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Question for David in England re: accumulator / ba

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CB in central N

06-28-2006 07:29:51

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Greetings from NY state, where we have had so much rain that bailing hay will soon be just a legend.

For the past three years I have been using a very basic bale accumulator (I believe you call it a bale sledge in England) which drags the bales on the ground until a group of 8 forms. Then it opens the gate and leaves the group to be picked up with a bale grab. Since it"s just myself and the wife, it has been a great labor saver. I understand that the setup basically came from England, where it has been around for years.

My question: have you folks over across the pond and in Europe, in general, come up with any other devices along the same lines? Any new developments in small square bale handling over there?

Thanks in advance.

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CB in central NY

06-29-2006 06:43:52

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Re: Question for David in England re: accumulator in reply to CB in central NY, 06-28-2006 07:29:51

Thanks for answering. I am surprised to hear that the small square bale is almost obsolete over there. Here in my part of the US there is still a substantial small square bale market, primarily for the horse folks. The difference is, most folks in this area use bale throwers instead of accumulators. My neighbor, a former farmer, still gets a kick out of watching my accumulator work.

So what is the main hay handling method over your way? Round bales, large squares? And what about the horse market, what do they prefer?

Thanks again.

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David in England

06-28-2006 14:49:12

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Re: Question for David in England re: accumulator in reply to CB in central NY, 06-28-2006 07:29:51

Hi Roy;
Unfortunately I AM OLD ENOUGH to remember the Howard big baler & McConnel packer !!! In fact I am old enough to remember a lot of machinery thats been obsolete for years and been sent to the scrapyard via a gas-axe. Shame really.
When I was working at Dowdeswell as Area Manager I remember a man at the Royal Show playing hell that Dowdeswell didnt have spares for his baler. Dowdeswell bought Howard but didnt carry on the baler manufacture due to it being rather unsuccessful and very limited sales.
Get some photos taken if you can of machinery at work - our US Cousins love seeing our stuff.
If you cant work out how to send them to the YT site, email me I have cracked the system at last and can assist you.

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Roy in UK

06-28-2006 22:51:31

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Re: Question for David in England re: accumulator in reply to David in England, 06-28-2006 14:49:12

When we got our Howard Bigbaler in 1975 my father said "It would be better if the bales were a bit smaller (they were 8 long feet by 5 feet wide by 5 feet high ) and a lot denser. I think he was ahead of his time! We had all sorts of fun with that. The knotters were not very reliable , that oh so long PTO shaft on the mk1.was a joke! They were just beginning to get the the thing right, the mk.2 was much better than the mk.1 when Howards stopped production and everyone went round baler crazy. I am from Yorkshire by the way, not far from the McCormick factory in Doncaster. Your remark about Internationals been popular made me smile, yes they were but in the late 70's the rot seemed to set in. The last IH tractor we had, a 674 was a dog! it spent more time in Platts (the dealers) than it did on the farm.As you say the old 634's B450's etc. were such wonderful reliable old sloggers. My neighbour 'lived and died International' for years , he went all Ford in the 1980's, as he was having so much trouble with Doncaster made IH stuff. We bought an Accord drill from Platts, when the dealer came to set it going for me he told me how they cursed the unreliabilty of the home built tractors at the time, it cost them no end in sales.Yes I do know how to post pictures, I have put one or two on here in the past. I wish I had taken some of dad using our first drum mower, a Fahr KM4 in the late 1960's,a lot of our friends across the pond think this is new tecnology! By the way, we got out of farming in 1996, talk about perfect timing!
Cheers
Roy

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David in England

06-28-2006 12:24:27

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Re: Question for David in England re: accumulator in reply to CB in central NY, 06-28-2006 07:29:51

Hi CB ;
The bale accumulator (sledge) was used by every farmer in England, made by lots of companies. A tubular steel frame with trip rope opening rear gate, and steel slats on the floor. Towed behind baler with chain.
The downside was that the bales could get jumbled up when turning corners, and could get contaminated with soil being dragged across the field; and even the twine get dragged off bales.
The 1st Flat 8 system came from Farmhand, which was a towed platform with chains & teeth that sorted the bales automatically into a perfect 8 formation and dumped them to be picked up by the loader frame which had retractable teeth to hold the bales. The loader could put them onto a trailer and then place them into the barn. A load of companies here made similar systems.
Small square bales became almost obsolete several years ago. Only a few small farmers still make them for their few cattle, sheep or horses. So most of the small square balers & bale handling machinery got pushed to the back of the shed, or into the nettle patch, or they joined the rest of the obselete machines being "gas axed".
New Holland did bring a few self propelled and trailed Stack Liner system collectors & stackers here but they were too expensive.
One company built a novel bale mover. By stacking flat 8 rows of bales ontop of each other about 10 bales high, a 2 wheel trailer with open sides could tip to vertical, the sides squeezed the bale stack, and the whole bed was lowered to horizontal for transport back to the yard, then would tip up again to dump the stack vertically.
So one man could stack in the field with his loader, and then transport 80 bales back to the yard and then stack the bales with the loader into the barn.
If I see any units at work here, I'll post a photo on the website.
Cheers David

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Roy in UK

06-28-2006 12:34:24

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Re: Question for David in England re: accumulator in reply to David in England, 06-28-2006 12:24:27

David, do you remember the McConnell Bale Packer? it was towed behind the baler and it made a mini stack of 20 bales ( 4 bales high x 5 bales long) each stack was held with 2 heavy duty twines tied at one end.I do not think it lasted very long. Yes small bales do seem to have all but disappeared...and when was the last time you saw a "sickle mower" in regular use over here? By the way, do you know anyone who still runs a Howard Bigbaler?

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