Lesson 27. Operation and safe working of balers

A baler is machinery used to compress the cut and raked hay or straw or silage into bales. The advantages of bales are due to its compactness; easy to handle, transport and store.  There are three types of balers are used in common.  They are square balers, large square balers and round balers.

Square balers are used to compress straw or hay into square compressed bales.  The square shape is easy to handle and safe compare to round balers.  These are used in small scale operations.

Large square balers basic operation is same as that of square operations other than handling of larger quantity.  Hence, it has higher compression capacity and safe wrapping and tying option.  Normally the capacity is 20 to 40 times higher than the small scale square balers.

Round bales are effective for large scale operations with minimal cost.

The balers involve typical hazards and risks during operation.  Hence suitable precautions have to be made while operating large balers in fields.  The following points are to be considered for safe operation of the balers.

1. The basic modes of operation of balers are : loading, compression and ejection

2. Operate the balers after thorough understanding of the operation and safety measures

3. Only trained persons should operate the system

4. Always follow the safety instructions

5. Keep away from the path of ejection of bales from the balers

6. Ensure safe bale ejection by following proper instructions of the supplier

7. Beware of moving components of the balers while working

8. Always keep the safety guards in place

9. Required fire preventive measures are to be carried out

10. Use proper hydraulic pressures as suggested by the manufacturer

11. Use the baler for specified materials only as directed by the manufacturer

12. Don’t over load the baler than the specified capacity

13. Using safety glasses and hand gloves are to be followed during the operation of balers.

14. Check the baling wires for damage and do not use damaged wires

15. Mismatching of baler capacity and quantity of hay/straw or windrow may lead to blockage or improper operation of balers.  Hence, care should be taken to select a suitable baler in the selected field.

16. Baling material should be of specified moisture content.  Higher the moisture in the materials will cause series problems during baling such as poor core formation, blockage etc.

17. Baling lighter materials during windy condition may be avoided to prevent poor core formation and blockage.

18. Informative manual with relevant information on clearing blockages, rethreading, dealing with poor core forming etc. to facilitate the operation at difficult conditions

19. During ejection of bales specifically round bales the landing area may be selected as flat and without any slope.

20. Do not stop a rolling bale as it weighs about 500 kg and rolling gives momentum to the bales.  This may lead to accidents to the machinery or person.

21. Inspect all belts or chains for of wear or breakage to avoid blockages and heat build up

22. While checking or repairing the balers stop the baler by putting down the power or disengage with the PTO of tractor.  Make sure that there is no moving part is in operation before performing the baler repair.  

23. Operate the baler at a safer speed

24. Do not attempt to feed the material into the baler manually either by hand or feet

25. Remove excessive grease or accumulated crop parts on moving parts

Last modified: Wednesday, 9 April 2014, 5:01 AM