Round baler inventory and prices fall into predictable patterns

While pricing across the board has gone up since 2020, pricing for used round balers hasn’t greatly fluctuated, according to Ryan Atherton, a salesman at Peabudy’s, Inc., a New Holland dealer with two locations in northwest Illinois.

Karen Jones is the machinery executive editor at Successful Farming and Agriculture.com. She joined the Successful Farming team in 2023 following a 19-year career on the communications team of an agricultural cooperative.

Courtesy of John Deere

Round baler supplies, like many machinery categories, have leveled out in the past year as production and trading cycles return to more predictable pre-pandemic patterns. While pricing across the board has gone up since 2020, pricing for used round balers hasn’t greatly fluctuated, according to Ryan Atherton, a salesman at Peabudy’s, Inc., a New Holland dealer with two locations in northwest Illinois.

“It’s been kind of constant over the years,” he says. “A lot of people will trade at the same bale count, no matter what. It’s more of a one in, one out scenario.”

Round balers continue to be popular, as many farms are set up for that type of storage and feeding. Round bales shed moisture more easily than square bales, and Atherton says farmers in his area usually store bales outside. As baling season gets underway, Atherton expects that the used market could go one of two ways.

“I could see people deciding to hang on to what they have and do a little maintenance, because balers are generally easy to fix,” he says. “I can also see people deciding that they can’t spend money on a new tractor this year, but they could swing a baler. It all depends on the weather and what the corn and bean markets do.”

A search of bigiron.com for model year 2020 and newer round balers revealed 47 units sold recently. The John Deere 560M was the most popular model, with 17 sold. Prices ranged from $10,800, for a 2020 Case IH RB455A in Texas, to $50,750 for a Deere 560M in South Dakota, with a low bale count and many upgraded features. The average sale price was $33,050.

John Deere’s Machine Finder website tells a similar story, with the 560M comprising nearly half of all used balers available on dealer lots. Pricing on those balers ranged from $69,900, for a 2022 model in Minnesota, to $24,500, for a 2021 model in Nebraska.

Beyond bale count and year, added features, such as hydraulic bale lift, moisture sensors, and net wrap capability, helped add to the final price.

Understanding what you need and want in a baler is the first step in finding the unit that’s right for you, says Kaylene Ballesteros, John Deere’s go-to-market manager for hay and forage. “The first thing to ask yourself,” she says, “is, ‘What size of bale do I want?’ ”

Location sometimes determines bale size, depending on road width and available storage space. In the Midwest, Ballesteros says larger, 5x6-foot bales tend to be more popular; in the South, some farmers prefer smaller sizes.

The ability to use your baler for silage is another important consideration when deciding on the right machine. For example, John Deere offers silage options on their M and R models.

While baler technology may not seem to change as quickly as that for other equipment types, several recent updates improve efficiency.

“Our R spec balers have high-capacity pickup, which internal testing has shown can pick up and feed crop at 33% greater capacity than our M spec [mega-wide] balers,” Ballesteros says. “That works out to around 80 more bales a day.”

Another option on the high-capacity balers is a pre-cutter, which helps farmers who grind their hay after baling. This feature automatically cuts the hay to the size you want, eliminating the need to grind it again.

A recent study from Kansas State University says that non-pre-cut bales lose an average 73 pounds of dry matter compared with a 20-pound loss in pre-cut bales.

“If you think of that in ROI terms, it can be around the $5 mark for every ton you’re losing,” Ballesteros says.

Available since 2012, bale automation takes much of the guesswork out of producing consistent bales. The tractor operates at the correct speed, stops when the bale reaches a pre-selected size, wraps automatically, kicks the bale out, and proceeds forward.

John Deere Operations Center is another tool a farmer can add to any piece of equipment. This software collects data and uses predictive monitoring to determine operator and machine efficiency. Bale documentation technology is a new feature on 2024 and later models that adds additional logistical data to help make better informed production decisions. This technology, which analyzes bale moisture and yield by field, allows growers to compare cuttings and years to help improve field and bale performance.