Nogueira EXPRESS-5040, Instruction Manual

Page: 33 / 176

Instructions Manual
33
BALING
IDEAL POINT:
The plant attains the haymaking point when it has a humidity of below 20% -
ideally between 15 and 18%. At this point, the material must be collected from
the field as quickly as possible, avoiding loss of quantity of the hay, caused by
excessive dryness or unforeseen rain.
Practical suggestions for determining the baling point:
- Close your hand strongly around the sample of hay. If the forage material breaks
almost completely, or upon opening your hand, it does not tend to return to its
original shape, it indicates that the hay is in a condition to be baled;
- Take some stalks, squeezing them between your nails. If no wetness appears,
the hay can be baled. In grass remove the sheath and squeeze the portion next
to the knot.
RIDGES:
To ensure the high capacity of baling and the production of uniform bales it is
essential that the ridges are suitably prepared, having a medium size and being
as uniform as possible. Their size must not exceed that which the baler can
collect and process efficiently.
The more uniform that the ridge is, the more uniform the feeding and the flow
of the material in the baler are, and the more uniform the bale will be.
Deformed ridges result in uneven bales, with varied density.
The operator must evalute the working conditions and act according to them.
If the ridge is narrow, it is appropriate to increase the speed at which the trac-
tor moves so that sufficient material enters in the baling chamber. If the ridge
is wide, reduce the speed. In these working conditions it is difficult to attain a
high productivity.
Always aim to execute the cutting, ridge and baling operations in the same
direction.
The area of haymaking must be maintained free of sticks, stones, stumps, ter-
mitaries, ditches and any other types of obstacles.
BALES:
Harvesting at the right moment, quick and uniform drying of the forage mate-
rial, and its collection with the suitable wetness are fundamental conditions for
producing hay with a good quantity.
The Baler produces bales of a predeterminated size, with a width of 48 cm, a
height of 36 cm and a length of 50 cm at 1.20 m (depending on the regulation).
The bale must be uniform and sufficiently compact to with stand pressure wi -
thout being deformed, i.e. it does not necessarily have to be heavy but it must
be compact and firm (a bale of straw, for example, can be firm without being
as heavy as a bale of alfalfa).