Anybody Ever Try to Feed Goldenrod?

[BarnyardEngineering]

I feel that the caddy is an intrinsically dangerous piece of equipment.

When raising the mower while cutting, the mower will bounce badly...........lifting the unweighted wheel almost entirely off the ground. The only thing keeping the whole thing upright is the drawbar on the tractor. Same when in the transport position over rough ground with side angles.

I have a few hundred pounds of tractor weights on hand that I've removed from my tractors. It might be wise to make a bracket to carry those on the left side of the caddy. But........if the drawbar is doing the job........(shrug)

I might note..........the drawbar would have been inadequate without the total rebuild I did on it some time back. The supports coming off the PTO housing were cracked, the bar pin under the transmission was severely worn, and the roller thingy that allows the bar to pivot, were pretty far gone from years of use.

Other than this small issue.................................I'm pleased as punch with the entire setup.

Your caddy looks similar to mine, which is a KMC. KMC makes a counterbalance weight kit so obviously you're not in uncharted territory here. Had my mower's gearbox not seized on the first time around the field this spring, I would have put counterweights on mine this year.

Add the weights. The drawbar will NOT stop it from tipping over.

I never felt the need to "steer" the mower. It tracked perfectly and all I ever needed to do was move the tractor a few inches right or left to minimize overlap.

So handy too. 30 seconds to hook up. A drawpin. A PTO shaft. A single hydraulic hose. A rope. Unlike that greasy pig of a disc mower, which hangs from the 3pt and is a pain to hook up.

 

[farmersamm]

An update is in order I guess. We're feeding this trash as I speak. AND THEY'RE MOSTLY CLEANING IT UP. Desperation, and starvation, are strong incentives.

THE BALING IS ONGOING. Yeah.......ONGOING.

Gettin' a lot of this This baler will not start a bale in this stuff for love nor money............................................

Unless you get off, and hand rake the windrow into a narrow ropy windrow. Have to do this for around 20-40 feet, depending on how thick the original windrow is. Each and every attempted start.

Baling has been limited to about a one hour window immediately after sunrise. Once the humidity falls below around 40%...................might as well just go on back to the house. The POS will not start a bale. (We're running record highs, and record low humidity, for this time of year)

Standing back, and looking at the situation.......................I've got a few takeaways.

This machine will not, and never did, work well with large windrows. Nature of the beast. It will run fine in a large windrow once the bale's started, but it will not start a bale in a large windrow. Helpful suggestions have all been worthless. I'm on the ground, and dealing with the issue in real time. In stemmy crop, which we bale, the machine is not satisfactory............never was, and still isn't.

The machine will bale behind a swather(what y'all call a MOCO) if the drydown moisture is fairly high. Hay Grazer bales fine when not fully dry. This is somewhat dangerous, but will work. Once the crop hits a certain % moisture.........it's all over.

The disc mower/raking process is a disaster on this stuff....................and that's been mostly due to my inexperience with the hay rake. I need to close it down to 6 wheels instead of 8. It's simply gathering too much material for this baler. The field is running at 4 bales to the acre.

The hay/garbage is feeding pretty much as I hoped. You'd be surprised what an animal will eat in hard times. The cows in Delhi will literally eat newspapers to survive. Only thing left in the bottom of the feeders has been Blackberry stems that are as thick as your index finger, otherwise they're cleaning it up. Supplemental feeding will be expensive, owing to the poor quality hay, but still cheaper than paying what folks are wanting for a bale of hay around here.

I still feel, and always have, that the mowing/raking system causes "Bale-Flation". This experience reinforces the thought. Baling behind a swather, which leaves a relatively tight, flat, well oriented windrow will produce a denser bale. Trying to cram a fluffy raked windrow into a baler makes for light bales IMHO. This applies to Johnson Grass, and Hay Grazer. Stemmy stuff makes for a light bale to begin with, but raking exacerbates the situation. How this machine handles Bluestem is yet to be determined. It's never run long enough to get on my Bluestem meadow. Maybe next year I'll find out.

All of this makes me want to restore the old NH846................a reliable, proven, baler. When old guys like me say "They'll bale trees".............this is what it means. They will handle ANY crop. And do it without any drama.

Am I being fair................Hell, I dunno. This has been another bad year, what with getting into the fields late. Perhaps in a normal situation I'll find out that I like the baler, and mower/rake.

The rebuild on the baler has been a resounding success. Everything is running as it's supposed to. No hot bearings, tracking issues, or other glitches. Once I get my fields renovated, and can send this mower, and rake, on down the road.......................it might turn out to be a machine that I like.

 

[flying belgian]

An update is in order I guess. We're feeding this trash as I speak. AND THEY'RE MOSTLY CLEANING IT UP. Desperation, and starvation, are strong incentives.

THE BALING IS ONGOING. Yeah.......ONGOING.

View attachment 90521

Gettin' a lot of this This baler will not start a bale in this stuff for love nor money............................................

View attachment 90522

Unless you get off, and hand rake the windrow into a narrow ropy windrow. Have to do this for around 20-40 feet, depending on how thick the original windrow is. Each and every attempted start.

Baling has been limited to about a one hour window immediately after sunrise. Once the humidity falls below around 40%...................might as well just go on back to the house. The POS will not start a bale. (We're running record highs, and record low humidity, for this time of year)

Standing back, and looking at the situation.......................I've got a few takeaways.

This machine will not, and never did, work well with large windrows. Nature of the beast. It will run fine in a large windrow once the bale's started, but it will not start a bale in a large windrow. Helpful suggestions have all been worthless. I'm on the ground, and dealing with the issue in real time. In stemmy crop, which we bale, the machine is not satisfactory............never was, and still isn't.

The machine will bale behind a swather(what y'all call a MOCO) if the drydown moisture is fairly high. Hay Grazer bales fine when not fully dry. This is somewhat dangerous, but will work. Once the crop hits a certain % moisture.........it's all over.

The disc mower/raking process is a disaster on this stuff....................and that's been mostly due to my inexperience with the hay rake. I need to close it down to 6 wheels instead of 8. It's simply gathering too much material for this baler. The field is running at 4 bales to the acre.

The hay/garbage is feeding pretty much as I hoped. You'd be surprised what an animal will eat in hard times. The cows in Delhi will literally eat newspapers to survive. Only thing left in the bottom of the feeders has been Blackberry stems that are as thick as your index finger, otherwise they're cleaning it up. Supplemental feeding will be expensive, owing to the poor quality hay, but still cheaper than paying what folks are wanting for a bale of hay around here.

I still feel, and always have, that the mowing/raking system causes "Bale-Flation". This experience reinforces the thought. Baling behind a swather, which leaves a relatively tight, flat, well oriented windrow will produce a denser bale. Trying to cram a fluffy raked windrow into a baler makes for light bales IMHO. This applies to Johnson Grass, and Hay Grazer. Stemmy stuff makes for a light bale to begin with, but raking exacerbates the situation. How this machine handles Bluestem is yet to be determined. It's never run long enough to get on my Bluestem meadow. Maybe next year I'll find out.

All of this makes me want to restore the old NH846................a reliable, proven, baler. When old guys like me say "They'll bale trees".............this is what it means. They will handle ANY crop. And do it without any drama.

Am I being fair................Hell, I dunno. This has been another bad year, what with getting into the fields late. Perhaps in a normal situation I'll find out that I like the baler, and mower/rake.

The rebuild on the baler has been a resounding success. Everything is running as it's supposed to. No hot bearings, tracking issues, or other glitches. Once I get my fields renovated, and can send this mower, and rake, on down the road.......................it might turn out to be a machine that I like.

Is that by chance a 648? like mine. That pos of mine I spent 2 days to get 14 bales of cornstalks baled. I finally got mine to start the bale but now I can't get it to start the net wrap. The wrapping never gave me problems in hay but will not work in stalks. Does that sound right? It just does not leave a tail on the duckbill. So then I will pull 3-4 inches of net through the bill and try and manual wrap and it still won't grab the net to start wrapping.

 

[farmersamm]

You, and I, have had a very respectful, and useful conversation about these particular balers. Not like other forums I'm used to. Bravo, and Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mine is the 650...................in my opinion............................the ultimate advertisement for a John Deere baler. It's working, but it kills you to make it work. I hate it................I MEAN I REALLY HATE IT. Not like I haven't a baler befor before.................been doing this for 30yrs. This thing is a solid gold plated POS.

The hand raking of windrows actually works. Might seem stupid, but it works. Try it, like I tried your suggestion to keep the wind shield at a close proximity to the starter roll. If you narrow the windrow down, and start into it at about idle.............which means about 1000rpm on the tractor.......maybe 250rpm on the PTO............it will start the bale. But you need to keep an eye on it for quite a while. About 20-40 feet. WHICH SUCKS. You will see the crop suck into the the baler. It's a very singular thing..................no way to mistake it. The hay starts to jump into the throat of the baler. Once this starts, you can put your foot to the floor....................it will ROCK. 5mph baling is quite easy after the damn thing starts the bale.

I think the major failing is the steel rollers. The sledge rollers. Steel is slippery. Other manufacturers don't rely on steel rollers.............seems they rely on the belts. I'd rather rely on rubber belts.

About your cornstalks, and my overly dry Johnson Grass. They're the hardest thing on the planet to bale............as you know. It separates the real balers from the wanabees.

I put up "laughing smilies", but I'm actually very upset about this. Not angry, but pretty depressed. I need to get baled. I need to feed the gurlz. It isn't going well. Best luck to you on your, seems to be, similar journey.

Is that by chance a 648? like mine. That pos of mine I spent 2 days to get 14 bales of cornstalks baled. I finally got mine to start the bale but now I can't get it to start the net wrap. The wrapping never gave me problems in hay but will not work in stalks. Does that sound right? It just does not leave a tail on the duckbill. So then I will pull 3-4 inches of net through the bill and try and manual wrap and it still won't grab the net to start wrapping.,

 

[TerryfromSWIowa]

I have not run a round baler but always said baling can be enjoyable when a square baler is working and the most frustrating when it is not. Sometimes within minutes of each other.

 

[flying belgian]

You, and I, have had a very respectful, and useful conversation about these particular balers. Not like other forums I'm used to. Bravo, and Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mine is the 650...................in my opinion............................the ultimate advertisement for a John Deere baler. It's working, but it kills you to make it work. I hate it................I MEAN I REALLY HATE IT. Not like I haven't a baler befor before.................been doing this for 30yrs. This thing is a solid gold plated POS.

The hand raking of windrows actually works. Might seem stupid, but it works. Try it, like I tried your suggestion to keep the wind shield at a close proximity to the starter roll. If you narrow the windrow down, and start into it at about idle.............which means about 1000rpm on the tractor.......maybe 250rpm on the PTO............it will start the bale. But you need to keep an eye on it for quite a while. About 20-40 feet. WHICH SUCKS. You will see the crop suck into the the baler. It's a very singular thing..................no way to mistake it. The hay starts to jump into the throat of the baler. Once this starts, you can put your foot to the floor....................it will ROCK. 5mph baling is quite easy after the damn thing starts the bale.

I think the major failing is the steel rollers. The sledge rollers. Steel is slippery. Other manufacturers don't rely on steel rollers.............seems they rely on the belts. I'd rather rely on rubber belts.

About your cornstalks, and my overly dry Johnson Grass. They're the hardest thing on the planet to bale............as you know. It separates the real balers from the wanabees.

I put up "laughing smilies", but I'm actually very upset about this. Not angry, but pretty depressed. I need to get baled. I need to feed the gurlz. It isn't going well. Best luck to you on your, seems to be, similar journey.

Do you think it would help to put a bunch of weld spots on the starter roll? I've been tempted to try that. If the welds are bothersome just grind them off.

How much tail have you got sticking out the duckbill after cutting?

 

[farmersamm]

Do you think it would help to put a bunch of weld spots on the starter roll? I've been tempted to try that. If the welds are bothersome just grind them off.

How much tail have you got sticking out the duckbill after cutting?

Some time ago, I welded 1/4 x 1/4 square stock on the starter roll full width. I feel that it's helped a bit. If you do something like this..............weld your strips on in a sequence that your welding is opposite of the last one you installed(rotate the roller 360* every bar). In other words, balance your heat input so that you don't banana the roller. Keep the welds to about maybe one inch in length, every 6-8". Small welds have a lot of holding power. Lot of folks tend to overweld.

I don't have net wrap. Mine's a twine wrap baler. It has the Bale Command system. I wish it was Auto Wrap, but they were starting to phase them out around this time(I think). I sometimes look around the internet, and see a lot of issues with the duckbill. You might want to look at Hay Talk, and do a search for the NH balers. There used to be a guy there that was/is a NH tech. He's posted a good series of articles on these machines.

 

[UAFitter]

An update is in order I guess. We're feeding this trash as I speak. AND THEY'RE MOSTLY CLEANING IT UP. Desperation, and starvation, are strong incentives.

THE BALING IS ONGOING. Yeah.......ONGOING.

View attachment 90521

Gettin' a lot of this This baler will not start a bale in this stuff for love nor money............................................

View attachment 90522

Unless you get off, and hand rake the windrow into a narrow ropy windrow. Have to do this for around 20-40 feet, depending on how thick the original windrow is. Each and every attempted start.

Baling has been limited to about a one hour window immediately after sunrise. Once the humidity falls below around 40%...................might as well just go on back to the house. The POS will not start a bale. (We're running record highs, and record low humidity, for this time of year)

Standing back, and looking at the situation.......................I've got a few takeaways.

This machine will not, and never did, work well with large windrows. Nature of the beast. It will run fine in a large windrow once the bale's started, but it will not start a bale in a large windrow. Helpful suggestions have all been worthless. I'm on the ground, and dealing with the issue in real time. In stemmy crop, which we bale, the machine is not satisfactory............never was, and still isn't.

The machine will bale behind a swather(what y'all call a MOCO) if the drydown moisture is fairly high. Hay Grazer bales fine when not fully dry. This is somewhat dangerous, but will work. Once the crop hits a certain % moisture.........it's all over.

The disc mower/raking process is a disaster on this stuff....................and that's been mostly due to my inexperience with the hay rake. I need to close it down to 6 wheels instead of 8. It's simply gathering too much material for this baler. The field is running at 4 bales to the acre.

The hay/garbage is feeding pretty much as I hoped. You'd be surprised what an animal will eat in hard times. The cows in Delhi will literally eat newspapers to survive. Only thing left in the bottom of the feeders has been Blackberry stems that are as thick as your index finger, otherwise they're cleaning it up. Supplemental feeding will be expensive, owing to the poor quality hay, but still cheaper than paying what folks are wanting for a bale of hay around here.

I still feel, and always have, that the mowing/raking system causes "Bale-Flation". This experience reinforces the thought. Baling behind a swather, which leaves a relatively tight, flat, well oriented windrow will produce a denser bale. Trying to cram a fluffy raked windrow into a baler makes for light bales IMHO. This applies to Johnson Grass, and Hay Grazer. Stemmy stuff makes for a light bale to begin with, but raking exacerbates the situation. How this machine handles Bluestem is yet to be determined. It's never run long enough to get on my Bluestem meadow. Maybe next year I'll find out.

All of this makes me want to restore the old NH846................a reliable, proven, baler. When old guys like me say "They'll bale trees".............this is what it means. They will handle ANY crop. And do it without any drama.

Am I being fair................Hell, I dunno. This has been another bad year, what with getting into the fields late. Perhaps in a normal situation I'll find out that I like the baler, and mower/rake.

The rebuild on the baler has been a resounding success. Everything is running as it's supposed to. No hot bearings, tracking issues, or other glitches. Once I get my fields renovated, and can send this mower, and rake, on down the road.......................it might turn out to be a machine that I like.

So you’re baling dry brush that you raked into too-large windrows with a clapped-out thirty year old baler, and it’s because the baler was No good when it was new. I wouldn’t be too proud of myself for starving those cows: if you can’t feed a profit into them, you surely won’t be able to do it by starving it into them.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Just as a thought. What if you could wrap a piece of belt around the roller and just pop rivet it on to hold it. Would now have a rubber coating so to speak to grip the stems better.

 

[farmersamm]

Feeding as we Go​

Bring a bale up every time I come up from the field.

They're goin' through it fast, with minimal waste. One of the reasons it's feeding so fast is that it's sub prime hay. Very little energy.

We're only running 2 feeders right now. When the stuff's all moved up from the field, we'll run 5 at a time.

The reason I like twine. Very little trash to deal with. The net wrap from a 4x5 would be at least 5x this size.

FOR THE FLYING BELGIAN
​

I grabbed a pic of the sledge rollers. The floor roller has 1/4 square stock welded to it, in addition to what came from the factory. The starter roll has been stripped to weld 1/4 square stock to it. Note the weld size/spacing.

I hope this helps. When I get around to it, I'll post the entire rebuild..........including bearing housings(OEM, and modified), modified parts, modified rollers, partial replacement of the sledge frame, wheel repair, sledge pivot replacement................etc.