# Best Looking Round Bales - Which Baler???



## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

I have often read that livestock don't care what the bale looks like on various forums.

Bale your own hay, feed your own cattle, who cares what the bale looks like.

But.....

Selling the stuff and it seems that everyone cares what the bake looks like.

What 4x4, 4x5 round baler makes the best looking, tightly packed, square cornered round bale?

Thanks!
Bill


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Your raking technique probably has more of an effect on bale quality than color of baler.


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

some pictures from the Sunbelt Ag Expo field demonstrations; if you want the model #'s I'll check with Jeff as he'll most likely remember the details


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

Any the major players, if properly adjusted and feed hay in a consistent windrow will bale a nice marketable bale.


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

If you are just looking for a baler than can bale a great looking bale, then you will have a hard choice to make because all the brands of balers will make a great looking bale.

If you want the baler to make perfect bales, you need a person doing the raking and a person doing the baling who know what they are doing.


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## cornshucker (Aug 22, 2011)

Just up our road three different farms MF/Hesston 1745, Deere 457, New Holland BR 740 all with net, don't think you could hardly tell them apart. All of them looked great, but all had experienced operators.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Good rake operator and a New Holland baler. And don't forget bale weight.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

mike10 said:


> If you are just looking for a baler than can bale a great looking bale, then you will have a hard choice to make because all the brands of balers will make a great looking bale.
> 
> If you want the baler to make perfect bales, you need a person doing the raking and a person doing the baling who know what they are doing.


I've had numerous compliments on my bales at the sale, I do both the raking and the baling. I use a 12 wheel v-rake and have it set to make roughly a 4-5' wide row, real hard to make nice looking bales if your weaving.

A must no matter the brand for pretty round bales, net wrap and stack em on their ends so they stay round. You start stacking even two high like the rolled out of the baler and egg shaped is the best you can hope for.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I agree with the others that stated that a good raked windrow and a good baler operator will make a good bale. Then throw in JD "green lined" netwrap and the hay will appear greener than it really is. The operator of the Vermeer baler in photo made that bale lower on right than the left side.


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

I don't know if the bale is actually lower on the right side on the Vermeer. If you look at the baler you will notice it is also leaning to the right, so the baler and the bale must be on a slight incline. You can tell how the JD and CIH operators drove their machines by the uneven top surface of the bales.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I wonder if the windrows were all made the same?The windrow and the operator have more to do with the bale shape then the baler.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

mike10 said:


> I don't know if the bale is actually lower on the right side on the Vermeer. If you look at the baler you will notice it is also leaning to the right, so the baler and the bale must be on a slight incline. You can tell how the JD and CIH operators drove their machines by the uneven top surface of the bales.


I'll bet the windrows that the JD & CIH balers baled were thicker on LH side than RH side. It would have been interesting to have viewed windrows before bales were formed. If you measure the distance between Vermeer bale & raise tailgate on each side you will determine that Vermeer bale is little bit low on RH side.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Gearclash said:


> Good rake operator and a New Holland baler. And don't forget bale weight.


Sorry you're disillusioned but NH rd balers aren't the only rd balers that will make a good/tight bale of hay!!


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

Windrows were made with different rakes. Hay was mowed the afternoon before with different mowers; different tedder demos.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

One thing that hasn't been mentioned, though it's kind of related to storing them properly. You need to handle them properly. No banging them around with pallet forks, no pushing them off the side of a wagon or trailer and letting them roll around in your driveway, just generally moving and spearing them as few times as possible.

So my personal list of things more important than baler color:

Rake/rake operator
Storing on flat side
Proper handling
Baler operator (moves up the list if dealing with a poor raking job)

I'm not sold on the green net as an advantage. It depends on how green your hay is without it.


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## treymo (Dec 29, 2013)

Properly wrapped bales! There are lots of guys around here, me included, that seem to have a hard time with net wrap tearing on rollers. Buyers like well wrapped bales. I think the New Holland 7090 and 560RB make then nicest tightest bales around. Lots tighter then any Deere. 
Trey


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

To make really tight bales drive slow. The slower one goes the more hay gets packed into each bale. Of course this is not always the best to do with leafy crops as a long trail of leaves will be left on the ground. Than having the swath wider than the bale chamber. This can be done by raking or just leaving a wide swath behind the cutter. Twine wrapped bales can look good BUT enough twine must be put on the bale.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Yea a slower baleing speed will make a nicer tighter bale.

A Vermeer dealer was demoing a baler with cornstalk power feeder going at 14 mph and made a misshaped bale.Guy wasn't impressed and he lost the sale.Speed isn't everything!!A guy has to look at the whole picture,some just want to get r done.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

treymo said:


> I think the New Holland 7090 and 560RB make then nicest tightest bales around. Lots tighter then any Deere.
> Trey


Yep and opinions are similar to navels as everyone has one. Several yrs back(3 or 4) I bought some hay from a nice gentleman in Missouri. The bales were 4X5-1/2 and I asked him what he thought the Brome grass hay would weight. This man stated he'd just had his last year model NH run through the dealer shop to be tuned up and he thought the bales would weight 1100-1200#s. Long story/short story the 18 wheeler load averaged 920 #s each..


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

8350HiTech said:


> One thing that hasn't been mentioned, though it's kind of related to storing them properly. You need to handle them properly. No banging them around with pallet forks, no pushing them off the side of a wagon or trailer and letting them roll around in your driveway, just generally moving and spearing them as few times as possible.


When I only had the one loader I used to drive in, dump the bales and go back for another load, now they stay on the truck and trailer and I off load them with another loader, no dumping them on the ground equals a lot prettier bale going into storage.



hog987 said:


> To make really tight bales drive slow. The slower one goes the more hay gets packed into each bale. Of course this is not always the best to do with leafy crops as a long trail of leaves will be left on the ground. Than having the swath wider than the bale chamber. This can be done by raking or just leaving a wide swath behind the cutter. Twine wrapped bales can look good BUT enough twine must be put on the bale.


For the most part with my BR740 I have never noticed a lot of difference between creeping along and driving at baler capacity, they do make a nicer core if you start out slower until a nice core is formed, then once the pressure gauge starts to read shift up and jam it in.

I have a scale on my baler and I have never noticed enough difference in weight to justify driving slower, another problem with driving slower is more revolutions in the baler equals more leaves/fines on the ground.


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## Supa Dexta (May 28, 2014)

Tx Jim said:


> Yep and opinions are similar to navels as everyone has one. Several yrs back(3 or 4) I bought some hay from a nice gentleman in Missouri. The bales were 4X5-1/2 and I asked him what he thought the Brome grass hay would weight. This man stated he'd just had his last year model NH run through the dealer shop to be tuned up and he thought the bales would weight 1100-1200#s. Long story/short story the 18 wheeler load averaged 920 #s each..


And I have a scale here on the farm and routinely get 1000-1100 out of my JD 457, 4x5. Guessing how tight a bale is means nothing til you get em on a scale.


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## treymo (Dec 29, 2013)

Have a customer that runs a 2 year old 7090, and another customer that runs a RB560 that I help bale from time to time. I run to 568 John Deere's of my own. The New Holland's are extremely tight, my deere's will not touch them. Even running pressure right on the red line. In the same field same conditions, same speed, same alfalfa, I could make a 1650# bale whereas the 7090 made an 1800#. Experiences. Not opinions.

Trey


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

treymo

From the problems I've read about NH rd balers have with hay getting in between & on top of the belts I'll keep my JD rd baler!!!!!!!!!!! Baler operator can make side of bales loose or tight just by the way they drive & feed windrow edges.


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

The only fuss I have with my NH is the fountain effect I get with very dry hay. It can get very frustrating and of course it's always about 100 degrees when this happens.


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

Supa Dexta said:


> And I have a scale here on the farm and routinely get 1000-1100 out of my JD 457, 4x5. Guessing how tight a bale is means nothing til you get em on a scale.


In as much as I've never in umpteen years sold a round bale by weight (always by size, appearance and 'thump test') No reason to weight them, that I can see.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Troy Farmer said:


> The only fuss I have with my NH is the fountain effect I get with very dry hay. It can get very frustrating and of course it's always about 100 degrees when this happens.


I'm curious what a "fountain effect" is on a rd baler?

PS: I have no idea how the triple quote transpired.


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

So am I. Not quite as curious as you (3 quotes....lol) but curious nonetheless.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

ARD Farm said:


> So am I. Not quite as curious as you (3 quotes....lol) but curious nonetheless.


I don't known if my mouse is conspiring against me or my nerve damage caused the 3 quotes. I have noticed my mouse unintentionally "double clicking" while depressing the LH clicker I think ONCE. I tried to no avail to edit my post to remove excess quotes.


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

The NH hay fountain occurs when trying to start a bale and the hay squirts out between the belt roller interface. And the way NH is made, the hay sheet will just pile up in the space between the twine box and the rollers. I asked my dealer and his answer was bale wetter hay. You learn how much hay changes during the day in the windrow. You can start out just fine and later in the day the hay has dried out and here comes the fountain.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Now I understand why down here in Texas the majority of custom hay balers are GREEN because Coastal can get too dry very easily here where I live.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Tx Jim said:


> treymo
> 
> From the problems I've read about NH rd balers have with hay getting in between & on top of the belts I'll keep my JD rd baler!!!!!!!!!!! Baler operator can make side of bales loose or tight just by the way they drive & feed windrow edges.


Never had that with any of the three NH RB balers I've had over the years. Maybe its a strictly 5x6 thing. I i,imagine a lot of it could be hay thats too dry or improperly shaped rows.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

mlappin said:


> Never had that with any of the three NH RB balers I've had over the years. Maybe its a strictly 5x6 thing. I i,imagine a lot of it could be hay thats too dry or improperly shaped rows.


I think it is more of a climate thing....I have seen it happen here.....with hot days and short grass or in bermuda....not so much in alfalfa.

Regards, Mike


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

It's climate and and type of hay. I mostly bale grass hay Bahia and Bermuda both super fine leaf. Both dry quickly. And in South Carolina in the summer, it gets pretty warm and the moisture of the hay can change a good bit during the day. My baler is a 644 4X5. Any hay with a stem (fescue & Johnson grass, vassey grass) bale great as long as they're not too dry. The stem seems to give the bale some back bone. My two NH balers have been great but my next baler will be green to get away from the rollers.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Troy

Coastal Bermuda that gets too dry can cause problems on a JD rd baler of running up frt belts and bridging. I slow pto rpm's to about 450 rpm's plus I also weld extra 12" rods on each side of the starter roll in between the original rods therefore I very,very seldom have dry hay problems. When baling in sandy soils as I do the rods on the starter roll get "worn so I weld a bead on the leading edge" of the 4 rods to make them more aggressive for slick dry Coastal Bermuda.

Jim


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

You may get away from the rollers but you will not get away from the problem. It makes no difference if the hay is spit out around the rolls in a NH baler or just will not start a bale in others, extreme dry and short hay requires you to operate the baler differently. Slow your engine speed down and shift up a gear. That will take care of your problem. Once the core is formed you can speed the engine back up.


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

Thanks everyone - great info!!!!!!

I've got another round baler question, but will start a new thread for that one.

Thanks again!
Bill


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

Thanks for the advice guys. I have tried slowing baler rotation maybe not slow enough. I didn't mean to hijack the thread either.


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## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

> "Best looking round bales-*WHICH BALER*?"


Best baler is one that will bale your hay when it's ready to bale.....best looking round bales are the ones that are round with something holding the hay tight....& not spread out all over the field!!

Sorry, couldn't help it, I just *really* saw the question this morning, after wondering for the last few days how I was gonna get the hay rolled that is ready a week before I thought it would be - and the baler I was planning on using would need probably 2 full days of work, & no telling how much $$$ to get it going.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

There are a few Deeres. a couple New Hollands, and quite a few Vermeers around here. I think if you put 50 bales side by side from all three balers and really studied them you could tell some differences. When driving past a field full of bales, I can't tell what they are made with unless they have cover-edge on them.

It's not a big difference, but if I were buying a baler strictly for making the largest amount of perfect looking bales it would be a Deere followed very closely by NH. I run Vermeer because they are built heavy to last, start and bale anything fast and tight, have the onboard scale, and I have a very good dealer with exceptional company support. Overall appearance of finished product takes a close 3rd to the big two.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

It is all human---from cutting through storing---that determines how a bale looks/handles/keeps.

Every step affects the next step. E.g., mowing with a narrow window vs mowing with a wide window affects tedding, if I choose to ted.

Tedding a narrow windrow vs tedding a wide windrow affects raking.

Not tedding a narrow vs wide windrows affects raking differently.

Raking affects baling: E.g., Twinkie style windrow vs single roll baling.

Baling affects storage: E.g., Tight bale vs looser baler affects curing and heat dissipation.

Get my drift?

Making hay is a step-wise process and you have to meld each step correctly with the previous and the next step to get a good product. This is a humongous learning process! A person can be coached on the initial steps and make a lot of progress but the refinement only comes from experience.

It's those little things that make a difference for what works best for a person this time, this cutting, this weather, this equipment, this operator.

Ralph


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I would be more than delighted to operate and use any of the major round balers made.....if anyone cares to pay for it. 

Regards, Mike


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

If you're doing twine only giving a bale a 12 count of rotation in the chamber before dumping it after you finish tying it will make it look quite a bit better. No more cow licks/mohawks sticking up on the bale after doing this either.


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## cornshucker (Aug 22, 2011)

Ralph is right it all boils down to the operator. Some of the older balers would not make as good a roll as the newer ones but anything after the late 90s Vermeer, NH, Deere, Hesston, Krone, Gehl, Claas probably forgetting some but I have seen good rolls from all of them. Really would not turn around for the difference. I will say that net wrap can make a not so good looking roll look good, because a neighbor usually net wraps his but run out of net last fall finishing up and switched to twine his net rolls looked great but his twine wrapped rolls looked terrible in the same field but this was a operator issue. Just saying that modern equipment can somewhat hide operator inexperience because it takes less operator skill to operate a V-rake vs. a Rollabar rake, a disc mower vs. a sickle mower, and a net wrap baler vs. a twine wrap especially a round baler with steering monitors on it. Basically any of the major manufacturers make a machine that will do a good job. Part of the problems with machines is there is a simple adjustment in the operators manuals that will correct the problem but some people never take time to read the manual then they blame it on the machine, know plenty of these people.


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## cornshucker (Aug 22, 2011)

Vol said:


> I would be more than delighted to operate and use any of the major round balers made.....if anyone cares to pay for it.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I'm with you 110 percent on this one Mike.


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