Hay Balers & Rakes in Centerville, TX

Start with the kind of hay you're putting up and how you'll move and feed it. Look at bale size first, since that decides what your loader or bale spear has to carry. Then look at how the baler ties off each bale. Twine or net wrap? Net wrap sheds weather better once bales sit out in the field. Think about storage too, whether that's a barn or a fence row. Vermeer and Krone both build round balers, and our Normangee store carries both lines. Browse our implements on j5tractors.com, or come by and see them in person before you decide.

A round baler rolls hay into a cylinder, wrapped in net or twine, that sheds rain once it's sitting in the field. Other baler styles pack hay into rectangular bales instead. Not sure which to pick? Square bales stack differently than round ones and usually need different handling equipment to move. Round bales hold up fine sitting out in the field, and a single bale spear moves them. That matters once you're past first cutting and into second cutting, with more hay to move at once. Think about how you'll feed it out, then come look.

A rake comes in after cutting and before baling. Raking pulls cut hay into a windrow, drying it out and gathering enough volume for the baler to pick up in one pass. Without that step, a baler either runs over scattered hay it can't gather cleanly or has to make several light passes over the same ground. Rake it once it's dried enough on top but still has some give left, so it doesn't shatter and lose leaf. The baler then follows the windrow and rolls each bale as it goes. Match the rake's width to what your baler's pickup can take in.

Walk the field first. Spotting the worst ruts and low spots ahead of first cutting helps more than anything else you can do. A rake's tines and wheels follow the ground, but deep ruts still leave hay behind. A baler's pickup gathers hay off ground that isn't flat, too. Uneven ground still affects how clean a windrow comes together and how evenly a baler picks it up. Fill the worst ruts with a box blade in the off season if you can. Go slower over rough stretches. You'll save your pickup teeth some wear.

Moisture is the biggest one. Hay that's too wet clumps and drags instead of rolling into a clean windrow, and hay that's too dry loses leaf and shatters under the tines. Ground cover matters too. Thick grass or heavy stubble can bunch up ahead of the rake instead of feeding through evenly. Ruts and low spots can make a windrow bunch unevenly, which gives the baler an uneven bale to work with. Field shape plays a role too, since tighter turns mean more overlap and more passes than a long, open field. None of this counts against rough pasture ground. It's just part of planning the day you rake.