The automatic bale wagon and stack retriever avoid that cost. It has a little more fiber than optimum for the best dairy hay. That makes the difference. Bales are just porous enough for mechanical handling. Since the air in the dryer is heated, a smaller volume of air movement is ample for full moisture removal as compared with the larger volume air flow and additional drying time that would be required with unheated air.
All bales go on the dryer cut side down.
Twine is on the sides, not the bottom, so any settling tightens up the strings. Bale shape is retained, and bales stay shippable at eight to 10 pounds per cubic foot. The hay is leafy and has very good color. Trautmansdoriff explained that his systems evolved over time. Just 17 years ago he and Gisella were literally flooded out of Austria when a power company took over the family farm to create a reservoir.