novice cushie shooter Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 I do not mean to be ignorant but whats the difference between square and round? Are they requested by order or is it just whatever bailer the farmer he has he uses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Mat Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Square bales are not square just to confuse people! Depends on what the farmer wants, you could have small bales ( ones you can move by hand ), or hesstons, or mini hestons, quadrants, 4ft rounds, 5ft rounds, 6ft round! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novice cushie shooter Posted September 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 I understand that but whats the purpose or is it just to suit his needs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rst1990 Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 I buy hay off the local farmer and only want the round bales as they are easier for me to move around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 the oblong ones are cheaper and quicker to produce...everything revolves around fuel cost and machines..... the small bales are still made but they cost... in the old days we would have 1 man on the tractor 1 stacking on the trailer and 2 pitching......then later on they invented the put and take a machine that picked 8 small bales at a time and layed them as a slab on a trailer...and the load was built up like that ..all with 1 man/woman....but it still was labour intensive as the bales had to be laid in a slab by a gang.... soooo now they have 1 man......he bales...it chucks out a bloody great bales and really quick compared to the old ram baler (small).....same man changes on to a trailer puller by a teleporter with an attatchement for picking big bales up....loads...then off he goes its all down to cost time is money............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 (edited) hello, i am sure the farmer costs out the best size to make as only takes 1 machine and 1 lifter which can all be done by 1 man, when i were a wee lad we had the tractor and baler, behind that a sledge taking 9 plus 1 on top small bales which you dropped off around the field then tractor and trailer with the bale hoist then unload in barn 4/5 people ( that was 54 years ago ) Edited September 15, 2016 by oldypigeonpopper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novice cushie shooter Posted September 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Thanks gents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Small square bales are usually sold to horsey people and small holders with live stock plus you can transport more tonnage with square bales, and the cost at the farm gate is higher for small square bales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougy Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Them big oblong ones are bloody hard to build a hide from, I'm knackered after. And the big round ones are bloody hard to shoot off when there about 3 or 4 hight due to no flat surfaces to rest on. Never mind about the money,,, total lack of thought for the shooters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yates Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Intereating topic. Was wondering myself. The farmer baled half the field near us with square bales and removed them straight away, then baled the other half in circular bales and just left them in the field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben0850 Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 A lot of it depends on your feeding structure and farm methods. We bale rounds typically for silage, hay and straw as our feeders are round and they can be easily 'rolled' out for bedding up. We also bake some straw as 'hestons' that go straight to a pig farmer as his system is set up for them. Some pig and cattle systems are set up for larger hestons that are chopped up and distributed by a particular type of machine. Intereating topic. Was wondering myself. The farmer baled half the field near us with square bales and removed them straight away, then baled the other half in circular bales and just left them in the field. The round bales generally stand the weather ok due to the way the get baled. Hestons are much more 'open' and as such need to be led before much damage can be done by the rain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Just found this old thread on "farmingforum" all about round bales and it looks like its not only PW members who argue the toss. http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?5927-Round-Bale-Hay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iano Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 I do not mean to be ignorant but whats the difference between square and round? Are they requested by order or is it just whatever bailer the farmer he has he uses? We used square bales of straw and hay for horses, but they were becoming harder and harder to get as farmers seem to prefer baling round. Round bales of hay are fine to deal with, but for a small set up like ours (couple of horses, no machinery) square straw bales were what you need. Bigger places or more machinery and I guess it doesn't matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 (edited) Does it indicate my age when I remember being on the trailer which had an elevator attached to the rear. The tractor pulled the trailer and elevator along the lines of hay, the hay was collected by the elevator and then transferred up and into the trailer. We had a pitchfork a piece and stacked it on the trailer in such a way that it would not fall of. It was then taken to the stack yard and pitched off, when the rick got high enough another elevator was used to move the hay up onto the rick where it was an art to stack it securely but tapered in such a way that the rain would not run into the sides, so the sides leant out slightly until the pitch was put on the roof. Then battens of straw would be thrown up with hazel pins and the rick would be thatched to make it waterproof. When the hay had been there till November/ December it would be opened down one side and the hay cut out in slices by a huge very sharp hay knife and take to the cattle. Good hay has a smell you cannot forget. The smell of early sunny summer days. Round bale stacks are great places to work the terriers in during winter, Favorite place for a fox or two. Edited September 15, 2016 by Walker570 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin lad Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 we produce all 3 large and small rectangle and round the smaller ones are ideal to throw in with the pigs and the larger round we put in with the cattle and they do the rest colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieT Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 It depends on what what bailer the farmer uses. Arable farms tend to use square because squareare easier to stack and transport and their larger size is more suitable for high volume straw choppers. Round are better suited for livestock farms for silage as they wrap easier. So unless you have plenty of cash to spend on various types of bailer you tend to buy the type that best suits your main need and then use it for everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novice cushie shooter Posted September 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Thanks for all the replies. All kinda makes sense tbh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adge Cutler Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 (edited) My first job as a 12 year old on a old Cotswold farm the farmer ( I can see him now ) had a dexter tractor, a wain and 4 horses... we built ricks and the staddle stones are still on the farm 45 years on. You young uns don't know you are born. ! Edited September 15, 2016 by Adge Cutler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShootingEgg Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Even with the flat8 we have two of us on the trailer to stack them so they don't fall when being taken back.. All fun at 7 or 8 runs high.... Then when back at farm one on trailer and one in barn to unload and stack... tend to use rounds for silage or haylage, small square for straw around yard and small square hay for selling to the horse owners.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterFarmer Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 We usually use round bales as we make alot of silage so have to be able to wrap them also big square bales are used by arable farmers mostly as they stack very neatly not too many people use small square bales any more as you have to take them in out of the field straight away nearly or the rain will soak into them! Hope this helps a bit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Can remember my dad telling the story when i was a young boy (about 35 years ago) the local farmer bought the first round baler in the area, this was almost before silage had really taken off and any silage was pitted, so just for hay. His old massey loader tractor could hardly lift a bale. He never thought they would ever take off. Most has been already said, round bales tend to shed the weather better if left outside and generally suit older style farming sytems as were the 'original' big bale. The modern heston bales are relatively new (ony really last 10 or so years in my area, but mainly mixed farming rather than arable) really can be easier handled loaded etc. Really personal preference or wot farm is set up to handle as a lot of baling is done by contractors anyway, so will have a choice of balers. I think some of the balers u can even change the size of bales, know some make mini round bales of haylage for the horsey folk. For the phesants i actually prefer the big square bales as u can just peel of a few leafs or wotever is needed If ur ever working with the big square bales, esp if in a hay loft/elevated, be careful have heard of a few folk being knocked out of the loft when they cut the strings and the bale 'pops' open and pushes them of the edge, can be surprising how much they expand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 My first job as a 12 year old on a old Cotswold farm the farmer ( I can see him now ) had a dexter tractor, a wain and 4 horses... we built ricks and the staddle stones are still on the farm 45 years on. You young uns don't know you are born. ! Plus one on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Bet non of you ....maybe Adge remember the balers which went behind the thrashing machines. They were as solid a granite and tied with wire so tight it bit into the bale about an inch and a half. I was very pleased when my grandfather had a front end loader/muck fork fitted to our P6 engined, old sit up and beg Fordson tractor. Those bales still made that old tractor grunt. I was present when a local company Rekord??? tried out a mini round baler for hay/straw specifically for the horse industry. I have never seen one since, so don't know if they ever got them into production. Produced a mini bale small enough for a young healthy horsewoman to roll around the stables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 when i started on farms at 15 in galleywood in essex we handballed single rectangular bales onto a trailer finishishing with a pitchfork the lad on top would ride home on the load, next we had a sledge that left them in groups, we then stacked them in eights and picked them up with a fore end loader, later i worked for a contractor and we had the flat eight system where an accumulator behind the baler gathered them into eights and left them on the ground which we were able to grab with a farmhand loader and stack straight onto and off the trailer without touching by hand, i then drove a stackliner where i picked individual bales up by machine until i had about 100 on a tipping trailer which i then deposited at the side of the field /yard for the farmer to use as needed, all the bales were of the small rectangular type which has absoluteley no bearing on the op's question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisheruk Posted September 15, 2016 Report Share Posted September 15, 2016 Them big oblong ones are bloody hard to build a hide from, I'm knackered after. And the big round ones are bloody hard to shoot off when there about 3 or 4 hight due to no flat surfaces to rest on. Never mind about the money,,, total lack of thought for the shooters. So that is your new excuse for Catton! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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