Thursday, July 30, 2015

I Am Amazed it Worked!!!





Believe it or not the baler actually worked. I went out this morning and crawled all around, over and under her as best I could locating all the lube points. I WD-40'd every working part that didn't have a grease fitting and cleaned off the knotters. I didn't sharpen the cutter blades though as I still haven't gotten an operators manual for this baler yet and wasn't sure how to get to them without taking the knotter apart blind.

All ready to go I slowly maneuvered the baler into the starting position and took off. Man I have never appreciated the live PTO before as I did with this baler. She likes to go SLOW. No grabbing hair and banging the headboard with this old girl, you have to give her time to work the loose hay up into the ram or she will bog down quick. The back and forth motion of that over sized flywheel reminded me of my college days with  a non-baffled water bed more than anything else.

Once I got the pace figured out the first bale should have been on the ground I thought. Then I remembered I forgot to lower the damned chute the bale comes out of..... OOOPS.

First bale didn't tie at all. Second bale didn't tie at all. Third bale kinda tied on the right side.

I stopped and opened up the cover over the knotters.




The left knotter was totally clogged with twine. I was amazed they got so covered in dust in such a short period. I had to take off that bottom bolt you see in the center and lift the left knotter up and clean out all inside the little clip thing underneath that you can't see. The blade appeared to be sharp enough and the dog was swinging easily so I hoped it had just been some left over twine that was stopping the knotter from working.

Got it back together again and off we went. By the second bale she was actually tying off the knot on both sides!!!! Success!!!!

Then I noticed the bales that were coming out were about as long as three normal bales.

Back to the baler again.




I tightened down the chute control arms and by the time I finished with the field I was getting bales almost the right length. I briefly thought about opening up all the extra long bales and re-baling them then decided it wasn't worth the effort. I will just stack these long bales in the bottom part of the barn and feed them to the rams who are currently dry lotted and getting hay fed daily anyway.




The last two bales of the 15 total were down to about half again longer than they should be so I haven't yet got the entire thing worked out. With 13 double long bales and 2 half again too long I estimate the total haul was about 30 normal sized bales. That is exactly what I predicted after raking.

To be honest if I was out loading those bales for someone else baling them I would be giving the operator so much crap he would more than likely take a swing at me. They were that bad :) I mean sad bales to be honest, but they are baled using equipment that has been sitting idle for decades in some cases. Not a tractor or implement is younger than 40 years old and most of it is over 50. Basically I was baling like they did in the 1960's.  I put all this equipment together for under $1800.00 not counting the tractors.

Thirty bales of second cut Alfalfa will go for anywhere between five and eight dollars a bale depending on the year. I estimate these would be at the bottom of the scale since although a second cutting with all the rain there is still a lot of weed and grass in them. For sheep feed though they are perfect because the sheep LOVE those weeds.

Running the numbers on this little endeavor shows me that counting in what it costs to have someone cut it for me and taking it at three cuttings per year on the small Alfalfa field only, the equipment will pay for itself entirely by the end of the second year. If I get the large field re-established to where I can cut and bale it myself it would pay for itself within the first year I am betting. Of course that is assuming no other costs or breakdowns at this point. I am also not figuring in time as a cost factor or fuel used to pick up this little motley assortment of out dated stuff.

Also I need to be honest with myself and admit that if I had had a better mower I more than likely would have increased the bale count by at least half. There was a lot of knocked over Alfalfa and other grass left out there.

For the first run of a fairly complex and drawn out affair though I would say the results were more than satisfactory. Fuel use especially was well below what newer equipment would run I imagine on such a small scale anyway. If I was shooting for larger production I bet the newer equipment would beat me there but for small runs when fuel is scarce I think this would be the way to go.

Just more to consider I guess.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!


29 comments:

  1. Well done. Bales look perfectly fine to me.

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    1. Stephen - They looked good but were just way too long. I need the manual I ordered to get here so I can figure out how to fix that.

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  2. I was thinking about you baling today and could almost hear the machine slamming the hay into a bale, I seldom hear that sound around here and kind of miss it. Soon you will be the old guy who knows how to square bale, people will seek you out.

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    1. Sf - Most of the neighbors around here still square bale some. In fact the one who has me boxed in on 2 sides was square baling his little back field while I was baling my little front one.

      I am betting that as things decline more though the older stuff keeps working long after the new stuff falls apart though.

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    2. You might want to stock up on twine just in case.

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    3. Sf - That is a good idea. Maybe the plastic kind as it stores better and the mice don't chew on it.

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  3. oh CONGRATULATIONS! you nutter self-sustainer YOU! i'm feeling your pride...and you SHOULD feel proud!

    sending much love! your friend,
    kymber

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  4. Great news it works who cares if they are not perfect I would be more than happy with them and I dont think the animals will care, we hope to be doing our first field of hay next year, we are almost self reliance in our own food now next step is animal feed :-)

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    1. Dawn - I fed the last bale which I had to break apart to get out of the baler to the rams tonight and they wer ebegging for more. They love this fresh fresh hay :)

      So many people prep and never think about the livestock.

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  5. PP,

    Be happy all work on the machines, you just need to do a little tweeting, and everything will fall into place with the size and tying each bale. Congrats!!! Were all proud of you :P

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    1. Sandy - Thank you!!! Now I need to actually try and reclaim the garden some :)

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  6. Hey, maybe I've missed a post, but could you write about what equipment you have? This is FASCINATING! Tractor make/model, same for the bailer, and so forth....
    Old school stuff is awesome. I was born in '64 and my uncle who raised me had an ancient tractor that I'm currently tracking down thru a neighbor. I might be doing something similar to what you are doing soon (fingers crossed).
    Keep up the great posts; very inspiring stuff!

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    1. Tom - That's a good idea I will do a post listing it all and how I got it/what I had to do to it tomorrow!!!!

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  7. Good to see and any sized bale that you can use to fend off the ravenous wooly maws;)

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    1. Ody - Those sheep are darn right dangerous when they are hungry too :)

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  8. Good on ya'. Hope to be doing the same a year from now.

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    1. John - It was a worthy endeavor and can be done at a reasonable price. If you have any questions I can help answer feel free to ask.

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  9. Good job! For getting the equipment in the first place, getting it up and running, and getting those first bales made. Crunching the numbers is the icing on the cake. A good decision.

    I have to agree about weeds, my goats prefer weedy hay to pure grass hay. Except mine don't get alfalfa. That goes for about $18 a square bale in these parts, because it has to be trucked in.

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    1. Leigh - That was why we planted that small Alfalfa plot was due to the cost. Most of the guys who grow it around here sell it in huge lots not to small tmers. My cost estimate was for IF you can find it and also cuttings at this time of year which most people won't buy because of the blister beetle problem.

      The chopped stuff goes for about 15 or 16 dollars at the feed store.

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  10. Congratulations on your square bales, they look great to me! Tried to post last night but computer isn't working so great. Its on last leg. Hopefully this will post.

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    1. Texan - I had wondered where you got off too. Thought maybe you had went to modeling classes :)

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  11. come Halloween those square bails can be sold for more than $5 for decorations!

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    1. denis - In some places. Square bales are still pretty common around here. I assume because of allt he small horse places and such. Straw is actually more expensive than hay bales here.

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  12. Congratulations PP! One less thing to be reliant on someone else.

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    1. DFW - And that it the real pay off in my book. :)

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  13. Farming seems a lot like electrical work. The basics looks easy, but as you get more into it - there is always more to get into. I figure I'll get it all figured out by the time I'm 90.

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  14. I cannot tell the difference from "professional" bales. Well done sir!

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  15. Knotters love to be clean, greased, and doused in WD-40/ PB blast/ any similar penetrating oil before and after use. On New Holland balers, bale length is normally adjusted by moving stops on the arm driven by the star gear on top of the bale chute, if the smaller gear that touches the arm is worn it will slip and make odd length bales. Should be similar on the old fords.

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