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I bet you stateside balers rarely encounter this problem...

W

Whitewing

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
5,855
Location
Venezuela
....boa constrictors in your bales. :shock: :)

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I didn't see it when it happened, but this guy had actually been picked up by the machine and run through the baler. He was still alive (and not very happy) when I finally saw half his body hanging out of one of the bales. I dispatched him quickly with my 9mm.

This particular field (owned by an Italian family) was full of mice so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to encounter a boa or two. The hawks sure had a field day the day I was cutting. Here are few more shots from the baling.

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And finally, the most important part.....a happy client leaving with his bales. I wasn't too happy with the grass as it hadn't been cut all winter and also had some broadleaf clutter. But summer is setting in here and the buyers are happy when they can find bales.

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I've baled several snakes but none that big!

Hate finding decayed rabbits or coons in the bales - - - sure can make a stink!
 
wife baled a little garter snake once, it was still wiggling from the bale halfway up the stack when she came in that evening. she told me to quit trying to hay swamp land :wink: :lol: :lol: nice pics WW

others on here will have different ideas but to me an old automatic stooker on your baler would sure be a good start to saving a lot of work, or eliminate all the little steps and get aNH bale wagon
 
hayguy said:
wife baled a little garter snake once, it was still wiggling from the bale halfway up the stack when she came in that evening. she told me to quit trying to hay swamp land :wink: :lol: :lol: nice pics WW

others on here will have different ideas but to me an old automatic stooker on your baler would sure be a good start to saving a lot of work, or eliminate all the little steps and get aNH bale wagon
Click to expand...

I need so many things down here I don't know where to start. :?

Problem these days too is that there's not much being imported from the states. Lots of Italian baling-related equipment showing up, though I've not yet seen nor heard of anyone using an automatic stooker.
 
Nice to see pics of bales and warm climes WW. I think if I had baled up a creature like that I may have screamed like a girl upon seeing it.
Those pictures brought to mind this picture that was going around a while ago.


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Hayguy, you're forgetting how cheap wages are down there. :wink:

WW, I will try to find you a link for a bale accumulater we used years ago. Its was simple, the latch and hinge were the only moving parts and it would gather up to 10 bales in a bunch.
The bunches were put in rows so there was far less walking by the time a load was put on.
 
gcreekrch said:
Hayguy, you're forgetting how cheap wages are down there. :wink:

WW, I will try to find you a link for a bale accumulater we used years ago. Its was simple, the latch and hinge were the only moving parts and it would gather up to 10 bales in a bunch.
The bunches were put in rows so there was far less walking by the time a load was put on.
Click to expand...

now who's forgetting how cheap labor is :wink: :lol: :lol:

then if he had a fel and the accumulator fork he could load the trucks and never lift a bale

but someone would be out of a job

Per's Dad told me that square bales should be outlawed :lol: :lol:
 
Just to give you guys some ideas of the costs I encounter, here are a few values in bolivares (bs) converted to $$$ using the current black market exchange rate.

Manual labor - 12 hour day - 80 bs.....$9.40.
Manual labor - 8 hour day - 50 bs.....$5.88
New baler (Brazilian) - 88,000 bs....$10,350.00
New mower (Italian) - 42,000 bs.....$4940.00
New tedder (Netherlands) - 43,000 bs....$5058.00
Diesel/gallon - $0.02
Gasoline/gallon - $0.04
Price of my best bermuda bales (pick up at ranch versus delivery) - 14 bs - 19 bs......$1.65 - $2.24
 
I would really like to say something awfull maen about the price of gas and diesel down there, but I like living where there are no BIG snakes! :lol: :lol:
 
Subscribe to the Hay and Forage Growerr printed in the U's they have several different kinds of accumulators advertised in every issuue. It is an interesting read my buddy in the U'S saves all his issues so every trip stateside I get a big box of various magazines to read then I disburse them throughout my friends
 
Triangle Bar said:
Hey WW, you really put the squeeeeze on that boa. :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Rattle snakes are what to watch out for in windrows in these parts.
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And many tend to be alive a couple days later---and highly pissed!

I've never seen a load stacked that way---all the same and all lengthwise to truck.
 
Not your typical looking stooks though. I'm guessing you either don't get rain in this season or they'll be picked up in short order?
 
This is what I was referring to WW, your crew will still have jobs. :D Hope the link works.

Kijiji Ontario > Barrie > cars & vehicles > heavy equipment >farming equipment > Ad ID 344090114



To my memory it was about 7 feet wide and 10 long. 1/2 inch round on 8 inch spacing kept the bales from dragging on the ground. Gate is hinged at the top with a spring loaded hook type latch at the bottom. The trip rope went through an eye mounted on top of the baler to the tractor.
I put up 8-10000 bales by myself with this rig and a 1-ton for 3 years when we first started.

(note to self, was not good planning to havesquare bales and expecting wife at the same time.) :lol:
 
I never have time to get a picture in my fields...Crows and Buzzars start working on them before I make a round...I have hauled the bale up to the stack pen and next morning come out to 10 buzzars setting on one bale of hay...coon skin was all that was left
 
littlejoe said:
Triangle Bar said:
Hey WW, you really put the squeeeeze on that boa. :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Rattle snakes are what to watch out for in windrows in these parts.
Click to expand...

And many tend to be alive a couple days later---and highly p****d!

I've never seen a load stacked that way---all the same and all lengthwise to truck.
Click to expand...

That's not how we stack them, but then, it was his crew and not mine. :D

We're still getting a bit of rain in the pueblo but at my place it's about done.....which is really strange because I'm not but about 10 kilometers away and butted up against the mountains.
 
Back in the Good old days :D we pulled a stone boat type sled behind the baler. A man rode it and stacked bales in a stook and then used a bar stuck in the ground to slide them off. Also a buncher was dragged behind the baler with a bunch of rods for a bottom. When the determined number of bales were made and collected a rope was pulled to let then out the back and they were already bunched to make stooks by hand. Neither would cost much to build.
 

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