Square Hay Balers for Alfalfa Harvesting

Alfalfa commands the highest price per tonne of any common hay crop — particularly first-cut alfalfa sold into the equine or export market, where protein content, green colour, and leaf retention drive buyer premiums. Those quality attributes are set in the field at cutting and in the barn at storage, but a significant portion of the value can be lost at the baling stage if the equipment and technique aren’t matched to what alfalfa actually demands.

Alfalfa is not the same as grass hay. It’s denser, more moisture-retentive in the stem, more nutritionally sensitive to over-curing, and far more prone to leaf shatter loss under aggressive mechanical handling. Understanding those characteristics — and adjusting baler settings and field technique accordingly — is what separates a premium-quality alfalfa bale from one that loses 15–20% of its protein value on the pickup reel.

Why Alfalfa Leaf Retention Matters So Much

The nutritional profile of alfalfa is heavily concentrated in its leaves. Research from several Canadian agricultural universities consistently shows that alfalfa leaves contain approximately 70–80% of the plant’s total crude protein, compared to the stem which carries primarily structural fibre. When leaves shatter off during harvesting, the crop loses disproportionate nutritional value relative to the weight lost.

Shatter loss is highest when:

• Crop moisture is below 12–14% — over-dried alfalfa becomes brittle and shatters at any mechanical contact
• Field speed is too high — faster pickup causes more aggressive tine contact with the windrow
• Pickup height is too low — tines contact the soil surface and flick loose leaves rather than lifting them cleanly
• Windrows are disturbed by multiple passes — each time the windrow is moved, leaves detach

A square baler that picks up cleanly from a stable windrow with appropriate tine height adjustment and field speed control will consistently preserve more leaf fraction than one running too fast through an unstable windrow.

Moisture Management: The Critical Window for Alfalfa

Alfalfa moisture management is more challenging than grass hay because the stem and leaf dry at different rates. Stems retain moisture longer than leaves — meaning that when the leaves feel dry enough to bale, the stems may still be well above the safe baling threshold. Baling based on leaf feel rather than stem moisture is a consistent cause of heated bales and mold in stored alfalfa.

The practical approach:

• Target 15–18% for storage hay. This is the range where mold risk is low and leaf loss from over-drying is minimised. For export alfalfa where buyers specify moisture, target the lower end of the range.
• Check stem moisture directly. Snap a stem near the windrow centre. At correct baling moisture, the stem should still have slight pliability — if it snaps dry and clean with no flexibility, the crop has passed optimal moisture and leaf shatter will be elevated.
• Bale in morning or evening when humidity is slightly higher. The leaf becomes less brittle in higher humidity conditions, reducing shatter loss. Midday baling in dry Prairie conditions maximises leaf loss.
• Consider a tedder pass. Tedding speeds dry-down by turning the windrow and improving air circulation — but it also increases leaf loss in alfalfa. Use judiciously in heavy windrow conditions, and avoid in the last hours before baling.
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Cutting Stages and Their Impact on Baling

Alfalfa cut at different stages of maturity produces different windrow characteristics — and requires different baler settings:

Baler Settings Specific to Alfalfa

Most square baler operators who move from grass hay to alfalfa without adjusting settings find that bale consistency declines. A few specific adjustments that improve alfalfa baling performance:

• Increase bale density: Alfalfa’s softer stems at pre-bud to early-bud stage compress more readily than mature grass. Increasing spring tension produces firmer bales that hold together better during handling and transport.
• Raise pickup height: Set the pickup so tines clear soil surface by at least 2–3 cm more than grass hay settings. Alfalfa windrows sit higher off the ground than grass windrows — the extra clearance prevents soil pickup and leaf loss from tine-ground contact.
• Moderate field speed: 5–6 km/h for early-bud alfalfa versus 7–8 km/h for mature grass hay. The reduction in leaf shatter from slower speed consistently outweighs the time penalty.
• Check knotter twine tension: Dense alfalfa bales generate higher twine load during tying. Ensure twine tension is set correctly for the heavier bale weight — undertensioned twine produces loose knots that fail during stacking or transport.
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Equipment for Alfalfa: Why Pickup Design Matters

Alfalfa windrows are typically softer and more uneven than cereal straw windrows, and the soil surface in alfalfa fields is often softer and more irregular from the perennial root system. A pickup mechanism that adapts to ground contour variation without digging in is important in this application.

Our 9YF-2200 / 1900 / 1700 Square Hay Baler uses a profile-wheel ground-following pickup design that maintains consistent tine height above the soil surface across uneven terrain — critical for alfalfa’s leaf-retention requirements. The double-chain drive system in the feed train handles the denser feed loads that early-bud alfalfa at higher moisture presents, without the slip-and-surge behaviour that causes inconsistent bale density in single-chain systems under load.

For alfalfa producers supplying export markets where leaf content, protein percentage, and green colour are evaluated by buyers, choosing the right baler is not a secondary consideration — it’s part of the quality management system. Reach us at [email protected] to discuss which pickup width and configuration suits your alfalfa acreage and target market.

Editor：WM