Balers

[Renze]

During the years, only Welger balers have survived at contractors. A local contractor once told me that they used to have 3 NH balers: one adjusted for straw, one adjusted for hay, one backup. Knotters had to be rebuilt every season, on both machines.

When they bought their first Welger, they didnt need the backup baler anymore because the Welger never broke down, they needed to rebuild the knotters not every season but every 5 seasons, and the Welger made such great evenly sized bales, that they sold the other NH balers too, because the Welger performed in straw as well as hay with very little adjustment.

Another contractor had a Deutz-Fahr which broke down (at least!) twice in a season, once in our field, and once just hours before he came to us (leaving us wait for 3 hours with a crew of 6 thirsty bale catchers, that couldnt touch the beer yet, untill the work was done or they would tumble off the bale wagon, at temperatures over 35ï½°C)
Next season he bought another trouble free Welger AP 730 baler.

If i was a contractor, i wouldnt even look at anything else than a Welger small baler.

Now if it was for round balers.... Then the playing field is a lot more level. Krone, JD, all make good round balers.

 

[HaySweden]

I'm wondering how you wrap the small bales, and if you use some kind of preservative? Do you wrap them individually or in groups or with something like an inline wrapper? I can only think of one guy in our area (SC Wis) who had a Freeman baler, but that was years ago. I believe they have a reputation as being well built and long lasting, but that all comes with a higher price tag. Probably a lot more common in the Plains and western states.

We wrap them individually with miniature wrappers, same as bigbale wrappers, but smaller. Some have other methods with bags sealed with heatsealer. Lot of work, high demand from horseowners with to few horses to buy 3x3 wrapped big bales, that is 75% of the horsehay market here.

 

[HaySweden]

During the years, only Welger balers have survived at contractors.

Next season he bought another trouble free Welger AP 730 baler.

If i was a contractor, i wouldnt even look at anything else than a Welger small baler.
.

That's something! I have an offer for a AP730 with thrower, the dealer wants 34000 US$, I think I'll go for it. Good deal, or would I find it much cheaper in USA?

 

[Mickey_Fx]

I looked at the freeman balers, they seem to be really heavy stuff!

I know about the Mads Amby rakes, today rotor rakes are 99,9% of the market here. Elho, in finland, makes a copy of NH rollabar rake, they launched it last year. Is roping the hay a big problem with this type of rake? We only grow timothy/orchard/ryegrass. Is different to handle moist material from dry hay.

Sorry it has take so long to get back to you but the holiday and bad wether has had my attention for a while.

As for your question in a separate post, if you are asking about pto powered Freeman, I don't think I've ever seen one.

I'm not sure if I understand what a "rotor rake" is. When I was doing custom haying, I had all kinds of crops to deal with. alfalfa and clover were the worse for spring cuttings as they were leggy and the leaf hard to dry in a tigh windrow. The Madds was the best answer I found then, late 70's.

We grow Timothy here for horse hay. Gets pretty heavy. I've seen timothy being bailed with pto baler and a JD tractor of about 125HP range. Don't recall the baler brand but was up to the task but yield was such the tractor was straining to power the baler. Typ spring job of mixed grass would yield 4t/acre. Pretty heavy for many locations.

 

[Hoosier Hay Man]

Here is a link to Kuhn North America showing a rotary rake. Most are from Europe such as Kuhn, Claas and Krone with one built in America called the Miller Pro.

KUHN North America.com - Rotary Rakes, Wheel Rakes & Mergers - GA 3201 GM

I own a Kuhn and it makes a fluffier windrow than my JD rollabar rake allowing it dry more uniform with less leaf shatter in crops like alfalfa.

 

[Renze]

That's something! I have an offer for a AP730 with thrower, the dealer wants 34000 US$, I think I'll go for it. Good deal, or would I find it much cheaper in USA?

I have no idea about pricing on the other side of the pond... but over here, they have a high resale value and older types are popular exports to eastern Europe...

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Here is a link to Kuhn North America showing a rotary rake. Most are from Europe such as Kuhn, Claas and Krone with one built in America called the Miller Pro.

KUHN North America.com - Rotary Rakes, Wheel Rakes & Mergers - GA 3201 GM

I own a Kuhn and it makes a fluffier windrow than my JD rollabar rake allowing it dry more uniform with less leaf shatter in crops like alfalfa.

Thanks for the link. Don't recall ever seeing a rake of that type around here. After seeing it, I still think I'd prefer the Madds rake I had. More compact and doesn't move the hay as much as it would appear these rotor rake do. The Madds used an belt that swept the hay off to the side and just at the last second the articulated fingers gave the hay a flick up-wards. The rows were high and fluffy. If the guard was left off (sim to that use on the rotor rake) the Madds would serve as a tedder as well. Using the Madds, I've taken windrows that had been rained on heavily for several days, beaten down flat. One pass with the Madds and I had fluffy windrows several feet high.