Bale Buncher

[Does’ Leap]

I picked up a Farmhand bale buncher that I plan to drag behind my baler.  Do any of you use a buncher?  Any tips for set-up and use?

Thanks.

George

[near horse]

You mean a slip or sled?  We use one here.  IME, they handle about 6 bales at a time reliably; like most baling, I have my chute tilted up a bit; figure out how to run your trip line to trigger the latch and open the gate (we have a pair of rods w/ loops on them); I’ll post a picture of the setup if you want.

Also – a lot of guys weld another rail on the sides toincrease the height but it doesn’t change the capacity IMO – 2 high bales can barely make it out the gate.

BTW – have you seen the old buncher stackers.  They leave a pyramid of 6 bales behind.

[Does’ Leap]

Geoff:

Yes, this is a sled.  I tried posting a link to a picture of the one I have and failed.  If you could post a picture of your set-up, that would be helpful.  How big a hassle is it not being able to back up?  The chute on my baler is parallel to the ground.  Do you forse a problem?  I have never seen an old bunker / stacker.

George

 

 

[near horse]

George – I’ll try and upload a picture of the setup I used last year.  The sled I used previously was a hodge-podge unit and would occasionally not relatch after opening but the unit I have now (from a neighbor) works much better.  The 2 bale height thing I mentioned was on my previous unit — this one looks like it could maybe handle 2 bales high and still make it out the door.

I haven’t really had the need to backup except if I plugged the baler and you do have a little room (a foot or two) to back up and get out of the windrow a bit so unplugging is easier.  The only headache I can think of is missing a knot and ending up with a bunch of loose hay in with your bales but it’s not THAT big a deal.

Sometimes a bale will be dropping out as you’re turning and that one might miss the sled and even get run over but again not that common.

If you’re hand loading or even using a hay grapple, having groups of bales is a nice thing.  Especially if you load by yourself!  You can even “try” to drop your groups near each other in the field.

I’ll get a picture up later today.

[near horse]

I’ve attached a picture or two (I hope).  One shows the sled in general and the other, the baler with guides for trip rope.

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[Michel Boulay]

Cool set up. Wondering how many rows of bales does it make? Also how do you direct the bales to go left, right and middle? Is there somebody standing on or following the baler to direct the bales?

Mike

[near horse]

Mike – no stacks per se.  Bales just fall into the sled (it is bottomless) ….. but no left/right etc.  When you accumulate an adequate number (6 or 8 or ?), you pull a trip rope that releases the latch on the back gate.  The bales push the gate open and are dropped at that spot.

I do know of another guy who rode on a board in the sled and stacked/arranged bales but he said that was a pretty filthy nasty job and not all that safe either.

My baler came with a side drop chute meant to be used when baling for use with a bale wagon that picks up bales.  I just “rigged it” with a piece of scrap plywood to make it drop bales on the strings not on the end.

[Michel Boulay]

Figured pretty much how it worked. So depending on how they fall in the sled you can have between 6 and 8 then you pull the trip rope.  Check this site http://www.tubeline.ca go see the accumul8. Go in the media section and look at the video. Probably would be expensive but kind of makes me curious to how a person could figure how to make something like that.

Mike

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