OT: winter baling with pics
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Topic: OT: winter baling with pics
Posted By: Ron(AB)
Subject: OT: winter baling with pics
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 12:09am
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I thought someone might like to see it is possible to winter bale with the right baler. Its a NH 852, 30+ years old, working in -5 to -20 C or a bit above and below 0 F. The bales are very heavy with the snow, so I'm making them smaller - approx. 4 1/2 feet dia. The swaths were snowed on twice and melted out in Oct and in Nov it snowed again and stayed. I had to wait for it get cold enough so the ground and swaths froze. Otherwise, it would stick inside the baler and not turn. Anyone else with experience like this?  
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Replies:
Posted By: wekracer
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 5:54am
| Wow. I guess it really is better than a snow ball in this case |
Posted By: caledonian
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 7:02am
| Can't say as I've seen it done before so it's interesting. Are you going to feed them out this winter ? They won't keep when it warm's up I wouldn't think. |
Posted By: shameless (ne)
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 8:00am
| I've also never seen this done, but it must work for you and it's better than wasting it and fighting it in the spring! in all reality, I think if I saw someone doing this here....i'd think they was nutso! lol. |
Posted By: Ron(AB)
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 9:26am
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There is a lot of unthrashed grain in the north. Many counties declared it a disaster so the insurance would kick in (if you had insurance). To make things worse, we had a bumper crops thru much of western Canada. Most farmers are going to burn the swaths in spring just to get it off the field. That's a big loss. I'm baling oats and using it to bed cows. A bale processor chops and spreads the bales but you can see a cloud of white mixed in as it blows it out the machine. Didn't Clint Eastwood have a line in one of his movies about having to improvise? |
Posted By: Sugarmaker
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 9:48am
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Glad I seen a picture of this! Never would have believed it. Do what you need to do and should make some good bedding. Thanks for taking the pictures. Look like pretty solid bales too. Regards, Chris ------------- D17 1958 (NFE), WD45 1954 (NFE), WD 1952 (NFE), WD 1950 (WFE), Allis F-40 forklift, Allis CA, Allis D14, Ford Jubilee, Many IH Cub Cadets, 32 Ford Dump, 65 Comet. |
Posted By: littlemarv
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 11:48am
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Improvise, adapt, overcome. Heartbreak Ridge. ------------- The mechanic always wins. B91131, WC23065, WD89101, CA29479, B1, Early B10, HB212, 416H |
Posted By: Dave(inMA)
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 4:24pm
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Very cool! A video would be great fun to see. :) ------------- WC, CA, D14, WD45 |
Posted By: DougG
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 4:49pm
| Um yeah it can be done ; but Why? Truly don't get it |
Posted By: Ron(AB)
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 5:40pm
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Doug, If you lost 100% of your grain crop due to bad weather and had no insurance and no outside job or off farm income or spouse income and had no straw for your cows… and some of that crop was under seeded to alfalfa and grass…plus, its going to be a mess in spring to get rid of so can plant your 2017 spring crop, and you still don't get it... you're not a farmer. |
Posted By: DanWi
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 9:55pm
| If you run that through a grinder and bed with it I bet the cows pick thru it and eat a bunch. |
Posted By: Mikez
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 10:29pm
| Some guys around here always joke when baling crapy hay, better then eating snow balls this winter. Well you have them both in one lol |
Posted By: wekracer
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 10:48pm
| Sometime you do what you have to do. I get it. Never done it but I'm sure I've done something that others considered crazy. when your gambling with Mother Nature and she's dealing you have to play the hand your delt. |
Posted By: jorstad brothers
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2016 at 10:54pm
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we have baled in the snow before also. looks like that chain baler works better than a belt baler in the snow.
------------- remember plunder than burn |
Posted By: AC7060IL
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2016 at 4:13am
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Some 2016 Crops were lost here in Illinois too. Here is a link to someone who bailed downed corn. http://springfieldil.craigslist.org/grd/5879909101.html" rel="nofollow - http://springfieldil.craigslist.org/grd/5879909101.html |
Posted By: caledonian
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2016 at 11:19am
| Ron I think your pretty smart. Your crop is not going to waste and them cattle will pick up those oats to eat. You'll keep your cattle warmer and cleaner to. |
Posted By: DougG
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2016 at 12:44pm
| I understand now Ron , sorry to hear that ! Youve got a good baler for it those old NH are tough !! |
Posted By: BillinAlberta
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2016 at 1:43pm
I baled regrowth canola and second coming oats in the snow during the big dry of 2001.McKee 821 4ft belt baler. 200 ewes got through the winter and the bank didn't have to foreclose.Lots of lambs that spring too. Cemented my reputation as the Gadsby Lake Lunatic! Where you from Ron?I think we could swap some tales over a bottle of (Canadian) rye!
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Ron(AB) wrote:Posted By: Hockeygoon
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2016 at 4:09pm
| I remember lots of electric fences going up so cattle could winter on crops that had gone down or had been poorly combined. Also to munch off winter wheat that had a good stand. I also remember my dad making us boys pick corn that had gone down - never did it in the snow but there were some *&^% cold days. Mainly on the turn rows. |
Posted By: SteveM C/IL
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2016 at 6:06pm
| Probably want to give the baler a good looking over afterward.I know they always said working snow with a crawler would eat up the undercarriage. |
Posted By: Dan73
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2016 at 7:46pm
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I was wondering if you could take the baler through a car wash or a steam cleaner when you are done to try and get some of that snow and ice out of it. That is amazing I have never seem that but my grandfather talked about a year he square bales some hay like that. He said they only baled enough to feed out each day to some young stock said the feed wasn't much good but they picked it over and got by. Would have lost the cows otherwise for lack or feed. They will definitely pick it over and eat alot more then you think. Cows love to pick over garbage feed if they can stand on it while they eat. Sometimes I put really bad hay out in their yard and some of them will fill up on it and not eat their good hay. Like you said you have to make the most out of what you have. I was just wondering if you could run some of that through pigs as it is oats wonder if they could find the oats and get feed out of it. My mother always talks about the year the potatoes where all hollow hears when she was a kid and they fed them to pigs to get a crop. |