Nice video, Your video really brought back a lot of good memories because I grew up around New Holland balers. That self-driven/self powered NH baler was so cool. I never knew one like that existed before I watched your video, but it only makes sense because back in the day it seems like all the farm implement companies back then had a self-driven version of something. (Which I thought had a cool factor of 11)
We started with an auction JD 14T(?) to bale 100-ish acres of wheat/rye/oat straw. Got a couple years out of it before it jumped timing & the plunger snapped both needles. Replaced the needles but never could get it to tie more than 2-3 in a row after that. Dad added about 70 acres of hay into the mix, so he got a new Ford 542. Although, I'm not sure now whether the new baler was the catalyst for doing hay, or vice versa. After 30k+ bales, it too had knotter issues that we just couldn't conquer. Dad priced out new knotters & decided a new Ford 532 wasn't that much more. Dad sold that one after he retired from farming.
We had really good luck with our 542, I figure we’ve ran at least 300000 bales through it since we got it, we rebuilt the knotters around 15 years ago, broke a needle 5 years ago and just got it welded back together but it’s not tying very well on that side, I can’t see spending around $500 for a new needle, I guess it will retire and do parades from now on
Seems like around 8 years ago they remodeled it, I think they put apartments upstairs and there’s a coffee shop, brewery and restaurant downstairs, really nice place now
Nice video, Your video really brought back a lot of good memories because I grew up around New Holland balers. That self-driven/self powered NH baler was so cool. I never knew one like that existed before I watched your video, but it only makes sense because back in the day it seems like all the farm implement companies back then had a self-driven version of something. (Which I thought had a cool factor of 11)
We started with an auction JD 14T(?) to bale 100-ish acres of wheat/rye/oat straw. Got a couple years out of it before it jumped timing & the plunger snapped both needles. Replaced the needles but never could get it to tie more than 2-3 in a row after that. Dad added about 70 acres of hay into the mix, so he got a new Ford 542. Although, I'm not sure now whether the new baler was the catalyst for doing hay, or vice versa. After 30k+ bales, it too had knotter issues that we just couldn't conquer. Dad priced out new knotters & decided a new Ford 532 wasn't that much more. Dad sold that one after he retired from farming.
We had really good luck with our 542, I figure we’ve ran at least 300000 bales through it since we got it, we rebuilt the knotters around 15 years ago, broke a needle 5 years ago and just got it welded back together but it’s not tying very well on that side, I can’t see spending around $500 for a new needle, I guess it will retire and do parades from now on
Awesome bit of history. I have been through Medina several times . And noticed the elevator. When did it close?
Seems like around 8 years ago they remodeled it, I think they put apartments upstairs and there’s a coffee shop, brewery and restaurant downstairs, really nice place now
Just watched several of your videos and I like to see the old fords. How many acres of grain are you farming?
Thanks for watching, We do around 210 acres, just enough to keep us busy after we get home from our full time jobs