Contractor - not chopping bales

onyerbikepat

Opened another bale this morning and the bloody thing wasnt chopped. I clearly remember saying it to the contractor to make sure he chops them. It's like a lucky dip at this stage, some chopped, some not. The last 2 werent and I'd say about 1/5 are not.
He has a Mchale fusion - does anyone know how this works with regard to chopping. The outer couple of inches do seem not to be chopped on all bales. I take it this is to hold the bale together better. Does this happen automatically or does the contractor do it manually and maybe then forget to let down the knives for the next bale.
I mentioned this to a neighbour, who also uses him and he said it's the same with his bales - a lot not chopped. Good bales and service from the contractor in fairness, except for this one point.

Limestone Cowboy

onyerbikepat wrote: »

Opened another bale this morning and the bloody thing wasnt chopped. I clearly remember saying it to the contractor to make sure he chops them. It's like a lucky dip at this stage, some chopped, some not. The last 2 werent and I'd say about 1/5 are not.
He has a Mchale fusion - does anyone know how this works with regard to chopping. The outer couple of inches do seem not to be chopped on all bales. I take it this is to hold the bale together better. Does this happen automatically or does the contractor do it manually and maybe then forget to let down the knives for the next bale.
I mentioned this to a neighbour, who also uses him and he said it's the same with his bales - a lot not chopped. Good bales and service from the contractor in fairness, except for this one point.

He could have a few knives taken out, need less power to drive it and would speed up baling a bit. The outer few inches shouldn't make a difference when it's being wrapped straight away. The contractor I used to work with had a habit of not chopping bales for lads if he had a lot on the same day because he could bale a lot faster. Needless to say it came back to bite him in the ass in a few cases.

royaler83

Out of curiosity why do you want them chopped, what difference does it make?

C0N0R

I know the contractor we use once baled for two lads one day and for whatever reason the bales weren't chopped. The minute they told them when went and bought a bale slice for each of them.

poor farmer

royaler83 wrote: »

Out of curiosity why do you want them chopped, what difference does it make?

less bales per acre when chopped and cattle will pull less in onto the slatts when chopped.

tomwaterford

royaler83 wrote: »

Out of curiosity why do you want them chopped, what difference does it make?

Less wastage surly??

Easier spronged etc

onyerbikepat

royaler83 wrote: »

Out of curiosity why do you want them chopped, what difference does it make?

There is more in a chopped bale, so it costs less to bale. Cattle waste less of it too. I'm feeding in round feeders.

coolshannagh28

Easier forked , got rid of my last contractor because of this and his replacement is getting his cards as well

Bullocks

C0N0R wrote: »

I know the contractor we use once baled for two lads one day and for whatever reason the bales weren't chopped. The minute they told them when went and bought a bale slice for each of them.

Jaysus that was generous , couldn't fault a lad like that .

Reggie.

Bullocks wrote: »

Jaysus that was generous , couldn't fault a lad like that .

Not too many of them around

Count Mondego

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

He could have a few knives taken out, need less power to drive it and would speed up baling a bit. The outer few inches shouldn't make a difference when it's being wrapped straight away. The contractor I used to work with had a habit of not chopping bales for lads if he had a lot on the same day because he could bale a lot faster. Needless to say it came back to bite him in the ass in a few cases.

Is it an extra 1 or 2 euro for the chop? Some joke if the fu@kers charge and don't do it.

simx

i know one contractor we got here a couple of times never bothered chopping bales unless you made sure and told him every time, didnt over pack them either, second the light came on on the control box he leaped up on brakes, the lad we have now has a fusion, which makes serious bales i must say, generally doesnt mess around too much and isnt the dearest either(6e/bale for raking, baling and wrapping) wont be changing anytime soon

dodo mommy

same thing happened me one year I told the contractor if it happened again he would be getting his marching orders, it hasn't happened since. and he knocked a good few quid the following year.

frazzledhome

Reggie. wrote: »

Not too many of them around

Easy know why, they are broke

Reggie.

simx wrote: »

i know one contractor we got here a couple of times never bothered chopping bales unless you made sure and told him every time, didnt over pack them either, second the light came on on the control box he leaped up on brakes, the lad we have now has a fusion, which makes serious bales i must say, generally doesnt mess around too much and isnt the dearest either(6e/bale for raking, baling and wrapping) wont be changing anytime soon

That's a great price for all that

Bullocks

frazzledhome wrote: »

Easy know why, they are broke

I could understand if he took them back when the bales were ate and sold them on . He wouldn't lose too much and would really boost his reputation .
I was going to suggest on the other thread where you said the man feeding your heifers didn't like using bales that you buy him a bale shear and maybe it would persuade him to give them a go

C0N0R

Bullocks wrote: »

I could understand if he took them back when the bales were ate and sold them on . He wouldn't lose too much and would really boost his reputation .
I was going to suggest on the other thread where you said the man feeding your heifers didn't like using bales that you buy him a bale shear and maybe it would persuade him to give them a go

Sorry I meant he bought them for them for the winter just. One of the guys ended up buying it off him anyway.

ganmo

royaler83 wrote: »

Out of curiosity why do you want them chopped, what difference does it make?

Think it's ment to help the preservation

simx

Reggie. wrote: »

That's a great price for all that

yeah ive heard 7.50/8e per bale for the same work, he does a serious amount of baling though

frazzledhome

Bullocks wrote: »

I could understand if he took them back when the bales were ate and sold them on . He wouldn't lose too much and would really boost his reputation .
I was going to suggest on the other thread where you said the man feeding your heifers didn't like using bales that you buy him a bale shear and maybe it would persuade him to give them a go

He'd break bell metal. I wouldn't let him near any of my gear. Made ****e of my Tedder in middle of field. My 9yo is more careful

Reggie.

frazzledhome wrote: »

He'd break bell metal. I wouldn't let him near any of my gear. Made ****e of my Tedder in middle of field. My 9yo is more careful

That was the pin if I remember

pajero12

Have seen the outer 2 removed on either side of the rotor, Helps keep the bale square.

Base price

pajero12 wrote: »

Have seen the outer 2 removed on either side of the rotor, Helps keep the bale square.

Helps keep the bales round

Reggie.

pajero12 wrote: »

Have seen the outer 2 removed on either side of the rotor, Helps keep the bale square.

The outer what removed

ganmo

Reggie. wrote: »

The outer what removed

outside knives I'm guessing

Reggie.

ganmo wrote: »

outside knives I'm guessing

Doh!!!

agriman27

Any man that does baling will tell you that the type of grass being baled has a major influence on how well a bale will be chopped. Last summer my first cut got very dry and it was wirey rough kinda grass ,even though it was cut spot on the cutting date. The baler couldn't be blamed either because it was a brand new fusion 3 baler, the knives were sharp and the contractor is a genuine fella, he told me he couldn't chop it, he showed me the knives and they were red hot

onyerbikepat

Ya, but I'm talking about bales all baled on the same day. Some well chopped, some no chopping at all.

annubis

onyerbikepat wrote: »

Ya, but I'm talking about bales all baled on the same day. Some well chopped, some no chopping at all.

what type of baler was it, if its a welger and he got blocked a few times he might have dropped the floor,this would have pulled the knives back in and he might have forgotten to push them back out again for a bit, its easy to forget them in fairness

oops just reading back thru this i see it was a fusion, perhaps they are the same setup as welger now not sure

Milton09

onyerbikepat wrote: »

Does this happen automatically or does the contractor do it manually and maybe then forget to let down the knives for the next bale.
.

I know on my baler (Taarup Bio) you can do it both ways. There is an option to automatically drop the knives when the bale is 90% full or it can be set to manual control where the operator can decide if or when to drop the knives.

We once got a contractor in to bale with a fusion and we had a similar experience with the chopping, some chopped- some not .