Modern agriculture cannot be imagined without mechanized technology. One of the most popular machines for cleaning the field is the baler. This unit makes it possible not only to significantly reduce the time for drying and collecting hay, but also significantly reduces the complexity of the process.
What is a baler?
For agricultural work, a tractor is used, to which, depending on the functions performed, a mounted implement is attached. For harvesting, a rotary mower is used. She puts the mowed grass in a roll, which is almost ready for further technical processing. After a while, the beveled mass will dry out and the roll can be transported. At this stage, the baler enters the work. The main function of this machine is to pick up straw or hay, compress and form bales.
Types of mechanism
There are many classifications of the baler:
- In the form of hay bales: bale and roll presses. The mechanisms of the first type under the influence of the piston on the hay form rectangular bales. And roll presses form bales by twisting dry mass into a cylinder.
- By the degree of compaction of the mass: presses with low (up to 100 kg / m³), medium (100–200 kg / m³) and high (200–300 kg / m³) pressing densities.
- By the method of feeding straw into the bale chamber: presses with lateral, frontal and top feed of dry grass.
- By type of aggregation: trailed, self-propelled, mounted and semi-mounted balers.
In domestic agriculture, balers of the roll and bale types are most often used.
The working principle of the round baler
During the movement of the unit, the fingers of the baler work over the roller, which pick up the hay and feed it into the bale chamber. In this compartment, with the help of rollers and a pressing mechanism, the mass rotates. At the same time, the supply of a new portion of hay continues. During rotation, the mass is compacted.
As hay arrives, the mass density increases. When the maximum possible density of the bale is reached, a signal is received through the upper roller to a special device. When hay is fed into the bale chamber, the upper roller of the press prevents clogging of the receiving hole. After the alarm is triggered, the tractor driver turns on the winding machine. The baler stops, the roll is wrapped with twine.
After winding, the tractor driver opens the rear panel of the camera, and the roll is unloaded to the ground using the rotating lower rollers. After closing the back cover of the chamber, the press starts working again, and the process of bale formation is repeated.
To get a quality roll with good preservation, the humidity of hay or straw should be 20–23%. Also, for better bale formation, it is recommended to press in the morning or evening.
Pros and cons of the roll unit
The main advantages of a roll press are the cycle life. Compared to the bale aggregate, the hay baler is easy to use and maintain. Also, this mechanism is easier to repair.
Due to the cylindrical shape of the bale, the round press has a significant drawback - the overall briquette of hay. As a result, difficulties arise during transportation and loading and unloading. Therefore, it becomes necessary to use additional mechanisms. And such auxiliary manipulators and lifting machines are not cheap. In addition, additional resources will go to their service: materials, raw materials and human labor.
The principle of the bale press
The collection of beveled mass occurs with the help of teeth placed on the shaft compartments. Hay and straw are treated with a bale aggregate using a piston that compresses the mass with reciprocating movements in special compartments. In this case, it is possible to adjust the length of the bales.
The treated mass is packaged in rectangular blocks that are firmly bonded with twine. The bale baler allows you to form a crop assembled in several bales into one overall block. During operation, the unit can capture an area of 2 to 2.5 meters, while not obstructing the overview of the movement.
If foreign objects get into the press or if the mass accumulates excessively, all the excess goes through the pulley. This allows not only the formation of high-quality bales with the same amount of hay, but also protects the drive from damage.
The bale baler is controlled directly from the tractor cab.
Pros and Cons of the Bale Baler
The main advantage of the bale press is the ability to adjust the density of the bale. At the same time, in comparison with the roll aggregate, the formed bales are much smaller. This allows unloading bales not only mechanized way, but also manually.
Bale presses also have the best performance. So, transporting bales of a rectangular shape is much easier compared to rolls. In one body, you can place rectangular bales 1.2 times more than rolls. In addition, they are easier to store in storage. They are even used to temporarily enclose livestock. All these advantages provide high demand for baler balers. The only drawback of this unit is the high cost.
Mini tractor baler
Recently, a mini-press, which can be used in combination with a walk-behind tractor or a small tractor, is becoming increasingly popular. Due to its small size, the mini-baler is very convenient to use in small areas. Therefore, it is often used by individual farmers or in small farms.
The mini-press can also be round or bale. The main advantage of this unit is that it forms small bales weighing up to 20 kg. Therefore, compressed hay can be easily unloaded / loaded and transported. Some mini-press models have the additional function of adjusting the size of the bale or roll diameter. It is always very convenient.
Car cost
Like any other agricultural machinery, the baler is not cheap. Today on the market there is a large assortment of this equipment. Manufacturers produce presses with various technical capabilities and modifications. If you need to choose a baler, the price is not the most important criterion. At the time of purchasing the unit, you need to pay attention to the type of machine (bale or roll press), power, build quality and briquette formation, productivity, bale density, bale chamber dimensions, speed of movement, field processing width, economy of maintenance. It is equally important to choose a press of a well-known manufacturer, which produces a high-quality and reliable unit. After all, agricultural machinery should serve for a long time and have good operational capabilities. Therefore, you can often notice that for the same baler, the price for different manufacturers can vary significantly. For example, a roll unit of the Italian company Super costs 750 thousand rubles. For the same mechanism of domestic production, you need to pay about 400 thousand rubles. And the 145 baler manufactured by Ancona LLC can be bought at the plant for 375 thousand rubles. A Russian bale press costs from 450 thousand rubles.
Balers for mini tractors are a little cheaper. The average price of a Russian-made mini-press is 350 thousand rubles. A similar unit of a Chinese company costs 1.5 times cheaper.