Steven Bidne, MN
[Regarding the Accumulator and Extension]

" I think the extension arm worked very well. Much better than before without it. I used to have to get off the tractor on the average of once every ten groups to either straighten a bale that was turned or cut a bale out from under the pushover arm. (This still wasn't bad compared to stacking by hand). I was able to lower those incidents by trying to make a very consistent bale of 17 strokes per bale.

With the extension arm, you still need to make a consistent bale to work with the 15 bale package but the average strokes can be cut down to 14 (18-20% greater capacity) and it will handle the normal variations in the windrow and bale lengths much better. Towards the end I only had to stop and get out of the tractor to add twine or just to stretch my legs!

With the 15 bale package it takes a little bit more fine-tuning to get all things working together and correctly. I think I got it down to where the only adjustment needed for various conditions and materials is to slightly adjust the bale length. Light fluffy material just makes a slightly longer bale then normal hay even without changing bale lengths.

Thank you for letting me try out the extension. I do not want to go back to baling without it or without the accumulator. I consider my operation small and didn't think I could justify spending the money for the accumulator and bale fork but I put up over 12,000 bales this year by myself. I did not have to try to find help when the hay didn't get ready until late Saturday or Sunday afternoons.

Thanks!

Steven Bidne "