round baler education

So I think its time to add a round baler to my fleet. Only problem is what do I need to know about them? The good the bad etc.

Go with a belt baler. 500lbs would be around a 4x4 size. hesston makes one in that size

I use a hesston 560 behind my xt. It's set to make a 5x5 bale and in alfalfa I'm getting bales between 900 and 1100 pounds. Too heavy for you I know but one thing to look at is how the baler operates. My hesston is completely self contained. Meaning all I do is hook up the monitor and pto. No hydraulics. The baler has its own pump and everything is controlled by the monitor. When the bale reaches the set size it sounds an alarm and I push start. It then wraps, stops the belts, opens the gate, runs the bale kicker out, shuts the gate, brings the kicker back, starts the belts and gives a green light to start again. All this without ever doing anything other than placing the pd in neutral. I love it! It's so simple it only took one round and my beautiful wife mastered it and bales by herself quite often when I'm busy.

Do yourself a favor and talk to some custom operators that run diff. brands. They know how stuff works when pushed for time, plus how to make loose bales (many landowners who sell their hay ask for looser bales made so they have more to sell, or custom guys run em looser so they can charge for more bales made), plus custom guys also know how to make em super tight and heavy which is preferred for weather and shipping by some of the landowners.
These custom guys know best on what takes a beating and the larger operations will trade them off every other year so they have minimal wear breakdowns.

NH 7060 you cant feed it the hay fast enough. Starts bails easy also

On some balers there are hydraulics for the gate, bale kicker, twine arms and in some case a hydraulic lift on the pickup.

On the baler I run it will make up to a 6' bale, you set a slide gauge to the desired height and it sounds the alarm there. Also you need to watch out on the old balers they were a "closed throat" baler. These are harder to feed and harder to start a bale. This 560 of mine is a open throat baler baler and even on this heavy first cut alfalfa I could run 3rd high side and it just kept asking for more! Dad has an old international baler that is closed throat and after running both I wouldn't take one even if someone paid me!

on the hesstons, manual says to go across a few windrows, to start bale.  Also, there is a short crop spreader bar, that once removed, makes the first cutting bales start much easier.  Also, don't run it to full (alarm sounding) or they get hard to eject...

what is the difference between the fixed throat and the variable throat?

I've never heard of fixed or variable throat?   I do know that a closed throat baler is hard to feed hay into (takes patience and practice) . Open throat is easier and faster to feed. A fixed "chamber" is a "soft center" bale. Meaning the hay is loosely rolled often creating a star shape In the center of the bale and the tension comes on towards the end of the bale. These bales often sag but are said to breathe and make better quality feed. A variable chamber baler creates tension from the get go. It will store better outside as they shed moisture better. Also they are easier to master at making a nice looking bale.