Small square bales-odd shapes

Mtjohnso · Jun 27, 2020

Took my new to me NH 311 hay baler out for the first time today. Only did 80 bales. Field went from heavy to very light hay.
Had some bales that appeared to be longer on one side than another, which I believe is an issue of hay being fed into chamber properly. Most bales were good. Had a few that came out of the baler where the two ends of the bale curved up or maybe down trying to touch each other.
I may have been traveling too slow with windrows too small.
I have heard or read that some balers prefer very full windrows.
How big are your windrows and how fast do you travel with and old baler like mine?

fastfarmall · Jun 27, 2020

Feeding the baler real steady is key to nice square bales,that's why the first square balers were engine driven, then came shift on the go, and then hydro's, that's how i see it!

Matt from Oz · Jun 27, 2020

Hi Mt

There are a lot of factors that go into how well a bale will turn out. Balers do like to be well fed, one of the best ways to do this is to set your PTO speed to 540 rpm or just under that and then adjust ground speed depending on the number of plunger strokes to make a bale. I like my bales about 33 inches long and like the number of plunger strokes to be in the 10 to 12 range. This information is in your baler manual. Also feed the windrow into the baler pickup nice and close to the chamber so feeding of the chamber is more even. If you are having to crank up the tension on the baler to get a tight enough bale another set of hay storms can be added or use a more moist time of day to bale. The biggest thing is to be patient and stop when conditions are not right. I am still working on this one. All the best.

showcrop · Jun 28, 2020

It sounds like you must be in the Northeast, LOL. Light to heavy most likely means varying moisture. You can't make the production in your field meet your wishes. One field that I used to do I finally started raking it in quadrants. Front left and right rear were dry while front right and left rear were wet. You are correct that your problems are primarily under feeding. You can try to rake more into your windrow where it is light and less where heavy, and while this will help it is limited in how much. You will probably need to gear up for light parts and down for heavy. Don't make the common newby mistake of trying to be easy on your baler by running it slowly. Running slow is like reducing the weight of the flywheel which is there for a reason. Slowing it down adds stress to some parts.

rick n ohio · Jun 28, 2020

I had a 310 baler about the same baler as yours to make a good bale it liked a big windrow probably run about 3 mph

jon f mn · Jun 28, 2020

Even feed is important. But you can't help with your problem by adding more wedges to the bale chamber. They are available from new holland. Or you can make them from a wedge of wood.

M Nut · Jun 28, 2020

A bigger tractor is better, in my experience. I tried baling with my New Holland 276 behind a D-14 Allis Chalmers (about 35hp). I couldn’t get a uniform bale for nothing. Finally switched to a 4020 John Deere (about 90hp), and instantly had nice uniform bales being made. I thought the small tractor would handle it fine, but the more hay you could stuff through that baler, the nicer the bales were. If I had tried that with my old International baler, it would have exploded! The New Holland ate all the hay you could stuff through it with no issues at all.

cjunrau · Jun 28, 2020

A lot of times it is the knife not sharp or ajusted wrong. If it folds the hay a little bit the feed side will always have way more hay in it than the far left side. Very important on a NH baler.

John in Md. · Jun 28, 2020

Not a high capacity baler. It will do best with even windrows and regulate your speed for even feeding, go fast enough that it isn't pulling hay out in front of pickup, or too fast that it's bunching in front of pickup. Try to feed into center of pickup for even bales, make sure your knives are sharp. I made a lot of banana shaped bales with NH balers. Read the owners manual and think about what the problems are.

farmerjohn · Jun 28, 2020

I remember seeing advertising info years ago, don’t remember which brand, it stated “How many banana-shaped bales will your old baler bale before it drives you bananas?”

jaoneill · Jun 28, 2020

Not familiar at all with newer balers but banana bales were a common feed/tension issue that seemed to occur quite often with those earlier generation NH balers, especially if one likes a longer bale; it was a big reason that I went with JD machines, feed & speed didn't seem to be as quite as critical.

ford1956tractor · Jun 28, 2020

Constant speed is critical for any NH baler. i use a NH bale wagon and have to uniform bales to load. Set the rpm at pto and run same speed regardless of hay. There is also an adjustment on feeder finger to insure bale is being fed uniformily.

flying belgian · Jun 28, 2020

Not running baler fast enough. Make sure you run at 540 pto.

T in NE · Jun 29, 2020

Grandpa bought one new. Baling with the 786, he proved the salesman right, that with a good windrow, it would throw a second bale before the first hit the wagon.
My uncle's future in laws tried stacking the wagons that day.

Small square bales-odd shapes

Mtjohnso

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fastfarmall

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Matt from Oz

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showcrop

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rick n ohio

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jon f mn

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M Nut

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cjunrau

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John in Md.

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farmerjohn

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jaoneill

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ford1956tractor

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flying belgian

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T in NE

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