Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Large bales come in two types: round and square. Large square bales, which can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb), can be stacked and easily transported on trucks. Large round bales, which typically weigh 300 to 400 kilograms (660–880 lb), are more moisture-resistant and pack the hay more densely (especially at the center). Round bales ...
Farmers were saved from the backbreaking chore of slinging hay bales in the 1960s, when Iowa State agricultural engineering professor Wesley Buchele and a group of student researchers invented a baler that produced large, round bales that could be moved by tractor. The baler has become the predominant forage-handling machine in the United ...
Cattle ranches use large round bales, typically 1.4 to 1.8 m (4 + 1 ⁄ 2 to 6 ft) in diameter and weighing from 500 to 1,000 kg (1,100 to 2,200 lb). These bales can be placed in stable stacks or in large feeders for herds of horses or unrolled on the ground for large herds of cattle. [ 5 ]
Portable Pow-R Drive, a self-propelled irrigation system, hay conditioner and cutter are introduced in the 1950s. Vermeer invents the first machine to dig, transport and replace large trees in the 1960s. The first larger round hay baler was invented by Gary Vermeer in 1971. Allis Chalmers first introduced the small round rotobaler in 1947.
For example, a yellow straw bale (made by the traditional square baler that was most common in the 1950s through the 1980s) might weigh between 50 and 60 pounds. The same sized alfalfa hay bale could weigh nearly twice as much. Of course, the preparation of the hay is extremely important as well.
Several different types of balers are commonly used, each producing a different type of bales – rectangular or cylindrical (round), of various sizes, bound with twine, netting, or wire. The round hay baler was invented by Ummo F. Luebben of Sutton, Nebraska, which he conceived with his brother Melchior in 1903, and then patented in 1910.
Straw-bale construction was greatly facilitated by the mechanical hay baler, which was invented in the 1850s and was widespread by the 1890s. [9] It proved particularly useful in the Nebraska Sandhills. Pioneers seeking land under the 1862 Homestead Act and the 1904 Kinkaid Act found a dearth of trees over much of Nebraska.
Another factor was that the concurrent availability of hay balers condensed hay by a factor of eight so that the hay that was still required could be stored in much less space. By the 1960s, large round hay bales were covered and stored on the ground, so even dairy farmers that still relied on hay did not need indoor storage space. [8]