Cob Mini Bales

[Mike Skinner]

Hi All,
     Concerning "Mini bales":
      From my research on farm type balers, the smallest bale size is 10 
high X 15 wide X whatever length. As you know, most 2 string bales are 18" 
wide. This width figure is just about cast in stone because or the 
knotting/twisting mechanism. To get a smaller width bale one would have to 
cast new pieces and the bill hook and twine fingers are made of very hard 
metal. This would require fanatic diligence and a lot of time and money. 
After this was done,
I'm not sure it would be strong enough to stand up to the demanding work. 
My statement can
be evidenced by the fact that most strings on bales are approximately 6" 
apart.
     Height on bales is determined by the curvature of the tying needles. 
This again is problematic trying to create smaller parts because the 
needles are cast iron. There would be other problems bringing the 
wire/string into the trying mechanisms.
     As I mentioned above, there was once produced a mini-baler and I've  
 reconditioned one and use it occasionally. But the reason it was 
discontinued, I hear, is that truckers didn't like hauling because it was 
necessary to put more numbers of bales on a truck to get a full load and 
this would increase the instability.  Also, from the farmers perspective, 
overhead in producing a minibale was as high as a regular bale with the 
downside of diminished productivity not compensated by market demand.
    I myself really like the minis, especially for round structures, but 
the above problems make their availability even rarer than conventional 
bales. These are some of the reasons farmers are going to even bigger 
bales-midsize and large rounds and large squares.
     Maybe someday we can come up with a system to bale the field with 
large equipment, then rebale into smaller bales as needed. Sounds simple, 
but there, again, are a lot of problems.

     Balefully,
         Mike Skinner