Teach me how to round bale

We bought an old New Holland 851 round baler(bar and chain). I have never been around one before so I need all of the advice I can get.

do you know what a windrow is?

if so, then strattle it with the tractor and the baler, speed is up to you. I've seen everything from slow to road gear.

Part Timer said:

We bought an old New Holland 851 round baler(bar and chain). I have never been around one before so I need all of the advice I can get.

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the best thing to do would be to trade it off on a New Holland 660, or newer model...or maybe something like a 640.  if you can't find anyone that will take it on trade, sell it for scrap iron.  Obama should have done away with those in the cash for clunkers program.  with an 851, you will more than likely have an unfavorable round baling experience.  an 855 is better, but the old chain and bar types are a thing of the past.  in heavy grassy hay with an 855, you cn make bales that weigh like 2200#.

^FACT! We have a few big rounds of grass hay from last years CRP swath, and bale mover on the flat bed can't make it budge its so big... Alfalfa bales can be even scarier. Only reason time we use the old balers is when the shop repairs one & needs a test run to make sure it works A-OK before its returned (grandpa is a New Holland dealer..).

Well I am kind of stuck with it.(Its paid for and functional) How many times do you wrap the string around the bale and how far apart?

make sure you go from side to side on your windrow too, otherwise if you just go down the middle, you will have un-even bales. We make our bales of alfalfa about 1800lbs with our new holand baler(net wrap)

There has never been a baler man that has made it to heaven. They end up cussing entirely way to much. ;D

From my experience, that's about the easiest baler to learn.  If it'll go up the pick up, those old New Holland chain balers will bale it.  Ride the edges of the baler, and the middle will make itself as you weave.  The bales do tend to settle though.  What kind of string mechanism on it?

Make your windrow the same width as your bale chamber or just a hair wider. Straddle the windrow and don't weave a bit.  if the hay isn't thick enough make the windrow half the width of the bale chamber. Weave to fill bale chamber evenly. Make sure you spend enough time on each side of the windrow. If you constantly weave without spend a little time on each side all you do is fill the center and your bales will be football shaped.

The closer the tine spacing the better. If you leave large spaces the bale gets loose and you will have more spoilage.

The baler has a single arm twine tie on it. How many times do you wrap the string around the bale?

Most people adjust the amount of twine they put on a bale depending how many times you plan on moving a bale. If you just move them to a side of the field then directly feed bale later you don't need as much twine. If you are going to move bale....stack bale......unstack them.....load on a simi....you probably can't get enough twine on. If you have trouble getting windrow to feed into the throat,please don't try and get it started by hand feeding into the throat. The mechanism is so fast it will jerk your arms into mechanism before you can let go. It will either tear your arm off or pull ypur whole body into throat...either way you will probably bleed to death. We had a neighbor who lost both arms like this. It was lucky someone drove by and saw him to get him out of it or he would have bled to death. He was trapped and stranded. Good luck. I would think maybe string could be 5 inches apart to start.

new holland isn't that german for junk,  sorry i could not resist, i thought all tractors and equipment was green

horseshoe b said:

new holland isn't that german for junk,  sorry i could not resist, i thought all tractors and equipment was green

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Good Lord.  I'd like to see any baler that can outlast a New Holland or New Idea.  We use a New Holland Super 66 square baler that was bought during the Korean War.  We have a round baler that is only a couple years old, but we LOVE it.  We do use a John Deere tractor to pull it though, and our combine is green.  (lol)

Olson Family Shorthorns said:

horseshoe b said:

new holland isn't that german for junk,  sorry i could not resist, i thought all tractors and equipment was green

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Good Lord.  I'd like to see any baler that can outlast a New Holland or New Idea.  We use a New Holland Super 66 square baler that was bought during the Korean War.  We have a round baler that is only a couple years old, but we LOVE it.  We do use a John Deere tractor to pull it though, and our combine is green.  (lol)

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And when helping on a Wyoming ranch, the rake and baler were Vermeer.  I've yet to see the quality of bales made by that baler ....not even the 'green' ones!

I don't think anything with New Holland stuff. Vermier possibly the best baler. John Deere may give better service in some areas.

I don't get why anyone would buy a round baler, I just don't see any advantages to it at all. Harder to move and stack, uses way more twine, and you can't even bale when the dew gets heavy.

If someone, such as myself, runs 500+ head of stock cows, I don't think ill find myself, OR our hired hands, out there breaking small square bales into the grinder to grind & mix hay. Furthermore, I don't think any of us will be throwing bale upon bale into bale feeders while the cows & calves are on winter grass where bunk lines aren't accessible. In some scenarios, big or small, round bales are just more practical & efficient for some. We DO bale small squares as well, but just for the calving barn, and grass hay for the show calves. And as for dew, around here, we bale in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for dew to set... So 'heavy dew' is typically not a problem for us... Again, I realize not every scenario is the same, and just my $0.02

I think he meant that the BIG squares are easier to deal with. And they are, but around here, no one does them. No one around here could really even work on them. 

We have a bale processor,  There is no way that  big sqaures are easier to deal with than using one of those, granted the square bales stack easier inside, but, you can feed alot of hay by yourself AND do alot of bedding by yourself with one of those and round bales.

I used to say that a Vermeer was the toughest, best baler out there. You can bale right behind the swather if you know how to set it. BUT, the fire department left here about an hour ago, and I am baler shopping now.  I got lucky, There was 2 combines, JD chopper, 3 grain trucks, planter,4wd tractor in there and it only took the baler, CIH 7120 rafters and tin. 

I had just got done baling and parked it in there for the night.  Hats off to the firemen for getting here so fast!!  could have been worse. No one was hurt.
I had about 25 freinds showed up to help, They are bringing balers over in the morning to finish all my hay!

Silver said:

I don't get why anyone would buy a round baler, I just don't see any advantages to it at all. Harder to move and stack, uses way more twine, and you can't even bale when the dew gets heavy.

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Well, the big outfits find them SOOO much more efficient.  Using the right equipment makes moving, stacking etc about as easy as wrestling with a zillion small cubes.  Ranchers I know call the little ones "idiot cubes"!  Imagine putting up enough small bales of hay for 1000 mother cows, 400 or so retained heifers, 50-60 bulls and a potload or 2 of steers to feed through the winter!  Good grief!  Even with just a handful of Lowlines, I bought medium sized rounds or big squares.  It seemed much less labor intensive to pop them into the bale feeders every few days rather than opening and spreading little bales every day.  I easily handled 800-1000 pounders with a 37 horse JD utility tractor and a hay spear.  And I did all my work by myself - a little old lady! Just my opinion, of course!