In need of a better baler

Hello from Montana, first post here.
I did some searching and have decided what balers I want try out.

We have been needing to upgrade from my old hesston 565a and am hoping to do it this week.It still works great and that's why we still have it around but we need a bigger pickup.We bale about 2k bales a year. All dry land alfalfa grass hay, in central Montana. Right now the two balers I have been looking at are a 2012 Vermeer 605 super M 14k bales. Or a 2009 John Deere 568 12k bales

I demoed the 605sm last night that thing bales amazingly well.Has a scale,moisture sensor,and chain lubers. The problem with it is the previous owner didn't take very good care of it at all.On one side the axle tube for the large float tires is tore out and is currently mounted on the tubes for the smaller sized tires,I looked at the other used vermeer on the lot and you can start to see that it's axle tube is starting to crack. Is this a common problem with these Vermeer balers? Also something is banging near or above the pickup pretty loud until you get a good core started then it quits.

As for the 568. I have not demoed one and can't because the closest one is 70 miles away my local dealer doesn't have any used ones in stock.

So with that being said. How well does the John Deere work?
Does the roller in front of the pickup ever cause any problems in a thick tall windrow? We will be raking two 18ft swaths together.I like the pickup on the vermeer with the rubber mounted tines and it seems pretty stout.How does the 568 pickup compare to the Vermeer?

I will be baling up straw here in a couple weeks. Which baler performs better with straw?

As for the net wrap side of things. The Vermeer is a little different to load but it seems to work really well. The John Deere seems to be pretty easy to load but like I said I can't demo one.Any problems with the John Deere net system?

I like John Deere and have always been pretty loyal to them but that Vermeer amazed me on how well it performed other than the few problems with this one that I mentioned. I liked it and liked the scale and integrated moisture sensor also in the Vermeer.

I will most likely go green but if it doesn't perform like that Vermeer did I will be really disappointed. From what I have researched they are pretty close in performance but am a little concerned since I won't be able to demo a green one.
So guys If you could help me out on these few questions and push me in the right direction.
I would really appreciate it!!!!



Thanks guys!!!!!

In need of a better baler