Thanks for the interest Tx Jim, like you I prefer to see substantiation of claims made.
I have only recently rejoined TBN with no posts from the more distant past. I am optimistic that I will have a bit more time now so can take part on the forum.
I was fortunate to visit the USA and canada some years ago and what an eyeopener that was to see the difference in haying operations in the northern United States and Eastern Canada. Throwers and the associated hay wagons are not used in our neck of the woods. Many of ur operators are ceasing small squares and going to rounds or big squares but small squares fetch a premium for the metropolitan based horse owners in particular and even higher prices to the very arid towns with horse and pony clubs.
Recent prices I have heard: $9 to $12 in Perth, $15 or more in Carnarvon (600 miles north of Perth) and up to $20 in Port Hedland (1000 miles north of Perth), I am getting $8 per bale on farm at the moment which amounts to $320 per tonne whereas 5ft rolls sell earlier in the season for around $150 to $190 per tonne on farm. For the climate around here I cannot make more per acre from any other crop that I do not have to go to jail for!!!!
To me the term irregular bale length means intermittent bales that are shorter or longer than the bale length set by the operator and the variation is greater than the acceptable range of variability.
There are more causes of long bales than short bales in my experience, and I have been associated with hay from childhood on my fathers property even seeing baling done with a Massey Harris stationary wire twitch baler with manually inserted wooden separators between each bale, hay brought in with a sweep and power to the baler via a broad belt from a tractor.
Back to the issue!
I have referred to three and an unlikely fourth cause already.
1. The trip arm not pivoting freely because of:
a overtightened locknut;
b rust in pivot point relevant for a machine operating ok the previous year and now out of storage;and
c deformed or damaged bushing in the pivot point.
2. Metering wheel not properly adjusted. If the clearance is insufficient the ttrip arm catches early as it drops instead od falling all the way to the adjustable stop.
3. The trip arm may be worn, on the 570 the trip arm is toothed and could give inconsistent bale lengths, usually bales too long if the wear causes slippage of the metering wheel but if the wear has the metering arm curve misshapen the the trip arm may catch too soon when falling.
The causes of long bales include the worn trip arm referred to above depending on how the wear affects operation and:
4 Worn friction disc which is the drive from the metering wheel to the trip arm, if that slips then more hay into the bale before trip arm is activated.. replace friction disc
5. Slippage of the trip arm on the friction disc caused by spring tension on the trip arm being too low >tighten or replace spring
6. Poor density adjustment:
a density too low.increase density
b wedges in the bale chute not delivering consistent bales
7. Hydraulic tension becoming variable
a pressure relief valve stuck >clean it.
b dirt in oil pipes etc causing uneven oil flow>clean out and change oil.
8. Uneven feed because of uneven windrows. Intermittent overfeeding can occur if a big slug of hay goes into a bale as it is about to trip then that biscuit is much larger than usual the bale is that much longer. I have found this as a particular problem baling pea straw out of windrows with multiple passes of the rake and more so if the windrows have been moved by wind.
9. Loose knotter disc brake. > tighten the spring loaded nylock nuts ton ensure correct tension.
10.Pickup drive belt not slipping another cause of overfeeding > adjust pickup drive belt or remove paint or rust from the pulley sheaves, another issue arising when balers are removed from storage and particularly so if stored in the weather between seasons.
11. Knotter stop not allowing it to release after the trip arm is activated or jumps forward >adjust the knotter stop .
12. Driving too fast and overfeeding the baler which can cause banana bales and irregular length bales. eg if instead of the recommended 12 to 14 strokes to fill a 36" bale the feed rate though even goes up such that there are 8 or 9 strokes to fill a bale the variation in bale length could be 5" without any uneven feed issues. With such rapid feeding if the baler accepts 8 strokes and ties the bale and on the next bale 8 only puts the trip mechanism on the brink of tripping a full extra charge goes into the next bale before tripping.
You can see how the rated capacity of a baler is arrived at.
A NH 570 optimal maximum per hour is 450 bales, ie 92 strokes per minute at 12 strokes per 36" bale for 60 minutes gives 459.999 bales and allowing for a few bales with more than 12 stokes comes near as ****** is to swearing to 450 bales per hour
Hope this helps, thanks Kevin.
