Ah, the quest for a baler that lasts. You want a baler to outlast its payments, but for Jeff Jones of Jones Angus Farms in Fulton, Missouri, it was more than that. Jeff puts up an average of 10,000 bales per year and baler longevity was beginning to seem like a fictional idea that described a baler that did not exist — until he found Vermeer.

“The number one thing that I didn’t like about our previous two balers was the lack of longevity,” Jones said. “About the time I made the last payment, one of my balers was going to need about $7,000-$8,000 invested in it to continue baling. If a piece of equipment won’t outlast the payment period, then it wasn’t built for productivity.”

“We bale a lot of hay for ourselves and our neighbors,” Jones said. “My great-grandfather started our farm back in 1894. You’ve got to have equipment longevity to be able to stay in existence.”

With three generations working on Jones Angus Farms, the Jones family was searching for a baler that could withstand their high bale count and be able to hold its own in various types of grass.

“My previous balers also had a slip clutch glitch issue,” Jones said. “Probably the biggest nightmare was when you got into slick hay like long orchard grass. The baler was constantly struggling to start the bale core, and it was putting it through great wear and tear.”

Jones said the wear and tear usually lead to belt replacements on his balers every 5,000-6,000 bales.

He finally had enough — Jones decided to cut ties with a brand that kept letting him down to give a Vermeer baler a shot. He started by trading in just one of his old balers for a new Vermeer 504R Premium baler. After all, he already had other Vermeer equipment he liked, so why not?

“The durability on my 504R Premium baler has been tremendous,” Jones said. “The features that we like best on this baler are the (minimal) wear spots — it’s got the camless pickup, it’s got the endless belts, it’s got the heavier teeth. The weaknesses that would wear out our previous balers — Vermeer has addressed those issues.”

"The durability on my 504R Premium baler has been tremendous"

“The thing I like about running this Vermeer baler is that it starts the bale so easily,” Jones said. “You don’t have to ride your clutch or shift down, you can just go right into the windrow and it’ll pick the hay up and take off.

Jones said when they first made the switch to Vermeer he was comparing the bale output of the 504R Premium baler versus the last of his two older balers and the difference was nearly 2 to 1 with Vermeer leading the charge.

“The Vermeer baler was baling two bales to just one with our other baler. At the end of the day, on a 300-bale day, that was a massive difference.” Jones said.

“The other thing is — I no longer have to worry about my netwrap (when I’m using this baler). I used to always have to study it and watch it and make sure it went on the bale, but we have not had to address that issue whatsoever with this baler. That’s one less thing to worry about.” With the standard grease banks on the 504R Premium baler, Jones couldn’t believe how convenient his routine maintenance upkeep seemed to be.

Plus, with the help of the optional Auto Lube greasing system, critical bearings are automatically lubricated through the Atlas™ control system.

“When you open up the doors on these balers, you can do an inspection really quickly,” Jones said. “Greasing these balers or the chains need oiled? I mean it doesn’t take but 10 minutes to do that for me.”

Just as any great brand loyalty story ends, Jones ended up investing in even more Vermeer yellow iron, including a second 504R Premium baler.

“I strongly recommend any Vermeer equipment,” Jones said. “One reason I believe in Vermeer is the people we have backing it — we trust them. If you look around here, all of our hay tools are Vermeer.”

And that’s why Jeff Jones switched to the Vermeer 504R Premium baler.

To hear why others switched to Vermeer, click here.

Information noted above was gathered from a third party who was advised his/her experience might be featured in marketing materials. Individual results may vary based on care and operation of machine and crop and field conditions, which may adversely affect performance.