• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Round balers and net wrap~questions

Help Support Ranchers.net:

F

Faster horses

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
30,238
Reaction score
1,422
Location
NE WY at the foot of the Big Horn mountains
What kind of round balers do you folks here on ranchers.net like the best. Also, what do you think of the net wrap AND is it true the net wrap is wayyyyy more expensive than twine. I can find out this last question tomorrow, but thought I'd find out on here first.

We are thinking of trading balers for a net wrap. We have a 605 Vermeer Super J, so that is what we are used to.

BTW, just got home from a funeral in Buffalo, Wyoming. It rained from Sheridan to Miles City and had rained four tenths at our place while we were gone. The country looks unbeliveable!!! We have had almost 2 inches of rain this week~some of the grain is lodging in the fields.
 
Our NH 648 does a good job for us with twine or net. Yes net is more expensive but it takes a lot less time (1/4?) wrapping on net than twine, so the fuel savings are significant. Also, we are a looooong way down the windrow after we dump the bale while the twine baler is still tying.

The acres per day go way up, too. Not that I have enough hay to worry about high productivity anymore but if you have a lot of acres, the time saved adds up.
 
Faster Horses,


Looks as if that storm is going to hit us hard, its really dark and the sky is rolling and rumbling.

We ve got a 6365 New Idea Hardcore baler and I just love it. Makes darn good bales and stands up to the hard use. In good heavy going it is easy for us to kick out 50-60 5x5.5' bales of hay. It is just twine but you can set the pattern on the monitor and do a good job. Cycle time for tieing is around 50 secs. I would definately recommend this baler. If you have any other questions drop me a pm and I will answer them for you.
 
Faster horses said:
What kind of round balers do you folks here on ranchers.net like the best. Also, what do you think of the net wrap AND is it true the net wrap is wayyyyy more expensive than twine. I can find out this last question tomorrow, but thought I'd find out on here first.

We are thinking of trading balers for a net wrap. We have a 605 Vermeer Super J, so that is what we are used to.

BTW, just got home from a funeral in Buffalo, Wyoming. It rained from Sheridan to Miles City and had rained four tenths at our place while we were gone. The country looks unbeliveable!!! We have had almost 2 inches of rain this week~some of the grain is lodging in the fields.
Click to expand...

I like New Holland,never had Vermeer,but have a neighbor that has one that he likes ,my balers are twine because I got a good deal on them seems like every body wants net,sorry I cant help you faster horses I have no experience with them.I think it was pprm? that had a few problems with his last year,as I recall they have electronics on board so I dont know how they will take sitting in the weather,where as my 658's sits out over nite regularly...........good luck PS I think net is a lil higher but like MLA,said you dont need but a couple wraps,and you are down the row.
 
Faster horses said:
What kind of round balers do you folks here on ranchers.net like the best. Also, what do you think of the net wrap AND is it true the net wrap is wayyyyy more expensive than twine. I can find out this last question tomorrow, but thought I'd find out on here first.

We are thinking of trading balers for a net wrap. We have a 605 Vermeer Super J, so that is what we are used to.

BTW, just got home from a funeral in Buffalo, Wyoming. It rained from Sheridan to Miles City and had rained four tenths at our place while we were gone. The country looks unbeliveable!!! We have had almost 2 inches of rain this week~some of the grain is lodging in the fields.
Click to expand...

We use a 535 John Deere (twine) and a 567 John Deere (net wrap).
This year twine is over $25 a bundle and is about the same cost as netting. The 567 can roll about twice the hay with net in a day as the 535 can twine in a day.

The 567 also holds twine and you can push a button to twine or net wrap.
For hauling long distances the net wrap hay stays together better too.
 
I have mixed feelings on netwrap, it works well to bale rotary combined straw as all it needs is a wrap or two.And it seems to shed more water off the bale.But .........it also can freeze to ground. At least with twine a few strings will still hold if you are using a bale spear.
 
Well frenchie I have to agree. My NH 650 will do both net and twine. I program the auto tie to do 8 wraps of twine and two end wraps. It is fast enough, and there is no net ripping when we lift the bale up off the frozen ground.

Each to his own - my neighbour likes me to bale his with net - and so I do - but it is expensive and getting more so.

Personally I am not so sure there is an advantage to net despite all the talk about them. Managed almost 95 bales today - all on twine and only once did I have to stop and unplug the pick up.

I program the wrap to 12 times around when baling rotary combine straw - works for me - if the straw is really short - then I can go to net or increase the twine wrap another couple of turns.

B.C.
 
Broke Cowboy said:
Well frenchie I have to agree. My NH 650 will do both net and twine. I program the auto tie to do 8 wraps of twine and two end wraps. It is fast enough, and there is no net ripping when we lift the bale up off the frozen ground.

Each to his own - my neighbour likes me to bale his with net - and so I do - but it is expensive and getting more so.

Personally I am not so sure there is an advantage to net despite all the talk about them. Managed almost 95 bales today - all on twine and only once did I have to stop and unplug the pick up.

I program the wrap to 12 times around when baling rotary combine straw - works for me - if the straw is really short - then I can go to net or increase the twine wrap another couple of turns.

B.C.
Click to expand...

A lot of times you can bale rotary straw with netwrap , when you can,t with twine.
 
when it comes to round balers, I just fiind it hard to ignore Hesston. I think they are the better baler all the way around. John Deere is ok, because they stock all the parts you will need...hard to beat Deere on the parts end.

we round bale straw and grass, everything else is big squares. easiest feeding and baiting bale you could find. I would never go back to all rounds.

as for speed, with two balers we knocked out 265 acres the other afternoon! that was a 3 day job with the round balers.
 
I chatted with a friend in saskatchewan the other day - she would love to have a big square baler - just is not enough money in cattle to justify the initial expense. They run about 1500 head and find it hard enough to keep their head above water as it is.

Yup square is the way to go if you have the money.

B.C.
 
I buy a thousand or so tons of hay and straw a year and I hate net wrap-it's the dammdest crap for wrapping around things or freezing down.It is good for trapping stray kittens just leave some by them and in an day you'll have a ball-o-cats. If I can get them I buy twine wrapped bales over net-they are quicker to bale with though.
 
Faster Horses, I have a Vermeer 605 Super J, as well. My uncle has a newer Hesston baler and I can work circles around him. Mine ties waaay faster.
Never tried net-wrap but I think it would probably freeze to the ground in this country.
I usually make 1000 or so silage bales every year,as well as dry hay and straw, with my Vermeer and it does a good job on that,too. :)
 
For what it's worth; Hesston bales the heaviest bale; Vermeer bales the tighest; and John Deere bales the most expensive. Truckers like the heaviest!!!
 
AS far as round balers go--NEW HOLLAND-we have a 688 New Holland and it is great. No net wrap here due to the fact it is hard to dispose of if you are feeding any qyuanity of hay. WE may unroll or feed 20 plus bales per day and all the net is a mess as the twine is easy to contain and then dispose of. Also the net wrap cost 2 times as much as twine -have to agree that it is faster when baling,but for ones own use we could not see that the round bales kept any better on way or the other and I am talking 3-4 yr. old hay. Now for selling hay I can understand the net wrap.
Glad that you have some hay to put up this year!!! WE are on the second cutting here in central KS and with all the moisture it is really good and could have been up 2 wks ago,but was in wheat harvest and did not get to all of it. Have a great summer!
PS-you can set the density so you can have heavier bales -some too heavy at times. Also the up keep on the New Holland has been just the usual and really no major problems- am going to trade it this winter on a new New Holland baler. Neighbors have JD baler and it does not get any better bale and the baler is lots more expensive.
 
Really, really appreciate all the comments. We had heard the NH were great balers so that will be taken in consideration. As for the net wrap, we have bought bales that were net wrapped. We have a bale processor and got along fine with the net. We didn't have them long enough to freeze down however, and obviously that could be a problem.

No way could we afford a big square baler.

Again, thanks. And we would welcome any more comments.
 
We have a 4750 square baler, and I guess its okay. I cuss the knotters sometimes, darn billhooks,but being married to joe farmer I can boogie at 6and 7 miles and hour baling. I do slow down at the ends. I can tell you that you can drop them several times from as high as a JD 58 loader and the strings wont break. I can tell you that they don't take as much rain in the bale as some would like to tell you. I can tell you that there is no mess as in stringing hay on the ground. And I can tell you that they are labor intensive when feeding to large amounts of cattle.
We bought some round bales this year net wrapped and we liked them till it came to feeding them and we pulled the wrap off and brought the net home to burn and that's a bitch on top of being kinda dangerouse to unwrap. Verdict is still out I guess, but if to buy hay again I like the net wrap.
We bale or straw with a dew either at night or early in the morning, seems to work better for me.......IMHO :D
 
I had a NH 688 with net and it was a great baler. I used it 2 years and it had about 9000 bales on it, i only ran 2 balls of twine through it. I now have a NH br780 and love it, i can make 50 1 ton bales in an hour. The net is also a lot easier to take off. I just set the bale on end and un wrap it. The hay also keeps better with net. Net cost me about $.85 to a dollar a bale depending how much i put on.
 
Hope this is not to late......
Have baled with many kinds of balers.Now have a 605 K Vermeer.Outside and core tensions are controled seperately so you can make your bale any way you want.
By the way this is my third Vermeer and this one is a dream machine as far as balers go!
We stack bales in rows,one on end one on top ...no trouble with freeze-down.
 
We run NH 688's-great capacity and fairly reliable.....will handle dry broke up straw better than most and still make a good bale! Have to watch in alfalfa and greenfeed that bales aren't too heavy (2200 lb). Use twine tie.....half the price of net and stays on but net does make for much faster baling! I hear good things about Vermeer's but we don't have any local dealer.
 
cowsense, Redhead Equipment in Saskatoon sells them. We have a Vermeer 605 XL, my husband loves it! He'd never buy another brand again. His best friend just bought one and hubby's cousin is thinking about getting a Vermeer M model. You should go to Redhead and have a look. Hubby demo'd an M but he likes his XL better. But you can't get that model anymore new.
 

Latest posts

Top