Hay Balers & Rakes in Kirbyville, TX

It turns cut hay and rolls it into a windrow. After you mow, hay lies flat in a mat, dry on top and damp underneath. A rake flips that mat and gathers it into a row the baler can pick up. Turning it lets the bottom dry, and the windrow lifts it off wet ground. A wheel rake does this with tined wheels that spin as they touch the ground. A rotary rake sweeps hay into a row with tine arms on a PTO-driven rotor. Vermeer builds both kinds, and Krone builds rotary rakes. Rake once the dew's off the field.

It can, if you feed your own hay and want to bale on your own schedule. A lot of buyers at our Buna store are deer hunters and cattle ranchers. When you own the baler, you bale when the hay's ready instead of waiting your turn. You also take on its upkeep and the tractor time it needs. Count your acres of hay ground and how many bales your herd eats through winter. Check what your tractor can run, too, since a baler needs PTO horsepower. If that all adds up, come compare Vermeer balers at our Buna store.

Not as well as it'll handle an even one. A round baler builds the bale from side to side as you drive. If the windrow is fat in one spot and thin in the next, the bale comes out lopsided or loose on one end. Weave a little from side to side on a narrow windrow so hay feeds both ends of the chamber. Slow down where the row gets heavy. The real fix is back at the rake, set to lay an even row the width of your pickup. On gently undulating ground like the land near Trout Creek, check that the rake floats over the dips.

Yes, with the right tools and some planning. One person can cut, rake and bale with a single tractor by hooking up each implement in turn. A bale spear on the loader or the three-point hitch moves round bales without a second pair of hands. What one person can't do is work two fields at once. So cut only what you can rake and bale before the weather turns. Keep the hitch and the PTO shaft easy to swap between tools. Ask at our Buna store about the Vermeer balers and rakes there, and how each one hooks up.

Yes. Our Buna store carries both lines, and seeing them in person beats guessing from a photo, since you'll notice things a listing doesn't show. Look at the pickup, the tines, the tires and how each machine hooks to a tractor. Don't wait for the grass to get ahead of you. Baler and rake interest picks up in late spring and summer, and the lot changes as machines sell. If you're coming down U.S. 96 to see one particular baler or rake, call the store first and ask whether it's still there. Bring your tractor's make and model, so you can check its PTO against the machine.