Required horsepower to make a good chopped round bale

divillybit

Hi everyone,

We've a JD 578 round baler and a Valtra N111 tractor which gets regularly serviced and is rated at around 115 hp. We make all our own bales, but we find the Valtra really struggles to chop the bales, even with half the knives down. The knives are good and sharp. Realistically, would you need to have a 130 horsepower tractor to make a well packed well chopped round bale. Its a mixture of old permanent pasture meadow and reseeded ground we'd make the bales off.

So we're looking to upgrade an older tractor we have and looking to buy a mid '90 tractor or earlier tractor that would be fit to make right good well chopped bale. Budget for it would be under 15 grand though. Any suggestions what tractor would fit the bill? We've purchased a hutler round bale unroller and with that the cattle are pulling alot of silage into the slats so we'll have alot of fun with the agitator blocking come the spring. So the better chopped bale would be required with using the bale feeder.

Any opinions appreciated.

lakill Farm

Old contractor get me had a 8050 driving a Mchale baler 550 & 5500

New lad drives a 5500 with either a 6920 deere or a same 150 -7 iron. He is contracting and makes a serious packed and chopped bale.

Also know lads driving balers with 100hp. Maybe slow up a little and let it chop

divillybit wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We've a JD 578 round baler and a Valtra N111 tractor which gets regularly serviced and is rated at around 115 hp. We make all our own bales, but we find the Valtra really struggles to chop the bales, even with half the knives down. The knives are good and sharp. Realistically, would you need to have a 130 horsepower tractor to make a well packed well chopped round bale. Its a mixture of old permanent pasture meadow and reseeded ground we'd make the bales off.

So we're looking to upgrade an older tractor we have and looking to buy a mid '90 tractor or earlier tractor that would be fit to make right good well chopped bale. Budget for it would be under 15 grand though. Any suggestions what tractor would fit the bill? We've purchased a hutler round bale unroller and with that the cattle are pulling alot of silage into the slats so we'll have alot of fun with the agitator blocking come the spring. So the better chopped bale would be required with using the bale feeder.

Any opinions appreciated.

White Clover

I would have made a good few thousand bales with jd 575 and 578 balers back in the day. 6620 deere @ 125hp and 6610 deere @ 115hp drove them easily. I would advise to get the baler serviced and set up as per manufacturers recommendations. As you say the tractor is fully serviced.
An awful lot of balers are poorly set up with incorrect drawbar settings, bale density etc.
A properly set up 578 should be no bother to your valtra.

divillybit

The baker itself is well serviced, with new chains last year and wouldnt be making more than 500 bales a year. We'd not be going fast through the rows either. I think you really need a 6 cylinder tractor to run the baker which will have the extra bit of power. The Valtra just seems to be dying in the last 30 seconds or so before the bale is formed fully.
We got a contractor in to make about 30 bales a few years ago. He had a tm 155 and new welger baker I think but you would know which the contractor made bales easily when the bales were opened the following winter as they were so well chopped compared to our own JD 578 made bales

IH784man

divillybit wrote: »

The baker itself is well serviced, with new chains last year and wouldnt be making more than 500 bales a year. We'd not be going fast through the rows either. I think you really need a 6 cylinder tractor to run the baker which will have the extra bit of power. The Valtra just seems to be dying in the last 30 seconds or so before the bale is formed fully.
We got a contractor in to make about 30 bales a few years ago. He had a tm 155 and new welger baker I think but you would know which the contractor made bales easily when the bales were opened the following winter as they were so well chopped compared to our own JD 578 made bales

We have 105hp tractor on mchale f5500,like yours you'd know when the bale is coming but it still makes good bales,going a bit faster in the rows might help

tomwaterford

Tune up your tractor for more power?


If possible?? (Also Get done professionally)

divillybit

Yeah good suggestion. I'll chat to our Valtra dealer about that when we're getting it serviced

Wessel3

150 seesm to be the norm, remember with hp is roughly related to overall bulk of machine an a smaller machine on a hill with the wetter mchales in them has a greater risk for instability

maidhc

I have a NH TS115 with a Deere 575. I find it has plenty of power and I feel that if I went any further than I do it is the baler that would let go. Bales are good, hard and well shaped.