8/11/2010

Idaho - A week in Caldwell with Burks Tractor!

Hi Followers,

the first week in Idaho is over now, and I had again some good Demonstrations together with our Dealer "Burks Tractor Co., Inc" - 220 Farmway Road in Caldwell. (http://www.burkstractor.com/) We baled in wheat straw and in Alfalfa hay, and we made again really nice bales.


The average bale weight in straw (harvested with a Case rotary combine) was 1050 - 1100 lbs in really dry conditions (3% moisture and less) The baler could do more - I was running only at 35 - 50% capacity) but the twine was not able to hold these strong and hard compressed bales together. Later that evening I baled again with more due, and the bale weight went up to 1150 -1200 lbs. That's nearly the same weight the 4x4 ft. competitor balers were able to make.


In the Alfalfa Hay I baled against a Hesston / MF 2170 baler, and we baled in not so high quality hay side by side with the exactly same speed. We couldn't compare the number of flakes, because the sensor at the MF baler was broken, but normally it should also be the same. We do 38 stokes per minute, and I think, the MF does the same. (Dear Hesston Specialists - correct me if I'm wrong!)
Our speed was between 5,5 and 6 mph, and we made 38 - 40 flakes per bale (8ft.)

Our weight was in average 1554 lbs and the MF weight was in average 1303 lbs.

Later we moved to another field with higher quality hay with much more leaf and smaller windrows. There I could bale 1-2 mph faster, and I did 45-50 flakes. My bale weights were between 1808 and 2035 lbs (average 1893 lbs). The slower MF baler reached bale weights between 1480 and 1565 lbs (average 1536 lbs). For our customer it was amazing to see such a heavy bale. He couldn't believe it. Now he wants to take same samples of each baler to do a nutrition test. He promised me to send me the results. Let's see, if there are any differences.

This week we had some trouble with the weather. A huge thunderstorm Monday night was the reason why we couldn't bale on Tuesday morning, and today we had also some rain in the morning. Hopefully the rest of the week becomes better again.

So far for the moment!

Niklas