Hay bale comparison

[Builder]

Ha ha ha ha! Around here it's about what you all are saying, 4x4 take about 400 to 500 lbs and 4 x 5 run about 900. Squares are usually 40lbs so the math is easy. Some guys bale really light or heavy but that would be a good average. I don't do hay but have lots of pals who do and they get 2 cuts, with the 2nd cut being about 40 percent the yeild of the first. Depends widely on what you're growing though and how you treat the field. Some dairy guys get 3 cuts of alfalfa every year but they fertilize a lot, reseed regularly and the last cut is way small compared to the first.

The big squares are coming into favor now, usually 800 to 900 lbs. I've never seen a bale handler system in action for small squares, sure would be neat to see.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KXHu9sTC2s]hay accumulator - YouTube[/ame]
You can have a video sent of this one in action. meanwhile, here's some pics: Hay Master, Inc.

 

[art]

One other thing about round balers, they have variable chambers which bale tighter, normally more hay and fixed chamber.

Ground speed, windrow and tractor RPM and bale tension system are all variables to the amount of hay in a bale.

 

[gengine]

I couldn't figure out how all you were getting 600-1100 lbs out of a 4x4 bale...then I realized you were talking round bales. Never done them myself. We do about 7 tons od 80 lb. 16 x 16 small squares and about 80 ton of 4'x4'x8' large square bales that come in around 1900lbs. On dry ground straight alfalfa, we get about a ton/acre. The grass on dry ground comes in about 1.5 tons/acre. We only get one good cut here on a dry farm in western Wyoming, if we're lucky a second cut but it's pretty skimpy. Local conditions vary greatly.