wow there seems to be a lot of myths being spread about the Bale Baron especially in one email!

First and foremost The Bale Baron does not come with a seat welded to it as stated by "hay rules" above.
The computer system is relatively simple and easy to diagnose.
"hay rules" is the first person to say that the bundles fall apart and the strings are to loose.
It sounds to me in his email that "hay rules" quite possibly could be a disgruntled manufacturing owner.
The new options for 2010 season has improved the Bale Baron from 650bales/hour to closer to the 850-900 bales/hour.
A new lube block to grease all the internal workings of the plunger and injection plunger cuts down on lube time.
A Regen Valve has improved the plunger speed by 80%.
This just a start at what is new for 2010 at Bale Baron.

 

wow there seems to be a lot of myths being spread about the Bale Baron especially in one email!

First and foremost The Bale Baron does not come with a seat welded to it as stated by "hay rules" above.
The computer system is relatively simple and easy to diagnose.
"hay rules" is the first person to say that the bundles fall apart and the strings are to loose.
It sounds to me in his email that "hay rules" quite possibly could be a disgruntled manufacturing owner.
The new options for 2010 season has improved the Bale Baron from 650bales/hour to closer to the 850-900 bales/hour.
A new lube block to grease all the internal workings of the plunger and injection plunger cuts down on lube time.
A Regen Valve has improved the plunger speed by 80%.
This just a start at what is new for 2010 at Bale Baron.

From what I read of hay rules posts on the bale bandit what he says I can tell you from personal experiance is true. As far as the bale baron unfortunatly I have no first hand experiance but few people have run both and it sounds like he has and he did not care for it. Does that make it a bad machine? Maybe he had a demo machine out there and they had a seat on it for whatever reason. Maybe it was set up improperly and the bundle did not squeeze enough before the strings tied and the bundles were loose, no different than a loose bale of hay. Without a more detailed explanation its hard to tell. He has had good luck with the bandit and in his opinion the baron did not measure up. There are a couple of people on this forum that have had bale bandits and couldn't get rid of them fast enough. I don't know which one is best but the the whole purpose of this forum is to ask questions and share experiance. Maybe hay rules will share more details of his experiance with both because as a bandit owner I find this topic very interesting. I like my bale bandit but if the baron is better I'm not too proud to switch.

Paulbraeker what is your experiance with either one?

 

River rat, I could not tell where you were located or what king of hay you put up? I am leaning towards switching to small square hay production of primarily alfalfa or dairy blends. I wanted to produce 15-20K bales per year eventually, but the reality of handling all those loose bales essentially by myself, even with an accumulator, is making me rethink the whole process. I will need to be able to QUICKLY stack the hay in my sheds and feel the extra time to strap and brace accumulator grabs will hurt overall efficiency. Is this the reason you bought the bandit?

I have been to bale bandits website (bale barron's too) and do not buy the financial arguement that it will pay for itself that quickly over large squares. But...I am new to the hay business and feel starting with 30-40 acres of small squares is less of a risky business than buying a 3x3 baler. I want to learn with small squares and as experience permits, move up to 100+ acres using an accumulator or bandit/barron.

 

we had a bale baron and it had a seat welded on it and the computers are very very compex way more then the bandit they have a computer box on the baron you could sleep in
the barons bundles fall apart beacuse you cant make the strings go tight enough to compinsate for the hay shrink

we had the bandit and the baron in the same feild and we bought the bandit hands down for more simple and proven we do 750 acers of hay and another 500 of straw evry year for the last ten with bandits and they have never left hay in the feild yet and yes you have to be a operater to run one and be machanically inclined beacuse if you need someone to hold your hand the hole time it is no wonder you get nothing done and the bandit cant cut the bale strings beacuse the strapping is cupped away from the strings if you have any more questions or concerns about the bandit let me know beacuse i will atest to the way they work the prof is in the pudding

We have made 6000+ bundles with our Baron in the last 2 seasons. Less than 10 have broken apart before intended and all of those were through careless loader operation pushing out the middle tier (usually around sunset). A pain when it happens but unfair to blame the machine.
We use the grapple for handling the bundles back out of storage so if there has been any shrinkage to allow the twines to loosen fractionally it is never enough to notice.
Hayrules, what kind of capacity you get from your Bandit?

 

River rat, I could not tell where you were located or what king of hay you put up? I am leaning towards switching to small square hay production of primarily alfalfa or dairy blends. I wanted to produce 15-20K bales per year eventually, but the reality of handling all those loose bales essentially by myself, even with an accumulator, is making me rethink the whole process. I will need to be able to QUICKLY stack the hay in my sheds and feel the extra time to strap and brace accumulator grabs will hurt overall efficiency. Is this the reason you bought the bandit?

I have been to bale bandits website (bale barron's too) and do not buy the financial arguement that it will pay for itself that quickly over large squares. But...I am new to the hay business and feel starting with 30-40 acres of small squares is less of a risky business than buying a 3x3 baler. I want to learn with small squares and as experience permits, move up to 100+ acres using an accumulator or bandit/barron.

From a marketability standpoint I think there is a few 3x3 guys in this part of the world that would have rethought their decision given the handling systems that are available for small squares now.

 

River rat, I could not tell where you were located or what king of hay you put up? I am leaning towards switching to small square hay production of primarily alfalfa or dairy blends. I wanted to produce 15-20K bales per year eventually, but the reality of handling all those loose bales essentially by myself, even with an accumulator, is making me rethink the whole process. I will need to be able to QUICKLY stack the hay in my sheds and feel the extra time to strap and brace accumulator grabs will hurt overall efficiency. Is this the reason you bought the bandit?

I have been to bale bandits website (bale barron's too) and do not buy the financial arguement that it will pay for itself that quickly over large squares. But...I am new to the hay business and feel starting with 30-40 acres of small squares is less of a risky business than buying a 3x3 baler. I want to learn with small squares and as experience permits, move up to 100+ acres using an accumulator or bandit/barron.

I mostly grow an alfalfa/orchard blend and alfalfa for the horse market. I was fortunate enough to find a disatisfied owner of a bale bandit who was motivated to sell and bought mine for around $23,000. Only way it would pencil out for me otherwise was an accumualtor and grab. It paid for itself in less than a year and a half. I am in eastern So. Dakota mostly under the Big Sioux River right now.

 

hi hay rules, I am new to this site but really appreciate all the insight you have given about the bale bandit. Im a hay and straw farmer in eastern Pennsylvania, and this is the first year we have a bale bandit. Its a 2006 model with updates to 2009 specs from the factory. I was hoping maybe you could help me trouble shoot my machine a little bit. my problem is the rear most bale on the bottom corner of the bundle (the first bale to touch the ground out of the machine) wants to break the string when the bundle sets off. Problem is definitely the banding cutting the string. I have been scrutinizing the machine but must be missing something. I am running 350 knot strength on the side that is breaking and 240 knot strength on the other. I have the banding tension backed off all the way and my back door cylinders stroke out approx. 3-3.5 inches. My bales are tight and about 38 inches in length. my crimping rollers are crimping the banding but the one definitely crimps better than the other. Have you made any modifications to these rollers? Most of the time my travel speed is 3-4 mph when unloading. What kind of capacity do you see running your bandits?(bales per hour) Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

 

I've had the same problem, mostly with later grass cuttings and oats straw. Too much friction/drag coming off the table seems to be the problem. Timothy and wheat straw not so much. This table either needs a set of rollers, or some sort of material added to it to make it want to slide better. Most of the time, my windrows are bigger now and only baling at 1.8 - 2.2 mph. That seems to be helping me the most. Good luck, let us know what you found to work.

 

penncountry, it sounds like your doing a lot of things right. Does one side cut the strings more often? Check for drag just after tie cycle. Check brake pad for proper clearance on vert surface of banding drum. lube drum shaft. Check for proper threading of strap. Stop machine after strap guide arms go to the floor but before horiz plunger starts back, remove bales on top of arms and check alignment of arms to raised rail on bottom of chamber, it must lay strap in the groove not on the edge of rail or it will cut nearly every bale. Arm can be shimed some but still must match with fetchers during tie cycle.

If all above is correct move to the baler. Inlines rarely cut strings, Deere a little more often and NH is the worst. String placement is the key and it can move some by the time it is in place in the package. Follow directions in baler manual in adjusting packer forks. Stand bales on end and check for banana shapes and square ends. This adjustment will change with crop conditions and speed, but if string gets too close to bale edge there is less you can do to stop cutting strings.

Speed when tailgate goes down is easy to control and will go a long way to solve this issue.

Good luck
Kelly

 

One last thought, pull both of your crimp rollers and try it. They cause drag and that is the enemy. Often this problem is worse with a full roll of banding as more mass to move = more drag.

Kelly

 

From a marketability standpoint I think there is a few 3x3 guys in this part of the world that would have rethought their decision given the handling systems that are available for small squares now.

Been quite awhile since I've made any small squares, but does a small square baler even exist yet that has near the capacity as a 3x3 baler? Would have to be a hell of a baler to be able to spit small squares out fast enough to match a 3x3.

I know I don't have any problems making a 1000lb round bale including wrapping and discharging it in a minute or less in good first cutting, so a small square baler would have to be able to make 20 bales a minute or one every 3 seconds. A large square baler should have more capacity than my round baler as there is no stopping for each bale.

Using 50 lbs for the weight of the small square as in my area with all the Amish having their kids doing chores and also figuring the majority of horse owners are women, fifty pound smalls always got the best price out of the barn or the auctions.

 

mlappin,
The old rule of thumb was to figure that one 3x3 baler will do as much baling as 3 small square balers. I had counted many years ago, but I think we were popping a bale out every 7-8 seconds, in good hay.

Rodney

 

Been quite awhile since I've made any small squares, but does a small square baler even exist yet that has near the capacity as a 3x3 baler? Would have to be a hell of a baler to be able to spit small squares out fast enough to match a 3x3.

I know I don't have any problems making a 1000lb round bale including wrapping and discharging it in a minute or less in good first cutting, so a small square baler would have to be able to make 20 bales a minute or one every 3 seconds. A large square baler should have more capacity than my round baler as there is no stopping for each bale.

Using 50 lbs for the weight of the small square as in my area with all the Amish having their kids doing chores and also figuring the majority of horse owners are women, fifty pound smalls always got the best price out of the barn or the auctions.

Our 575 and Bale Baron combination will eat just under 600lbs per minute in really good going.
Certainly true in Ontario that what you lose in capacity with a small bale system you gain twofold in marketability with the vast horse population here.

 

hi hay rules, I am new to this site but really appreciate all the insight you have given about the bale bandit. Im a hay and straw farmer in eastern Pennsylvania, and this is the first year we have a bale bandit. Its a 2006 model with updates to 2009 specs from the factory. I was hoping maybe you could help me trouble shoot my machine a little bit. my problem is the rear most bale on the bottom corner of the bundle (the first bale to touch the ground out of the machine) wants to break the string when the bundle sets off. Problem is definitely the banding cutting the string. I have been scrutinizing the machine but must be missing something. I am running 350 knot strength on the side that is breaking and 240 knot strength on the other. I have the banding tension backed off all the way and my back door cylinders stroke out approx. 3-3.5 inches. My bales are tight and about 38 inches in length. my crimping rollers are crimping the banding but the one definitely crimps better than the other. Have you made any modifications to these rollers? Most of the time my travel speed is 3-4 mph when unloading. What kind of capacity do you see running your bandits?(bales per hour) Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

My Bale Bandit used to cut the twine on the same bale as yours and once in a while still does. I found the crimper rollers are best left inoperative. Its a nice concept but not worth the effort. My right hand strap was doing all the cutting so I adjusted the left rear cylinder a little tighter until both straps were the same tension and almost eliminated the problem. Dropping a bundle during a turn causes most of mine now. Have you called Owen at GFC? He is very helpful.
How many bundles have you run through your machine so far?

 

River rat, I have spoke with Owen and Randy out at GFC they have been very helpful. Currently we have run 860 bundles through our machine this year. How did you adjust your rear door cylinders? The cylinders on our machine differ usually about 1 to 1.5 inches. I have made some adjustments thanks to svf hay's recommendations and will be baling some alfalfa tomorrow so I anticipate some improvement. Thanks River rat for your input. I will let everyone know what worked once we get this problem figured out.

 

River rat, I have spoke with Owen and Randy out at GFC they have been very helpful. Currently we have run 860 bundles through our machine this year. How did you adjust your rear door cylinders? The cylinders on our machine differ usually about 1 to 1.5 inches. I have made some adjustments thanks to svf hay's recommendations and will be baling some alfalfa tomorrow so I anticipate some improvement. Thanks River rat for your input. I will let everyone know what worked once we get this problem figured out.

Sorry for the delay. I adjusted my rear cyl. on the door that was not closing as tight by shortening the clevis end that is threaded into the ram. I'm talking about the cyls. that suck in just before the horizontal plunger takes its final stroke for banding.

Looks like you are making that Bale Bandit earn its keep at 860 bundles so far. I have only run about 200 through mine so far due to record summer rainfall here in SE So Dakota.

 

Bale Bandit has steep learning curve, but works the best of all concepts researched prior to purchase. We built a hydraulic Bundle Squeeze (see gallery -Bale Bundle Clamp Compilation 01- for specs and photos.