Made some feed hay using Krone baler-short square bales.

[Hay Dude]

Its a little past it’s prime, but I was able to crank out about 30 pretty little bales today. I used the Krone Big Pack and set the monitor to make 60” x4’ x4’ bales. Turned out great. I haven’t had the chance to use this feature yet and it works amazingly well.
These bales will be perfect for my locals raising beef.

Monitor set at 60”. The blue number can be touched and a menu pops up to change bale length. It’ll make up to a 120” long bale.

 

[bmaverick]

Looks to be a nice size even for horses.

 

[Hay Dude]

Looks to be a nice size even for horses.

Thanks. Yes I have contacted my horse hay customers and let them know they wil be getting “cubes” instead of round bales, too.
Been selling round bales to the same horse customers for decades. The addition of this baler made the round baler expendable since it quickly changes to any bale length from the cab. Saves a lot of time, especially on hilly ground.

 

[wmonroe]

That’s a very useful feature, you can customize bale size/weight depending on customer or need.

 

[Hay Dude]

That’s a very useful feature, you can customize bale size/weight depending on customer or need.

Yes, you can change bale size or density on the fly very easily.
I am running 2 large square balers now and although they have some disadvantages, this one has allowed me to sell my round baler and the tractor that pulled it.
Nothing against round balers, its just that keeping one around to make feed hay was costing me more in a hay business that has seen input costs increase dramatically.
Time will tell how it works out.

 

[sea2summit]

Yes, you can change bale size or density on the fly very easily.
I am running 2 large square balers now and although they have some disadvantages, this one has allowed me to sell my round baler and the tractor that pulled it.
Nothing against round balers, its just that keeping one around to make feed hay was costing me more in a hay business that has seen input costs increase dramatically.
Time will tell how it works out.

Disadvantage just moving parts/maint, cost, and HP requirements? Or are there other hidden issues?

Thanks. Yes I have contacted my horse hay customers and let them know they wil be getting “cubes” instead of round bales, too.
Been selling round bales to the same horse customers for decades. The addition of this baler made the round baler expendable since it quickly changes to any bale length from the cab. Saves a lot of time, especially on hilly ground.

How do they compare weight wise? Seems like 4x4x60” is less hay than a 4x5 round? And are large squares like small, requiring covered storage? Can the average user with a spear move them or do you need special spears?

 

[Hay Dude]

Disadvantage just moving parts/maint, cost, and HP requirements? Or are there other hidden issues?

How do they compare weight wise? Seems like 4x4x60” is less hay than a 4x5 round? And are large squares like small, requiring covered storage? Can the average user with a spear move them or do you need special spears?

Great questions!
The disadvantages you named are there, but I already had the 2 larger tractors that can handle them. As far as maintenance costs, they may be more, but I will say I have had plenty of $ spent fixing round balers, too.
Yes, more fuel to run them, but I can run my Hesston square baler at about 7G/hr. on a 200HP tractor. Round baler was about 5.5G/hr on a 125HP. The Krone is more like 10G/hr on a 300HP.

However, a field that took 5 hours to round bale, now takes, 2. So I am net savings on fuel and more importantly TIME! I have a LOT of hilly ground, so round bales were very time consuming. With a large square baler(s), I can take on more acreage. And that was one of my primary goals. Funny how the topography we farm can dictate what balers we use. Some guys farming will tell you you’re stupid because you don’t roll their way, but they don’t understand farming is a local business. Flat land farming makes it easy for RB’s. Hilly is much easier with LSB’s.

Weight wise, the first “cubes” I made were about 750lbs at only 700lbs of pressure. A little lighter than my average dry feed hay round bales. Its easy to dial-up the pressure and make those cubes weigh 800-900lbs or more. Was trying to find a sweet spot and not pack them too tight being concerned about moisture inside a super tight bale. Left them a little loose to breathe and get used to the baler. Hopefully, next bales will be made at 1000lbs pressure with the goal to get to a 800-900lb cube to match my previous 800-900lb round bales.
My 4x4x8’s were scaling at 2400lbs, so a 5’ bale could easily be 1000+.

These are a few I got into some shelter before the rain hit to stack later.

 

[Hay Dude]

Still feeding rounds, too.
Yesterdays call
I only have about 30 tons of round bale feed hay left. The cubes will start replacing them soon.

 

[Tx Jim]

Great questions!
As far as maintenance costs, they may be more, but I will say I have had plenty of $ spent fixing round balers, too.

I've never experienced but a very few major break downs since 1987 on my rd balers except belt replacement about ever 20,000 bales & a brg now & then. Several yrs ago I failed to check slip clutch it was seized & gearbox shaft broke when I plugged baler with hay but that was my fault. About 25 yrs ago I did have a brg fail that caused a baler fire but baler was covered by insurance.
What were some of the major rd baler breakdowns you refer to?

 

[WM75Guy]

Will they fit inside the fancy feeder?

 

[Hay Dude]

Will they fit inside the fancy feeder?

My customers Hay Huts?
Yes.
They are 6’x6’ so 5’ long cube will fit.
I may increase size to 5.5’. Still in experimental stage for size and pressure.

 

[Hay Dude]

I've never experienced but a very few major break downs since 1987 on my rd balers except belt replacement about ever 20,000 bales & a brg now & then. Several yrs ago I failed to check slip clutch it was seized & gearbox shaft broke when I plugged baler with hay but that was my fault. About 25 yrs ago I did have a brg fail that caused a baler fire but baler was covered by insurance.
What were some of the major rd baler breakdowns you refer to?

I never said I had any major breakdowns. Just said ”I will say I have had plenty of $ spent fixing round balers, too.”
I have had a few rolls break off where they attach to the side sheets of the baler frame (probably from trying to make the bales with too much pressure), electric actuator arm failures, bearing failure & fire with belt damage.

Not as much as a large square baler to fix, but still have had repairs.

Round balers are a great way to pack a lot of hay into a bale. I don’t regret the 15 years I made them.
My main issue with them is we bale a LOT of hilly ground. It became too time consuming to make the bales, cycle the wrap, then scurry off to a flat spot to dump them. Also, round bales are more difficult to sell than square bales, in MY area.
I also like the speed of continuous baling-can get a field square baled in less than 1/2 the time, allowing me to get more fields baled. Also enjoy the way they stack on the trucks or trailer. They are much less dramatic to load in uneven fields on trailers and transport over the road.

 

[Rustyiron]

I bet you're customers will love them for storage reasons, and you should see an advantage hauling them.
Do you sell by the ton or bale?
I'd almost think that it would be a "wash" by not hauling air space back from the field and during delivery.

 

[Hay Dude]

Thanks!
We shall see if it was the right decision-so far it feels right (although my bank account is a bit lighter lol)
I sure am enjoying putting the equivalent almost 2 round bales into just 1 large square.
We had been using the Hesston for a few years for mushroom hay and the round baler for feed hay. After handling 1500-2000 round bales per year for feed hay, the baling of them on hills and the storage of them became time consuming.
Then I thought “what if I could make a short large square bale from the tractor cab?
When the opportunity came along to buy the Krone last fall, I jumped on it.
Only time will tell how it works out.

Heres some from yesterday’s baling

I like the way they stack, too

 

[Rustyiron]

It's amazing how much different bailing equipment is out there and how much it costs. I imagine that it's the same everywhere that the small squares are king in terms of price to the producer for the least amount of hay, but there's no such thing as a couple of young boys hanging around willing to put it up for a few bucks. Enter the various small squares "accumulator" systems, stack wagons, etc. and you have a huge investment in equipment, more than enough to put those 2 boys through med school!
I think that you've landed yourself in a reasonable middle ground and good luck this hay season.

 

[Tx Jim]

I can understand how large sq bales would have a large advantage over rd bales when baling on hilly ground. And large sq bales are much more stable than rd bales when transporting on trailers

 

[Hay Dude]

It's amazing how much different bailing equipment is out there and how much it costs. I imagine that it's the same everywhere that the small squares are king in terms of price to the producer for the least amount of hay, but there's no such thing as a couple of young boys hanging around willing to put it up for a few bucks. Enter the various small squares "accumulator" systems, stack wagons, etc. and you have a huge investment in equipment, more than enough to put those 2 boys through med school!
I think that you've landed yourself in a reasonable middle ground and good luck this hay season.

Pretty sure someone could make a better baling operation on paper for me that would show a cost savings if I did it a different way, but there’s something to be said about quality and enjoyment of life that needs to be added to the way any of us make a living.
I think it would have been cheaper to make a mix of round bales for feed and large squares for mushroom hay, but the different balers requiring different tractors, bale forks, etc and the hilly ground was leaving me too stressed out.

Here’s a small sample of my rolling ground. Not my steepest, either. Round bales would have to be shuttled down to bottom of the hill and dumped. Very time consuming.

Going to all square with shorter length square bales for feed just takes the stress down a few pegs. That’s worth something to me.

 

[LouNY]

Yep, so much fun opening a baler, and then the bale starts to takeoff on it's own.
Amazing how far some of them can go and the brush and trees they can run over and bounce off of.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yep, so much fun opening a baler, and then the bale starts to takeoff on it's own.
Amazing how far some of them can go and the brush and trees they can run over and bounce off of.

Had one get away from me a few years back and swear it was going 40MPH. Hit a bump, became airborne and broke a 5” limb off a tree. Would have easily killed someone.
Had another roll into woods at high speed and come to a rest next to a deer hunting blind.

 

[LouNY]

Pretty sure someone could make a better baling operation on paper for me that would show a cost savings if I did it a different way, but there’s something to be said about quality and enjoyment of life that needs to be added to the way any of us make a living.
I think it would have been cheaper to make a mix of round bales for feed and large squares for mushroom hay, but the different balers requiring different tractors, bale forks, etc and the hilly ground was leaving me too stressed out.

Here’s a small sample of my rolling ground. Not my steepest, either. Round bales would have to be shuttled down to bottom of the hill and dumped. Very time consuming.

View attachment 751618
Going to all square with shorter length square bales for feed just takes the stress down a few pegs. That’s worth something to me.

Looks a lot like our ground up here in upstate NY. That looks to be a good sized field,
so much of ours is small field 3-5 acres some 6-8 and just a few larger ones.
Some of the larger operations are still burying stone walls and putting in considerable drainage to
make larger fields for their big equipment.