balers?

[frustrated1]

Given the choice, which new baler would you buy and why? Pros and cons please. Will be looking closely at Red Deer next week and any heads up would be appreciated. We have Deere, NH and Hesston dealers nearby. We bale silage, greenfeed and straw. Minimal amount of hay. Also, is one net wrap system any better than the next? Thanks guys.

[smcgrath76]

We currently run a Gehl Baler and really
like it, but we are looking to get rid
of it and go for an older JD baler. I
think the JD is the best one (not sure
how "NEW" price compares).
JD carry the bale in the belts, while NH
and Hesston carry them on a drum in the
bottom of the baler. The JD netwrap
also goes over the edge of the bale
which would be good for rotary straw.
As well, the megatooth pickups are
pretty tough. Our neighbour figures he
can do over 25 bales an hour with his
new 568 (and that is in our current
drought year).
Our neighbours use a Hesston, and get
along fine.
That said, they are all too much money
and used ones are no better...

[greybeard]

I've had 3 JD and don't see any reason to change.The 567 is a lot more productive than previous models due to the feeder fingers behind the pickup. You can bale dry and chopped up crop no problem. The twine tie was a pain on the older 535.
Lots of selection in dispersal sales these days. If your looking used I'm sure you can get a bargain as there are less bidders every day.
It takes a good swath of hay to maintain 25 bales an hour, but the baler will do anything that will go under the tractor without bunching.
Mega wide pickups aren't suited to light rained down swaths.

[kato]

We bought a New Idea baler a few years back. It cost us $10,500. I can't count how many bales that machine did, but I bet it was way over 30,000 before we decided it had done enough. We decided to keep it, and parked it in the shed. Then we went out and bought another one just like it for $2500.00. This was three years ago, and money was tight. Turns out it was an incredible move. We do about three thousand bales a year, and we have hardly spent a cent on this second old baler.... mainly because I bet we've taken about 3,000 dollars worth of parts off the old one. Why do breakdowns always happen after hours? It's pretty slick. Take a bearing, or a roller out on a Friday night when there are no parts to be bought, and just go to the shed and get another one. You're back in the field in no time flat. We'll keep this up until we've used up the old one, and then maybe we'll go find yet another old one, and keep it going. If we can find one!

You don't have to spend a lot of money, you just have to spend it wisely.

[per]

We have 2 of those old soft cores as well. I like to keep both of them running. We mostly use custom balers though and they use 568 JD and 660 NH. They both seem quite reliable but there is no doubt the capacity on the JD is very impressive.

[perfecho]

I prefer the soft core as well, cheaper to buy, easier to repair and simple. The disadvantage is just one size...which is OK for us as we feed all of our bales.
If I were to do any custom or for selling, I would probably look at the large square, but you would have to do a fair bit of custom work to justify that....

[frustrated1]

Ran those soft cores for years, even bought a new one at one point. Still have a parts one around here. We've been doing some silage baling the last few years so need something a bit heavier built and adjustable size. Bought a NH BR780 in 03. Baler is fine but can't keep a pickup in the thing, tired of the fight. Neighbours like the Hesston but I'm old school and scared of all the bells and whistles. Have heard good things about the new JD as well as the 567. Or sell the cows and just quit fighting... Lots in our area doing that.

[grassfarmer]

Never owned a round baler always had it done custom but I've run JDs for my hutterite neighbors and really like them. Also by observation of the bales we buy some of the NH balers make smaller looser bales than the JDs.
A good friend in Scotland has custom baled for 20 years now and after a long series of NH balers he finally changed brands after owning one of the new style NH balers. He found them to be too expensive and troublesome and a big step back on earlier models. I think he is using a Claas now.

[frustrated1]

GF just a note on the density of the bale, this NH can make them tight enough you can't push the probe in more than a foot. Big question though is about working for the hutterites? Thought they had more bodies than bales?

[grassfarmer]

It depends - sometimes they have more jobs needing done than bodies to do them. They also have more machinery than bodies to drive it so a couple of days a year maybe I'll get a call to go help out. I find this favor is returned in spades if I find myself in a pickle or even just when negotiating the price of feed with them etc.

[frustrated1]

That's pretty cool. Bet those are some interesting and informative days. Have only been on a colony for an hour or so. Studied them in school a bit but I'm sure a working environment would be an interesting learn.