Bale "kicker"

[Gerry Spraitzar]

Will someone please explain if a "belt style" bale kicker will damage hay bales when they are thrown in the bale wagon. In my part of the country, bale "kickers" are rare.

Gerry

 

[burnetma]

Gerry,

Where do you live??

The belt style kicker is tougher on bales, but it depends alot on the operator and the density of the bales. Speaking strickly from my experience with mostly grass hays. High density first cutting bales tend to hold their shape pretty well. Lower density third cutting tend to loose their shape if they are thrown with much force. This is further complicated if the distance control is turned up too high and the angle is set to low jamming the bale into the stack or if the baler is having issues with length control. I try to have the belt kicker loft the bales more than rocket the bales, which works well when you have help in the wagon.

The pan kickers loft the bale up into the air and into the wagon. They really can not jam them into the stack like a belt kicker. If you have the distance control set too high, it will simply launch the bale over the wagon.

Both kicker configurations will give you more broken bales than hand stacking on a wagon. Both configurations will give you disfigure bales near the bottom of the stack if you simply kick them on without stacking. Either one is a huge labor saver especially if working alone. I personally like my current pan thrower. It works well on my uneven hilly terrain when working alone. There are other methods of bale handling including accumulators and my personal favorite for reasonably level land the New Holland Automatic Bale Wagon. If you are not familiar with the NH Bale Wagon, it can be the best way to handle square bales. You drop the bales onto the ground using what is known as a quarter turn shoot that sets the bale with the strings off the ground. This allows you to bale as fast as the baler can swallow the hay, saving you time. Then you run through the fields with the NH Bale Wagon which automatically picks up the bales and stacks them on the rack. Depending on the model you choose. You can either unload as single bales onto an elevator or set off the entire stack into the storage location. Good stuff! There are numerous posts on this technology here. Check them out.

Best of luck,
Mark

 

[1948berg]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/photos/88425-pedestrian-thrower.html

 

[Gerry Spraitzar]

I live in Western Washington State, a bit north of Seattle.

Typical hay season is a fairly damp spring, followed with a dry summer and periodic showers in the fall. Haying in the spring, to get the first cutting is challenging, with moisture content being high. However, this first cutting sets up a good quality second cutting in June/July with good weather conditions.

Spring haying, you have to take advantage of every break of the weather to hopefully bring in the hay. Getting it off the ground is paramont as there is so much moisture in the ground. With the excess moisture in the spring, bales are heavier, and are more like bricks.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Mark, if you use a NH bale wagon you can not bale as fast as you want. It is vital that the bales maintain the same length or it will cause problems with the bale wagon. This is where counting the strokes comes into play to make sure the bales are all roughly the same length. Using a belt kicker allows you to bale as fast as the baler will allow which comes in handy when the rain is approaching.

 

[burnetma]

Robert,

Good point on bale length, but bale length extremes will effect kickers also. The belt kicker is a bit more forgiving. I guess I have never pushed a baler to its maximum. I naturally monitor strokes per bale and tend to stay on the high side.

Gerry,

I see you over on the "old" tractor site. Knowledgable people there also.

Mark

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The variations in bale length won't affect the belt thrower unless you are pushing the max length to begin with. Ideally I try to keep all my bales the same length but there are the times when I need to get a field picked up before the rain comes in and that is when I no longer care about the length. You can fill a 9x18 kicker rack in a hurry when you want to ;-)

 

[stevevdw]

We had a belt-style kicker for years & I absolutely believe they are harder on bales that a pan-style kicker. I also never cared for the additional moving parts: bearings, shafts, belts to maintain. IMHO the most important factor in bale shape is quality of twine/wire. If it's not uniform diameter or was poor quality we had way more bales break in the wagon.

 

[jd110]

I agree that the pan kickers are easier on the bales, especially in light windrows. The bale sits at the edge of the belt too long while the belt spins against it and you damage bales and strings in some cases. The kicker will lob the bale into the wagon and if it is adjusted properly, you can place the bales in the wagon better also with practice.

 

[scott_vt]

I agree that the pan kickers are easier on the bales, especially in light windrows. The bale sits at the edge of the belt too long while the belt spins against it and you damage bales and strings in some cases. The kicker will lob the bale into the wagon and if it is adjusted properly, you can place the bales in the wagon better also with practice.

Afternoon jd,
Im with you and the others, the belt kicker is tough on bales. My neighbor used one for years, he pretty much did the whole operation himself, and I can remember looking in his pull behind haywagon at some bales that didnt look too square after being tossed from the kicker to the wagon !

Although the horse people around here were so happy to get square bales they didnt complain too much.

Maybe Robert or some of the other guys that have some realtime experience with that setup might know how to change the settings on the baler to produce a tighter bale that wouldnt get deformed so easy.