Hay Baler

hay baler, farm machine that packs and ties (or wraps in plastic) field-dried hay into bundles, called bales, for convenient handling, storage, and shipping. It ordinarily picks up hay that has been raked into rows (see rake)and packs and ties it into round or rectangular bales to be picked up by truck. Some modern balers include automatic stacking or loading devices. Very large bales are often stored in the field and moved with front-end loaders. Nearly all hay in the United States is baled.

Bibliography

See C. Culpin, Farm Machinery (12th ed. 1992).

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Hay Baler 

a machine for pressing hay or straw into bales or rolls and binding them with wire or twine. A distinction is made between mobile balers, called field or pick-up balers, and stationary balers, which may be motor- or horse-driven. Balers are classified according to the operating principle as chamber-type (both mobile and stationary balers) and roll-type (mobile balers).

The USSR produces trailed chamber-type pickup balers, which pick the hay up from windrows, simultaneously press it into rectangular bales and bind it automatically with wire, and drop the bales onto the field. The machine can also be used at a stationary position, in which case the hay is manually fed into the receiving chamber. The working elements of the machine are driven by a power takeoff shaft from the tractor. This type of pickup baler presses hay with moisture levels up to 25 percent into bales 80–90 cm long, 50 cm wide, and 36 cm high.

The stationary chamber-type motor baler is used to bale hay and straw ricks; the bales are bound manually with soft wire. The working elements are driven by an 18–20 kilowatt motor or a power takeoff pulley from the tractor. The baler presses the hay into bales 75–85 cm long, 45 cm wide, and 35 cm high.

The roll-type pickup baler collects a layer of hay into a roll 30–50 cm in diameter and 85 cm long. Its working elements are driven by a power takeoff shaft from the tractor.

Abroad, trailed chamber-type and roll-type pickup balers are the most common and work on similar principles.

REFERENCES

Karpenko, A. N., and A. A. Zelenev. Sel’skokhoziaistvennye mashiny, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1968.
Barsukov, A. F., and A. V. Elenev. Kratkii spravochnik po sel’skokhoziaistvennoi tekhnike. Moscow, 1968.

L. N. MUSINOV