By the way, sir, I'm curious about something.
Why would hay from drier western areas be baled in bales larger than hay from colder northeastern areas?
I mean, hay is hay.
There's probably an eminently reasonable reason for it, but I dunno what it is.
To answer the other post first,if it was made in an old stationary hay press rather then a pickup baler then they may have been larger.
Those required wooden blocks to be inserted to seperate the bales and there was not knotter or wire twister to tie them.
A man on each side of the bale chamber inserted wires through grooves in the blocks,the wires that had a loop on one end and a hook on the other.
These were joined and as the bale case narrowed to make the bale denser were tightened.
Pick up balers that came along in the 50s had a tying system that is rather complicated and a real horror to use when they wear out.
Twine disks and a bill hook to hold and then make a knot as needles fed the twine up through.
The thing about dry land farming is a mystery to us here in the northeast.
We have to spread the hay out once to several times with a machine called a hay tedder to get it dried down enough to rake and bale and keep.
Out in more arid areas they actually wait until evening falls and a dew sets in before baling so as not to have all the leaves fall off through the process as it is that dry.
Not having to do anything more then mow it in a windrow and bale it a few days later will leave it as green and nutritious as it was standing so is perfect for commercial hay growing.
That dictates the need for larger and denser bales and has led to the large square balers we have today.
They make a several hundred pound bale that you can build a house out of.
