Anyone use bale baskets?

[Nick m]

I'm thinking about buying a couple bale baskets to
help me in the lack of help department. Any pros
and cons? Are bales much heavier? What brands are
out there? Do they travel down the road well? Back
up easy? My other option would be to look for a
good thrower for my new holland 311, but I'd have
to buy wagons for that too. I kind of like the idea of
being able to dump and head back to the field. I
think I could have 3 or 4 loads on my barn floor
before I had to handle any.

 

[Bret4207]

There have been several threads on bale baskets here in the past. Some love them, some not so much. The main thing I remember is people using them on hill sides not liking them so much. I think they'd fit in my operation great, I just can't afford one.

 

[J. Schwiebert]

They are in the neighborhood. However I will mention this. They are not used for HAY. The item that is baled here is STRAW. Around here there were even used ones because are going to the New Holland system where you pick them up with a stack wagon or whatever you call them. High school kids do the stacking around here.

 

[farmerwithmutt]

friend of mine had 24t with kicker never tied good till he put basket on never had a problem after that. i had thrower and 1 wagon simple operation fill pull in unload never unhooked 1 man operation in the mow i stacked the sides then dump the middle taking hay out go straight across the floor good bales sold bad bales feed. watch baler makes if you have wagon hitch under the chute straight hookup if tounge is offset on side have to adapt it

 

[Alan K]

We had one of the New Holland bale wagons, number 1010. You can pick them up and unload into an elevator or set them up in a stack all at once. The main disadvantage we had was the bales have to be good and firm and no heavy dew/light rain on the bales you have allready baled as they dont feed in well.

 

[Hay hay hay]

I really looked at them carefully, but decided for the same investment I could buy 5 good wagons and build a 5 bay drive-thru hay shed (no walls) and get the same job done easier. I can ususally hire one guy to stack on the wagon. 5 wagons = 500 bales. Drive into the shed and then later unload and stack and at my leisure, just like a bale wagon (stack later).

Not sure how a bale basket would work on my small fields and rough hilly ground either.

 

[JMS/.MN]

In my early years (1972) I baled hay, with very little help. Second year of baling on the ground when I had little help, (hired neighbor kids were unreliable with baseball). I went to a thrower wagon, couple years later added two more, later the fourth one.

Then we went to chopping haylage, but still used thrower wagons for some hay and straw......about the time bale baskets came out.

Never made sense to me to dump bales on the ground, outside the barn, then carry each to the conveyor that I built that took them inside the barn! With a thrower wagon I could DROP the bales onto the conveyor that I built, which took them to the haymow conveyor that I built with a tip-off, and I could unload all bales by myself.

When the kids were big enough, they handled the unloading, just like they did the haylage that went into the Harvestore. Just like my better half, whether bales or haylage.

No, I"ve never been impressed with the bale basket idea. Just too much physical work if you"re dealing with volume, like we had years ago, with 140 acres alfalfa. Sure, I"ve seen some here, but they never caught on. Simply low volume, high labor.

 

[farmerwithmutt]

ive thought about that and wondered about using a elevator with tray? dumping works with kids because you can dump the load and all they have to do is drag them over to the elevator while you go get the next load.but your lucky to have kids that can work where do you find kids now that know how to work much less want to work neighbor lost the side of the barn when they stacked wrong

 

[RodinNS]

Baskets have their place but it's not for every situation...
I've use them but presently use an accumulator. The biggest issue I found with the basket is that after you get a bunch of bales in it... mabey 50-60... and they start piling up... the force it takes to push them into the basket can lead to a lot denser bale. It's difficult to maintain a consistent bale weight unless someone is in there and hauling the bale off the chute. I've seen it pushing 10 bales at a time which take a lot more force than 5... If you want to fill the basket to that median volume and then go dump it... they work great. If you want to fill it because you're traveling along distance... then probably not going to work so great. I haul long distances and want the ability to mechanically retrieve the bales from the barn so I use an accumulator/grapple combo. If I was close to the barn and had to manually stack/retrieve from the barn anyway... I'd probably use a basket.
I didn't find that hills mattered much... but small fields and tight turns don't happen. Tends to jamb the bales in the chute in tight turns.

Rod

 

[rrlund]

I think Jerry and Judy Emmons have a few. You could talk to them and see what they think about them.

 

[Anonymous-0]

a Farm Hand accumulator is a nice way to handle squares

 

[rdandersom]

We used a basket for about 20 years.Only really works if fields are close to the barn.For road travel you are supposed to jack up the front end and lock the tongue down so the caster wheel is off the ground.A friend had 20 dairy cows and never unhooked the basket from the baler.He could dump the basket and head right back to the field or open the gate and drive ahead 6 feet and never walk more than 8 feet from bale to elevater if he was working alone.They have thier place and are cheaper than a thrower and wagons.A New Holland baler requires a special hitch to relocate the hitch under the chute.

 

[SFM in Mo]

We used them for years and loved them, but have switched to round bales. I have one left I would love to sell. I am in central Missouri.

 

[Nick m]

I'd be interested in buying it, with free delivery. Mid Michigan here.

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

We really like the one we have borrowed for the last couple of years, its on the JD 336 baler. We haven't had any troubles with varying bale weight but when you are trying to get max capacity sometimes it will hold 90 sometimes 105 before bales start coming over the sides.

You do have to make wider turns with it or you will jam the chute if you pickup hay while turning but not really much different than towing a wagon for turn radius. I've had it in some 1/2 acre fields no trouble.

On the 336 we can put 300 bales an hour through it for fields by the barn. Fields 2-3 miles away it takes 20 min to fill, 20 mins to hook it to the truck drive to the conveyor and get back baling so only 1/2 the bales an hour. A couple of baskets would solve this easily. They tow faster if you keep a car ramp/2x10 and block you can run the dolly wheel up onto to stick the pin in to keep it up. No need to jack it.

We have really rough ground and it doesn't bother the basket at all. We have some steep ground and you can run any direction on the hill. I usually do the steepest sidehills when its empty for the sake of the downhill tire.

We have some customers local to us and its great in the summer to dump at their conveyor or stack face.

What will shut them down is width. They are over legal width, I think 10 feet? Good luck getting through small gates while hitched to the baler too. We have one field it just can't get to.

 

[ztrmowers]

I grew up using the kicker style baler,then later on when i was on my own i went with the bale basket wagons and loved them. ran three of them for over ten seasons till going to a grapple system. today don't own any hay equipment. If I were going back into small bale business i would not be afraid to use them again. like any piece of equipment if you set them correct they work very well. I ran ez-trail units. three i had are now in state of Ohio still being used. give me call for alot little things that really make them work very nice in setup. 319-257-6764