Marshmallows (lots of pics)

[Justin]

very intersting gcreek. i have never seen that done before, i guess i still haven't...but your tour is getting me closer. looks like a quick way to eliminate mother nature out of the equation waiting for the hay to cure. from the outside looking in, it seems like those high moisture bales would be hard on a baler, just because of the wieght...? but seems it works, i'm guessing that isn't a problem. again, thanks for the tour....learn something every day.

 

[gcreekrch]

very intersting gcreek. i have never seen that done before, i guess i still haven't...but your tour is getting me closer. looks like a quick way to eliminate mother nature out of the equation waiting for the hay to cure. from the outside looking in, it seems like those high moisture bales would be hard on a baler, just because of the wieght...? but seems it works, i'm guessing that isn't a problem. again, thanks for the tour....learn something every day.

If I was going to do a lot of bales I might be tempted to get an inline wrapper. For now, what we have does the job. our old 535 Deere has seen close to 40,000 bales and is still baling. I have made probably 2000 bales that were 66 inches tall, 50% moisture and weighed 2700 lbs +. This year we have scaled the size back to make it easier on tractors but the baler hasn't complained a bit. Some oats that wouldn't dry last year was baled at 72% moisture, 50 inch bales weighed 22-2300 lbs. That was a pickup plugging nightmare to bale 140 bales.
You do have to relearn how to bale when handling the higher moisture stuff but 30% and down is pretty much like baling hay.

 

[Silver]

very intersting gcreek. i have never seen that done before, i guess i still haven't...but your tour is getting me closer. looks like a quick way to eliminate mother nature out of the equation waiting for the hay to cure. from the outside looking in, it seems like those high moisture bales would be hard on a baler, just because of the wieght...? but seems it works, i'm guessing that isn't a problem. again, thanks for the tour....learn something every day.

If I was going to do a lot of bales I might be tempted to get an inline wrapper. For now, what we have does the job. our old 535 Deere has seen close to 40,000 bales and is still baling. I have made probably 2000 bales that were 66 inches tall, 50% moisture and weighed 2700 lbs +. This year we have scaled the size back to make it easier on tractors but the baler hasn't complained a bit. Some oats that wouldn't dry last year was baled at 72% moisture, 50 inch bales weighed 22-2300 lbs. That was a pickup plugging nightmare to bale 140 bales.
You do have to relearn how to bale when handling the higher moisture stuff but 30% and down is pretty much like baling hay.

We've been tubing oats the last couple of days, and having a nightmate of a time getting them baled this year. I think we'll switch back to the haybine from the discbine as we've never had problems picking oats up wet before. It's like following a swather, the oats just head straight in there and forget to start going in circles. Doesn't matter if it's the old 530 or the 566. Must be the flails on the discbine vs. the rolls on the haybine that make the difference.

 

[gcreekrch]

very intersting gcreek. i have never seen that done before, i guess i still haven't...but your tour is getting me closer. looks like a quick way to eliminate mother nature out of the equation waiting for the hay to cure. from the outside looking in, it seems like those high moisture bales would be hard on a baler, just because of the wieght...? but seems it works, i'm guessing that isn't a problem. again, thanks for the tour....learn something every day.

If I was going to do a lot of bales I might be tempted to get an inline wrapper. For now, what we have does the job. our old 535 Deere has seen close to 40,000 bales and is still baling. I have made probably 2000 bales that were 66 inches tall, 50% moisture and weighed 2700 lbs +. This year we have scaled the size back to make it easier on tractors but the baler hasn't complained a bit. Some oats that wouldn't dry last year was baled at 72% moisture, 50 inch bales weighed 22-2300 lbs. That was a pickup plugging nightmare to bale 140 bales.
You do have to relearn how to bale when handling the higher moisture stuff but 30% and down is pretty much like baling hay.

We've been tubing oats the last couple of days, and having a nightmate of a time getting them baled this year. I think we'll switch back to the haybine from the discbine as we've never had problems picking oats up wet before. It's like following a swather, the oats just head straight in there and forget to start going in circles. Doesn't matter if it's the old 530 or the 566. Must be the flails on the discbine vs. the rolls on the haybine that make the difference.

Both of our discbines have rollers, let them dry a little if they weather will let you.


Or you could try slowing down a tad and lowering you PTO RPM's. :wink:
i baled the oats last year at 3.5 to 4 mph and about 1600 on the tractor engine. Where it got heavy I slowed ground speed even more.

 

[PATB]

As long as we have wrapped within 24 hrs we have seen no loss of quality.

Ben or Pat, have either of you ever baled any in the rain. Made that mistake once. Feeding 3000 lb ice cubes in the winter was not a happy experience. I've often wondered how much energy the cows burnt up thawing that feed out in their bellies.
We were feeding hay also and luckily had only made about 70 bales like this.

I try to bale it a little drier than recommended due to the weight and freezing challenge in the winter. We bought some that had been baled in the rain and it did not cure like it should of. The wrapper works great in the spring and fall when you it is hard to get the drying time for dry hay. I will be wrapping some 2nd cutting this afternoon ahead of an incoming t-storm front.

 

[Silver]

Or you could try slowing down a tad and lowering you PTO RPM's. :wink:
i baled the oats last year at 3.5 to 4 mph and about 1600 on the tractor engine. Where it got heavy I slowed ground speed even more.

Oh, that's the routine alright. Even idled down to 1000 on the tractor. They just don't want to start the bale. Even dry you gotta be very careful. Once started it's no trouble though.
Switched to the macdon with rolls and now everything is fine again. Lesson learned.