He Turns Round Bales Into Square Bales

He Turns Round Bales into Square Bales HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 13-4-22 A commercial hay grower in Ontario launched a thriving new business enterprise when he hit on the idea of rebaling large round bales into conventional small square bales, according to a recent report in Hay & Forage Grower magazine. Karl Van Heyst of Emo got the idea last winter when he ran out of hay and began looking for a way to make money from the large surplus of round bales in his area, which escaped the drought last summer. Rebaling, he says, puts hay into the size bale most dairy farmers want and reduces transportation costs. Van Hey' st buys 5 and 6-ft. dia. bales and rebales them into 14 by 18-in. square bales weighing 65 to 70 lbs. each. The biggest problem is getting rid of spoiled hay on bales stored outside. One or two square bales from each round bale are usually bad. Van Heyst uses a 6-person rebaling crew: One person unrolls bales, one operates the baler, one stacks bales on a wagon pulled by the baler, one unloads bales into an elevator, and two stack them on a truck. The bale is unrolled in, a big circle using a pull-type bale feeder and the square baler follows close behind. Van Heyst told Hay & Forage Grower that hay brings far less per ton in big round bales than in small square bales. Growers who want to get top dollar for their hay, but are short on summertime labor, could make big round bales and turn them into conventional bales later. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Karl Van Heyst, Rt. 2, Emo, Ontario POW 1E0 Canada (ph 807 487-2469).

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