Farming is amazing and it is a huge capital investment. I appreciate all you people do. I’m glad God blessed you with the skills, desire, and abilities to help feed all of us.
That makes sense in every aspect , when I was young the smell of fresh cut hay Mmmm but the smell of that ready to bale hay well that was a different feeling. I do miss it though we put up a lot of small squares on my parents dairy farm. Thanks that was cool !
Great Video! thanks for taking the time to thoroughly explain the process. It makes perfect sense to me as a round bale producer I can run that round bale process myself - very efficient - as I can round bale the equivalent of 2500 -3000 square bales with my round baler in 7-10hrs all by myself. That wouldn't be possible with a square baler in the field - 1500 squares with a full crew would be difficult! Then reprocess later into a product that the market wants - some round and some square - with again one person. Really appreciate the insights into this business!
Hi Brian, over the years of your posting I have always been impressed by your operation. And watching you get it done. Thank you for such a great explanation and reasoning for doing what you do. 👍👌 Hope you and your family stay safe and happy ! 🇨🇦 Craig
That is a hell of a setup there, I've seen a few different small scale setups before but you guys got a pretty nice system there. That's the first all wheel skid loader I have seen pretty slick I bet.
Thanks for the video. Only thing is that you have it backwards about the moisture needed for a round versus small square. Larger and more denser bales must be baled at lower moisture.
That Bobcat all wheel steer is the cat’s meow! I’ve never seen one like that before now. We used to bake small squares and now bale approx 900lb rounds. For primarily outdoor beef, that works for us. I can see where the small squares are nice for smaller herds, smaller animals, or horses. Your palatable comment got me think’n… Are there any studies that show increases in growth, meat quality, or performance for animals fed small squares?
Yes hammering nickels into quarters !!! Seen ya getting around 20 . In my area good grass rounds 5 footers going for 75$ 100 for a 6. Good grass hay squares $8 to 10$ 20x10$ =200$ out of a 75$ round =125% profit margin less loss 100% real life profit margin. Less loss for transport, handling ect down to 75% Margin still a nice profit. Hence hamming nickels into quarters.
I've only seen this for high value export hay. But they are not not using standard fluffy bales, they are doing high compression to fit 2-3 times as much in a 45ft shipping container. The moisture needs to be spot on because the compressed blocks don't breath at all, even before they are locked in a metal box for 2 months. I'm in WA, it is usually alfalfa to Japan, or at least they used to I'm not up on the current market.
What's that powdery material coming in from the chute above the unrolling bale? I'm thinking some sort of nutrient additive or maybe it's someone sweeping the deck up there.
Smart. Gets that hay out of the field fast before it gets rained on. That electric motor really saves on the money. Electricity isnt cheap but diesel is way more.
It would seem that New Holland solved the problem of putting away small square bales when they invented the bale wagon. That machine picks up bales in the field and makes the stack for you with no need to touch the bales by hand. Thats the New Holland bale stacking wagon. Great machine
thats why square bales cost too much bailing twice double fuel cost and handling plus round bale hay is not very good unless done properly looks like chaff is being blown in
Now you've got me thinking! How many acres do you bale? All alfalfa and straw? I'm interested in your inputs vs income. That had to be a huge investment. Is it paying off? I'm using my dad's equipment from the 70s & 80s: NH 315 behind a White 2-105. I ride the rack. Cutting with a 9' NH 492 haybine. JD 640 bar rake. Just got a 2 rotor tedder. I'm about to upgrade the rake. Bale Baron is on my wishlist, but now you've got me thinking about using it under cover instead of in the field. RU-vid is dangerous. Thanks for the video!
We do all grass hay. Unfortunately you really can’t rebale alfalfa as you have to much leaf loss. You would have to send it though a press and do small compressed bales like found at farm stores.
do you find the consistency of the bales are different after being basically mulched by the bale grinder? Does it lose its nutritional value quicker due to the stalks being broken down further than if it was just baled from a windrow?
@@ontario-yota-1050 not at all and if the moisture content is right it doesn’t mulch the hay. I don’t think all the knives are in the bale processor. No nutrients are lost and the hay is actually more digestible
I played football my 1st two years in highschool, but had to work the last two years in highschool & left me yell it from the rooftops that working on Ranches bailing square bales in the fields would put most football players in the hospital. That is hard work and will test your mental state and makes men out of boys!!! I do have a couple of questions about your setup... Do you monitor moisture content & if so, how is it being adjusted? Secondly, do you or could you add additional nutrients during this process?
We do in fact probably more than most. If the hay doesn’t have enough moisture it will shatter and make dust bales. Anything below 10-12% if the hay is anything above 18% you really can’t re-bale as it’s to tough and you break a lot of shear pins just like in the field. We do use preservative but those higher moisture rounds must sit a few months to cure out and then can be re-baled actually making the best squares.
I am in Texas. Where are you guys and how much can you sell hay for there in your rounds? After rebaling in squares? Quick hauling an baling at higher moisture with round makes tons of sense
We are in South Carolina. I bale a 56” bale that averages 660# our square bales average 35# we get roughly 19 squares per round. I charge $90 for a round bale of horse quality fescue/orchard grass mix and $9 a bale for squares. It cost with transportation $1.35 per square bale to convert the hay from rounds to square. Said and done I can pretty much double or a little better on converting the bales.
seems like the new trend. downside is that most round bales sit outside for awhile before being re-baled, so there's a little more mold. our supplier does this process, and we decided to switch because of the inferior quality
@@damkayaker we don’t let it turn brown. Hay has to be dry sometimes it takes 5-6 days the sun bleaches the hay. There is no nutrient in color and animals don’t care about color either it’s only us humans that think green hay is somehow better than golden hay.
@@SLCFarms Oh OK ... I think I saw green hay fed to the horses at the Kentucky Derby though. If horses were let loose in an uncut hay field they would eat it , no?
@@damkayaker there’s a difference in fresh grass and dry hay. Horse on has 2 stomach and can’t process wet hay. Cows and eat silage hay which is hay baled at a moisture between 30-70% dry hay needs to be 14% or below on moisture or it will mold. No animals can eat moldy hay. The hay you saw was probably alfalfa which is usually baled a little higher moisture and has a preservative added when baled to keep the hay from molding. We produce grass hay in a humid climate and sometimes getting the hay dry means it looses color but doesn’t affect the quality. Sometimes we get good weather and the hay retains some of its green color.
When grass or hay is cut it must dry and cure for a number of days and weeks before animals consume it as it still puts off toxins that can kill the animal eating it. It’s why you never feed grass clippings to horses.
Also the very first stuff running in this video was a leftover bale of wheat 🌾 straw that they were running that’s definitely more golden thank the hay we were running
When you rebale the hay, I’m guessing it’s because you sell hay. I can’t think of any other reason. I have a question, do you ever check the moisture and do you ever check protein content? I have seen farmers send it in to get the makeup of the hay.
I'm curious, what's the reason for netwrap if you're rebaling to square? I buy netwrap but because it keeps the hay tighter, if you're just going from field to the barn and rebaling, wouldn't it be less wasteful to just string wrap your round bales? Heck if you get the natural fiber strings you don't even need to cut them, your auger/cutter that eats up the round bales ought to handle the strings.
It all depends on how heavy you want your squares and how dense you make your rounds. I bale a 650-680 pound 54” round bale and average 20 square per round. We shoot for a 32-35# square bale
My brother picked up a square bale in the field once that had a live snake baled up in it. I guess this process would probably run off any rats mice or snakes that might be in the hay! 😂😂😂
@@peterjackson4863 watch the last 10 minutes of the video all this is explained. Who spoiled anything. I’m making large bales that are not profitable and turning them into a more profitable product. If you are trying to make production this is the best
I see no reason why a bail of hay that has been bailed a second time would be any better than the original bail. It does make sense though if you have nothing better to do with your time and money and you just need to justify all that money you spent on the bailing equipment.
We can do 3000 bales a day of hay or straw converting round or large squares rain shine sleet or snow. Cant do that in the field year round. Can also buy up all the cheap hay sellers in your area and convert there hay for more profit
Most livestock owners are willing to pay more for small bales, because we can actually load, haul, and carry them ourselves. It's also much more precise feeding than giant flakes off the huge bales, when you have a small farm. Large bales work great for farmers who want to spend the least amount of time baling, but they're annoying and inconvenient in every way for the customer.
@@SLCFarms I just don't understand the extra loading, unloading, time & fuel Must be one hell of an operation if you are having to bale while snow is flying. If I did that we'd have a bunch of moldy hay or ashes where the stack used to be.
@@mstaff657 we sell hay year round to mostly horse customers. We can bale and buy a bunch in hay season and convert those big bales into little bales. I can make $100 a ton hay turn into $350 a ton it’s all about efficiency and keeping customers supplied. I can bale and move round bales with far less labor than you ever could small squares in the field. I actually explained all this in the video. Fast forward to the last 10 minutes and listen.
How do you figure you can round bale at a higher moisture than square baling? I find it to be just the opposite since round bales are tighter they are not able to shed excess moisture whereas moisture can more easily escape squares. Thanks for the tour. Enjoyed seeing your customized setup.
More than 60 years ago for me, when my uncle had me drive the flatbed over the field (when I was about 12 years old) between the bales of hay so that the bigger guys could put the bales on the truck. Kuna, Idaho.
