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| I am a custom baler and have run Gehl, Vermeer, and Deere balers. Gehl were ok but no longer made. Vermeer were good balers but dealer network is week in this area. I have had 566, 567,568, and now 569 machines. All have been good balers with very little in repairs. In my area John Deere balers are the only machine custom guys will run. A few of the others around but not in the custom market. Might just be dealer support. As far as net v string. I have not loaded string in a baler in over 5 years. String prices have gone up and net price per bale has gone down. Best I can figure is net will cost less than a dollar a bale more than string. String done right takes 45 sec to tie and net takes 6 sec, eject time is the same on both. So net will save you on 300 bales a little over 3 hours baling time but cost you $300 more. For me it no doubt that net pays. On a 200 bale day in 25 bale per hour hay it cost me an extra $200 but saves me 2 hours. I bale an extra 50 rolls in those 2 hours for an additional $750. It gets even better in good heavy hay. A roll of Deere net will wrap 200 5.5 ft bales before reloading. The baler carries an extra roll and takes 10 min to change. You can carry a years worth of wrap with you the first day of the season. String bundle will wrap about 50 bales and baler carries 3 bundles or enough for 150 bales. I would not have a baler without net but for $5000 net option it will be hard to pay for in time alone doing 300 bales a year. With that being said net will keep hay better and if you sell any it will bring more money just because it looks better. Now for the bad, I hate cutting net off the bales in the winter. It is hard to cut, hay falls off bottom of bale when cut and where to put all the net you cut off without putting in the cab. If I were in your shoes I would skip to at least a 567 for the better net system and I would bale the ones going in the barn with string for ease of feeding and bale the ones stored outside with net for weather protection. | |
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Used round balers again...
