I could use some thoughts on a baler

[loomixguy]

My Dad was an old time blacksmith. Before he was drafted for WWII, he was welding on LST's, ships, and at age 21 was the welding superintendent at Beatrice Steel Tank, overseeing the welding done on depth charges for the Navy. He was very talented and gifted where iron was concerned. He was also the King of the Cobblers.

I've seen him spend an entire day putting a tractor muffler on a pickup because it was $10 cheaper than a regular muffler that would have just slipped on the exhaust pipes and been done in 20 minutes, tops. He wasted a day, but saved that $10.

Thankfully, about the time he hit 57 or so he stopped doing crap like that. The final lesson was the WABCO 777 B motor grader he bought in Dallas for 25 large. He KNEW with that 671 Detroit it would move dirt like nobody's business. The 671 never had a wrench put to it. He dropped well north of 50 large back into it, transmission, final drives, hydraulics, you name it. The machine never did finish any job he ever started with it. When he got his guts full of the "Wonderful WABCO", we hauled it to a heavy equipment auction and never went to watch it sell. It brought $5700, and Dad was tickled it had a new home.

Before he sold that POS, he swapped around and brought home CAT #12 grader. Never had a problem with the old 12 whatsoever. When he sold it, it brought a whole lot more than $5700.

The moral of this story is like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for, IMHO.

 

[R A]

Both are valid points guys! I'll try to achieve both!

 

[R A]

Since you are in Missouri, I'd recommend reading Jim Gerrish's book "Kick the hay habit." I believe a lot of it came from his years in Missouri. Now I'm not saying read this like it is the Bible, but read it with an open mind and see if any of it works for you.

...back to this. Jim reminds me a lot of Joel Salatin so far. My head is going to explode with all the things I can try... . I like how they both stress fences don't have to be going straight north, south, east or west.....or even in a straight line and in most cases probably shouldn't be. ...excluding boundaries.

 

[3 M L & C]

Just my 2 cents worth on a tractor.

Buy something that would have resale value to someone besides yourself. (Easier to sell if the bottom should fall out from under you.)
If you go with a Deere, stay plumb AWAY from the synchro range transmissions. Get one with a power shift. There is a reason the power shifts were referred to as N-word proof.
Your mileage may vary.

My two cents are don't buy something just for a resale value if you had to pay more just to get it is it really resale value or the reason things went bad. Best money is the money not spent. My cows never care what color of tractor brings the feed.

Resale value is only one reason to buy a Deere. How about quality and reliability. How many of any color other than green mid to late 70's are going good? About 90 % less than John Deere. We have about the worst John Deere dealer you could have in our town, and about the best Case dealer in same town. There are about 80-90% John Deere tractors in our area. I understand that all tractors can do the job, but John Deere tractors seem to be a little more reliable in our case anyway. How is the best money is that unspent, if your equipment breaks down and your hay gets rained on and quality is squat? I'm not partial to all green equipment either. We have a Case combine, basicly the only thing we have green is Tractors, and planters. Just my 2 cents.

 

[4Diamond]

And finding parts....If you don't run green or blue around here you mine as well be prepared to be down for a week waiting on parts.

Dad has a Hesston that was down a year and a half trying to find parts. That's why I bought a jd. I can have parts next day at latest and yes when time comes to sell, it will fetch more.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Getting back to balers RA. if you find a Krone baler for cheap don't be afraid of it. The 4x5 bale size model makes a nice bale and doesn't need a world of power. They are the soft core but I made the best bales ever with that baler. It is slower then my 664 NH but if I was only making a couple hundred a year i would sure be happy with a little Krone.

 

[R A]

Thanks everybody! I really appreciate the inputs! I am already learning a ton looking up what everybody has typed! It always helps me a ton bringing something like this up on here! I even learn things that aren't directly related to what I brought up as I am looking into things.