Antique Farming

olcowhand · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 1:51 pm Post subject: MF 1745 Round Hay Baler

I know this isn't an antique baler, but looking for input.....Been trying to roll fescue hay today. It was on the damp side (wet now...raining) but our old New Holland would have rolled it. This one just wraps the feeder roller with fescue, then grabs the small started roll & pulls it out & lodges it between the shaft & the belts. Taking the pickup guide arms with it, bending them out of shape. The fescue is quite fine, so wrapping is more likely with it's fine texture, but geez, $12,000.00 and slightly damp stops it in it's tracks!?? The dealer told us when we bought it last fall that it would roll wet baylage, but there is NO way it could with fescue anyway. It rolled last year fine on the same fields, but it was dry as powder at baling time then. Wondering if anyone here has dealt with this model? It's hard to get hay in the perfect state every time, and we had hoped to roll it up before the rains came. The bad thing is, our neighbor had damp...no wet hay down, and the guy who rolled it while I was fighting my baler had NO problems at all & was finished before I got one bale rolled It was a big John Deere roller & always heard they were king, and I'm beginning to agree with that!
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SONNY · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 9:51 pm Post subject:

I have never seen a MF round baler so I can't help on this one, but I can honestly say that a 530 Deere is awfully hard to beat when it comes to making LARGE round bales!! ---The guy that used to roll our hay made us bales that were 2200 pounds each and I loved them!!----course we were set up to handle them too!! thanks; sonny
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olcowhand · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 7:43 am Post subject:

As far as the dealer saying it would make wet baylage...he & we should have read the manual thoroughly. It says in damp hay it will wrap on the feed roller, so I don't know where the dealer came up with it rolling baylage. I'm sure it'll work fine when I slow Dad down to let it cure out RIGHT. Dad always did get in a hurry with hay, but we were trying to beat rain & knew it was on the green side. I told Dad before attempting to roll it that I thought it too green....but what do us "kids" know! Laughing

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olcowhand · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:43 am Post subject:

Rolled about 110 rolls of DRY, ready to bale hay. No problems at all. Makes very nice tight bales, but one thing to note....there is ONE problem with it........These rolls have to be placed on hilly ground carefully......these bales roll like a bowling ball! The old NH baler made kinda mushroomy bales that you could kick out almost anywhere...not so with these tight babies! Laughing

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So Much To Do, So Little Time!