Mini balers

[Skipper]

A friend asked me for advice about mini balers. I had not
heard of them before. He and his dad are getting pretty well
up there in years and they keep about 20 beef cattle for
enjoyment.

Did a little Google search and see what mini balers are.
Wondering if anybody here has one or been using them that
could give some words of wisdom or tales of experience with
them. Good or bad. What to run from or what to look for.

All I could tell him is try to find someone who has one for their
thoughts and look for a dealer that has parts.

They have tractors from a Cub up to several in 45 hp range.

Please give us some good advice!!

 

[retired farmer]

My neighbor's neighbor bought one last year. We laugh at him every time he uses it. It makes a tiny little round bale like the old roto balers made. Save your money.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Some folks are just too set in their ways and closed-minded that they laugh at anything different/new.

From what I've seen these balers make a tight small bale that can be rolled around with relative ease to feed in a small tight barn, but does not have to be handled by hand, or require a bunch of specialized equipment, the rest of the time. All you need is a small tractor with a bale spear.

I'm thinking it may be a bit small and impractical for 20 head, especially if hay is their primary source of feed. When Dad had beefers it was taking 10 small square bales plus four 30cu-ft cartloads of corn silage a day to feed 44 head. Without the silage it would have been 15-20 small square bales.

So let's say it's taking 10 small squares a day to feed, and a tiny round bale is good for 4. That's 2-1/2 rounds a day, or 913 bales in a year if you don't graze them at all. That's a lot of stopping to tie, then chasing them around the field 1-2 at a time.

Those balers are more intended for a guy with a few head of horses or cattle, and a few acres to bale.

 

[tomturkey]

20 head of cows eat a lot of hay. I've seen videos of the Claas smaller round balers. But have no experience with them. But smaller bales does encourage better management as your eyes are on the cows and you are knowing who is eating and who is a bit off. It appears the controlling factor maybe the 45hp tractors. That size tractor will not handle the 1500-2000 lb bales to feed or to bale. So its either a smaller big round or it is small squares. They may be ready to give up the cow herd in a couple years, but for now looks like they just want to hang on. jmho gobble

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

It's worse than I thought. The mini balers I'm finding make a 20x28 bale, weighing around 40-60 lbs.

The one I saw at Empire Farm Days 4-5 years ago made a larger bale as I recall, maybe 24x36, weighing a couple hundred pounds.

There really is no advantage to something that makes a 20x28 round bale over a small square bale UNLESS you don't already have the equipment and are just making a couple of acres of hay for a horse.

 

[Hay hay hay]

I think mini round bales sort of miss the point. Lots of time on a tractor moving not much hay. A very different alternative is to take an old slow square baler like a NH270 which will run with a 40HP tractor and set it to make a 24 inch square bale, which is easy to lift...but which still needs to be stacked and stored inside. Another consideration is moving mini round bales in winter mud with a small tractor...not ideal.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

One of my fields sold and the new owner told me he was going to do it himself. Wanted to rent my equipment. I told him no, so he bought a mini mower, mini rake and mini baler. He was trying to sell those mini rounds (imagine a cardboard toilet paper roll) for around $10 when squares about the same size were $4. He's not a big guy and could carry one in each hand so not heavy bales. Those sat there thru a couple rains. I think he was giving them away in the end. About half were dumped. I watched him use all the equipment. Cannot say I would recommend any of it.

 

[Doug - Iowa]

I don't know if this officially qualified as a mini-baler, but I considered it one. I ran a Case IH 3450 soft core baler with a 45HP tractor doing about 20 acres of hay ground per year. It made a 500# to 700# bale I could move with my small tractor. It worked good if you had inside bale storage, the bales were not tight enough to last well outside. But this hay was for horses, cattle are probably not as picky. They are easy to find at a reasonable price and simple to work on. I got $2500 out of it (more than I paid for it) when the haying days were over in 2019. One for sale on tractor house now for $3900. Other companies used the same design I think they called it a Welker Type you might read up on them.

 

[Doug - Iowa]

Forgot to mention, some of these 3450's had a knife option (mine didn't but I seen one once) that cut the bale in two after it was wrapped, leaving you with two 300# round bales about 30 inches wide and 48 inches in diameter. Finding one with that option is likely rare but worth thinking about.

 

[paul]

As the others mention, Id sooner get a good solid older small square baler.

The mini round balers dont have a lot of parts and support around. They cost a fair amount. They kind of miss the point of efficiency on every level.... a big round bale can store outside, you lose a few inches to weathering but most of the bale stays good. You can move a lot of hay with a big round bale, easy to clear out a whole field with a good bobcat and trailer. You dont use much twine or wrap on the bigger round bales, more savings.

The mini round bales take forever to bale a whole field, take forever to chase them down gathering them, and then you need to store them, how do you stack the little devils......

They really defeat the point and purpose of a good big round bale.

If you want small stuff, go with the small square bales. There are many options of accumulators, baskets, or throwers to make handling them easier. If you sell some people are familiar with them and how to handle and store them at home.

Those mini rounds are just awkward.

Im sure there are many that get along fine with them. If its what a person wants then good deal! But do think it through. They arent the best option for everyone.

Paul

 

[Tx Jim]

As much as I dislike stopping every 2 minutes or less for wrapping a 4x5.5 rd bale weighing around 1000#s I can't imagine stopping for every round bale that only weighs 40-60#s

 

[Timmycornpicker]

There's a man and his wife a ways east of me who bought new as a package, a small tractor with a drum mower, a pto belt rake, and one of those little round balers, so they can make hay off the 6 acre field belonging to their house. I assume it's to qualify for the farmland assessement rate on the real estate tax, but they spent an awful lot of money, to put in a lot of labor, to make hay in packaging that's difficult to sell.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

I think that was supposed to be the point of the mini baler: One machine the size of a small chest freezer that can fit in the garage, instead of a square baler, wagons, and/or accumulator and grapple, that end up getting left outside.

Unfortunately the tiny bales they make HAVE to be handled by hand and that makes it impractical for some older guys who are getting up there and are looking at ways to reduce manual labor.

There are plenty of options in round balers that make 4x4 or even 3.5x4 round bales such as the Hesston 530 and it's CaseIH equivalent, the New Holland 630/634/638.

A 4x4 baler makes a bale small enough for a 45HP tractor to handle, and big enough to reduce handling without having to deal with 1000 round bales.

 

[MJMJ]

I would agree, with 20 cattle and a 45 hp tractor, they do NOT want to mess with a mini baler. Lots of options for 4x4 balers.

 

[Timmycornpicker]

Somebody's been working on the handling problem . . .
accumulator

 

[formerly ny bill]

fwiw, my 4x5 balers (NH848 and NH650) both make bales in the 700-750# range but could be set smaller diameter. One of my customers has a Ford 2000 with a 3pt spear and has no trouble picking the bales up.
For 20 beefers, I sure wouldn't dink around with a mini baler.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Oh and one other reason for the mini baler:

For those guys with a few acres of land that have been paying neighbor farmers to bale their hay for them, and think that they've been getting shafted all these years.

 

[caterpillar guy]

45 horse with a loader on the front should easily lift 100 0 lbs bales on the 3pt and if counter weighted right would lift them with the loader. We usea 574 which is only 54 horse to lift 8x5 bales or 2-3 4x4 bales. thisis on the loader and nothing on the 3pt. We pick them up and dirve around with them on the forks. Lifting them with the bucket on is more of a challenge since it is out about 3 feet further. I would conclude that 4x4 bales or 5x4 bales should be fine for his tractors. We have ran our 8x5 baler with the 574also so power is not the issue it is the stopping when baler is full. Still does it but will slide a tire sometimes.

 

[Jim.ME]

Given there seem to be different size mini-squares, and may be rounds as well, perhaps it would be good to know one, if the neighbors are thinking squares or rounds, and two, what size of which ever they are thinking about are they considering to be "mini". My thoughts would be to adjust for short bales from a reliable old square baler, as most economical. And cutting the bale size, of what they are handling now, in half means they handle twice as many bales to get the same volume of feed.

 

[paul]

And if a person is happy with that Im 100% happy for them!

Just want to put the info out there for those inexperienced, what looks cute isnt always fun or long term workable.....

Paul

 

[Skipper]

Thanks so very much for all the thoughts and suggestions.

We are located in central Florida so theres some grazing all the time. Just some supplemental feed is done.

It is sorta a hobby and helps keep the family together, some young and some mature.

His sister actually brought this up as she helps sometimes (middle age). (Well thats probably not wise to say that part)

He currently buys big rolls in Georgia at a decent price and brings them down here. (He works in northern Florida and is here 3 days a week)
They are friends with their neighbors and would be cutting their fields. Some are kept up and some will need weeding.
Hope this helps.
Thanks again.

 

[Bonnan]

They are marketed to the small hobby person with too much money on their hands.
Pretty big market now that I think of it.

 

[wheat straw]

Find an early 1960s new holland 65 square baler and refurbish it. Makes a 12x16 bale from 16 to 48 inches long. My old vac can walk the dog with it. At 32 long its got to be packed pretty tight to weigh 30 #. I like the way it bales.
Andy

 

[Jim.ME]

So, he buys "big rolls". What are they/you discussing as the "mini" bales they think they want to make (type and size)? That info will get better answers to their question.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Fellow near me has a mini baler makes about a 50 lb bale he gave me some of the bales he didn't think the hay was good enough for his horses,nice tight bales good quality hay.Use hay hooks to handle them.We made thousands of similar bales with our AC Roto Baler years ago.

 

[Leroy]

To me a mini baler is one that makes the little bales sold in stores for haloween deceration and things like that. They make a 6-8 inch bale by 10-12 inch and are all hand pwered and fed by hand with wire punched in my hand and tied by hand and compression of bale bight be by hand or a couple of horse gas engines. A friend several years had 2 of them in both sizes I mentioned but I never saw them being use if they ever were. They would sell good at the produce auction he helped start along with the mellons, onions tomatoes and other garden type crops he raises for a living. What you are talking about is just a small baler and not a mini baler. A horse in about 4 bites would have a mini bale eaten.

 

[Skipper]

These types are more what he is interested in. Hopefully the link will open up. They advertise 18 to 50 hours tractor to pull them in most ads.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nw-TJxgqIGw


Thanks

 

[Jim.ME]

Here is a clickable link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=nw-TJxgqIGw

Just my personal opinion: A lot of money for a machine making round bales for what will amount to handling regular squares, that could be put up with a good used regular baler. And the squares will stack and store easier in my mind. Each to their own.