Bale "kicker"

[Robert_in_NY]

The bales do get deformed a little coming out of the thrower but if you stack them up in a barn right away they will be square up fine. The whole thing about belted throwers deforming bales and somehow the bales are not as good is more marketing then anything else.

 

[slowzuki]

I have a pan kicker but have never used it as it is broken but have spent lots of time behind a belt thrower. They do break bales now and again and they get jammed when trying to reduce its speed to load the front part of a wagon.

Great labour savers though.

 

[art]

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.

The pan tosser has had it's advantages for an easy toss for years but large hay farms had always had difficulty do to their low capacity.
We didn't realize how much till they installed them on NH balers and we found that the only one that could bale to it's limits or close with a pan style was their smallest baler.
Since they changed the design on the newer belt kickers so the bale is out of the chamber before going into the thrower it's tough to find a quality issue with the squareness of them, the added capacity of the belt kickers makes it easier to make a day's quota!
Twine is very critical to having the bales stay together. This is not only in the wagon after the baler but for the baler to hold the twine properly while tying the knot.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I have never had a problem with bales jamming up the thrower. I could see on the old belt driven throwers but the model 72 is hydraulic. As Art said, the belt throwers are fast. I can bale as fast as the baler will let me (if rain is coming) and I only have to worry about filling the wagon. The bales shoot out of the baler without missing a beat.