Misshapen, shaggy bales do not stack, travel, or sell well, so balers must be maintained and properly adjusted to consistently produce compact and uniform bales.
Because of its low cost, many hay producers prefer sisal twine for baling. But for heavier bales, as well as bales that will be handled several times, higher strength plastic twine with a knot strength of 160 pounds or greater is recommended.
For straw, plastic twine or wire is preferred over sisal twine because of the greater strength needed and because of the greater risks of mouse damage with sisal twine.
To save leaves, the ground speed of the tractor must match the ground speed of the baler pickup. The baler is traveling too slowly if the windrow is being pulled apart by the pickup; and ground speed is too fast if the pickup is pushing the hay ahead.
In very light windrows, speed may need to be increased to avoid packing all of the leaves in the bottom of the bale.
A constant ground speed and an even-sized windrow produces uniform flakes and a consistent bale length. Depending on the weight of bale desired, one to three pairs of bale chamber wedges are used for hay and two to three pairs are needed for straw.
The recommended number of flakes per bale is 14 or 15. Bales with thin flakes appear to cure out with less mold problems; and when preservatives are added, a better mix of preservatives on the hay occurs throughout the bale with smaller flakes.