Adaptation and Evaluation of Manual Hay Baller

Abstract

Baling of straw by pressing helps to feed animals with little or no wastage, conserve its nutrient for a long time, simplifies the transport and storage condition. Straw are considered among the most important materials in Ethiopia especially tef, wheat and barley straw. There are many types and models of powered and automatic baler imported in Ethiopia to assist baling facility. But those machines which are not affordable to small scale farmers due to high in cost and in another side in Ethiopia, the concept of high capacity baler could not make any impact owing to scattered and small areas of field. Therefore the manual hay baler machines was adapted and evaluated in those areas. The performance of the machine is evaluated in terms of density, mass, pressing rate and time required. Vertical hay baler has better performance in baling rate than the others manual hay balers.