# best used round baler under 6 grand!!!!!



## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

I'm gonna stir the pot a little this morning and get all the colors fighting against each other. Who makes the best, used round roller under 6000 on average. I know priced very in different parts of the country. I want make, models and why. I'm also curious cause I'm in the market for a new baler lol


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## MDill (Feb 8, 2015)

Krone KR125/130/160. Have to find one at auction to get it under 6k, or a dealer that doesn't know what it is. Either way, Krone classic line series, discussion started and ended.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Whatever one has been used the least, stored inside, and shows little wear. Also preferably you know the person who owned it and know how it was treated. Plus a brand that has a good reputation. All for under $6000. That said I know nothing about Round balers. The above goes for any type of equipment and any price range.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Whichever $10,000 baler is being sold too cheap is the best one at $6k. Price variability makes it next to impossible to actually pick a make and model.


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## Bazooka (Sep 17, 2013)

I would definetly look at the John Deere 535. I am a little partial because I used to own one. They are simple to maintain and repair. Didn't have all that air bag stuff and very simple hydraulic tension, and relief system that you couldn't overpressure. No high dollar electrical actuators. The linkages were the most to maintain, but easy to work on and adjust. Used or new parts are probably easy to find because of their age. Vermeer would also be one I would look at. Under 6k means late '90's eraly 2000 models.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

FranchiseFarms said:


> I'm gonna stir the pot a little this morning and get all the colors fighting against each other. Who makes the best, used round roller under 6000 on average. I know priced very in different parts of the country. I want make, models and why. I'm also curious cause I'm in the market for a new baler lol


Unless you are feeding up your animals, save your money.....around here you'd have get one for free to be able to afford to sell round bales.......anything else ain't gonna pencil out....after a breakdown or two, that one ain't gonna pencil either!


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## mntractoraddict (Dec 7, 2014)

New Holland 640 auto wrap twine tie, hands down the best entry level price baler out there, easy to run, easy to maintain, easy to own because there are lots of them around


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

I feed some to my own stock but most get sold. I can't justify buying a large square baler yet and most big dairy guys don't wanna mess with small squares so I need a roller. I'll be making around 500/year


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## cornshucker (Aug 22, 2011)

New Holland 640, Hesston 745, Vermeer 5400 or 5410 Rebel some of the 90's model Deere balers all decent balers should be in that price range just make sure whatever brand you go with you got a close reliable parts source. Like one of the previous posters said just depends on the condition for the age of the baler and how well kept up it is. Thing is I know a guy that has a Hesston near me that is about 20 years old and only rolls around 300 per year with it just to feed his own stock that's only 6000 rolls for a twenty year old baler while some people do more than that a season. So if you look there is probably one of the low use balers out there. IMHO if you are going with twine only the New Holland auto wrap is head and shoulders above the rest (no electronics or electrical to mess with and it does an excellent job). That is not to say that the rest of the baler is better than some of the others but the mechanical twine wrap is almost fool proof.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

What size are looking for? JD 446 is getting into that range and was a great baler for me.


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

I really really like the 4x6 balers like John deere 435 or case ih 8450...I can get more bales on a semi without any overhang and still make good weighing bales.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

No issues for load height in your area?


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

I can drop it the rolls to 4x5....two deep two tall on a step deck and get 38 rolls on it and still be unter 14ft


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

This kinda hurts me to post this but I would go along with what Bazooka posted the 35 series JD ae in the range you want to spend parts are easy to come by or like MNTRACTORADDICT said the NH 640 all depends on HOW BIG A BALE you want


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## Bazooka (Sep 17, 2013)

somedevildawg said:


> Unless you are feeding up your animals, save your money.....around here you'd have get one for free to be able to afford to sell round bales.......anything else ain't gonna pencil out....after a breakdown or two, that one ain't gonna pencil either!


Rounds are hard to ship,stack on a truck etc. If you are going to try to sell them, you'll probably be disappointed. We fed all ours, but we even baled up junk and used them for temporary corrals to make a big horseshoe shaped shelter during calving time and a storm was coming in.


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## Bazooka (Sep 17, 2013)

that N/h 640 is a damn good baler if you can find a good one.


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

The fact remains, if the quality is there...the product will sell itself.i don't have 50000 is overhead so I don't have to charge an ass load per bale to make money.


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

I'm really looking at getting a monitored baler so I can change the bale height depending on what customers want as I presale some hay and as you guys know, everybody wants something different


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

After reading your posts Franchise, I would say that you have you're price set way to low......it's hard to find a decent baler for 6k. The aforementioned 640 by new holland is a good baler, tried tested and proven. I have a news flash for ya.....it aint always about the quality when selling hay. One customer may decide to buy from another guy that's $5 cheaper.....another may want net wrap.....yet another wants 5x6....there's a horsey customer down the road that's wants 50 rolls that are 4x4 and all of them want it just a bit cheaper than you need to get for yours......that's just the way it is in the hay business. What crop are you going to be growing? Selling to dairies may involve producing silage, yet another example of why quality doesn't always sell or speak for itself. There's a lot of variables in the hay making business, the least of which is the weather, when you can't make prime hay, who do you sell it to and at what price?

Going on the cheap on the baler prolly won't pencil out for ya either after you get a cost of the parts for some of the older machines, all the parts of the hay makin endeavor are critical, but what ya gonna do when that 6k baler breaks down in the field and the sky is gettin dark, you're gonna cuss yourself for buying a piece of junk, BTDT! And you have the possibility of losing and account.....

Lastly, most people that put up hay have a substantial investment in equipment, I would bet that most would agree that input costs, land costs, labor and insurance trump the baler price....

If I were you, I would set my sights a bit higher....around 10k should get a purty decent machine. Hth


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## TJH (Mar 23, 2014)

I noticed you said you were planning on selling to dairies. What are you baling?


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

most any round baler will allow you to change the bale height , but 6k probably won't get you a bale monitor that would allow you to do that , you might have to go to the baler to make the change if you get in the 10k range you could probably make that happen


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

I raise alfalfa, alfalfa/Timothy mix and triticale that I sell to dairys. Horsey people either want the Timothy mix or the mixed grass hay. I understand completely the input cost required, but I only farm 200 acres, so I don't need at 25000 dollar machine that can produce 3000 bales an hour. I'm not in that much of a time crunch


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

Most of you guys prolly put up 150/ton a day or more, thus you require high end late model equipment, however I have my operation set up to where all my equipment is paid for, my farm is paid for, so I have very minimal overhead which allows me to keep my cost down. I understand people need to make money, however I don't feel the need to charge 3 or 4 times my input cost per tone. I'm not gonna g price gouge anyone. The buyers got to be able to make a living as well


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Franchise, I agree with what much of what 'dawg is saying but I also agree quite a bit with you. I think if you stay on top of private sales and auctions, you'll find a baler that will do what you need and be somewhere around your price point. If you want a baler this week, it'd be tough. If you give yourself a few months, your chances increase greatly.


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

I'd love to have one by may when we start to put some of ours up but If not I got square baler and plenty of room in the barn. I've only been looking for a roller here lately cause we get asked for round rolls all the time.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

FranchiseFarms said:


> Most of you guys prolly put up 150/ton a day or more, thus you require high end late model equipment, however I have my operation set up to where all my equipment is paid for, my farm is paid for, so I have very minimal overhead which allows me to keep my cost down. I understand people need to make money, however I don't feel the need to charge 3 or 4 times my input cost per tone. I'm not gonna g price gouge anyone. The buyers got to be able to make a living as well


I can also assure you of this franchise.....ain't nobody guilty of price gouging anyone on hay, not sure it's possible.....well, a few years ago during a drought I seen a few that were charging a lot for hay but it was more of a supply/demand thing rather than gouging. For the record, my buyers and yours are makin a living......I've got to make one too! If they feel like they are being gouged, they can always invest heavily in haymaking equipment and make their own......will probably go back to buying it in short order!


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

Franchise, I know just what your saying about a high price piece of equipment I think for what you want to do a 435 or 535 JD will get the job done they are pretty simple easy to work on and make a pretty nice bale that you can sell This is coming from a guy that doesn't really like the green paint, I worked for them for 12 yrs and felt obligated to run what I serviced, I've had 2 435 & a couple of 535 net wrap is a issue but, if you caress it and give it some extra loving you can make it work ^6k does't get you alot these days price of corn & beans & livestock keeps dropping you can get a good deal


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## FranchiseFarms (Nov 16, 2014)

I know places charging 17$ per 50# of alfalfa. That my friend is price gouging. That's 680$ a ton. Honestly tell me that kind of price can be justified


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

somedevildawg said:


> Unless you are feeding up your animals, save your money.....around here you'd have get one for free to be able to afford to sell round bales.......anything else ain't gonna pencil out....after a breakdown or two, that one ain't gonna pencil either!


 Words of wisdom right there. Franchise, in most of the South round bales sell for about what it costs to produce them or less. You mention that quality hay sells itself which is very true in square bales but not so much in rounds......most people buying round bales have a mind set that they are only going to pay a certain price regardless of the kind hay.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

FranchiseFarms said:


> I know places charging 17$ per 50# of alfalfa. That my friend is price gouging. That's 680$ a ton. Honestly tell me that kind of price can be justified


 That might be alfalfa that has been trucked in from out west. By the time you figure the growers costs and he needs to make money, then the price to have it trucked in and the trucker needs to make money, then the place that is selling it has to handle it and they have to make money the cost of that bale just keeps going up. By the time you figure all that up the cost per bale is pretty high and the place selling that $17 alfalfa might not be making what you think they are.


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## discbinedr (Mar 4, 2013)

FranchiseFarms said:


> I know places charging 17$ per 50# of alfalfa. That my friend is price gouging. That's 680$ a ton. Honestly tell me that kind of price can be justified


If the buyer has no other choices its called gouging. If the customer chooses to buy your hay because he likes your hay and is willing to pay the price, that's called smart business!


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

Free enterprise......


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I know a fella selling prime alfalfa from out west for $23 a bale......costs him about $4 a bale to ship and he has to store it......he also buys Bermuda and sells it for $12 a bale, I sell to him for 6$ a bale he has about 2.50-$3 a bale in shipping, has to unload and store.....he ain't gettin rich


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I was under a 25 year old baler pulling plugs on a 100 degree day. I made a vow to the Good Lord that when it was time to call me home I would not be fixing the mistake of owning an older baler. Bought a brand new one that winter and am thankful for it each time I dump a roll of hay.

I am not saying there are not good used balers out there. I looked at some nice used ones when I was baler shopping.

The Vermeer 504 Super I is an older well made baler. I saw a clean one at auction that had new chains and sprockets sell for $5,000. It was a good deal.

A local guy has the same model baler for sale, $4,000 and it has been rode hard and put up wet. Not a good deal.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

I like new. You know where its been. In the long term might be a better idea.


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

I like New also , But new comes with a big price tag, I like a roun baler with 8 to 10k bales though it ,That got traded because the previous owner thought is was wore out ! just give it some loving an new parts an run her for another 10k bales Just my option though


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

FranchiseFarms said:


> Most of you guys prolly put up 150/ton a day or more, thus you require high end late model equipment, however I have my operation set up to where all my equipment is paid for, my farm is paid for, so I have very minimal overhead which allows me to keep my cost down. I understand people need to make money, however I don't feel the need to charge 3 or 4 times my input cost per tone. I'm not gonna g price gouge anyone. The buyers got to be able to make a living as well


I would love to charge 3-4 times my input costs for my hay. Typically, they run about $125-$150/ton by the time I include fertilizer, fuel, equipment depreciation, supplies and labor (including mine).

But I don't think I'm going to get $175-$250 per 1000# round bale.

Ralph


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

FranchiseFarms said:


> Most of you guys prolly put up 150/ton a day or more, thus you require high end late model equipment, however I have my operation set up to where all my equipment is paid for, my farm is paid for, so I have very minimal overhead which allows me to keep my cost down. I understand people need to make money, however I don't feel the need to charge 3 or 4 times my input cost per tone. I'm not gonna g price gouge anyone. The buyers got to be able to make a living as well


I am debt free. I buy only what I can write a check for. No one I know in the hay business can mark up hay 3 or 4 times their input cost and remain in business.

Lack of rain has my fertilize cost at $72 per roll on one field. No way I could sell the hay for the fertilizer input, yet alone any mark up.

If a person is selling low quality hay, no lime or fertilizer then they can sell for less. When the quality increases so does the cost to produce.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

snowball said:


> I like New also , But new comes with a big price tag, I like a roun baler with 8 to 10k bales though it ,That got traded because the previous owner thought is was wore out ! just give it some loving an new parts an run her for another 10k bales Just my option though


Good point, but where are you buying it from and do you know how it was run. Case in point, I have a JD 458 almost 10,000 bales thru it. Looks nice, sheet metal straight, chains and sprockets good, greased religiously . Sitting on a lot it would look good.......but it is not a silage special and most of my hay I do is silage bales and because of it have replaced two sets of bearings and the extra wear and tear from the heavier bales, so in my opinion I would say my baler has been used and abused even though it appears to look good.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Ya just never know with used equipment.....could be a boom, could be a bust. At least with new, ifn ya do your homework, it will only disappoint once a year......but you'll do it with a  on your face because ya didn't have to cuss it in the field.....


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

somedevildawg said:


> Ya just never know with used equipment.....could be a boom, could be a bust. At least with new, ifn ya do your homework, it will only disappoint once a year......but you'll do it with a  on your face because ya didn't have to cuss it in the field.....


Buy it. Put it in the shop and check all of the bearings. Check bearings in field with haytalk techniques. Round balers aren't rocket science.

I paid $6500 for my 644 net/silage a few years ago. I smile more days than not, and even when I'm not I can be glad I'm not out an extra 20k. To each their own. Those of us who are willing to run used equipment are glad there are people out there with different definitions of worn out.

As one of my (female) friends likes to note about ugly girls, "there's a market for everything".


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## Bazooka (Sep 17, 2013)

If your handy with wrenches, got a decent shop, and are knowledgeable about what you are buying AND enjoy working on equipment, then buying something at rock bottom price and fixing it up to your standards should not be too scary. Knowing what your looking at when you are evaluating it is important, so you can calculate parts costs. I only owned one brand new piece of equipment when I was in the bidness. I kept all of it up myself, I think I only went to a repair shop once for a PTO repair on a tractor. However I do speculate from time to time on different pieces of equipment and set my price in my head before bidding or negotiation starts. I try to make 10% when selling. sometimes it works, sometimes not. I'm just saying that I like the challenge of buying the stuff that scare most folks to look at and by the time I'm done, I'm proud of it. Now with that being said, I cannot take my wife with me to auctions because if she wants to bid on anything from equipment to a crappy old birdhouse, she is gonna get it, no matter what it costs...... now that is scary. Cant even take her to a dessert auction !


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> Buy it. Put it in the shop and check all of the bearings. Check bearings in field with haytalk techniques. Round balers aren't rocket science.
> I paid $6500 for my 644 net/silage a few years ago. I smile more days than not, and even when I'm not I can be glad I'm not out an extra 20k. To each their own. Those of us who are willing to run used equipment are glad there are people out there with different definitions of worn out.
> As one of my (female) friends likes to note about ugly girls, "there's a market for everything".


Just like "there's an ass for every seat......."as the old car business sayin goes


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## MDill (Feb 8, 2015)

You know it isn't that hard to find out where an auction baler came from, or at least up here it isn't. If you keep an eye on auction listings you can usually contact the auctioneer about where the equipment came from. How many owners, where it was bought, how many bales a year, shed stored etc. My father in law got a NH644 for I want to say $5k up here the year before last. Silage special with knives and net but the narrow pickup. Found out where it was from before hand, turned out to be an awesome baler, you can barely hear it run actually because it runs so smooth. 
I still will stick with my theory that Krone makes the best, trouble free economy baler out there. But seeing you want to sell to dairies you definitely want something with knives to make a more dense, easier to break up bale.
I hate HATE the 740A non silage special we have at work, the only plus side is the extra sweep pick up.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Here auction folks are like the epitome of used car salesman, couldn't tell the truth if it was a better story than a lie........


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## discbinedr (Mar 4, 2013)

MDill said:


> You know it isn't that hard to find out where an auction baler came from, or at least up here it isn't. If you keep an eye on auction listings you can usually contact the auctioneer about where the equipment came from. How many owners, where it was bought, how many bales a year, shed stored etc. My father in law got a NH644 for I want to say $5k up here the year before last. Silage special with knives and net but the narrow pickup. Found out where it was from before hand, turned out to be an awesome baler, you can barely hear it run actually because it runs so smooth.
> I still will stick with my theory that Krone makes the best, trouble free economy baler out there. But seeing you want to sell to dairies you definitely want something with knives to make a more dense, easier to break up bale.
> I hate HATE the 740A non silage special we have at work, the only plus side is the extra sweep pick up.


What do you hate about it?


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## MDill (Feb 8, 2015)

Can't bale wet enough in first cut, either binds up around the outside of the rollers or between the belts, either way it pushes the belts apart and starts smoking them. Or it just soaks the belts enough they don't grab the sledge roll and they stop spinning. I'd switch to more aggressive belts but I just put brand new belts on it last spring. In second, third and forth cut it goes awesome and makes a really nice bale. But more often than not I'm unplugging the pickup, cutting hay out of bearings and belts or redoing the netwrap because the brake didn't come on and it put 25 wraps on the bale. I think if it was a silage special with beefier bearings, pto and most importantly the proper number of cleaners and scrapers it would be a better baler. Just not impressed, hopefully I can talk them into a chain and slat baler next time.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

MDill said:


> Can't bale wet enough in first cut, either binds up around the outside of the rollers or between the belts, either way it pushes the belts apart and starts smoking them. Or it just soaks the belts enough they don't grab the sledge roll and they stop spinning. I'd switch to more aggressive belts but I just put brand new belts on it last spring. In second, third and forth cut it goes awesome and makes a really nice bale. But more often than not I'm unplugging the pickup, cutting hay out of bearings and belts or redoing the netwrap because the brake didn't come on and it put 25 wraps on the bale. I think if it was a silage special with beefier bearings, pto and most importantly the proper number of cleaners and scrapers it would be a better baler. Just not impressed, hopefully I can talk them into a chain and slat baler next time.


I'll buy your MRT belts if you want to get a different set 

The brake should be easily repaired. 
I don't mean to be a jerk about this part, but you hate a non-silage baler because it doesn't do well in wet hay? Doesn't sound like the fault of the baler.


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## MDill (Feb 8, 2015)

8350HiTech said:


> I'll buy your MRT belts if you want to get a different set
> 
> The brake should be easily repaired.
> I don't mean to be a jerk about this part, but you hate a non-silage baler because it doesn't do well in wet hay? Doesn't sound like the fault of the baler.


I know I know, the issue is I do all the crop work for a farm I don't own, so I'm not in charge of buying the equipment, I can make suggestions but... It can be extremely frustrating. I think that who ever the salesman was that sold them this baler had a golden tongue and told them they didn't need a silage special. This baler was basically a left over, piece meal, specially priced rig. It has been a learning experience! It would be a good dry hay baler.

Getting off topic though, I'm sorry. 
For my own stuff my budget is about a tenth of where I work, if not less, so this cheapo baler topic is pretty easy to relate to.


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