Square bale length

[Lone Wolf]

Using a new baler that I got at end of last year and was baling the other day. Bales seem heavy for me (needing to decrease weight so wife can pick up) so I know I will have to play with the density weight but on ave what is the length? Right now mine are @ 45". Seems alittle long but I could be wrong. Thanks

 

[5030]

My bale length changes constantly, to accomodate my various customers who want specific lengths to fit wagons or barns. Average accepted practice is around 30-36 inches or packed dense enough that the bale maintains it's shape when picked up by the twines. You don't want a bale picked up (by hand) to assume the 'Oscar Mayer Wiener' look. It needs to be packed tight enough to maintain it's symetrical shape when lifted by the twines.

I tend to pack as tight as my Delmhorst meter will allow, that is, not climbing (within 20 minutes of bailing) over 7 points in moisture. Bailing and packing causes moisture rise, molding and a possible barn fire.

 

[slowzuki]

We do 30-40 inches, usually 36. Straw is usually 48" or so.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I try to make them 40" to 42".

Well....

I try to make them 4' X 4' and ROUND this year!

All the small squares are customers bales.....They buy 'em before I bale, and I'll make 'em whatever they request. After all, I'm not TOUCHING another "idiot cube" if I have anything to do with it!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I like to keep my bales at 35-36", it keeps them dense enough to stack well but are not too heavy so my customers are happy.

 

[5030]

I try to make them 40" to 42".

Well....

I try to make them 4' X 4' and ROUND this year!

All the small squares are customers bales.....They buy 'em before I bale, and I'll make 'em whatever they request. After all, I'm not TOUCHING another "idiot cube" if I have anything to do with it!

You mean you've matured.... Like me. I quit touching idiot cubes a long time ago. I'm not adverse to providing the crew so long as the customer pays for them but as far as me, the only idiot cubes I touch are the first one ot two to check the twine tension and the last one in the bale chamber, which I have to pull, out manually. I never leave any material in the bale chamber, even between jobs. The customer gets it all, I don't wangt it anyway unless, like you, it's round.

 

[5030]

I like to keep my bales at 35-36", it keeps them dense enough to stack well but are not too heavy so my customers are happy.

if I'm running wheat straw which incidentally usually turns into thouseands of bales, I try to set the length on the shorter side of longer. I get paid per bale so the more the merrier......

 

[slowzuki]

I did 4x4 rounds for a couple of years and I found it to be more work almost. The baler is so slow unless you have netwrap, you end up stopping and sitting tying. Then the bales are only 400 lbs or so, so you end up with a bazillion of them to move off the field.

I don't think I'd do rounds smaller than 5x4 or preferably 5x5. I hate the tying!

I try to make them 40" to 42".

Well....

I try to make them 4' X 4' and ROUND this year!

All the small squares are customers bales.....They buy 'em before I bale, and I'll make 'em whatever they request. After all, I'm not TOUCHING another "idiot cube" if I have anything to do with it!

 

[rankrank1]

Most square balers have a chamber that is 14" tall x 18" wide (this is the most common size). Also, there are bigger balers that have a chamber 16" tall and 18" wide. There are also a few compact vintage balers that are 12" tall and 16" wide bale chambers but these are not very common.

General rule of thumb is to set your length roughly twice whatever the width is. Why: If you make your bales somewhere around 35 to 36" inches long it will allow you to interlock your hay stacks on the wagon, trailer, or hayloft such that 2 bales sideways at 18" wide (total = 36" length) equals the same 36" length that you have is set for length so you can interlock and stack the hay anyway that you like for optimized stack safety.

 

[5030]

I did 4x4 rounds for a couple of years and I found it to be more work almost. The baler is so slow unless you have netwrap, you end up stopping and sitting tying. Then the bales are only 400 lbs or so, so you end up with a bazillion of them to move off the field.

I don't think I'd do rounds smaller than 5x4 or preferably 5x5. I hate the tying!

That is an interesting perspective and one I never looked at, however, we do 4-4's for horse people and the Amish because most horse people don't have the equipment to handle larger bales. A small CUT with a FEL will handle a 4-4 as will a small bobcat skid loader. The bigger ones, 4-5 and 4-6 need proportionately larger equipment putting them out of reach of the average equine customer and most equine operators want 'idiot cubes' becaue that's what they are set up to feed.

My wife's Percherons have always been fed rounds, the larger the better. I roll 4-6's in net for my own use, some rounds in the excess of 1500 pounds, but then again, that's beyond the capabilities of most people to handle. You need the equipment or you are S.O of Luck with large rounds.

I've tried (unsuccessfully I might add) to convince my largest contract customer to go to rounds. The raise Alpaka (sic) Lamas for the wool, which I understand is worth quite a bit. I even offered to make them custom round bale feeders (which I use to keep the rounds off the ground and limit waste through controlled feeding) but no dice. They want idiot cubes and I oblige. It sort of pains me to spit a thousand on the ground, knowing they have to pay a crew to load racks and fill their barn (I did, out of sympathy, loan them my Sno-Co bale elevator on a long term basis as I don't use it anymore).

Personally, I don't much care if it's net or twine (has to be net on clover over wheat straw) because cutting the twine is as easy as pulling a net wrap at least for me. I just run my box cutter dowm the side of the bale, grab the twine and pull it off. Takes about 15 seconds or just as long as pulling a net weap.

My bales feed at basically chest height in custom designed feeders with roof's and a large swing door to load the bale with the forks (eye to the sky). Pull the net or cut the twine, close the door and latch it, drop the feeder bars and let 'em eat.

My big gripe with rounds was how much forage was wasted. The ground contact plus the weather (rain and snow) caused an appreciable loss in forage and consequently wasted income. My feeders eliminated all the waste due to spoiled hay. I cut my consumption by a third.

Before, in the spring, I had a layered buildup of spoiled, rotten, moldy, peed on hay at every feed station. Now I have none.

Klene Pipe Structures in Indiana makes a feeder similar to what I made if you are interested.