baling hay

[Mobuck]

"Just curious..... does one have any advantage over the other? Pros/cons."
The primary "pro" of round bales vs squares(in the MidWest anyway) is the fact that round bales will tolerate getting some rain while laying in the field after baling. Square bales soak up rain like a sponge and then mold or rot. Working alone I often baled up to 1000 round bales per day. Baling 1000 square bales per day and getting them under cover usually required 4-5 bale handlers.
Pros of square bales were better stacking and square balers were generally less of a hassle. Attributed to the fact that AC roto-balers were one of the most fickle machines designed by man.
I/we literally had no choice. W/o adequate help, it was impossible to harvest the amount of hay that we needed using square bales. Some of the hay baled later in the year lay in the field until time to feed it to the cows since we simply ran out of time to pick it up and pile it before time to start feeding.
Keep in mind I was the primary operator and workforce during my first 3 years of high school.

 

[Ruger Packer]

Mobuck, I do remember Granddad said that round bales could tolerate rain better. That was the only thing I heard him say about it. And I do recall that the neighbor that had the round bales used an A-C baler.

Granddad didn't own a baler. He and a neighbor (a different neighbor than one above) had a handshake agreement... Granddad combined the neighbors wheat and milo. The neighbor baled Granddad's hay.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I recall that the rumor was always that if you carefully stacked square bales in your barn mow, spontaneous combustion would develop and burn your barn down. And yet, I do not recall ever hearing of it actually happening. Everybody I knew did square bales, stacked in the barn and/or shed like a solid brick of hay. Granted, every effort was made to not bale wet hay. I don't recall ever seeing round bales in my part of the country.

 

[protoolman]

I always thought they invented square bales to make sure to wear out 16 year old boys and keep them out of trouble. It mostly worked for me. I found enough time between baling to get in a fair amount.

 

[krw]

“Working alone I often rolled 1000 bales\day”. Do some math and and refigger. I put up hay and have some friends who put up lots of hay. Ur on world record pace x4?

 

[krw]

And yes, you can burn a barn with any kind of hay. Lerned that the hard way!! $$$$

 

[Selena]

We had one of the first New Holland Model 56 "Rolo-bar" rakes in the area. Delivered in a crate and I helped put it together. Pulled that thing a bajillion miles. Dad bought a new rake and square baler (both NH)that year and we baled a lot of square bales until Brother was drafted. Then we added an Allis Chalmers round baler and a new Ford tractor to pull it in 1967. IIRC, in '67 I had approx 30,000 round bales of grass hay waiting to be picked up by mid July besides the 6000-8000 of alfalfa that we baled in square bales and had already put in the barn.. All of that (except the alfalfa bales) working alone--mowing, raking, and baling besides 60 acres of corn to cutivate twice. Seven days a week from can see to can't see, there weren't many days off for darned sure.

Mobuck, Grandparents had a neighbor that put up as many round bales as square. Granddad always put up square. Just curious..... does one have any advantage over the other? Pros/cons.

The main advantage is labor/mech. Square bales require a crew to load, transport and store. Round bales can be done with one tractor operator.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Just to clarify . . . when I speak of "round" bales I'm referring to the little cylindrical ones about the same size as the classic small rectangular "square" bales we handled on the wagons . . . as opposed to the great big bales we see today that are handled by "spears" on a tractor. Those biggies are truly "one man bales". :mrgreen:

 

[Mobuck]

"I put up hay and have some friends who put up lots of hay. Ur on world record pace x4?"

You must be talking about "big" round bales. My 1983 vintage VERMEER baler is limited to around 8-10 bales per hour tops. Cousin's 2 year old JD 569 will kick out twice that.
The comments were related to an AC "roto-baler". Thousand bales out of the AC baler in an afternoon was about the max. Most of the time it was closer to 600-650.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

The AC Roto-Baler . . .

https://youtu.be/sBc11EeS9l4

The little kid riding on the tractor is not a good idea.

Was there ever a provision to load the bales directly onto a following wagon?

 

[Poco Oso]

[The little kid riding on the tractor is not a good idea.]

I have no problem with the kid on the tractor. (seated, behind that high fender) I spent quite a bit of time riding next to my uncle on his. I would be much more concerned with the one wandering around in the field.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I never failed to hear of at least one kid falling off a tractor every year. Some were lucky and didn't get hurt. Some ended up under whatever implement was being pulled by the tractor or wound up in the PTO. But yeah, the "spectator" was worrisome, for sure.

 

[Ruger Packer]

I always thought they invented square bales to make sure to wear out 16 year old boys and keep them out of trouble. It mostly worked for me. I found enough time between baling to get in a fair amount.

My cousins and I once put up some hay for a farmer with a good lookin' daughter. She pranced around in short shorts and a skimpy thin blouse tied under her boobs. Honey blonde with soft brown eyes and 5'10"... long legged too.

I dated her for a year and we had some good times. She broke it off when she found out I intended to go to college and had no intentions of getting married just yet. Hated to see her go.... but, as I found out... lots more fish in the sea!!

I still see her around town now and then... if she's not with her husband and I'm not with my wife.... she still calls me by her pet name for me..... which will remain confidential.

 

[Mobuck]

"Was there ever a provision to load the bales directly onto a following wagon?"

Not that I'm aware of. There were several types of bale loaders that worked OK with round bales left in the field. We only used hay hooks powered by strong arms.

 

[Poco Oso]

"Was there ever a provision to load the bales directly onto a following wagon?"

Not that I'm aware of. There were several types of bale loaders that worked OK with round bales left in the field. We only used hay hooks powered by strong arms.

I'm not sure if this is what you're thinking of. The rancher/farmer I did a remodel for last year had a pull behind, like this one, as well as two self powered loaders of the same type. Scoops the bales up, loads them on the forks, then stacks them on the wagon. (A full, stacked row at a time) Pretty darn handy.

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/list/category/1151/hay-and-forage-equipment-bale-accumulators-movers/manufacturer/new-holland/model/1037?SCF=False

Pictures of them in use.

https://agriculture.newholland.com/africa/en/equipment/products/balers/automatic-bale-wagons

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Pretty neat gadgets. I had seen that type before. The pull-behinds would appear to make the entire tractor/baler/ loader arrangement somewhat awkward for maneuvering in certain field conditions, and I'm not certain how well they would handle round bales. They do allow for a single pass over the field, though.

The self-propelled ones would be better as far as field handling, but again I dunno if the pickup/orientation/stacking process would work with the round pales. And of course the self-propelleds would be a more major equipment expense, requiring a second pass over the field.

Either would have to be cost-justified against manual labor to accomplish the pickup procedure. The classic square balers would accept a flatbed wagon directly behind the baler to accept the bales directly into the waiting hands of the "inexpensive" loaders/stackers, without adding as much length to the overall assemblage of equipment.

The "big" balers of today have simplified the whole thing at the considerable cost of their purchase/maintenance, as well as additional time and costs involved in getting all those "biggies" gathered up for storage.

 

[Poco Oso]

They're pretty neat units but I don't think they make one for round bales. He and his wife run the self powered machines and keep the pull behind as a backup.They motor right along at a little more than parking lot speeds while loading, and easily 40mph on the way to and from the hay barn. Very efficent.
ETA: I went back and read the question again, (bale and load directly on the wagon)and these don't fit the criteria. They require a baler and the loader/mover. Sorry 'bout that. Neat rigs though, and a back saver compared using the hooks. I had enough of that to last me for life.