So, why hasn’t the small square bale died as so many predicted? There are also smaller companies marketing tech tools and hardware that help enhance baling operations. Here’s what can be said: After 30 or more years of virtually zero research and development in small square balers, multiple farm machinery companies are now marketing or will soon offer balers with significant technological advances, ranging from on-board flake counters to double two-tie balers. In fact, I’m not so sure that the production of small square bales isn’t on the rise, though there’s no way of proving such a statement. To be sure, a drive down most country roads will yield the sight of more large round or square bales, but it also doesn’t seem that small square hay packages are heading toward the endangered species list anytime soon. In the same way I’ve been told since middle school that soccer would overtake baseball, football, and basketball in popularity across the U.S., I’ve also heard that the days of small square bale production were numbered. So is a mini round baler too expensive? Is a Harley too expensive? Is an Iphone too expensive? It all depends on your point of view I suppose.Okay, maybe renaissance is too strong of a word, but in case you haven’t been paying attention, things are happening on the small square bale front. You don't choose between those two based on price, so why would you do that with hay equipment? Think Mini Cooper versus Ford Econoline van. Compact hay equipment brings haymaking to even subcompact tractor owners.Īnd just because a piece of equipment is smaller, that does not mean it is lower quality or is proportionally cheaper to produce. A lot of people don't want to own a 40+ horsepower tractor. They are easier to use, easier to store, and use less fuel. Let's face it, people love their compact tractors. The most important issue is tractor size. People who buy compact hay equipment want to bale on their own so they have good quality hay to feed their animals. If they ever do show up, it will generally be way too late and the hay quality will be poor. As about anyone will tell you, if your hay field is less than 10 acres, you will have a heck of a time getting anyone to come bale it for you. You will not be baling areas along creeks and buildings that otherwise are maintenance headaches.Īnother issue is hay quality. You will not be baling between tree rows in an orchard.
And you will not be taking a conventional square baler through a 6 foot gate. Yes, you might have the horsepower, but you will not have the weight to operate it safely. You can't run a conventional square baler or round baler with a compact tractor, period. But "too expensive"? Well, that all depends on the job you want to do and the tractor you want to do it with. Yes, compact hay equipment is expensive, compared to the out-of-pocket cost of raking it up and piling it by hand. There is "expensive" and there is "too expensive". My take is that unless you're in the hay business you're better off gathering it loose and storing it in stacks. He said "50 or 60 bales worth" which would be 500 lb bales at that rate so I may even be underestimating. I get about 2.5 tons/acre on the first cutting so that's about 200 lbs per minute.
He said he did five acres in two hours of raking. I'm not sure it would be any more work than pushing a 2-wheeler with a baler.Ĭheck out this Youtube video of a guy using a buck rake (hay sweep) on his FEL: I think with a wagon, a hand rake and a pitchfork I could gather 50 lbs a minute of windrowed hay - and it would already be on the wagon, I wouldn't have to go back into the field and pick up bales.
This is with hay that has already been windrowed. "This mini-baler produces a 40 to 60 pound (depending on moisture of hay and how tight you roll it) bale measuring 21” x 23”, every 60 seconds or so." I really want to like this small baler, but it's $9,000 and here are the specs:
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