Baler upgrade?

vendredi 20 novembre 2020

Like many others, I am considering upgrading my round baler. Currently, I have a NH 640 auto wrap, that I am fairly happy with, it makes good bales and has given only a few problems That being said, I think that I would like to make the jump to net wrap, to speed up baling and I would REALLY like to upgrade to the extra wide pick-up. I've looked at a lot of expensive, worn out looking balers online and may have found a decent one.

I found a NH 644, it looks just like my 640, with the upgrades that I would add if I could. Net wrap and the extra wide pick-up. It is a silage special, so it has a cutter, which I am not sure that I need or want. I think that they can be disabled or removed, but I am not sure. I have some customers that set the bale on the flat and peel off/unroll sections, to limit feed. I am worried that this will let the bale disintegrate, once the wrap is cut off. Is this the case?

The baler looks in VERY good condition, is in my price range (+/- 8500) and not to far away. It has made a lot of bales (16 K), but appears to be well maintained and stored inside, when not in use. I like the fact that it is similar to my 640, at least it appears to be similar, I could be wrong. This would help to flatten the learning curve.

I have read quite a few reviews and these seem to be a decent machine. I bale between 500 to 700 bales a year, mostly grass/alfalfa mix and hope to expand a little maybe 800 to 1000 bales a year, some day. I am really considering buying this baler. The only hesitation that I have is I was really hoping for/wanted a BR series, I guess that is what I thought I needed to go to to get what I wanted/needed. But those are about twice as much for similar options and similar "mileage" and some of those have a rougher to much rougher appearance.

Are they that much better?

Any thoughts or input would be appreciated. I think there will be more balers for sale in the spring, but feel the prices will be higher too, but then again who knows?