How do you make circular bales?

[Rhowan91]

From what I can see, the machinery in the baler technology category doesn't indicate that it can create circular bales. I'm still pretty new to this. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[Knottypine]

The shorter machine makes round bales, the longer one spits out square bales.

[Rhowan91]

The Roll-Belt 150?

[caseydwilder]

Hey there.

Yeah, I noticed that in the emblems down there.

To answer your question the "roll belt" or something along those lines for roughly 50k does the round bales.

The 100k one does the square. I hope this helps.

(personally, I prefer square due to the fact that it's continuous and squares are easier to stack, but that's just my preference. I believe both are 4000L bales, but square bailing is more expensive)

Edit: for those that haven't noticed the little emblems, the Roll Belt one has a square bale emblem down there and I don't believe it explicitly states in the description that it is the round baler. I knew what I was looking for, so I didn't think much about it, but for those unaware, it is surely a tad confusing and misleading.

[Knottypine]

Yes

[Knottypine]

Originally posted by caseydwilder:

I believe both are 4000L bales, but square bailing is more expensive)

Yes they are both the same.

[Rhowan91]

Thanks everyone.
What's the most profitable thing I can do with square bales?

[caseydwilder]

I don't think there's any profit advantage to either. Square bales are less time consuming to make due to the fact they continuously feed out of the machine (round bales have to be manually ejected every time it fills). Round bales roll on uneven surfaces (which I find annoying) and I really like the autostack trailer for square bales. It makes it easy to stack bales in areas with small foot prints. Square baling also requires more powerful tractors and more expensive equipment. If you can't afford going the square route, round bales are just fine typically.

Most people just take the bales they need (and a few extras) to their livestock areas. Beyond that, you can wrap them and make silage (haven't tried it, but silage is kinda nerfed as far as profitability goes (a good thing, it was overpowered in FS 15)). You can also sell extra bales for a little money (haven't looked to see how much it pays).

Quite frankly, I just bale every time I grow wheat or barley and it always gives me way more than enough. I just keep making stacks of it because it's going to get wasted if I just leave it on the field (right thing to do, I suppose). Someone else may know more about the profitability of selling straight bales.

[Rhowan91]

Thanks for the reply Casey. Currently, square bales are selling in my barn for only $75 lol
I think I might venture into something else for now.
I appreciate the help.

[Shredder]

Originally posted by Lumpy:

From what I can see, the machinery in the baler technology category doesn't indicate that it can create circular bales. I'm still pretty new to this. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

That's one major criticism of the dev. Their tutorials are too simplistic.

[Rhowan91]

Originally posted by Shredder:

Originally posted by Lumpy:

From what I can see, the machinery in the baler technology category doesn't indicate that it can create circular bales. I'm still pretty new to this. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

That's one major criticism of the dev. Their tutorials are terrible.

Yep all I'm doing is working fields. I have no idea how to do anything else :/

[Knottypine]

Originally posted by caseydwilder:

Most people just take the bales they need (and a few extras) to their livestock areas.

This is exactly what I do. I've never sold any bales. A few bale types are part of my preparation before buying any cows.

[caseydwilder]

Lol. Any time, Lumpy.

I wouldn't get in to bales for making straight money off of them--they facilitate other ways of making money.

Cows and Pigs are going to require it for maximized production. Also, if you don't have straw in their pens, you won't get solid manure from them.

So, you can indirectly make more money off of livestock by adding the bales to their pens (believe it or not, you actually don't need the straw blower currently, I just stack them in the loading area and it takes them when it needs it), you get solid manure (which you can use in place of fertilizer (saves money there)) and you also need manure for maximum production for the placable greenhouses, as well. Then you can sell the excess or make it in to silage (again, something you will need with cows to make them more profitable).

TLDR: So, looking at it that way, it is very handy, but not for direct income purposes. It will basically make you more money on your livestock and it will save you money in other areas.

Livestock is very lucrative, but time consuming and resource heavy. It will also give you more uses for your grains and stuff than just selling directly. You might classify livestock management as "end game." (And bales will be essential then--so if you're not ready to drop a mil on livestock, don't bother with it--there's more pressing matters at hand)

[Rhowan91]

Thanks again Casey. I'll save up a bunch from crop farming before venturing into livestock.

[caseydwilder]

Haha. No problem, Lumpy. Always happy to help when I can.

Since you haven't messed with livestock yet, I will say this:

Go to the new screen that has the three different animals criteria on it, and research each single ingredient before you start buying any of it. When I start pigs, I went with the square baler, the autostack trailer, had to buy a Case Puma tractor because all my others were too weak for the square baler, a potato harvester ($425k (ouch)), a corn header for my harvester, a water tank, and a telehandler to clean up around the feeding area (though a frontloader attachment on a tractor is fine). All in all, that was easily close to a mil. Then you still have to buy pigs!

I will say, if you want to get in to livestock more quickly, skip the potato harvester part at first. Potatos are very expensive to start (and do right) and for pigs, it's only responsible for 5% of their productivity. Everything else, I didn't regret at all. (And the potato harvester has like $1,700 a day in maintenance)

Overall, don't let livestock scare you--they really help keep you from getting bored with the game prematurely. Turning fields only will get old.

[caseydwilder]

Originally posted by Shredder:

Yep all I'm doing is working fields. I have no idea how to do anything else :/

Originally posted by Lumpy:

Originally posted by Shredder:

That's one major criticism of the dev. Their tutorials are terrible.

Yep all I'm doing is working fields. I have no idea how to do anything else :/

OP is saying the balers don't indicate whether it's round or square. Is the player supposed to guess? :/ [/quote]

The balers don't explicitly state which one does which. I could tell just by looking at them and the name "roll belt" was suggestive of a round bale.

For those who haven't followed the series, it has come a LONG ways. Back in the older games they didn't tell you ANYTHING about the machines or how to work a field. The games were not very popular, and it was difficult to find information on much of the equipment. That still lingers a bit to this day. I remember playing the old games and having to get online and go to the manufacture websites for these various pieces of equipment to figure out exactly what it did or in what order I was supposed to use them. It was a very obscure series. They have gotten MUCH better with the help menus and actually having a few simple tutorials!!

There's still a big learning curve for the game, but nowhere near as bad as it was five years ago!