Hay is baled

I got all my hay baled this afternoon.  I got it all done about a half hour before Donna and I went to the Montana Shakespeare in the Park play.

I think I got the bale diameter sensor adjusted the way I want it.  It took a few attempts.  I want the bale diameter to be 5 ft (60 inches).   I got it to be 59 inches.  Close enough. Sometimes the diameter would be 58 inches or 60 inches.   What I learned is the bale diameter is not always identical on each end.  It can be off by and inch or two as more hay was fed in one side over the other.  If I set the sensor to be 60 inches sometimes the oversized sensor would go off as part of the bale may be 61 inches.  That happened a few times, but as the bale was only slightly oversized, the netwrap still worked and wrapped the bale.  Still, I didn't want to risk having an oversized bale and the netwrap not working so that is why I set the diameter sensor to be 59 inches.

Otherwise things went well.  Unlike the past so many years when I had a tractor problem, or a haybine problem, or a rake problem, or a baler problem.  No problems or breakdowns this time.  Things mostly went smooth.

I was worried initially as this is the most blooms I ever had on my alfalfa when cutting.  But I think this is the best hay I ever had.  The hay dried.  But it still has a green tinge and not a yellow or brown tinge due to dryness.  Many times the hay is dry enough that the baling action can breaks parts of it and I get chaff to clean out of the baler every so often.  Not much chaff this time.

I planned to let the bales sit for a few days before stacking them.  In case they are not completely dry as the drying action in a bale can start into a fire when a lot of bales are stacked on each other and the heat gets too hot.

I had a handful of instances where a small part of the netwrap snagged on one of the baler's belt.  I had to remove it from the belt.

This was the worse case of a snagged netwrap.

Most times the snag as at the end of the bale.  Once in a while the snag was in the middle of the bale.

I also had two instances of where the netwrap would not stop on its own and I had to stop the netwrapping.

What my netwrapped bales should look like.   Also, you can see how sometimes one side of the bale is larger than the other side.

I ended up with 52 bales.  Plus this left-over amount.   This is the most bales I ever got from a second hay cutting.  And especially since the bale diameters are now 59 inches instead 54 inches.   Fertilizing my field worked.  Plus the first hay cutting was two to three weeks earlier than normal.

My baled field.