Biggest reason - it gets rid of labor from kids / men stacking square bales in the barn, the machine it self is less complicated and cheaper to make and maintain.
Second. - Barn fires don’t happen when round bales are outside (less insurance), Bail stackers are crazy expensive, and moving round bails is a PITA... they don’t store efficiently either so less Barnes are required (lower fixed cost).
Last - Gas ain’t cheap, when you are bailing you can leave them there, or have another tractor or loader running them back to a barn somewhere... that’s more gas and road wear.
Due to this they made that outside wrapper to help protect the hay....
I man now can round bale all his hay himself, doesn't have to be in a great hurry to put it in a shed. Haying is pressure packed and picking small squares requires manpower , on flatter land a bale wagon might work. Expect equipment repairs., either way.
No, just takes more money. The round balers are simpler but considerably slower, as you need to stop to tie off each bale, as opposed to a square baler that keeps rolling while tying off.
Rug, a stack fire would be the worse case scenario.
Generally speaking you run into mold and or 'stack burnt' hay.
Stack burnt hay is when the hay cooks itself inside the bale(no fire, just high moisture/high heat curing). Alfalfa will turn a brown color, or if it's really bad, black.
The cows actually love to eat hay that is a little 'burnt'(it has an almost sweet, tobacco smell) but loses feed value and gives the cows the chits.
that and you might loose 20% of the protine value, then there are times when you have enough extra hay that you carry over till next year , if there is to much moisture you lose the hay.
Last edited by norm99; 11/17/19.
There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle----Robert Alden . If it wern't entertaining, I wouldn't keep coming back.------the BigSky
More than likely it’s been to wet out, and some guys put hauling hay on the back burner.
I always liked to leave them in the field for awhile, just so there wasn’t any spontaneous combustion, or lightning strikes to the pile. Or if you farm on or near a Rez it’s a good idea not to leave any next to a road. Ft. Totten Rez had a fire bug running around this year, something like 285 fires that started in March. I never did hear the total.
Thanks for all the information. I really liked that youtube vid of the lady farmer. That was some great video. I do have another question. Years ago, I bought a round bale that I used for a back stop for my bow target. I *thought* it would get consumed by critters over the winter but 10 years later, it was still there so I soaked it with used motor oil and burned it.
We like to pick the bales up a soon as we can. They kill out the spot they sit on. And tracking the regrowth.
That is the way it should be done. I move them out of the field while they're being baled if I can. Anyone who leaves them in a field that has grass that will grow back, is a very poor steward of the land. Bales left for months will do exactly what Wabigoon says, and kill the grass underneath them.
I realize that there may be situations where bales cannot be removed for a time, but in a worst case scenario, they should at least me moved to the field edges.
Seeing a lot of corn stalks bailed for bedding here now. Never used to happen. I think it's because of corn and bean prices being high lately. Less oats and wheat planted, less straw to use.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
I think it's because the soil can digest only so much corn trash, helps prevent disease building up in a field, and most importantly it is free bedding.
The key elements in human thinking are not numbers but labels of fuzzy sets. -- L. Zadeh