John Deere 566 round balers

[JBGASH]

Looking at a 566 JD round baler with around 4000 bales on it with net wrap. It is priced at 9500.00 and appears in good shape overall. Does anyone have advice regarding these balers?

 

[bar tl]

we run a 566 with soft core option kicker and mega tooth pu as well as a 535 with net as a back up baler. both good solid reliable machines. love em.
what would you like to know before you go green?

 

[JBGASH]

we run a 566 with soft core option kicker and mega tooth pu as well as a 535 with net as a back up baler. both good solid reliable machines. love em.
what would you like to know before you go green?

What is the soft core advantages over one without am unfamilar with the soft core thing. I want good tight bales always before

 

[bar tl]

the sof core option is basicly a bypass valve in your density valve. you can set up when it puts full pressure on with your monitor. for example when we are baling in tough conditions or very dry alfalfa we can use this to back off the density to either let the bale breathe or reduce leaf loss. it extends our baling time in a day and allows us to bale at higher moisture content if say rains coming. you arent putting as much material in the bale but it still ends up nice and round.
the big thing to watch with these balers is the chains on the left side. they make a big mess when they blow. we usually change them every 2-3 thousand bales. with the heavy lacing we change pins every 1500 bales. light lacing every 500 and the lacing at 1500 bales. dont over lubricate your main slipclutch. been there done that. cost me a clutch. wouldnt hold had to rebuild. bearings in that baler are usually very reliable but only available through deere. as long as youre not overloading the baler they last really well. our 535 changed four bearings in 20000 bales. our 566 changed one.the only other thing with the 566 is its power sensitive. hook up direct to your battery, the monitor doesnt like power fluctuations and requires a constant voltage to run right.
off the top of my head thats about all there is to them. anything else feel free to ask.

 

[JBGASH]

I am looking for a 1000 rpm unit. What would be the smallest size tractor you would use the 566 on? That soft core option sounds pretty good too. Do you store all bales outside? In my location if hay is stored outside with no net or tarp it really deteriorates fast and loss can be excessive. Net wrap really sheds alot of water and protects the bale alot longer vs twine tie. Hay prices have skyrocketed to $75-100 for a good quality bale of grass here in MO. Cornstalk round bales are at $50 alone. I am going to drill 100ac of triticale this fall into standing cornstalks, do you see much of that in your area? We have never tried it before, a friend did last year and got 7 bales / acre last year, cut it in May and notilled soybeans back and got 50 bushel beans last fall. He really hit on that deal.

the sof core option is basicly a bypass valve in your density valve. you can set up when it puts full pressure on with your monitor. for example when we are baling in tough conditions or very dry alfalfa we can use this to back off the density to either let the bale breathe or reduce leaf loss. it extends our baling time in a day and allows us to bale at higher moisture content if say rains coming. you arent putting as much material in the bale but it still ends up nice and round.
the big thing to watch with these balers is the chains on the left side. they make a big mess when they blow. we usually change them every 2-3 thousand bales. with the heavy lacing we change pins every 1500 bales. light lacing every 500 and the lacing at 1500 bales. dont over lubricate your main slipclutch. been there done that. cost me a clutch. wouldnt hold had to rebuild. bearings in that baler are usually very reliable but only available through deere. as long as youre not overloading the baler they last really well. our 535 changed four bearings in 20000 bales. our 566 changed one.the only other thing with the 566 is its power sensitive. hook up direct to your battery, the monitor doesnt like power fluctuations and requires a constant voltage to run right.
off the top of my head thats about all there is to them. anything else feel free to ask.

 

[bar tl]

they are rated for 50 pto hp roughly. i wouldnt go smaller than 90 hp. we run ours with a jd 4040 with 8 speed ps. on the flat its awsome. some of the hills are pretty steep around here. on them 90 hp is just enough to run efficently. my ideal would be about 120hp in our conditions. one day i ll have that 4240 to complete my colection. we really like our soft core feature. if the baler your looking at doesnt have it you can get the kit from jd or a wrecker. instals in about half hour. plugs into existing harness.
all our bales are stored outside with a twine wrap only.if loss or time is a factor you will love the net expecially if its the cover edge type. father in law has one on his 567. he does about 30% more per hour vs the twine.
pickup options. ours has the megatooth option. lots of feeding power in heavy swaths, very aggressive. it doesnt plug like the lighter toothed pu. if you can fit it under the tractor this pu will eat weather it should or not. we have plugged the baler but never the pu. if your swaths are wider than the baler you ll want either the gathering wheels or the mega wide pu. mega wide is about 20 inchs wider than the baler. its not as aggressive but wont plug in the cornerslike a mega or standard pu without gather wheels.
triticale is used up here. its tougher than winter wheat not as tough as fall rye. it has more biomater than either of them. wider and more leaves. very competitive against weeds because it shadows them out. id check with the friend for fertillity and weed control because he ll know what you require down there. we have used it in the past but it needs more cover than we sometimes are dealing with here. winter wheat isnt even an option because of winter kill. we use oats barley or hrs wheat for green feed on our operation the spring seeded crops fit better in our operation due to fields covered in snow for 5 months of the year. the bulk of our feed is dryland grass, alfalfa or a mix. tried millets during the dry years too. didnt like em. cereals produced better. we started using pelleted feed this year with straw and it works well. cheaper too.
can buy hay up here for 45 to 75 a bale depending on the quality you want. "filler" bales (cereal straw) can be had for under 20 usually under 15. this is f.o.b. where ever you bought it from.
are you planing on doing any bale silage?

 

[JBGASH]

I have never done any bale silage. But I do have a 20x60 foot upright stave silo that I have used in the past, mainly put corn silage in it. They are somewhat of a pain when the unloader or something does not work properly in it. I found that as long as you pack the silage good an outside pit that can be loaded with a loader is pretty keen and very simple. Due to the drought we had this year alot of corn was chopped for silage. NOt to change the subject, but what is good cropland bringing in your area? WE just had a neighbor that died he had 270 ac of excellent farm ground that brought $10,000.00 / acre that was sold in 3- different tracks.

 

[bar tl]

round balers in general dont like the weight in baleage bales. they make a "silage special". its a regular unit with scrapers. whoo hooo. no bearing or belt upgrades. thats why i was asking. i ve seen some that guys have done that with. it cuts the bearing life by 75%. cuts belt life by at least half. they just arent designed for bales over 2500 lbs. you can do it but they wont last.
just out of curiosity are you sure that baler only has 4000 on it? the bale count is in the moniter but if the moniter is changed it wont give the actual that baler has made. i usually look at the rollers to see how much they have worn.

land up here varries. cattle land is around $250 an acre. really good crop land can go as much as $1000 an acre. saskatchewan has lower land values than other places in canada. population factors, off farm employment oportunities etc. friend of mine in alberta offered $1600 an acre for a good quarter(160 acres) and was turned down. if a person is near one of the large cities you can realize multi million dollar figures for a quarter. i dont understand it at all. land is supposed to be for food production and if a person farms it all his life and never makes a proffit what was the point of buying it?
sorry about your drought. wife kids and i drove down to denver co for independance day and it seemed like the green stopped as soon as we crossed the border.