Two Cylinder Magazine

Genealogy of the
John Deere Hay Balers

by Ralph Hughes

It’s difficult today to appreciate how significant the invention and early development of the hay baler was in the 1880s. Back then, 90 percent of the people in North America either lived or worked on a farm. And they spent much of their late spring and summer months putting up loose hay as winter feed for their livestock. The hay was either stacked in a pile in the field or stored in the loft of a barn; then fed as needed to the livestock.

Mansur & Tebbetts Implement Co., the John Deere sales branch in St. Louis, promoted the Farmers’ Handy Hay Press in its 1898 Catalog. Built mostly of wood, this early hay press had two side-by-side baling chambers. A team of horses hitched to a long lever provided the power to compress loose hay into a bale.

As with nearly all early farm equipment, the hay press (now called a “hay baler”) was simple in design, constructed mostly of wood and angle iron, and powered by two horses. The early hay presses were mounted on four steel wheels and pulled into a hayfield by the horses that powered them. Once in place, the press became a semi-stationary unit and sun-cured hay was pitchforked into it. Regardless of how crude the early hay presses were, they still showed considerable promise. Nevertheless, many farmers back then believed in the old maxim: “Be not the first by which the new is tried, nor the last to lay the old aside.” It was up to the hay press manufacturers to promote the advantages of baling hay. The following is from an early hay press sales folder:

“Baling does not make good hay better, but it does preserve the goodness of good hay. Baled hay does not deteriorate, if properly stored. Baled hay requires much less space for storage than bulk hay. It is ready to market when the price is right. It is easy to handle and easy to transport. It feeds out with less waste than loose hay. A farmer with a good-sized alfalfa acreage and modern labor-saving machinery for harvesting his hay, without loss of leaves, together with an efficient, long-lived hay press, could add materially to his income by selling high-grade leafy hay to local dairymen.”

This early hay press, manufactured by the Dain Company of Ottumwa, Iowa, was called a Pull Power Press. Each time the horses (hitched to a horsepower) made one complete circle (stepping over a part of the press), two hopper loads of loose hay were compressed. When the bale reached the desired length, a division block was put in place. Note that one man had to both “poke” the wires from one side, then tie them on the other side.

A decade before John Deere andDain joined forces to promote hay baling, a few John Deere sales branches were selling horse-powered hay presses. The Mansur & Tebbetts Implement Company in St. Louis featured the Farmers’ Handy Hay Press in its 1898 catalog. This nearly all-wood press had two side-by-side bale chambers. While the loose hay in one chamber was compressed into a bale and wire tied, loose hay was forked into the other chamber. A team of horses hitched to one end of a long lever provided the power to compress the hay. The bales produced were 18x18x34 inches in size. The Farmers’ Handy Hay Press was mounted on a 4-wheel, all-steel Bettendorf Farm Truck.

The frame of this John Deere-Dain Hay Press was extended to accommodate a stationary Waterloo Boy Engine. Horses no longer powered the press, but were needed to pull it close to a hay pile in the field.

This colorful line illustration appeared in a 1935 Ottumwa factory sales folder. The John Deere Power Press was belt driven by the tractor that pulled it to the hay field. Or, it could be powered by a gasoline engine mounted on an extension of the hay press frame. Either way, this hay press remained a stationary unit.

In 1905, Deere & Webber, the John Deere sales branch in Minneapolis, sold farm implements to its agents (called dealers, today) located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas. The branch’s General Catalog that year featured the Dain Pull-Power Hay Press. This was an all-steel, stationary press mounted on four wheels for transporting. It had a unique design feature. Instead of a plunger being used to push loose hay into the rectangular bale chamber, the plunger was pulled behind the loose hay to compress it into a bale. The finished bales were discharged at the front of the press. Each time the team of horses hitched to the horsepower made one full circle, two hopper loads of loose hay were compressed. When the bale reached the length desired, the operator dropped a wood division block in place. Then the completed bale was wire tied and a new bale was started. For maximum efficiency, at least three men were needed to operate the Dain Pull-Power Hay Press. One man forked the loose hay into the hopper, a second man poked and tied the baling wires, and the third man drove the horses hitched to the horsepower. The third man also pitched loose hay off a hay pile or nearby wagon to a spot where the man loading the bale hopper could easily reach it. With an experienced crew, 1-1/2 tons of hay could be baled per hour — 12 to 14 tons in a long day.

John Deere introduced its first windrow pickup press in 1936. It was pulled by a tractor, and had a 30-hp gasoline engine to power the baling mechanism. The windrow pickup was similar in design to a loose-hay end loader, and was ground driven.

Replacing “live” horsepower with mechanical power was the next logical step in the development of the hay press. In 1911, the Dain Manufacturing Company introduced the Dain Belt Power Hay Press. It obtained the power needed via a belt from either a stationary gasoline engine, a tractor, or steam engine. The basic design and function of the belt-powered Dain hay press was similar to today’s rectangular baler. The hay press remained, however, a stationary unit, and still required a farmer to pitch loose hay into the feed hopper. The Dain Belt Power Hay Press had a “self-feeder” arm that moved vertically up and down, pushing the loose hay deep into the feed chamber. Then a plunger, moving horizontally towards the rear of the hay press, compressed the loose hay into the bale chamber. The completed bales were tied and discharged out the rear of the press. Two men were needed to wire-tie the bales, one standing on each side of the bale chamber. Because the Dain hay press had a large feed hopper that could be filled quickly, and steady mechanical power, 25 to 30 tons of hay could be baled in a day. This was a big step-up in capacity over the previous horse-powered hay press.

This photograph was taken in 1937, and shows a John Deere Pickup Hay Press pulled by an unstyled Model “A” Tractor. The two men tying the baling wires could either sit on a bale of hay or stand on the boards provided. Note the auxiliary engine.

Prior to the early 1930s, the haypress remained a stationary unit and needed a farmer to haul cured hay to the press for baling. Sales literature and farm magazines don’t reveal who, but some smart engineering team “had a better idea.” Eliminate the pitchfork! This was accomplished by adapting an end loader previously used to pick up hay from the windrow, and load it on a wagon for use on a portable hay press. A small gasoline engine also was attached to the press to provide the power needed. Thus, the windrow pickup hay press came into being.

John Deere introduced its version of the windrow pickup hay press in 1936, although prototype machines were field tested a year or two earlier. As a John Deere sales folder explained: “This machine loads and bales hay in one operation.” This was a true time-saver. Nevertheless, a crew of three men still was needed — one man to drive the tractor pulling the hay press, and two men standing on “riding boards” attached to both sides of the bale chamber. The tractor driver’s job was to keep the pickup unit lined up with the windrow, while the other two men “poked” and tied the bale wires and handled the division blocks.

Early sales of the John Deere Windrow Pickup Press were primarily to custom operators rather than to individual farmers, because few farmers had sufficient hay acreage to justify the purchase of their own unit. John Deere sales branches and dealers quickly requested that Deere provide a smaller, more affordable pickup baler for the “average” farmer. Deere responded by designing a PTO-driven baler. The small auxiliary engine was eliminated, the overall size and weight of the press was reduced, and, most important, the price was lowered, The sales folder that promoted the first John Deere PTO Pickup Hay Press claimed that it was “built for the individual farmer and takes its place with the family-sized combine.” Furthermore, it was “simple in design, trim in appearance, sturdy in construction, and easy to operate.” It did not, however, have a model number designation.

The new PTO hay press had a shortcoming: Even though the press was PTO-driven, the pickup unit was ground-driven. Stopping the forward motion of the tractor and hay press automatically stopped the pickup unit. Nevertheless, when powered by either a Model “A”, “B”, “G”, or “D” Tractor, this new hay press could bale three to four tons of hay or straw per hour. Again, a notable increase in production.

During the late 1930s and early World War II years, the hay press became known as a “hay baler.” Until the mid-1940s, baling hay remained labor-intensive, requiring at least a three-man crew to operate the baler. Following the lead of another manufacturer, in 1946 John Deere introduced an automatic wire-tying pickup baler, designated the No. 116-W. It produced 16x18-inch bales and needed only a one-man “crew.” In 1953, John Deere began production of a smaller wire-tie model: The 114-W. It produced 14x18-inch bales. Both of these balers could be powered by either a tractor PTO or an auxiliary engine mounted on the baler. The bales produced could be 34, 38, 41, or 44 inches in length.

The John Deere 116-W Automatic Wire-Tie Baler was introduced in 1946. However, this photograph was taken in the summer of 1945 at about the same time that World War II ended. This baler was PTO-powered, but the 116-W could be ordered from the factory with an auxiliary engine.

The next year, the John Deere 14-T Automatic Twine-Tie Baler was announced. T. P. (Ted) Schanz, the Ottumwa Works sales manager, in a Sales Bulletin mailed to John Deere dealers on April 1, 1954, announced the availability of the new 14-T. “To meet the demand for an efficient and low-cost method of handling the rapidly increasing hay crop, the John Deere No. 14-T Automatic Twine-Tie Baler has been approved for production. This baler has many exclusive and outstanding features that promise to make it the most outstanding performer on the market today.” The 14-T was promoted as an “economical, family-sized baler which only needed the power of a 2-plow tractor,” such as the Model “40”.

Briefly, here are a few of the design features that Ted Schanz said made the 14-T an outstanding performer: It had a 53-inch-wide, power-driven pickup with 8-inch side flares. The pickup could “float” upwards almost five inches to accommodate deep or extra-heavy windrows. An adjustable fork-type feed moved the dried hay from the auger at the top of the pickup to the bale case. An all-steel plunger head had a knife angled for cleaner cuts, and the twine blotters tied bales with few misses. This new baler gave the Deere hay-tool line a “shot in the arm” by significantly increasing baler sales.

Announced on April Fool’s Day in 1954, the John Deere 14-T Automatic Twine-Tie Baler was no joke. Often called a “family-sized” baler, the 14-T was compact, lightweight, and could even be powered by the PTO of a small 2-plow tractor, such as a Model “40”.

On June 24, 1955, the Ottumwa Daily Courier carried an article about the popularity of the new 14-T Baler. The article included a photograph of a freight train with 18 flatcars, each loaded with 16 John Deere 14-T Balers, departing the John Deere Ottumwa Works. The article stated that “In its first year (of production), the new 14-T Baler has become one of the most popular implements in the John Deere hay-tool line. Sales have grown in such proportion that production schedules have been revised upwards several times.” Three years later, the same Ottumwa newspaper featured another article and photograph of a one-mile-long Burlington freight train leaving the John Deere factory with 600 balers on 82 flatcars destined for dealers in western Missouri and eastern Kansas. In 1954, the Ottumwa Works sold a total of 4167 balers, including a pilot production of only 330 new 14-T Balers. During the next five years, baler sales averaged 13,363 units annually with the 14-T being the leader every year.

The new 14-T Baler gave the John Deere hay-tool line a “shot in the arm.” It increased baler sales substantially and quickly. This photograph shows 18 freight train flatcars, each loaded with 16 John Deere 14-T Balers, leaving the Ottumwa factory.

Now that baling hay or straw was reduced to a one-man job with either a wire- or twine-tie baler, the task of picking up the bales from the field and hauling them to the barn remained. And it usually took three or four men to do it in a timely manner: One man to drive the tractor pulling a wagon, one man on the ground lifting bales on the wagon, and a third man on the wagon stacking the bales. John Deere offered farmers two solutions to reduce this labor-intensive task. The first solution required a wagon hitched to the rear of the baler, and a long, narrow chute to carry the bales directly from the baler discharge to the wagon. This approach eliminated the man on the ground.

The second approach was called “revolutionary.” In 1958, Deere introduced the bale ejector. This new attachment enabled one man to bale and store his hay without extra help. The bale ejector was attached to the rear of a baler along with a wagon with extra-high sides. As half-sized bales left the baler, they were “grabbed” by the ejector and tossed into the trailing wagon. To store these smaller bales in a haymow, an elevator, with a bale guide attachment, delivered the bales to a conveyor hung from the hay track inside the top of the barn. At 10-foot intervals, the bales were dropped in the haymow.

The John Deere 214-W Baler shown here was introduced in 1955, along with a slightly larger 216-W Baler. Twine-tie models were also introduced. The 214-Series Balers produced dense, heavy bales that custom operators preferred, because they withstood rough handling. This 214-W had a narrow steel chute attached to the bale discharge. It enabled a man standing on a wagon hitched behind the baler to load bales directly, thus reducing the normal baling crew by one person.

After the 14-T was introduced in 1955, and before the end of the Two-Cylinder Tractor Era in 1960, John Deere added three additional balers. The first two were the 214-W and the 214-T. The 114-T and 116-T Balers had essentially “bit the dust” when the 14-T hit the market. The 214-T did not replace the popular 14-T Baler. Both of these new 214-Series Balers were designed to produce bales of greater weight and density — bales that would take rough handling. The balers were shipped from the factory with either a PTO drive or an auxiliary engine.

The last John Deere automatic baler introduced during this time period was the 323-W. This new baler was designed for the custom operator, or for owners of large hay acreages who wanted larger, heavier, compact bales. The 323-W made 16x23-inch bales up to 50 inches long and tied with three wires — an ideal bale for shipping. It was equipped with a 30-horsepower gasoline engine provided by the John Deere Dubuque Works. The tractor driver could control the baler engine speed from the tractor. Because the 323-W was a big-capacity baler, it had a 60-inch-wide pickup with side flares designed to gather up double windrows.

The 323-W Baler, shown here with a “730” Diesel Tractor, was the last John Deere hay baler introduced during the Two-Cylinder Tractor Era. The 323-W was a big-capacity baler designed for custom operators and farmers with large hay acreages. It made 16x23- inch bales up to 50 inches in length and tied with three wires. The 323-W Baler was powered by a 30-hp Dubuque-built engine.

It took nearly a century of design changes and improvements to make the rectangular hay baler the productive implement it is today. However, a new challenge laid ahead — the round hay baler. But that’s another story.

This 214-T Baler with bale ejector attachment is shown pitching a half-sized hay bale into a wagon with high sides. Coupled with a specially equipped portable elevator and conveyor in the haymow, a dairyman could bale and store cured hay without additional help.