Square bale length

[rankrank1]

... After all, I'm not TOUCHING another "idiot cube" if I have anything to do with it!

Believe it or not, My favorite part of haying is handling the idiot cubes. Many people pay exorabant fees to join a gym or fitness program. Never enjoyed lifting weights (even in my youth) much less now that I am middle aged.

Hate the thought of lifting weights or running just to be running, but I will throw hay bales all day as I enjoy that physical workout. Also, I will still play full court basketball for 2-3 hours with continous running and truly love every minute of it -again for an enjoyable physical workout. Now if you told me I had to run 3 miles from point A to point B then I would be miserable as I simply would not enjoy that type of workout just like I do not enjoy a workout like lifting weights in a gym.

This all said, I limit my acreage in order to keep haying enjoyable for me. If I was doing too many acres then I would not be able to physically handle it.

 

[5030]

Believe it or not, My favorite part of haying is handling the idiot cubes. Many people pay exorabant fees to join a gym or fitness program. Never enjoyed lifting weights (even in my youth) much less now that I am middle aged.

Hate the thought of lifting weights or running just to be running, but I will throw hay bales all day as I enjoy that physical workout. Also, I will still play full court basketball for 2-3 hours with continous running and truly love every minute of it again for the physical workout, but it you told me I had to run 3 miles from point A to point B then I would be miserable as I simply would not enjoy it just like I do not enjoy lifting weights in a gym.

Lets see, Dayton, Ohio.....

You are clse enough to come work on a weekend, and visit Cabelas as well.

I'll run some bales that will make you sweat and I'll provide a long sleeved shirt so your arms don't look like they had a trip over a barbed wire fence as well.....:laughing:

 

[rankrank1]

Lets see, Dayton, Ohio.....

You are clse enough to come work on a weekend, and visit Cabelas as well.

I'll run some bales that will make you sweat and I'll provide a long sleeved shirt so your arms don't look like they had a trip over a barbed wire fence as well.....:laughing:

Actually have been to that Cabelas in Dundee several times. The company that I used to work for was home-office based in Plymouth, MI. Also regularly I still go to MI for SAE meetings pretty regularly.

I do prefer hay that is soft and subtle to the touch as compared to the itchey scratchy hay though. I never have to wear long sleeves on my hay as it is pretty soft. Also, I drop my bales on the ground and use a pick up truck and trailer so I do not have to ride the wagon behind a baler and breath all that dust. Wife actually does a pretty good job running the baler and tractor.

 

[art]

5030 for what you have if you wanted to really make life easy you should consider large square bales.
The old Case-IH 8575 that was built by hesston could bale the equivilent of 1200 small squares an hour!
The chamber is a variable so the hay can be made in different weight/thickness wafers for differnet uses.

For retail a skid to unload is all that is needed and they are easy to handle and store mechanically. You would need to move your big horse up a bit in horsepower as well.

 

[5030]

No more new tractors. I'm retired and everything is paid for and the only time I get new equipment is when I have the cash and that's rarely now.

It feels better going in my pocket than to the finance company, much better.:thumbsup:

 

[art]

Have to love old age!

The wisdom of how to make dollars work! I have to stop, it makes me wonder how all these people get elected talking fiscal prudence when the government is soooo in the hole!

We have the best politicians that money can buy!

 

[Lone Wolf]

Thanks guy for the input. Hopefully the rain is gone and sun is out so I can play and make the baler adjustments after work today. Right now the bales can pop a hernia or other thinks, :laughing:

 

[Mickey_Fx]

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.

Same here when I was haying. 2x the width on the length so bale could be interlocked when stacking.

Rounds are still not all that popular around here. For those that do do rounds, bagging them in plastic bags is quite common to help with spoilage during our wet winters.