# Round Baler Choices



## Hawkins2015 (Feb 22, 2021)

Hope this is in the right spot. If there aren’t many replies, maybe I’ll go over the the hay forum.

Looking to upgrade round balers at the end of this season. I currently have an old New Holland 850 chain baler. Love it, and will probably keep it as a backup baler. 

But customers have complained that the bales are not as tight or as good looking as they want. And I can’t fault them. If I was feeding my own herd, this would be my choice of a baler. Simple, cheap, and does the job.

However, since I sell 90% of my hay, I realize I need to meet customer requirements. 

With that being said, if I am going to buy another round baler, it needs to bale 5x5 and 5x6 bales per what customers want. And also have the option for net wrap. 

I have been looking, and have narrowed it down to either a John Deere or a New Holland, based on what I know of each, and local service. There are practically no other dealers/service available for any other brands in my area. 

Based on reading, seems like people tend to lean towards Deere due to the NH balers having extra parts. (Sledge rolls) looking for advise and reviews on these. 

New Hollands I would consider would be 644, 688, of that ball park. 

Deere balers look like the 535 and 566 are my best options. Also looking for real world experience from people who have run both. Pros and cons. 

Looking to stay at or lower than 10k.

What say ye?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Hawkins2015 said:


> Hope this is in the right spot. If there aren’t many replies, maybe I’ll go over the the hay forum.
> 
> Looking to upgrade round balers at the end of this season. I currently have an old New Holland 850 chain baler. Love it, and will probably keep it as a backup baler.
> 
> ...


So, where is your neck of the woods? There might be another brand nearby that isn't on the beaten path.


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## BinVa (Sep 21, 2020)

Personally if going with JD I wouldn't go back before the 566. You get a better monitor system(bale trak)w/ all in-cab adjustments for bale size, # of wraps, twine spacing, twine/net. I prefer a mega wide pickup to keep ends filled w/o excessive weaving in row. The JD567 baler had most of the kinks worked out of the net feed issue found on some 566's. Bale trac also shows cumulative number of bales made..so takes the guess work out of how many rolls out of the lifetime of a used baler. I have a JD566 w/14k bales and have recently replaced chains and sprockets, belts about 1/3 remaining, most bearings replaced once, as a reference. B


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## Tx Jim (Jul 28, 2020)

I agree with BinV. JD rd balers X66 & later models are very good. My 1st 467 twine only was traded with 30,000 bales on monitor for another 467 so I could have option of netwrap. This present baler has nearly 29,000 bales on monitor. I've replaced very few brgs on my rd balers for my balers high. bale count. I thought JD netwrap feed problems was on the X35 models not the X66 models

Besides JD rd balers having no sledge roller or sledge gears to contend with JD netwrap attachment has no duckbill to contend with either.


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## Hawkins2015 (Feb 22, 2021)

Good points.

So another question. I’ve ran a JD 530, and assume a 535 is the same way but maybe not. The 530 we run without a monitor, just because the hydraulic pressure sensors don’t work like they should.

Do the 566 and newer balers require the monitor to function? I’m assuming yes for the tying.


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## Tx Jim (Jul 28, 2020)

Yes 535 can be operated similar to 530 without the aid of a bale monitor.
The reason X66 & newer JD balers require monitor to bale is because wrapping of twine or netwrap is controlled by monitor VS hyd powered twine or net application on older models. Yes 530 & 535 are very similar with later model having twin vs single tying arms. 535 also has bale push-bar option which wasn't offered on X30 balers


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## BinVa (Sep 21, 2020)

You can manually wrap with an inline switch in the pigtail, in case of monitor failure. Other than that, since all adjustments are made at the monitor, you cannot make any changes to what the stored program is. B.


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## Tx Jim (Jul 28, 2020)

BinVa said:


> You can manually wrap with an inline switch in the pigtail, in case of monitor failure. Other than that, since all adjustments are made at the monitor, you cannot make any changes to what the stored program is. B.


One can only wrap twine with manual rocker switch but not netwrap.


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## BinVa (Sep 21, 2020)

That's correct. Thank you for clarifying. You could continue to bale(with twine) if necessary but you only have the bale size indicator on the baler to go by. Due to the belt spacing...very little can be seen for bale shape.


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