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Thursday, October 17, 2013

Mini Hay Baler - What Do You Think?

  So here's something new to me: A walk behind, mini round baler that's powered by a BCS. It's designed for the small farmer who has 10 acres or less and wants to bale their own hay. The round bales are 2x'2' and weigh roughly 45 lbs. each.

 I have no idea what this baler costs (have yet to find a price online), but what do y'all think? If the price was decent, would you consider something like this? I ask out of curiosity. :) I would love to bale my own hay, but I always thought I'd either have to have enough land to warrant a tractor and all the equipment (which then puts me in the haying business, which I don't really want), or I'd have to do it the reeeeaaaally old way of using a scythe and then putting the hay on tripods, just like old times. I like the idea of the round baler. Looks fun. Although, speaking as someone who's used to using 120 lb. bales, I think the size is a tad pathetic. Forty-five pound bales are -- puny. Sorry. Maybe there are some good things about them that I don't know about. Like, they're a single size serving for cows??? Again, I'm used to my 3-stringers that weigh as much as me. ;) I don't think I've ever seen a 45 lb. bale...

  But size aside, I'm still curious about these things.

  Would you buy one if you could?



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6 comments:

Emily S. said...

I'm interested! That sounds really neat.

MedievilMaiden said...

I love the concept! It looks like that little baler can pack the alot of hay into one bale.

Though I think that it would take a while to do a field - after the took a minute or so to do a bale, you then have to halt the machine, walk round the side, open the hatch, lift off the bale, go back and start driving again...

However, I thibk with alot of homemade/smaller versions of tractor equipment, efficiency/speed is traded off for being able to do it yourself (even if it takes longer), which can be no bad thing if it gets the job done and avoids you paying out lots of money!

Lexi said...

I was so excited to see something like this! I went to find a cost on it though, and the price I found for the combo in the video was 3500-5000 for the tractor and 8500 for the baler. At earthtoolsbcs.com You really have to dig to find the price list. At that cost, I'd have to pass.

Goat Song said...

MedieivalMaiden,

It does look like it could take awhile to do a good sized field; I wonder if having a second person to operate the manual parts of the baler would speed things up at all? The blurb attached to the Youtube (if you go to the web page then you'll see it) says that an experienced person can create a bale and get it on the ground every 45 seconds. So I guess that's not terribly bad if you're on your own...

Lexi, It costs $8,500!?!?!? Holy cow! Let's see, that would be the equivalent of buying about 21 tons of dairy quality hay in my area (it's a bit over $400 for 17 bales). It *could* be worth the investment, but I'd have to be really committed to it, and grow something like alfalfa to bale myself. And then it would take a year or two to get my money back. I go through about 12 tons a year with a single cow; add in another cow and you're looking at 24 ton. Add in a couple of goats and you're looking at an easy 30 ton a year. So I suppose I wouldn't totally throw this idea out; but it would sure be an investment in money, and time! Baling my own alfalfa would mean I'd have to plant the stuff and irrigate it; whereas baling pasture grass would be just going out and doing it one day. It's still an interesting thing to think about though.

Unknown said...

You could sell them to stores and city people for fall decorations

Illinois Lori said...

Pricey for that thing...yikes! Maybe when it's not so new, or some other folks make similar, the price will go down. Fingers crossed!
Lori