Massey Ferguson (MF) dealer Kehoe Bros Ltd of Camolin, Co Wexford, developed a separate division within its dealership last year to focus on promoting and selling MF harvest products.

This included the demonstration of both MF’s combine harvester and big square baler line-up.

MF’s big square balers have been an instant hit for Kehoe Bros.

This baler range is in effect the Hesston product built in Kansas, USA.

Large Hesston square balers have been available in Ireland for a number of decades, available through the Fiatagri Group, in New Holland colours.

The balers are now available in MF and Fendt colours.

Kehoe Bros’ harvest division has, in two years, sold 11 large square balers to customers.

User experience

We spoke to a number of those customers in Wexford, Kilkenny and Tipperary to get an impression of the type of farming operations that use such machines.

Bales suited to horse industry

George, Gavin and Ashton Tully from Carnew, Co Wicklow, took delivery of a MF 2140TC Cutter this year to replace a Welger D4000, which they purchased four years previously. The Tullys make 6,000 bales per year between hay and straw. Approximately 1,000 of these are hay, according to Gavin. “All of our straw goes north. Transport and storage are the biggest problems we have with bales. If we can ship directly from the field, then all the better,” says Gavin. He explained that the demand up north is for square bales because you can put a greater tonnage of square bales on a lorry by comparison to round bales.

“The D4000 was as old as the hills,” Gavin Tully said. “It was basically scrap when we bought it, but we did it up and got it going. We needed something more reliable than the D4000 and, as we made just 400 round bales last year, we decided to trade the round baler for the new MF 2140TC,” he says.

“Kehoes are only a stone’s throw from us, if there are any problems.” The only downside Gavin sees with large, square bales is that they don’t have the same protection as round bales. If they are not going straight onto a lorry, they need to go into a shed to protect them.

Ashton Tully is the baler man in the family business and he explained that the 2140TC produces the same size bales as the D4000 it replaces. “The MF makes bales 800mm x 700mm and usually 2.4m long in straw and 1.8m long in hay. In hay, they are an ideal size for the horse industry,” Ashton said.

Producing hay for the horse industry is an area Ashton has already tapped into. They produced over 4,000 small or conventional square bales last year.

“We have a Welger AP730 small square baler fitted out with an additive system to guarantee the quality of the hay we produce.”

A moisture sensor in the bale chamber monitors the moisture of the hay in the chamber and in conjunction with a star wheel monitoring the speed of bale production, applies additive to the hay at an appropriate rate.

“You don’t want hay heating in someone else’s shed,” said Ashton, “So, we will always put a little on. Between 12% and 16% moisture would be the general working range up to approximately 23% in a dark corner of a field but, the higher the moisture gets, the more expensive it is to put additive on and you’re better wrapping it,” explained Ashton.

The additive kit is now in place, ready to be fitted to the new MF large square baler, so Ashton sees potential in the equine hay business.

Pack more into bales

Andrew Kavanagh and his brother, Ray, from Ballycarney, Co Wexford, took delivery of a new MF 2170XD baler last year which, according to MF, packs between 15% and 20% more material into its bales. If you can get more into a bale, then transport costs are reduced.

Much of what the Kavanaghs produce is sold, which makes it a more attractive product for everyone. “In straw, we produce 8ft x 4ft x 3ft bales weighing over half a tonne,” says Andrew.

They have baled barley, wheat, oat and OSR straw with the 2170XD. Andrew also says they have made 1,000 bales of silage with the MF, but at a shorter bale length of 6ft x 4ft x 3ft.

The 2170XD replaced an MF185, which the Kavanaghs had since 2000 and, last year, the baler made in the region of 5,500 bales. Andrew hopes to grow this figure to at least 6,000 or 7,000 bales this year across all crops.

So, with one full year’s baling done and another in progress, how has the MF 2170XD performed? “It’s capable of 90 bales per hour in the right conditions. One day last year, we made 900 bales. So, it is a good machine from a capacity perspective,” says Andrew. And the fact that these bales have between 15% and 20% weight in them also impressed him.

Square balers can often require much more care than conventional round balers. “We had no trouble whatsoever. The machine went 100%, we never had a stop,” says Andrew.

“It is also easier to use than the baler it replaced, particularly the bale density control system. It has its own hydraulic system with integrated density control, which is a lot easier to manage than our old baler while also producing a consistent bale density,” according to Andrew.

To achieve the extra density within the bale, Hesston engineers have equipped the MF 2170 XD (Xtra Density) with a huge new XD flywheel. This weighs more than half a tonne.

It is designed to create the additional inertia and maintain the momentum needed to produce the extra density during baling operations. Weighing in at 545kg and with a width of 250mm, this flywheel is both 91% heavier and more than twice the thickness of the standard version, according to MF.

The Kavanaghs drive the baler with a 2008 John Deere 7530 (approximately 200hp). Andrew says: “It takes a hell of a drive to start the baler up with the huge flywheel but, once it is going, there is no problem.”

A stronger twine is also used because the baler is packing more into the same size bale. Andrew uses Farmer’s Yellow Diamond 8300 which, he says, is a few cents dearer per bale, but is well offset by the smaller number of bales compared with a standard baler, as well as reduced transport costs.

Baling for haylage

This year, Brian and Derek McGrath of Foulkstown Feeds Ltd, Co Kilkenny, considered changing two older large square balers for one, an MF 2260TC.

The older balers were an MF186 and a New Holland 1210 but, eventually, they just traded in the MF186. The New Holland was a 1994 machine capable of producing 8ft x 4ft x 3ft bales, so there was more value in keeping it for spare capacity, according to Brian. The MF185 produced bales of a size ideal for the McGraths’ horse haylage business and was replaced by the new MF 2260TC, which produces bales of the same size.

“The 2260TC produces bales of 120cm x 700cm, which is approximately 4.5ft x 2.5ft and 8ft long in straw, 5ft 6in long in haylage. This means we can wrap two haylage bales together on our McHale 998 square bale wrapper and save a third on plastic wrap,” Brian said.

Once they are paired in the field, they are handled as pairs thereafter, speeding up the overall handling and transportation process.

The McGraths produce around 3,000 horse haylage bales for themselves (www.haylage.ie). This hay is sold to equestrian customers, either in large bales or re-processed into 20kg haylage handy packs.

The total bale tally for the year is generally in the region of 10,000 bales, including straw. A portion of this, including OSR straw, is reprocessed into 20kg handy packs. While haylage is essentially just repacked, the dust is extracted from the straw and milled down (OSR) into a more suitable bedding product.

The brothers are developing a market for chopped straw where straw is mixed in a diet feeder as part of a diet feed ration. The MF 2260TC has 24 knives in total – 16 are used for chopping straw for feeding.

“Farmers are delighted with the chopped bales because it takes too long to chop up an ordinary bale in a diet feeder. Chopped bales are easier and much faster to mix in,” says Brian.

For this service, they charge extra. Brian says: “Chopping straw takes 40hp more to drive the baler. You are down a gear and you use more fuel.”

The baler is equipped with a HayBoss preservative application tank system. This is not used on any of the haylage that is batch tested for among other things, aspergillus fungi, as part of McGraths’ haylage quality assurance scheme. Preservative is used where necessary in hay and straw baling, the latter generally where the straw may be damp on headlands.

“The most important thing when baling and selling straw is that it is good quality,” according to Brian McGrath. “The HayBoss application system monitors moisture, crop flow and we weigh each bale on the baler. The HayBoss system varies the dose as required but would not be cost effective on straw above 20% moisture,” he says.

Downtime savings with tighter bales

Willie John Lonergan from Ardfinnan, Co Tipperary, bought a new MF 2170XDTC large square baler last year.

Willie John’s MF 2170XDTC is a high-specification baler fitted with both a chopper rotor or ‘‘Cutter’’, as MF describes it, to give an extra density function. The MF 2170XDTC replaces a New Holland BB960 which, like the new MF baler, produces 8ft x 4ft x 3ft bales primarily in straw, while shorter in hay and silage.

Michael Kelly is Willie John’s ‘‘baler man’’ and has been in that role since he began working for Willie John Lonergan over five years ago. “We have the New Holland since 2003 and with wear and tear over the years, downtime had been the biggest problem with it,” said Michael.

“You don’t have time with the Irish summer for day-long breakdowns. You want to pull the baler out of the shed in the morning and have 800 or 900 bales done by the end of the day,” he added.

The baler arrived just in time for the straw last year and, when we called, had 5,500 bales on the clock. The machine bales mainly straw with an expected annual average of around 5,000 straw bales and a further 1,500 of hay, silage and even miscanthus thrown into the mix.

With both chopper and extra-density facilities, there is lots of growth potential in the new baler. “We are hoping to make even more silage and straw with the 2170,” stated Michael.

“There is a growing market for chopped and baled big square bales of straw, making it easier for farmers to mix it in feeder wagons.” The chopped silage business could be grown further as well, he feels.

In chopping straw, a full set of 19 knives is not used but Michael expects that customers will specify either 12 or seven knives, depending on the length of chopped straw needed. By the end of the summer, Michael estimates that half of the big, straw, square bales he makes with Willie John Lonergan’s baler will be chopped.

Michael says that he didn’t make any bales with the XD function switched on last year. A common theme among all those making large square bales for sale is that bales should be sold by weight, especially if putting more into bales with MF’s extra-density feature. If you are putting more straw in a bale, then you need to be paid for that extra straw.

Overall, Michael is clearly impressed by the MF 2170XDTC, especially with its lack of downtime. He is equally impressed by the service provided by Kehoe Bros, despite being two hours away.

Michael likes the simplicity of the MF baler with its simple chain drives and just a few shear-pins. If he were to change one thing, it would be that the tailgate could be closed without releasing the chamber density pressure and emptying the bales out of it. He says that this has been changed on the new series balers and he expects to modify Willie John’s baler accordingly.