Routed balers evaluated as harvesting method
Editor’s Note: This is a
report from people who have
purchased and used large
round balers for the past
seven years.
In 1972 a revolution in
harvesting hay took place.
The shape of things switched
from square to round
giant round, in fact. And
while conventional square
baler sales fell off in suc
ceeding years, giant round
baler sales experienced
gams capturing many hearts
-of farmers and ranchers
• everywhere.
; Now, after almost seven
• years, the novelty and
newness are gone. Giant
round baler owners have had
tune to analyze this “one
man system” and compare
»it with previous hay har
vesting methods. What do
owners think of the system,
and more importantly, the
product it produces? What
do they think of the hay
quality, the spoilage? How
does it stand up to the
weather when it’s stored in
the field? How does it
compare to previous hay
handling methods? What
| size baler works best? The
* analysis and answers,
1 nearly 700 of them, were
, complied bv Vermeer
; Manufacturing Co., during a
■ recent study of owner at
. titudes and purchasing
STEIGER'S PANTHER
ShlFT liss
COME IN AND DRIVE TOMORROW'S TRACTOR TODATI
habits. The research is
thought to be the first known
large-scale follow-up study
conducted since the in
troduction of the big round
bale system. The findings
are as follows:
What type of giant round
baler do owners prefer?
Nearly 85 per cent of the
large round baler owners
prefer the medium-sized unit
(which produces a 6-foot by
5-foot package). The
popularity of this size ap
pears to have increased in
recent years. According to
Vermeer officials the per
centage of Model 605 owners
four years ago was 78 per
cent. The 5-ft. by 4-ft.
package also has gained a
following in recent years
because of its smaller,
easier-to-handle size for
dairy operations, and the
lower tractor horsepower
requirements to operate the
machine.
Because of the handling
problems akin to most dairy
operations, dairymen have
been reluctant to switch
systems. However, several
have devised their own
home-made handling and
feeding systems to ac
commodate the package. As
a result the trend toward big
bale systems among
dairymen is increasing.
Four years ago officials
IS
claimed that only four per
cent of their customers
raised dairy cows. Today,
the figure has jumped to
nearly 11 percent.
What kind of tonnage can
an owner expect to harvest’
Although some owners
harvest approximately 15
tons per hour, the majority
of giant round baler owners
put up less than 11 tons of
hay per hour (based on 1500
lb. bales). However, it
should also be noted that
geography, cutting time and
operator's experience
directly effect the rate of
harvest.
One Kansas owner
claimed a variation of four to
twenty bales depending on
season and conditions. On
the other hand, an Ohio man,
baled 172 bales all within
nine hours.
In any event, the “that
ched-roof” characteristic of
the giant round baler works.
The vast majority of owners
are very happy with the
weathering ability of the big
round bale. Better than 85
per cent claim it is “good to
excellent”. Another 13 per
cent classify it as fair, while
less than 1 per cent of the
owners are truly disap
pointed in the package
harvested.
Those who complam about
weathering problems
usually point to a 4 to 6 inch
layer of waste on the outside
perimeter of the baler
However, recent im
provements in bale density
have sealed up some of the
waste, and as a result,
mellowed most of the
complaints among later
model owners.
When the big round bale
emerged seven years ago,
one of the first questions
asked was, “what are you
going to do with that monster
after you bale it” and “how
do you feed it efficiently
without waste or spoilage”.
Fenceline storage and
simple tractor-mounted bale
movers solved the first
question. However, the
latter one has always been
suspect. Surprisingly,
however, in this study giant
round baler owners showed
no clear-cut opinion on
spoilage or waste when
comparmg the new system
to previous hay baling
methods. Nearly 30 per cent
feel spoilage and waste is
greater, but there is an equal
number who feel that
they’ve been able to reduce
the waste and spoilage.
Obviously, the cost of hay,
in recent years has en
couraged owners to seek out
efficient feeding and han
dling methods. As a result,
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 21,1979
owncis appear to be caring
for their bales a lot more.
What about the quality of
the bale in general? Ask
giant round baler owners
about overall quality, of hay
and, chances are, nearly 11
out of 12 of them would rate
the big bale system either
“as good or better” than
previous bahng systems.
Roughly half of the owners
see no difference m quahty.
Another 34 per cent consider
it better.
What about storage?
Almost 95 per cent store the
bales in the field. However,
several owners, especially m
recent years, have started to
shelter their bales for
various reasons.
Incidentally, hay isn’t the
only product giant round
balers are harvesting.
Approximately, two out of
every five owners harvest
crop residues with giant
round bale equipment. The
big surprise, however, is the
weathering ability of the
giant round bale as ex
nenenced by those who have
& STEIGER
Steiger puts an
Allison Automatic
Transmission in its
Panther 111 to give
Farming its First
Truly Automatic
Shifting 4WD Tractor.
harvested crop residues.
Only 6.8 per cent find that
this type of product stands
up poorly to the elements,
72.3 per cent claim the
package holds up “good to
excellent”. And 65 per cent
also find the feed quality
“good-to-excellent”.
It also looks as though
baling crop residues could
continue to increase m the
near future. Even among
those who don’t presently
bale residues there is an
other 33 per cent who plan to
in the future.
Ironically, one of the most
obvious questions
overlooked in the study was
“the labor savings in both
harvesting and handling”,
which most large package
manufacturers claim to be
the primary selling point.
Nevertheless, the study
triggered several comments
related to the labor-savings
like, “best machine I own
... enjoy running it”, “best
piece of machinery on (the)
farm”.
17