50 bales in 50 minutes

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To celebrate 50 years of Vermeer round balers, we asked ourselves… could we bale 50 bales in 50 minutes in the same field the first bale was rolled 50 years ago? President and CEO, and third-generation Vermeer family member, Jason Andringa, accepted the challenge and the race was on. See how he did!

[@timothyminnihan3354]

My Dad was the first National Sales Manager for the Vermeer baler group. He and I purchased the 13th baler ever built. We bought it used after it caught fire and the belts all burned. I was 16 at the time and did enough custom baling to afford the upgraded series baler 2 years later. I was on the cover of the Sept 1974 issue of Successful Farming with our 1650 Oliver and the shiny new baler ready to bale cornstalks. I'm still digging the chaff out of my right ear, no cab, always looking backwards.

[@greggergen9104]

In 1974 we had a stalk chopper head on a John Deere 14T baler. As the guy who stacked the wagon, that was a dirty nasty job. We paid our cousins $.10 a bale for the use of their baler.

[@jonsart100]

Loved the show. Reminds me of the Vermeer 50th year anniversary celebration I attended in Pella, IA. Gary Vermeer told the story of the round bailer. Originally they had trouble getting the hay to start rolling the bail which they overcame by dropping a fence post into the bailer. The hay would roll itself around the post. Gary said when springtime came and the snow melted there were fenceposts laying all around the field they fed the cows in.

[@malcolmchapman3032]

if you're going to have the expense of a self propelled baler it needs to be a non-stop baler with an accumulator and probably a wrapper as well

[@andrewjones-productions]

Which is why I think the McHale baler/wrapper is still the better option.

[@deernutOO]

The extra expense of that non-stop baler would be considerable, compared to the one demonstrated. Think Malcom missed the point of the video. 50 bales in 50 minutes.

[@gumelini1]

@@andrewjones-productions you mean Krone?

[@Baleboss69]

Mchale bakers are absolute crap case and new holland are the only way to go

[@TheFamilyFarm1]

I would have liked to have seen all the balers from the 1st to the last in this clip

[@storminnormanz]

it would make a cool video to put the original 1970s baler next to this thing and make a video

[@markriebe6090]

I’m sure your grandpa would be proud! Nice idea to tribute the 50 / 50 progress though all the years !!!

[@dustinwillis113]

Came long ways in 50 yrs. I run a 605g Vermeer. Going to be completely rebuilt this winter. When time comes I'll have a brand new Vermeer round baler

[@zfilmmaker]

Vermeer/Lely is the way to go... 504 and 604 Pro’s are well proven. I like that Massey sells the exact balers (from Lely) so you buy parts from whoever is cheaper/closer. I own two 504 Pro’s, one that’s a few years old and the other I got last year. I bale 6k acres and have very little issues if not any.

[@YourMom-ro1ig]

Why did you have to run through all the different generations so quickly at the end???? It would be awesome to see their full transformation.

[@rallyscoot]

Thats happen when you design a quick baler.. Everything goes a lot faster.

[@manuelj3313]

0.25x

[@robmalkin6863]

you can slow down the video if that helps

[@dfarmer_]

@@robmalkin6863 Helps some, but even at 0.25 it's too fast

[@farmboysteve3295]

Pause the video…🤦🏽‍♂️

[@rbnhd1976]

Hey team, the flip pics from 2:44 to 2:50 should be a show unto itself, showing progression of models, maybe a min each for years produced, new innovation on that model, etc thanks

[@HayMap]

Great innovation! Excited to see more of these units being produced. A 4' wide model would be great for many markets.

[@SerangelROM]

Farm equipment has always been amazing. For everything a farmer does, someone has gone and said "i bet i could make something to make this easier and faster".

[@wylieisnothere5062]

My grandpa farrell glen Tharp was the most well know vermeer salesman ever, he was know worldwide at all dealerships, he worked at the kilgore Texas store for 30 years and he could sale a farm tractor to a dentist without question. He was good freinds with gary vermeer and was given a brand new 40ft gooseneck and a rolex watch for working there so long. When I was 13 years old he told me that he had been personally ask by vermeer to test drive a prototype self propelled bailer. That is what hard work can get you folks

[@Wornout1]

Back around 1972 an old man said to me that he'd see a field by my house baled with a " machine that made round bales" just after the war. Which came from Germany. Now that's going to be far more than 50 years ago.

[@tractorman129]

Yep. Allis-Chalmers was building round balers in 1947, and had produced nearly 70,000 units by the time they ceased production in 1960, 12 years before Vermeer "invented" it. Although A-C produced it in 1947, the round baler had originally been conceived around 1910 by a fellow named Ummo Luebben.

[@bustersmith5569]

@@tractorman129 TY 👍,,, I've seen the AC baler your refuring to,,,,

[@robertteap8052]

​Yep.... I was born '53 and from a very early age I can remember round bales of Hay for winter cattle feed.. Indeed they were smaller, baled by an Allis-Chambers baler, called proto-bales, and a quick Google check says that baler started production run in 1947...so to say that his grandfather "invented" the round bale, no, re-worked it's design, maby.

[@doct0rnic]

Vermeer invented the LARGE round baler

[@bradshultz8385]

The round baler preceded 50 years ago. My grandpa had an AC round baler that I think came from the 40s. I think Vermeer expanded the bale over previous round bales, but it’s not accurate to say Vermeer “invented” the round baler.

[@shawnklemm1532]

I was going to say the same thing. Technically Allis Chalmers was the first round baler and also continuous round baler also but small size.

[@huntersatterfield6656]

That’s not what they are saying, they are saying that Vermeer as a company started making round balers 50 years ago

[@Nick-B78]

@@huntersatterfield6656 no, he literally starts he video by saying Gary Vermeer invented the round baler which is clearly not true.

[@bradshultz8385]

@@huntersatterfield6656 Not sure what you mean by”that’s not what they are saying.” Vermeer man said his grandfather “invented “ the round baler.

[@johnmcintyre800]

Hawk and allison that made the first small round baler Vemerr the first large round baler Allischambers were making small rounds as well before vemerr INVENTED the round baler

[@tomthomas4666]

You have a lot to be proud of with this type of family inventors. 😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@crashgsxr750]

Need to add continuous bailing so you never have to stop

[@bopete6505]

Completely agree. If you build a machine like this, that should have been requirement #1.

[@john34261]

if they did that i am sure they can increase the speed a little bit too but not too much becouse guality is still needed

[@ericturner4850]

its called a square bailer

[@john34261]

@@ericturner4850 wouldn't it be mechanically diffecult to make it like this self propelled round baller? especially if driven with some speed?

[@ericturner4850]

i just mean bailing with a regular square bailer you dont stop

[@brucelumsden94]

Interesting. I am an Aussie farmer, have owned and operated a 512i since 1995, still goes well.

[@davidlogel2350]

I did this twenty years ago with a 7810 and a 535 net wrap

[@guy1704]

Same here. My dad and I have been able to bale 60 bales a hour with a 7510 and starting with a 566 and up to a 560M. If it was good hay and smooth field the only thing that would break the 60 bales a hour was stop and change net wrap.

[@raystoner5361]

140 HP tractor and John Deere 469 Sileage baler in moderate windrows. A bale every 57 seconds. But I will be going back to Vermeer for my next baler due to poor customer service from John Deere.

[@LucendsRanch]

@@guy1704 We ran a 566 silage special on a 4255 JD. Awesome balers. The heaviest bales we did were 5ft 3rd cut Alfalfa 60% moisture. And the pick up kept up at 6mph.

[@timpingel9607]

Not bad for someone that doesn't drive a baler everyday!!

[@cowwhisperer8927]

Guess he practiced a bit 😄

[@Nanstar0k]

They are so intuitive now, the driver mostly just monitors the steering wheel and is trying not to eat all the snacks in the first hour.

[@samuelsutton8299]

@@Nanstar0k that's just farming in general. I find during seeding or harvest when I have 16+ hour days I have no food left in the cab after 9am

[@mp40submachinegun81]

@@samuelsutton8299 this is the biggest problem with modern agriculture.

[@antreaskonstantinou8585]

@@samuelsutton8299 16 hours nonstop? Thats insane both for you and the machine

[@LittleJohnFish]

Why on earth is this machine not a continuous round baler. In fact if I remember correctly Vermeer already had a continuous baler, what happened!

[@mesh1248]

The continuous round baler is still in the prototype stage I believe they’re 2 of them sitting near Stratford Ontario being worked on

[@chevyon37s]

So they can sell you this one, and then sell you the continuous version when they come out with it....

[@WolfPaw1997]

Krone has a very good continuous baler with great baledensity even at high speed called Krone Ultima

[@edwinsunderland4629]

I did 40 bales in 40 minutes with a 5x5 Vermeer in 1978. Only happened once!

[@aydenwinterfeld3591]

Might look good in this video but we had a demo on 2 of these units running against 569 John Deere premium balers that were one year old and the zr5 did just as many bales as our John Deere did. This was in cornstalks on mile long rows. Yes the zr5 was maybe way more comfortable and better ride but spending 250k on a baler just doesent seem feasible

[@jamesbarbour8400]

Really like the concept of a self propelled Round Baler, but yeah quarter of a million bucks is definitely hard to justify.

[@lnpipeline3306]

@@jamesbarbour8400 in 30 years, I might be able to justify buying a used one. I can’t wait! Vermeer certainly does make good stuff, though. Currently running a 605N, and baled the whole season without one breakdown.

[@Fraggr92]

You should look into what the guys over at Vicon are doing. Their two-stage baler can produce round bales without stopping. Imagine how many bales you would have gotten if you didn't have to stop to unload.

[@richardsharkey7189]

The first round baler was built by Allis Chalmers we had one 65 years ago

[@Drottninggatan2017]

50 bales does not say much. It also depends on how large they are and how dense they are packed.

[@30jakeb]

as well as how good the crop is makes a huge difference

[@tyler58701]

2:04 should give an indication as she's leaning against one.

[@desross2002]

this model makes only 5 x 6 bales. So around 2000 lbs. The main difference in achieving this goal is imo the size of the field. Less times your turn around in the end of the row the more efficient it is

[@renenoe1269]

Krone Made a record with 149 bales in one hours 🤔

[@toperi782]

Aber alle drosseln raus genommen, das würde die Presse nicht lange durch halten

[@brenttonks4249]

I had a Krone VP1500MC and in 2010 I was consistently pushing 58 Five foot round bales of Oaten hay out of her in an hour. They were like bricks too none of those light bales some guys make. Would of cracked 60 an hour but I just pushed a little too hard and blocked the pick up everytime I tried. Also running 3.5 laps of net when binding. Anything less they would just burst the net when the chamber pressure came off the bale. What model of Krone set that record and what size were the bales? I switched from Krone to McHale and never looked back, however the new Krones look like they could be a pretty good baler!

[@swissix4947]

​@@brenttonks4249Size idk but the model should be the Ultima.

[@areman8465.]

Problably with a square bailer

[@fendtclaas8689]

That's nothing compared to Kuhn. I made a bale every 23 seconds once. That's 156 bales in one hour.

[@seriouslyconfused1]

I just baught my first round baler the other day 605G hasn't been used in 10 year we drove it home greased it up looked for shot bearings. Found non next day took it out and made 25 bales with my 49 hp tractor.

[@TheAB416]

This would be cool to see on the next Farming Simulator game

[@sheldongoossen9771]

And I baled 60 bales in an hour with a 568 jd and an old Duetz tractor 🤷🏼‍♂️. These SP Vermeers are supposed to be really impressive. I'd really like one but if they can't well out preform a tractor then what's the point.

[@stefanwipf85]

Did the same with A kubota bv4580 and the bales where rock hard

[@davidlogel2350]

1: Vermeer did not invent the round baler. There were others including Allis Chalmers roto baler well before Vermeer ever produced a baler. 2: Your bales are not full size 6 foot bales, anyone who’s baled a decent amount of hay can see that from the video. 3: Many other manufacturers have been able to accomplish 60 full size 5x6 hard core bales in 60 minutes with tractor and baler combinations that still cost less than your sp model.

[@YourMom-ro1ig]

Facts over feelings, way to lay it out Mr. Logel. Laying down the 📠

[@j.walker3498]

Now if it could wrap and drop while picking up the next bale. Continuous, 100 per hour?

[@winkdinkerson7190]

Very cool bailer and video production. Congrats on your anniversary and incredible AG company innovation over your history.

[@davidreeder328]

Baller burst into flames !!!!!!

[@connormorgan6267]

Since when did they have balers than you could drive either way this is awesome

[@keithlawlor9993]

I think that you have to admit that Allis-Chalmers invented the round baler many years before that. However they were not as large as the Vermeer bales.

[@edwinschwartz2472]

Allis Chalmers produced the Roto-baler in the 1950’s

[@martingardener90]

I think they should claim to have built the first successful large round baler to define it from the Allis. One thing though - the Allis didn't have AC!

[@markymark1796]

Yes, and I believe that roto-baler would have been hard pressed to make fifty bales in fifty minutes.

[@csil2863]

AC purchased the small round baler from Nebraska farmer Ummo F. Luebben who developed the round baler in 1910. I have asked why Allis did not see the need to develop the large round baler. Nevertheless, Vermeer did and revolutionized haymaking!

[@yubiaozhang4556]

A low-key company that doesn't want to be a big brother, Wittmann is the best

[@reddirtfarm7704]

Now if you can get your drills to do 500ft in 50 minutes!!

[@Trythis837]

🤣

[@westonandelin4556]

I run a 2656a with twine. The fastest bale I’ve made is 2 minutes with my average closer to three minutes. A bale a minute is impressive

[@walterjackson7757]

Good job, but you left some hay in the field in another 30 minutes you’d have been finished. Just kidding good equipment

[@tylerodegard7221]

Allis-chalmers made the first round baler in 1947

[@peterjack7815]

Congratulations on your invention 👍🙂🙂

[@brentreid7031]

That is a nice machine. Hard to believe. Thank you.

[@ChickenScrape]

I can make a bale in 60 sec. but it takes almost 60 seconds to tie it with string plus ejecting. Net wrap is the speed plus the zero turn definitely helps. Either way impressive.....

[@SMGJohn]

Gary Vermeer did not invent the round baler, he invented the "MODERN" Round Baler, which is two separate things, the modern round baler is characterised by using belts to shape the ball

[@RobsonDemarcoAgro]

GREAT VIDEO!!! 🔝🟩⬛️🟦🟥🟩⬛️🟦🟥👏🏻🔝🔝

[@bartdominick3866]

Allis Chalmers Roto Baler was years before.

[@ihcman9130]

Heck I can do 50 bales in 50 minutes with my 605 N in heavy 1st cutting. Its very easy to make and netwrap and kick out a bale in under 60 seconds. Its tough to keep it up all day though as you lose time changing netwrap.

[@Fishcop-326]

That’s nice all in all. Come to my farm in Western Pennsylvania and see how many round bales you make in an hour with all the hills.

[@SeniorPom1dor]

Почему вы не делаете 2х камерный пресс? Чтобы он не останавливался

[@burtbrooks7731]

Y’all make great equipment 👍👍

[@pibble3962]

Cool machinery. We struggle to cut, tett and rake everything in time.m in concert with the weather and curing. Usually I’m raking while the baler “Chases the rabbit.”

[@leonardjames1256]

My neighbor bales 4x5 at 9 mph and I've seen him average a bale every 48 sec in heavy wind row. incredible!! With a JD

[@davidlogel2350]

A 4x5 bale is less than half the size of a 5x6.

[@tylermallory2504]

@@davidlogel2350 math is hard!

[@davidlogel2350]

@@tylermallory2504 if you know, you know, and you don’t know. 🤷‍♂️

[@tylermallory2504]

@@davidlogel2350 so you're telling me a 5x6 out weighs a 4x5 by more than 50%?

[@tylermallory2504]

@@davidlogel2350 it's a 35-40% increase no matter how you look at it. LoL

[@zfilmmaker]

I don’t understand the need for this, what would be the point? You still need a tractor to mow, ted and rake. If the baler could be removed and the others attached this could be a tractor replacer...maybe. I understand the short turning radius, I have that on my Deere disc mower but if I still have to own tractors why buy this when all I need is a baler?

[@steinwaymodelb]

It's designed for operations that are large enough to have dedicated equipment for each stage of the operation - just like self-propelled swathers make sense for some situations, a self-propelled baler has its application. If you have mowing and baling happening at the same time in different fields, you obviously can't share a power unit between them and you may also not want to be switching implements every day - you might want the baler and the mower always ready to go.

[@bradshultz8385]

That Vermeer baler tractor is on air springs so the operator can run faster than you can with a conventionaltractor. They’re ridiculously expensive, I can’t justify one in any way, but people want to go faster and faster.

[@zfilmmaker]

@@bradshultz8385 I disagree… I make hay on 8000 acres of my own and rent another 4000 acres. On large acreage speed is key…I’m now running 4 x Massey 4160 round balers for customers I sell 4x5’s to but I’m predominantly a lg square producer. The MF 4160 is the same as the Vermeer 504 Pro. The Pro balers (made by Lely) brought Vermeer back from the dead in hay baler technology and reliability. The 4160 is the nicest, most reliable round baler I’ve owned and at $52k can’t be beat. The baler on the ZR5 is no nicer…and probably uses Lely technology. Other balers I like and have demoed are the Pottinger 155 V Pro that costs $84k and Deere V451R which is a 4160 clone for $100k.

[@kyletiersma9832]

It's nice when you are not chasing Grass!! Are those 2 windrows from a 16ft swather??

[@edschultheis9537]

If you were to add a mechanism on the baler to eject a bail on the go while also starting a new bale, then you could increase the output by another 10% at least. Stopping each time to eject a bale is a big time waster and it just adds to the wear and tear on the machine transmission.

[@jwhitley101whitleyfarms9]

Yea and look at all the extra complicated parts involved with this baler I can stop, wrap and throw the bale out just fine. I prefer simple balers that can be fixed and put right back in the windrows vermeer 504r

[@aftabahmed4502]

what is the weight of the bale

[@Anonymous..VQ3.5Lg35]

Wow a bale every minute!

[@Donuts_random_stuff]

2:02 I counted 42 (including the one in the machine And also at the last frame before it cut over to the one on the ground with the walkie-talkie

[@4DModding]

Please make a video of all of the generations of baler design

[@nigelmitchell5726]

Great machine 😁

[@lohnneshady5166]

I am a Vermeer fan but there isn’t much Vermeer representation in my area, currently running Deere 🤮 and can easily role up a bale a minute at nearly 10 mph! Plus your bales don’t look to be 6’ tall. You’ve got to do better if representing the Vermeer brand and a machine with a price tag that a machine like that will fetch!! I have a 605c that can keep up with your machine and it’s over 30 years old!! Keep up the good work with the brand.

[@Fred_Bender]

Vermeer Wuz Here !

[@benjaminbauer4883]

And I average 60 bales an hour with a traditional baler?? And I’m no speed demon? It looks good but no point if I can do the same job with a cheaper machine!

[@mcCORMICMTX185]

Yes me to whit a mchale

[@davidlogel2350]

@@mcCORMICMTX185 McHale makes small bales though. Any manufacturer can do that with small bales.

[@raptor660jarhead]

In his own words "not bad for someone that has never bailed before". Yet he says he has used that same baler to bale corn stocks and also stated that he baled with the prototype. But, I guess thats typical ceo bs stroking there own horn.

[@buckhorncortez]

Since you seem to have so much insight about this, what exactly is a "corn stock." I know plants can have "stalks" (single stems) but, I've never heard of plants with "stocks." So, exactly what is a "stock"?

[@TheRobertralph]

I wondered the same thing. He is clearly in the office and not in the field due to his pale skin tone. But, they, good for him for celebrating the machine and trying to generate some interest in it. I think this is a good thing overall.

[@derrickzenner9300]

People make a bale a minute with 5000 dollar round balers.

[@ruthfrohlicher8868]

sehr gut diese maschine möchte gerne mehr auskunft

[@hardworker645]

God bless you sir

[@westbamafarmer]

Great job cool baler!

[@LucendsRanch]

I do a bale a minute with our Krone Comprima V 180 XC with knives up. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@johnanderson2451]

I bet it is more affordable too

[@LucendsRanch]

@@johnanderson2451 Oh yes! I don’t understand the self propelled baler concept. Kinda cool but you’d better be doing a ton of custom baling a year to make it pay.

[@johnanderson2451]

@@LucendsRanch a lot of custom baling, you can only use it for one thing, you can’t even feed with it

[@mrsound-gard7556]

I’m curious as to whether you have any of these machines in Australia?

[@lancedavis6032]

Nice job Ken !!

[@mattpointer8495]

So, 50 bales in 50 minutes, yeah 😊

[@Mapdotnowhere]

What happened to the continuous round baler?

[@krzychus2726]

My rekord is Lely RP 180v xtra 64 bales on hour , straw wheat , size 180.

[@Junglepedia]

please tell me how much diesel consumption do you have per acre or per tons of straw baled?

[@tomstanton5710]

Your story is not actually true. Allis Chalmers introduced a round baler in 1941 that worked essentially the same if on a smaller scale. The really interesting part of that story is that AC bought the patent for the baler from Ummo F. Luebben who had filed the patent way back in 1910.

[@BeauBrueggen]

Good job

[@krisbaird5555]

Hope to own one someday sure can't afford one in a drought though oh well life happens

[@george8873]

Neat machine. Like a zero turn lawnmower's big brother, lol.

[@jasdunlop9907]

I baled 105 bales of hay in a hour with our claas after 20 foot rake with press roller on front lynks

[@VakaramGolang]

Вся проблема в буфере, почему нет промежуточного хранилища? Сделайте буфер для сбора,что бы машина не стояла. The whole problem is in the buffer, why is there no intermediate storage? Make a buffer for collection so that the car is not standing.

[@timblack33]

Nice CLAAS cab

[@hombredeacero3131]

That was Awesome

[@purpletoad352]

If it's baling a bale in less then 1 minute, why wouldn't you show an entire cycle instead of just clips for 3 minutes. Watching a baler run from 1 bale to the next bale in < 1 minute would be impressive.

[@Tillcaspian]

We need this in uk

[@BeingMe23]

No automatic discharge?

[@bradleamon4466]

And you still have to wrap them

[@johnmcintyre800]

John deere is on it a delay in the formation of the bale while the first bale is wrapping not on the market yet but close

[@johnmcintyre800]

@@bradleamon4466 just get the McHale fusion 3 keep the wrapped while it rolling along

[@michaelswartz2126]

It does automatically discharge the bale, it stops automatically, wraps, and dumps. The operator just has to push go button when the door latches.

[@MrRoadie36]

another Dutch invention i didn't know about!

[@euromexx8759]

I wonder how fast the Vicon Fastbale could be.

[@lamonthodges8805]

Did the netting last for 50 bales?

[@toshiroyamada2443]

We need these on farm sim

[@canuckloyalist4681]

It is nice but what the heck are you supposed to do with round balers? Only small scale guys around here are still using round and they certainly aren't going to incur the cost of this unit. Our local mushroom farm won't even take rounds anymore...

[@TVTruther]

The big bale invention changed the way how hay was processed; of course Yah decided it was time for man to get the big bales

[@stevenedwards4840]

What size is the bale tho. 4x5, 5x5 or a 5x6?

[@binderslebener]

old technics.... today roundbales must work without stops... Two Box system....

[@thomassmyth1725]

The hay team need 1

[@Captpicky]

That was cool

[@gumelini1]

Why would you ever need a self propelled baler?That thing probably costs as much as a new round baler+tractor combo.

[@edschultheis9537]

If you have to bale a lot of acres, then it makes sense to have a self-propelled baler. Your question is like asking why someone would need a self-propelled combine harvester. I suspect that over 98% of all the combine harvesters sold in the US today are self-propelled. However, in decades past, they were pulled by horses and then by tractors.

[@gumelini1]

@@edschultheis9537 okay,so let's make a self propelled plough for people who have to plow a lot a acres

[@edschultheis9537]

​@@gumelini1 A plow pulled by a tractor is already an optimized version of the plow. An optimized self-propelled plow would really look no different than a tractor pulling a plow. Tilling the soil with a plow requires a lot of horsepower and very good traction. It only makes sense to pull the plow behind the driving wheels so that the wheels will have more traction. If the ground was plowed in front of the driving wheels, the wheels would lose a lot of traction, so a large percentage of the machine horsepower would not be transferred to the ground. It would be lost in the drive wheels slipping on the loose tilled soil. That would be a waste of time and diesel. In contrast, a self-propelled baler, self-propelled swather, self-propelled combine harvester, or self-propelled sprayer can make a lot of sense if a lot of acres have to be covered. Look at the requirements for a baler for covering a lot of acres (in no particular order): 1) It must be very maneuverable so it can turn very quickly and efficiently. Slow turns are a time waster and time is precious when baling hay. 2) It must be as fast as reasonably possible. Recall the old saying... "Make hay while the sun shines." When the weather is good and the hay is dry, it is important to get it baled and hauled quickly so that it won't get rained on. Rain degrades the hay and delays the harvest. 3) The self-propelled baler machine only needs to be heavy enough to move the baling mechanism across the field. It doesn't need a lot of weight and traction to transmit horsepower to the ground (as with a tractor pulling a plow) because it has minimal drag (whereas a plow has massive drag). Therefore, all the weight of a tractor is excessive. No need to move all that excess tractor weight around a field if it is serving no useful purpose. That just wastes diesel. 4) A disadvantage of a tractor-pulled baler is that one always has to look back over their right shoulder (on many models). On centered balers (driving the tractor straight down the windrow), the hay pickup is back behind the hitch of the tractor. Both of these versions result in a long machine which is less maneuverable. However, a self-propelled baler can be designed such that the hay pickup is centered and right under the operator's cab. No need for the operator to turn around and the machine length can be considerably shorter. This makes it more maneuverable. When lots of acres have to be covered, every improvement in efficiency gets the work done faster and minimizes the operating cost. If the idea of farm is to make money (and it is), then a highly efficient machine for a reasonable purchase price makes a lot of sense for the larger farms. Ed Schultheis, PE Mechanical design engineer & consultant for 35 years Schultek Engineering & Technology, Inc. schultek.com

[@gumelini1]

@@edschultheis9537 we make an average of 23-25 thousand bales a year and i would still not choose a self propelled baler over a tractor powered one.Okay, unless a Krone made one then i maybe would

[@edschultheis9537]

@@gumelini1 To each his own.

[@georgesherman5345]

Alice Chalmers invented the round baler …… way back in the 40's

[@billweaver3114]

Wow now that's baling some hay has there ever been any thoughts on making a mini baler for smaller tractors?

[@BeingMe23]

I am they would have too see how much demand for small bales.

[@johnmcintyre800]

There used to be a round baler that made man handable bales about 50 years since l.saw it cant rember make or model

[@benterbieten9540]

@@johnmcintyre800 Allis Chalmers Roto Baler

[@johnmcintyre800]

@@benterbieten9540 can't argue with you 4 or 5 years old when l saw it and it was pretty old then cheers anyway

[@billweaver3114]

In my research they make them but there all forien made I believe nothing wrong with that just thought it would be neat to have one made in the USA and what I've seen with vemer I'm impressed by there quality

[@tylermallory2504]

Great machine except it needs to hold bales so you can dump all your bales in a group...