first time using a square baler....HELP!!!

[dbfd588]

Hey yall, picked up a Massey 9 baler a month or so ago. Plan to bale out field this spring. Ive never used a baler but the buy we got it from said it baled about 200 or so bales and only missed about 2. It still has about a qurter bale still in it. Will it do anything to run the baler without hay feeding into it? Any tips and tricks for square baling? Thanks

 

[johns48jdb]

where to start. first remove all the old hay and keep it in the dry some where. spray silicone spray over knotters or burnt motor oil. check for worn out blocks where chains ride and or belts turn. buy the owners manual for it and a parts manual and a shop manual if possible. check all the places that need greasing and see if fittings are there and check oil in drive gear boxes. pack your wheel bearings. after you grease it good you can turn it over by hand and see if every thing seems to work. there is a lever that rides up on a pulley on most balers that sets the length of the bales and try by trips the needles into coming into play. stay away from moving parts until you see what they are going to do. you'll have to learn how to thread the twine from the bundles to through the eyes. on the first bale since you've cut all the strings and removed the old hay you'll have to just tie the end of the twine off to the frame of the baler for the first time you trip the mechasium that makes the knotters work. after that it will take care of it self. don't power up the machine until your comfortable with turning it over by hand and know your far enough away from moving parts when you do power it up. replace any pick up teeth that need to be and be sure you know where to service it at. this spring you need to just mow a very few rounds in the field and rake that up and try your baler out before cutting the whole field. i made friends with the weather forecater at the air port and i'd always depend on his weather reports more so than tv's. any time there is a 20% chance of rain go fishing and forget about cutting hay. if your palnning on putting up much hay there is nothing beter to have setting around that enough trailers to put the hay on and leave it stack until you have it all on wheels, then you can go to unloading it. old chicken houses, long narrow buildings with lots of ventalation and open doors on each end makes a great place to stack hay. when stacking hay put the first bale with the strings down against the wall. the second bale coming out from the wall gets stacked on its side. the bales on hay that stacks on this first row will be stacked with the ends against the wall. once you start this way the hay will always be tilting toward the wall and not out into the floor and falling over on you later. when mowing hay never worry about cutting the corners out until your done with the field. then go back and make a round or two at each corner to cut what you miss when you turn at the corners. use two rakes and make big windrows, especialy on rough ground. you can't run a bailer real fast over rough ground so bigger wind rows means fewer passes on the rough ground with the baler. i always liked raking at least 4 winrows together and that made a good apacing for a truck and trailer to go down to throw hay on witout having to have a real good driver. practice being safe. never work on the baler as long as its moving. be especailly careful around the needles. i know a man who looked up in where the needles traveled and the baler happened to trip and crushed his head. not a pretty sight. you remember that each time you get near them.

 

[tim s]

Yes you could write a book on this subject...A LONG book...

 

[Paul from MI]

johns48jdb pretty well covered it. If you can buy or borrow a few bales of hay or straw you can use it to test the baler. Just break open the bales and feed it thru with a fork. BE CAREFUL.
Paul

 

[MoMark]

Well John pretty well covered the entire range of issues. Using a square baler can be frustrating when you're having trouble & very enjoyable when everything's clicking right. I made 1300 bales last year with my 24T & have gotten a lot better at it over the years. You learn lessons sometimes the hard way as you go. I've been regularly burned by the weatherman, had loads of tarped hay sitting on wagons in the rain because I had to get it loaded quick before it rained, lost a beautiful field of raked hay because it started raining just as I was starting to bale (I have to hold down a job too, you know), etc, etc, etc. I have gradually gotten better facilities & gotten my equipment tuned in. You still have breakdowns but learn to keep spare parts ready. Have fun & be careful.

 

[Pat Lafon]

Johns 48 did a good job. two more points: I wouldn't want to bale already baled hay. It doesn't give you a good measure of what lays ahead. I only do it when I bust one in the field. It's just not a good measuring stick. The settings on you baler will have to be changed if you set it up using already baled hay. That type hay is already compressed and is much harder on the baler/tractor the second time around. Bale length will be different and the tightness of the bale will need to be monitored. Once you get it in the field, stop and adjust the handles at the back of the baler. They control the weight and tightness of the bale. Keep them pretty tight but not so tight that you can't get your hands under the strings. The tighter you keep them, the heavier the bale. The outside row along a fence is always the heaviest. I leave the outside row until last to bale to give it time to dry.

Lastly, John48 says to rake 4 swaths into one row. Be careful. My hay can only be raked twice. Once in and the once back out. Anymore than that on my fields will clog a baler easily. He may be talking about alfalfa. Mine is orchard grass. I use small utility (not compact)tractor to bale and run in 4th or 5th gear out of 8 forward. I usually run it at 1800 to 2200 rpm.

Lastly, based on experience, do not use a tractor unless it has live PTO. My B will NOT run a baler correctly. Won't go slow enough and shears pins in the flywheel on the baler.

Oh, make sure you carry enough shear pins. My first time baling last year, I bet I sheared 10 of them before I got it set up correctly. I use a New Holland that I got at auction for $1400 and it took a while to set it up as it hadn't been used in years.

 

[dbfd588]

alright thanks. can you explain more about removing the old hay and tying the twine to the frame. I was afraid I would have to rethread the knotters if I cut the bail out. It had another whole bail in it and I removed it because it had been tied but theirs another partial bale that isnt finised yet. And our tractor is a 2755 Deere 75hp at pto so no worries in it running it fine. Just have to take it slow and not overload it and shear a pin.

 

[Pat Lafon]

If you remove the old bale (which I would to check the chute and knife) you will probably have to re-thread the twine. Should be directions in or around the area that holds the twine.

If not, just feed it out of the compartment and through the little eye things or insulators and then thru the end of the needles that go up thru the bale. Then, like others said, tie it off to the axle or frame. As hay comes thru and it kicks to run the twine up thru the bale, it will handle everything itself and be automatic from there. Cut the old string off from where you tied it and you're done.

 

[Jason Z in MO]

My experience is with a New Holland baler which may or may not apply...

The easiest way I have found to clean out a partial bale is to trip the knotters which will tie any length bale. Shut down the PTO. Loosen the bale chamber tension and pull the runt bale out.

This is not hard but you need to know what you are doing around the moving parts. Not sure how your machine works but if you don't have a good understanding of what's gonna happen when the knotters trip I would be very careful. Use a stick if possible. Or you could trip the mechanism with the PTO shut off then spin the baler up and it should tie the knots. Then it's real easy to slide the bale out of the chamber. This also leaves the twine in place for the next bale. No need to re-thead the needles.

I do this on a regular bases to prevent the hay from drawing moisture and rusting my bale chamber.

Also, my older New Holland does not run at full PTO speed. It has a 540 PTO shaft but (if I remember correctly) runs at 70 strokes per minute. Which is around 1600 PRM on a 4020 which full PTO speed of 540RPM is around ~2000 engine RPM. Until you get the owners manual don't assume you can run it at 540RPM. It might fly appart!

Hope this helps,

Jason

 

[johns48jdb]

actually taking it slow is good/bad advice. running it at less than the recommedned rpm will put more strain on the drive train and other parts. you'll learn to judge the size of windrows that will make effecent use of your time and equiptment. i certainly don't want to encourage you to run it at least at a ground speed that your uncomfortable with. the chances are that the old twine in there is going to do one of two things. is going to be so rotten it want work and might even cause you a lot of problems trying to use it. twine left in the baler should be removed and stored in a dry place, but mostly stored where it want get knocked around and collapse in on itself during the winter months. stuffing some thing in the middle that want attract rats will help save a bundle or two of partially used twine. i actually use to find that part of a bundle left on the shelf in my shop with a knife close by was awful handy for lots of things. the reason that you have to tie the first run of twine through the neddles is to give the neddles something to pull against to play out twine to the knotters until its tied the first time. there is usually a brace that is right in line with the neddles so that after you run it from the box through the twine holders at the end of the box (on ih balers) this holder is spring loaded to hold the correct amount of tension on the twine until it called for from the baling process, through some guides to help hold the twine on place, through the eyes of the needles and then back to the brace and tie them off there. not only will you have to do this at the first of the season each year you'll find times when the twine brakes or some malfunction causes the knotter to drop the twine and you have to start over by tying it off. you don't have to do both sides, just the side thats had the problem. you'll soon learn about how many bales you can bale with each bundle. normally you tie two bundles together in the twine storage area, one set for each side of the knotters. a figure 8 knot is great. i always trimed mine off fairly close, but made sure to pull it real hard before i cut it. having a good section off a mower in there makes quick work of cutting twine when needed. if you have gloves on its ease to use a section as a knife. you could tape off one side if your not wearing gloves for safety. i'm a little unease with your using this machine if you've never been around one in operation. if you'll look for a tractor club near you and join it you'll find a bunch of guys that will be willing to come out and walk you through a few things. just proceed with caution until your more familiar with the machine. like most farm macinery no matter how use you are to it still stay afraid of it. i'd also like to caution you about not getting any where near the pto drive shaft as long as it is spining. a guy i graduated high school with got his coveralls caught in the drive shaft of a post hole digger and if they hadn't been old and rotten it would have killed him. as it was he still came out in bad shape and 5 or 6 years later its having a toll on his every day life now. nothing you have to do in a hurrry is worth it on the farm. tomorrows another day if your alive.