Bought a small square baler last week

Bruce from Can. · Aug 30, 2016

I know you all must think I have gone crazy , but yes , I bought a small square baler. Not because I am nostalgic for the past. I have a calf barn that needs about three layers of straw on the floor upstairs to keep the down stairs area with the calves warm in the wintertime. Bought this old New Holland 269 , for $350.00. Had to make a extension on the slide shoot to reach the wagon. My son loaded , while I baled. Put on two loads , 150 bales each load, never missed a bale. Just got the two loaded wagons in the shed and the sky opened up in a down pour. Raining heavy now. These pictures look like they could have been taken any time in the last 40 years . Bruce

Adirondack case guy · Aug 30, 2016

Well Bruce,
I don't think you could buy enough fiberglass or blown in, insulation to compare to 3 layers of straw. there has been a couple of local families here that have built straw framed homes, several years back. They used wood framing packed with straw bales and then used shot crete, like for inground pools to encase the frame work and straw. They sort of look like SW adoby homes.
The straw will keep the barn cats occupied all winter chaseing mice. HeHe.
Loren

waynesteuck · Aug 30, 2016

Bruce , thats is the way I Spent summers in cent wis in the late 50s and early 60s!, only diff was uncle had A M pulling it , got lucky in 1966 and get drafted !!
Wayne

Tom in TN · Aug 30, 2016

Bruce,

Looks like a great deal all the way around. $350.00 for a baler would be a real steal in my area. Parts balers go for more than that. A functioning baler can't be had for less than $1,000 - $1,250.

And the best part of all is having your son work with you. You're a blessed man.

Tom in TN

Gambles · Aug 30, 2016

True story: When I was a young kid, my dad bought a brand new NH 269. Not sure of the year but it was probably in the late 60s-early 70s. After it had been purchased, the salesman told my dad that he would get a free TV set because he purchased this baler. My dad just laughed at him, but about two months later, the salesman shows up on our place with about a 12-inch GE tube TV. We already had a 25" Curtis Mathes color console TV in our house (completely round picture tube, solid wood cabinet, THREE speakers, lol!), so dad put the little 12" tube TV in our shop. During the winter on Saturday mornings my brother and I were allowed to watch Scooby Doo in the tool shed, while we worked, of course. We thought we had it made.
As for the baler, we put put quite a few hundred thousand bales through it. Our dairy cows were always hungry and we had lots of alfalfa that we always had to bale. I first learned how to bale with that thing being pulled behind a John Deere G during the summer between my kindergarten and 1st grade year. Today it would be called child abuse, but it's what we had to do to keep food on the table. My dad has passed, but mom still has that baler parked in the weeds. It was very dependable.

Bruce from Can. · Aug 30, 2016

Loren , I have heard of homes built with straw bales and covered with gunnite like what is used to repair old tower silo walls. Makes me think big square bales would work better than small squares , either way novel idea .

notjustair · Aug 30, 2016

Kind of odd, but I love squares. I like baling them and feeding them, too. I feel like I'm better connected with the herd. I mostly bale alfalfa to use as a protien boost for winter mamas, but back in the day that's all we did for 100 head.

rrlund · Aug 30, 2016

I haven't owned one of those things since 1981. Even then,I think I baled two loads of straw that year and that was it. I traded my New Holland 275 with a thrower and a two year old 5x6 round baler in on a new 4x5.

Bruce from Can. · Aug 30, 2016

2011 was the last year that we made all of our straw 4500 bales , and all of our second cut dry hay 3000 bales in small squares . Used my old IH 47 with a thrower . Sold the wagons , and the 47 is really worn out. Not going to go back to doing that many bales again , just a few straw, and might bale some grass hay for the local horse market.Horse folks just love to pay way more than hay is worth , if they can get it in small squares , lol.

gene bender · Aug 30, 2016

Nice to see someone who knows how to make a windrow for a small baler like that

Gordy in MN · Aug 30, 2016

Wish I was closer, at 71 I would love to ride the wagon. That was the best job and I sure do miss it. Thanks for the pictures. Gordy

Adirondack case guy · Aug 30, 2016

Bruce,
We used to go on an anual fishing trip up to regions north of Manawakie,-- Lac Nattawissie.
there used to be a lot of barns and farm houses in the Saint-Ann-Dulac area made from stacked wood blocks laid into mortar. I always thought that was an interesting building concept.
Please excuse my spelling of these places.
Loren

showcrop · Aug 30, 2016

In my earlier years I would sometimes pass someone in a field by the road baling hay, and couldn't keep from stopping to help. I loved throwing hay bales.

Bill VA · Aug 30, 2016

Wow! $350 and baled great right out of the gate. 269 has longer tongue and 3 joint PTO?

What model J.I. Case are you running?

That's some quality/quantity time with your boy. He will remember it for a long time.

centash · Aug 30, 2016

Nice pictures, Bruce. Those were a darn good baler, sold mine 6 or 7 years ago, just couldn't get help anymore. When we were teenagers, my brother and I baled the whole summer for neighbour's who just bought 700 acres next to us, a lot of it hay ground. Must have baled 30,000 bales of hay and straw, all behind a 97 MF.Ben

Bruce from Can. · Aug 30, 2016

The tractor is a 1030 Comfort King , and my son, Karl , is 29 and farms full time with me, we milk cows.

Traditional Farmer · Aug 30, 2016

You did good I just saw a 269 sell Saturday for $700.I paid $200 for an Oliver 62-T hope it'll bale like your NH.

J. Schwiebert · Aug 30, 2016

Bruce: There are more small square balers around here than round balers, in fact there are more large square balers than round balers in this county.

SrPhatness · Aug 30, 2016

NIK OWEN · Aug 30, 2016

"CURTIS-MATHES, THE MOST EXPENSIVE TELEVISION SET IN america, & darn well worth it"...

Donald Lehman · Aug 31, 2016

Pop bought a 269 about 1967 or so. Used it for 20 years or more baling 8-10 thousand bales a year. Ours had a bale thrower on it. This one looks to be in pretty good shape for as old as it is.

W_B · Aug 31, 2016

That first pic could be me on the wagon behind Dad on our New Holland baler and an AC WD. Used to dress just like that for hay making, hat and all. Brought back some good memories. Thanks.

Sadly the small squares are going away and getting harder to find. My guy is still doing them and putting them in my loft (we get about (1,100 to 1,400) a year. When he quits we'll likely have to switch to big rounds and totally change the way we feed hay. Now I can break the bale up there and drop through a slot into hay boxes.

INCase · Aug 31, 2016

my dad tells stories about driving tractor when he was pre-1st grade (no kindergarten in the 40's).

He says he was so little/light weight, to start the F-30 he had to throw himself on the crank. he said he was lucky it never backfired on him.

I guess he used to also ride on the horse drawn ground drive mowing machine behind the F-30 while grandpa was driving i presume to lift the cutter bar. one time i guess the mower wheel hit a rock and threw dad up on the tractor rear tire. not sure how far around he went before grandpa got the tractor stopped. obviously it was in time.

I should right a book about everything he's told me. still try to pick his brain when i can. have a lot written down but my book has come up missing lately.

WI Dan · Aug 31, 2016

A great experience when it's not a full-time job. Dad has a 268. Those are your two "new" rack wagons, eh?

Bought a small square baler last week

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