# Best Silage Baler?



## Spring Fed Acres (Feb 9, 2015)

I was baling silage yesterday with my JD 854 baler and I could not make a round bale. All the bales were lumpy. I had the density turned up as high as I could and it still wouldn't make a good bale. My neighbor was helping me out with their NH 7070. And they were making perfectly round bales all day. They were actually thinking of trading their NH for a Krone. Which brings up the question, what is the best silage baler? The neighbor who was helping me said JD is the worst and had many complaints about his NH too. I just started farming this year and it's hard to make a round bale above 60% moisture with my JD. It's been a frustrating year and I'm thinking of getting a different silage baler. My baler does work great on dryer material, but I'm mostly trying to make silage bales.


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

Spring Fed Acres said:


> I was baling silage yesterday with my JD 854 baler and I could not make a round bale. All the bales were lumpy. I had the density turned up as high as I could and it still wouldn't make a good bale. My neighbor was helping me out with their NH 7070. And they were making perfectly round bales all day. They were actually thinking of trading their NH for a Krone. Which brings up the question, what is the best silage baler? The neighbor who was helping me said JD is the worst and had many complaints about his NH too. I just started farming this year and it's hard to make a round bale above 60% moisture with my JD. It's been a frustrating year and I'm thinking of getting a different silage baler. My baler does work great on dryer material, but I'm mostly trying to make silage bales.


I've heard Krone's are good .. never actually ran one in wet hay.. we don'y have any complaints about the NH balers ( silage specials ) we run and like you 80% of the hay we bales is wet.. I won't say a word about the Deeres


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## LaneFarms (Apr 10, 2010)

Vermeer 504 pro, a neighbor just bought one and he says it's nearly impossible to clog up. It also has a faster dump time than a 469 JD.


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## discbinedr (Mar 4, 2013)

Very happy with my NH BR7060 SS here. 90% sileage.


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## Joppit (Sep 4, 2015)

Spring Fed Acres said:


> I was baling silage yesterday with my JD 854 baler and I could not make a round bale. All the bales were lumpy. I had the density turned up as high as I could and it still wouldn't make a good bale. My neighbor was helping me out with their NH 7070. And they were making perfectly round bales all day. They were actually thinking of trading their NH for a Krone. Which brings up the question, what is the best silage baler? The neighbor who was helping me said JD is the worst and had many complaints about his NH too. I just started farming this year and it's hard to make a round bale above 60% moisture with my JD. It's been a frustrating year and I'm thinking of getting a different silage baler. My baler does work great on dryer material, but I'm mostly trying to make silage bales.


Hello all,

All Krone Balers come ready to bale Silage, dry hay, and straw, all with the same baler. No special kits needed or adapter pieces like on the JD. So it sounds like you could do all the silage you want and then turn around and bale dry hay if you wanted to. Krone's COMPRIMA has the widest pick-up on the market, no belts on it as it is a chain and slat system with makes it quieter, heavy duty chains, X-cut models have knives in them mainly for the silage balers that will give you the densest bales on the market. Basically, if you want the best baler on the market, look into Krone. Krone's Combi-pack is a comprima baler/wrapper combo, not sure if that would be a fit for your operation but definitely something to look into.


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## Spring Fed Acres (Feb 9, 2015)

Does anyone run a Krone Fortima or Comprima? I know the Fortima has all chains, are they noisy? Also, I was checking out the Vermeer 504 Pro, does anyone have experience with any of these balers? How do they compare to the NH or JDs?


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## Albertan (Jan 10, 2015)

Pretty much of any of the European built balers will give you good performance in Silage and high moisture conditions (Kuhn, Krone, Claas, Vermeer (Lely) and McHale to name but a few). The main reason being that these balers were designed and built for such conditions in Europe - built for Silage but can bale dry hay and straw too. A lot of North American designed machines have been built for dry conditions with silage being an afterthought. The true silage balers have heavier drives, more rollers with scrapers/cleaners and/or extra driven rollers, heavier bearings/shafts, 5 tine bar pick ups, and purpose built intakes with better rotors and most cases a knife cutter incorporating a drop floor to unplug the pick up from the cab.


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## timberjackrob (Feb 16, 2015)

we just bought a Vermeer 504n silage special but all we have baled is dry hay so far will b baling some wet hay soon very impressed with the baler so far


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

The best.........is merely one's opinion. I have a NH 7060 SS, it will roll whatever I feed it.


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## Joppit (Sep 4, 2015)

Spring Fed Acres said:


> Does anyone run a Krone Fortima or Comprima? I know the Fortima has all chains, are they noisy? Also, I was checking out the Vermeer 504 Pro, does anyone have experience with any of these balers? How do they compare to the NH or JDs?


I have set up both balers in the field, the Fortima is not as quiet as the Comprima (due to the belt and slat system vs the chain and slat on Fortima), but noise has not been a complaint about them. Probably because the customer is wondering how it put that much hay into such a pretty bale . Vermeer 504 is not a bad baler but not in the same league as the Fortima and Comprima, that is just the honest truth. The Vermeer cannot compete in bale density, pick-up consistency, pick up width, efficiency at high speeds, Krone is simply the Cadillac of Balers. If you want a Ford by all means buy a Ford, its a good product...but don't expect it to perform like a Cadillac.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Joppit said:


> I have set up both balers in the field, the Fortima is not as quiet as the Comprima (due to the belt and slat system vs the chain and slat on Fortima), but noise has not been a complaint about them. Probably because the customer is wondering how it put that much hay into such a pretty bale . Vermeer 504 is not a bad baler but not in the same league as the Fortima and Comprima, that is just the honest truth. The Vermeer cannot compete in bale density, pick-up consistency, pick up width, efficiency at high speeds, Krone is simply the Cadillac of Balers. If you want a Ford by all means buy a Ford, its a good product...but don't expect it to perform like a Cadillac.


Are you a salesman? I'm nearly two years into using a Fortima and I wouldn't give as high praise as your saying. Praise, yes. High praise, ehh, maybe. Depends on what I'm baling. Good baler? Definatly. It does a very good job at baling and chopping wet stalk type crops. Wet Bermuda grass, not so much. It will bale it but with smaller windrows. If you want to push a Fortima, you better have a hydraulic reverser. Dry hay is no problem. What I really like about it is the independent bale tension arms from side to side. It keeps the full slat on the bale at the same tension no matter what shape the bale is.


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## Spring Fed Acres (Feb 9, 2015)

Bonfire said:


> Are you a salesman? I'm nearly two years into using a Fortima and I wouldn't give as high praise as your saying. Praise, yes. High praise, ehh, maybe. Depends on what I'm baling. Good baler? Definatly. It does a very good job at baling and chopping wet stalk type crops. Wet Bermuda grass, not so much. It will bale it but with smaller windrows. If you want to push a Fortima, you better have a hydraulic reverser. Dry hay is no problem. What I really like about it is the independent bale tension arms from side to side. It keeps the full slat on the bale at the same tension no matter what shape the bale is.


What is Bermuda grass? I typically do alfalfa. 
Also, if the Fortima is only a good baler, what would be better than it?


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Spring Fed Acres said:


> What is Bermuda grass? I typically do alfalfa.
> Also, if the Fortima is only a good baler, what would be better than it?


I think the Fortima is an excellent baler. The issues I've had are fixed by the raking job. Makes very nice tight bales.

That McHale I saw earlier today on this site looks like a good one as well. Looks like some of those pickup and rotor parts are interchangeable with a Krone.


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