How many bales per acre

letterkenny man

Hi what would you call a heavy crop or a light crop I got 21 bales to the acre last week

Deepsouthwest

letterkenny man wrote: »

Hi what would you call a heavy crop or a light crop I got 21 bales to the acre last week

21 is v v heavy, unless ur talking about 21 small square bales!

kake

How long of a wilt did you give it?
Did you cut it dry and shake it out?
What type of baler?
Chopped bales?
What % moisture in them?

We got 12 bales to the acre on very heavy reseeded fields last week - cut dry and shook out. Very low moisture bales baled with a McHale. To get 21 bales per acre, the same fields would need to have grown to 5ft high!

A cow called Daisy

letterkenny man wrote: »

Hi what would you call a heavy crop or a light crop I got 21 bales to the acre last week

Sounds like a lot to me. Was field freshly reseeded or growing a long time. Was it wilted and are bales well packed

A cow called Daisy

And you do pay for EVERY bale, not per acre:eek:

@ phone

I said

Reseeded 17 to acre and old pasture 9 to acre mowed weds baled Friday Mchale fusion

Muckit

21 would be lightish enough traneen stuff. 52 would be heavy. I could be wrong, be that's what a lad told me down the pub. And he never lies.

letterkenny man

Local lad baled it with a John Deere baler it was witled for a day ground was reseeded two years ago we often got 16 bales per acre of the same land before it was reseeded at 3 bags to the acre fare eunf we put 4 on it this year

razor8

letterkenny man wrote: »

Local lad baled it with a John Deere baler it was witled for a day ground was reseeded two years ago we often got 16 bales per acre of the same land before it was reseeded at 3 bags to the acre fare eunf we put 4 on it this year

4 bags of what fertiliser? What was it like at the butt?

kake

razor8 wrote: »

What was it like at the butt?

Rotton I imagine? Especially if it was let grow to the point where there were 21 bales to the acre. That's 15 or 16 tonnes per acre. In my time, 10 ton per acre was considered a heavy enough crop!

_Brian

21 is an astonishing number, To the point of being questionable.
As a previous poster said it would be very hard to grow such a crop and keep quality up. How long between last cut/graze and silage making.

Were on essentially old ley and 8-9 bales would be typical. We are fairly conservative on fert application.

just_did_it

_Brian wrote: »

21 is an astonishing number, To the point of being questionable.

Great minds think a like, the only way I could make sence of 21 bales to the acre was if it was baled with a welger rp12.

Greengrass1

letterkenny man wrote: »

Local lad baled it with a John Deere baler

That's your problem there's.
There spongeballs.
I wrapped after a new JD baler last year and it took me a whole day to wrap 200 of them.
Told him my wrapper was broke next time he asked me

A cow called Daisy

Question for those of you with own baler.

Does the speed at which you travel make any difference to size of bale? Would love to get contractor to make couple of bales at, say 5 or 6 kph and then bale couple of bales at, say, 12 kph. Lad that used to bale say no difference but I would of thought it would. Even couple of metres on each bale make big difference on 4 acre field

And I know balers can be adjusted etc but lm talking all other things being equal

leg wax

got 17 last week off new grass from last year.welger baler, will be changing contractor back to fusion bales.

lakill Farm

had one field with 13 bales an acre ( got pig slurry)

the other 9 an acre (Got cattle slurry) . both baled the same day with a F550 McHale and wilted for 24hours

Jonty

How accurate is your "acre"? Is it really an acre, or a big acre lol?

Rucking_Fetard

Way to many variables in this lol.

Sam Kade

A cow called Daisy wrote: »

Question for those of you with own baler.

Does the speed at which you travel make any difference to size of bale? Would love to get contractor to make couple of bales at, say 5 or 6 kph and then bale couple of bales at, say, 12 kph. Lad that used to bale say no difference but I would of thought it would. Even couple of metres on each bale make big difference on 4 acre field

And I know balers can be adjusted etc but lm talking all other things being equal

The slower you drive the more the bale is packed, that's the case with older balers anyway. I've an rp12 and one year it broke down so I got the local contractor with a John Deere baler he wasn't driving that fast but when I fed out the bales the John Deere ones fell apart off the loader. The rp12 bales that I made myself were like bricks and couldn't be broken off the loader.

tripperman

Im getting between 12 and 13 bales an acre with my own class 354 and chopping them

Farmer Pudsey

Friend of mine went down by 4-5 bales an acre by changing contractor's. Lads with old balers and knifes not working can be very expensive If you go over 13 bales/acre there is something seriously wrong or else you are making pure sh!te. With plastic at 2.7/bale and maybe 7/bale no wilt and poor baler can take the piss..

larthehar

Maybe the OP is still working in Irish acres... 1.6 statute acres in an irish acres.. that is 13 bales/ statute ac..

Farmer Pudsey

To be fair to the OP I think he smells a rat as well. I had Hybrids/RVP.s and cut about the 20th of May it was grazed off in December it got a good wilt and I got about 9.5bales/acre. Last year I got 13/acre off land that was closed the first week in April got 4Kgallons slurry/acre and about 60 units of urea/acre. however wilt was very poor. I am baling similar the same stuff tomorrow it was cut Tuesday evening and raked up today and will be wrapped tomorrow afternoon. Maybe if land was closed last November and cut now you be getting over 16 if wilted well however quality would not be great.

Zr105

A cow called Daisy wrote: »

Question for those of you with own baler.

Does the speed at which you travel make any difference to size of bale? Would love to get contractor to make couple of bales at, say 5 or 6 kph and then bale couple of bales at, say, 12 kph. Lad that used to bale say no difference but I would of thought it would. Even couple of metres on each bale make big difference on 4 acre field

And I know balers can be adjusted etc but lm talking all other things being equal

It wont affect the size but will affect the density. By driving slower the bale will have more rotations and the layers of grass will be thinner, if you push on to hard the grass will literally go in in lumps and it wont be rolled into layers if you get me.

Also i wouldn't say Deere balers are that bad, i always had heard they were soft and made crap bales, but having seen and fed bales made by one they were pure bullets, couldn't break them apart with the loader, and they were very well chopped to.
It's the driver that makes all the difference, this guy was taking it very very handy on it but the bales said it all, there's still 80 of them in work and they are the exact shape they were when baled just off 12months ago

larthehar

Zr105 wrote: »

and they are the exact shape they were when baled just off 12months ago

Well that is the key.. if the diameter is approximately 4'6" and the bale holds it shape then there good.. if there tiny pancakes after a week then the contractor screwed ya.. still though.. 21bales/ac they must be tiny..

Zr105

larthehar wrote: »

Well that is the key.. if the diameter is approximately 4'6" and the bale holds it shape then there good.. if there tiny pancakes after a week then the contractor screwed ya.. still though.. 21bales/ac they must be tiny..

Yep spot on, however in fairness if the grass is soaking wet there's not a whole lot the baler man can do with it, it's only a baler not a magic box....



I wonder was it 21 of these bales the op got http://youtu.be/ph7UlrA6WlI

stanflt

i ted 3 times and am usually happy with 4 bales to the acre

bales last year tested 81dmd 49dm and 17cp

Greengrass1

stanflt wrote: »

i ted 3 times and am usually happy with 4 bales to the acre

bales last year tested 81dmd 49dm and 17cp

Do you now with a conditioner mower? I mowed stuff yesterday and the too was bone dry when I leaving the field. Next time I'm mowing I'm going to spread it out with boards and get friend to rake it up the next day. I'd say I'll be dry stuff after that

mf240

Cut heavy first cut last wednesday with my 8ft mower.

It wasnt grazed in spring. And got slurry and 3 bags 20-2-12.

Raked into thirtys saturday morning and baled with new fusion in afternoon.


Got 8.9 chopped bales to the acre.

Gillespy

The popular fixed chamber balers have two things in common, a means of adjusting the density and the exact same size bale chamber. The former, along with number/sharpness of knives, size/shape or row, dm, horsepower etc have more of a bearing than the make. All balers are capable of making good bales. Fusions have an unfair advantage as most are driven by massive tractors, 180hp + locally. That helps.

20silkcut

I got 11.8 / acre off second season I RG 2000 gallons of pig slurry to the acre 2 bags of nitrogen. Wilted for 4 days turned once with a haybob rowed up into 30 foot swarths with lely hibiscus baled with John Deere .

Going to try 3000 gals pig slurry and one bag of nitrogen for second cut. Had lots of lodging on first cut.

Sam Kade

I got 7 bales/acre here today from a field that wasn't fertilized and grazed last November.

exercise is the antidote

Sam Kade wrote: »

I got 7 bales/acre here today from a field that wasn't fertilized and grazed last November.

Considering it wasn't fertilised, would it have an effect on silage quality?

Anonamoose

Jaysus 21 bales to an acre is massive

tomo75

Maybe they are rushes, I could hit that number with rushes! ;-)

Anonamoose

tomo75 wrote: »

Maybe they are rushes, I could hit that number with rushes! ;-)

ha ha

Greengrass1

17 off normal grass here today and 12 off IRG in its second year

_Brian

We walked thisevening and its ~5weeks closed.
Bit disappointed with crop but it was sprayed with eagle before closing so that explains the grass growth being checked.. Another 10/14 days and then we'll roll it up and see..

Farmer Pudsey

It is sitting on the slab 11 and a 1/4 acres 134 bales. That is 12 bales/acre. 7 acres was land that was reseeded two years ago. was closed first week in April. Got 3K gallons of slurry and 60 units of nitrogen. Other was a paddock that I was going to graze got 2k of slurry at same time and as it was growing strong start of may I gave it 1 bag of 18-6-12 and about 40 units of urea. Light rain after slurry was spread.

Cut Tuesday evening with a mower conditioner, raked yesterday evening and baled this evening. Looks like it is about 40DM. The contractor baler is fairly old but in good condition so that might be giving an extra bale/acre. However he rakes it up so bales break up easy during the winter if you want to break them up.

Sam Kade

exercise is the antidote wrote: »

Considering it wasn't fertilised, would it have an effect on silage quality?

It's grassy with a bit of stem that will help the bales keep their shape shouldn't make the slightest difference on quality. I am under stocked this year so no point spending money on fertilizer.

satstheway

He's a letterkenny man.
Up here 70% of ppl talk about an acre but it is a much bigger acre. Not ur 2.4 to the hectare job.
It is very confusing even young farmers use the "big acre" as the normal acre .
Can anyone tell me how many big acres is in the. Hectare. Or the hect acre some ppl go on about.

cristeoir

Its irish acres they are talking about when they say "big acre". There is just over 1 and half statue acres in an irish or .66 of a hectare.