europe) standard is a 14 bale pack, with 10& 12 bale pack kit already available for such wrapping. I believe it is a good machine as well. However, with that being said I trust Canada to be more politically stable, the manufacturing plant is only 6 hours from where we live, making likely less risk in parts procurement . In addition a reputable dealer is only two hours down the road and would be able to troubleshoot any problem which may arise. And lastly, 21 bales in bundle versus 14- less twine cost, less handling, and most likely bundles more stable on trucks and when in tall stacks. Are plans are to see one in action summer 2009 to evaluate if it will be part of Son’s future haying enterprise


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## JoshA (Apr 16, 2008)

A guy in my area modified his Hesston 4755 (3x3 big baler) to pick-up small squares, and rebundle them, very similar concept only it's an actual modified big baler. He then has a 5-bale accumulator on behind. He follows behind 3 Hesston in-line balers. I do have some pics, but they aren't that fantastic.

Here's a link:
http://hayandforage.com/hay/toews-modified-baler/index.html


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## PHD (Dec 12, 2008)

JoshA-would love to see some pics or video-is the gentlemanmanufacturing kits? can he still use big baler for regular big bales?


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## JoshA (Apr 16, 2008)

Unfortunately I don't have any action pics, just some awkward shots of it when it was at the dealer this summer getting the accumulator.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j107/JoshJA/Jim Toews Baler/IMG_3706.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j107/JoshJA/Jim Toews Baler/IMG_3707.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j107/JoshJA/Jim Toews Baler/IMG_3708.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j107/JoshJA/Jim Toews Baler/IMG_3709.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j107/JoshJA/Jim Toews Baler/IMG_3710.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j107/JoshJA/Jim Toews Baler/IMG_3711.jpg

I should mention that Jim was the owner of the AGCO dealership, and he sells about 40-50,000 idiot bricks to Florida each year. Mostly via train.


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## BCFENCE (Jul 26, 2008)

Josh i think this guy was on RFD TV the other night, looked like a real nice setup. THOMAS


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## kfarm_EC_IL (Aug 5, 2008)

I saw it on the prairie farmer report on RFD. Interesting idea


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## JoshA (Apr 16, 2008)

Well I'll be... I had no idea!

Jim isn't exactly the most friendly guy around, kinda surprising he's actually allowing himself to be interviewed lol.....

Anybody tape it by chance?


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## PHD (Dec 12, 2008)

did you guys ever hear of plegomatic? hear is youtube link


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## PHD (Dec 12, 2008)

here is another


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## Blue Duck (Jun 4, 2009)

Now that these have been around for a season I was wondering if anyone has one and what they think of it?


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## river rat (Jan 16, 2009)

Blue Duck said:


> Now that these have been around for a season I was wondering if anyone has one and what they think of it?


Me too, as an owner of an early Bale Bandit for which I have a love/hate relationship I'm curious as to what else is out there and how it works.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

The Baron has been around for 2 years for sure. I know a guy who has had 2 bandits (one was a 1st year version), and now he has two barons and says they are really nice to run compared to the bandit. I guess the thing is for him that they run big balers anyway, so they already have twine, and know all about the hesston knotter. From what I understand, he's had more trouble with the balers than the barons, but all my info is second hand, a few month ago.

Rodney


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## PHD (Dec 12, 2008)

Marcrest Manufacturing - Bale Baron
This is pickup version of barron-looks like 900 bales per hour
Does anyone know if this pickup version can be used brhind baler as well pics would be nice


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## aussiehayman (Apr 17, 2010)

we have one of these...great machine, well made
YouTube - ARCUSIN Multipack B14


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## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

You guys have any cost data on the two pickup versions....Bale Baron and ARCUSIN...thanks.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I just got some hay in here yesterday to cover my shortage this year that was packaged by a Bale Baron. I wasn't here when they got here so they cut the package string and just hand stacked the hay. When I arrived they were tying a bale together and told me that they had 2-3 busted bales in each package. That's my only experience with a BB. Don't know if it's a flaw or operator error.

The Hesston modification is interesting but you still have to small bale first. I'm more impressed with the Krone Multibale because it seems to be a one-pass solution.


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## paulbraeker (Feb 9, 2010)

The Bale Baron is a one pass machine that can be pulled right behind the baler. As far as broken bales that will be due to the baler. The bale size needs to be between 30" to 34" as people who buy small bales will usually buy by the bale not the pound. these bale will range from 35 to 45 pounds in weight.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

paulbraeker said:


> The Bale Baron is a one pass machine..


Sorry, I didn't mean "one pass" what I mean is the Krone does everything in one big baler. You don't need a separate baler and accumulator (or whatever you call a Bale Baron/Bandit).



paulbraeker said:


> The bale size needs to be between 30" to 34" as people who buy small bales will usually buy by the bale not the pound. these bale will range from 35 to 45 pounds in weight.


The bales I got were a little shorter but weighed around 60#. The knots were fine the strings were broken on the bottom.


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## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

Hey Mike, do you know the weight of the sections of the Krone Multibale. I seen one at the Purdue Forage day year before last. I forgot what the weight was of the sections. I also think that may be the future if you can get horse people to buy the bigger bale. Anyway, I was impressed and you can bale quickly.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

downtownjr said:


> Hey Mike, do you know the weight of the sections of the Krone Multibale. I seen one at the Purdue Forage day year before last. I forgot what the weight was of the sections. I also think that may be the future if you can get horse people to buy the bigger bale. Anyway, I was impressed and you can bale quickly.


Sorry, but no. It's not in the brochure. It makes up to 9 bales (tied flakes) in one big bale. I assume you could vary the weight of each by playing with the length of the overall bale. I'd take them in a minute. We feed 6-12 small bales a day. I'd have some initial handling problems with them but nothing that is not easily overcome. Then I could be like the rich folks and buy Timothy from you guys up north.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I wanna say they weigh about a hundred pounds each. I seen a promo video from Krone and I recall people using handcarts to handle the sections.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

mlappin said:


> I wanna say they weigh about a hundred pounds each. I seen a promo video from Krone and I recall people using handcarts to handle the sections.


You're probably right. I initally figured about 120# but because you can vary the length of the small bales from 18" to 53" I'm not really sure how on earth to calculate it. The brochure has three different ranges on bale length so I'm not exactly sure on the references.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

I was going to say 140#, but I have no idea. I had thought that they only did 6 or 8, but 9 is even better. Problem around here is there is no way to get them into any kind of storage area. I had looked at the brochure, I think it's a neat idea. I'd like to see something that can make small bales faster, and make some sort of 'package' like the Baron to be able to move/haul/unload them easily, yet still retain the small bale package.

Rodney


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## HALLSHAY (Nov 30, 2008)

As I recall, the needle carriage has some sort of interlock and only 2 of the 6 needles cycle to create the "small bale". The small bale is probably 4 or 5 flakes that are 30"+ tall, x 48" wide with 2 strings on it weighing 100+ pounds. In my opinion, this is not a user friendly package. If fine stem hay is baled like Sally Jane Pony wants, good luck keeping that loose 2 stringed, cross flake tied, so called "small bale" together.



> I'd like to see something that can make small bales faster, and make some sort of 'package' like the Baron to be able to move/haul/unload them easily, yet still retain the small bale package.


Hay Press and Unitizer Rodney. Just get out your check book and it can happen. LOL


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

HALLSHAY said:


> In my opinion, this is not a user friendly package. If fine stem hay is baled like Sally Jane Pony wants, good luck keeping that loose 2 stringed, cross flake tied, so called "small bale" together.


I agree. Around here the typical horse owners that I deal with are female, feed a few flakes at a time, and only buy a few bales at a time because they rarely have sufficent storage. The cowboy types feed round bales. I could feed the bigger Krone bales because the barn hay is loaded into "feed bags" in the hay sheds and the paddock horses have it carried out to them and distributed. Rounds just make a mess for us, and large squares are too difficult to handle and break apart. The 100# bales would be a convenience for us, but I can't justify the equipment needed to make them.


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