Small square balers are the machine everyone claims is dying and everyone keeps buying. Horse-hay customers, small livestock buyers and anyone hauling hay through a barn door still want a 40–70 lb bale a person can move by hand — and the used market reflects it. "We sold about 30 small squares in 2022 and 2023, about 15 in 2024," wrote an equipment dealer in a long AgTalk debate over whether the market had dried up, "so I wouldn't call it dead."
The hard part isn't finding a baler. It's knowing which of the twenty machines within driving distance is worth the money. This guide pulls together what experienced hay producers actually tell each other on HayTalk and AgTalk — which models are worth stepping up to, what a used baler really costs once you fix it, the side-pull versus inline decision that quietly locks in your whole bale-handling system, and the pre-purchase inspection that separates a bargain from a boat anchor.
New or used: what is still being built
New small square balers still exist, and the lineup has actually moved in the last few years after decades of standing still. John Deere replaced the long-running 348 with the S200, and New Holland brought back the Hayliner name across its small square line. Plunger speed is the headline number on both: the S200 runs 90 strokes per minute and New Holland lists its Hayliner plunger at 93.
Growers noticed how long the previous generation lasted. "JD hasn't changed the 348 in 20-30 years," one northeastern Ohio producer observed, comparing it against the New Holland offering and pointing out that "both are at 90 strokes per minute." An Ontario grower in the same thread flagged the shift: "Deere is bringing a 'new' high capacity baler to the US market (S200)," and noted Kubota moving into the segment as well.
"We sold about 30 small squares in 2022 and 2023, about 15 in 2024...so I wouldn't call it dead."
— c_mayer, Jeffersonville, OH · AgTalk thread 1189847
That said, almost nobody buying their first or second small square baler buys new. A new machine is a five-figure decision on a bale format that usually sells by the piece, and the used inventory is deep. The rest of this guide assumes you are shopping used — which is also where the money is won or lost.
Side-pull vs inline: decide this first
Small square balers come in two layouts, and the choice affects far more than how the tractor tracks.
A side-pull baler (New Holland's whole traditional line, John Deere's 336/346/348, the new S200) hangs out to the right of the tractor. The pickup runs beside you where you can see it, and the windrow never has to pass under the drawbar. New Holland makes exactly that argument for its side-fill design: you can see the pickup, and windrows don't bunch under a low hitch.
An inline baler (Massey Ferguson/Hesston's small square line, among others) tows straight behind the tractor and takes the windrow up the middle. Two things follow. First, the crop makes fewer direction changes on the way into the chamber, which matters in dry alfalfa. Second — and this is the part people learn late — an inline baler tracks straight, which is what most bale accumulators and bale-handling systems want behind them.
"The mistake I made was ... purchasing a brand new side pull when I should have gotten an inline baler because of the accumulator system I use."
— IH 1586, on HayTalk
On leaf retention, growers who have run both are fairly direct about it. "Not hype. Definite difference," one longtime producer wrote about inline balers and leaf loss. "Once you use an inline, it will be highly doubtful you will want to go back to a side pull." Another added the honest caveat that anyone baling alfalfa should hear: "any small square is going to beat the leaves worse than a big square." An inline reduces the damage; it doesn't eliminate it. If leaf retention is the whole business, cutting timing and baling moisture still matter more than baler layout — see our hay moisture tester guide.
The practical rule: if you will ever run a bale accumulator, a Bale Baron or a bandit-style bundler, confirm compatibility before you buy the baler. One dealer in that AgTalk discussion noted that some brands "won't work at all with a Bale Baron or Bale Bandit." That is a very expensive thing to discover in July.
The models hay farmers actually recommend
Ask on any hay forum and the same short list comes back, sorted less by brand loyalty than by capacity class. The dividing line is roughly "pre-1970s light-duty" versus "1970s-and-up production baler."
| Class | Typical models | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Entry / hobby | JD 24T/14T, NH 68/268, MF 9 | A few hundred bales a year, cheap parts, slow going. Fine if your time is free. |
| The sweet spot | JD 336/346, NH 271/273/311/315/316/326 | Wider, better pickups and real capacity. The class most small producers should be shopping. |
| Late-model / commercial | JD 348, NH 570/575, MF/Hesston 1840-class inline | Thousands of bales a season, custom work, accumulator systems. Costs more, keeps up. |
The recurring advice is to skip the bottom rung if you can. "Anything from a 336 on up," one grower wrote, pointing to "better and wider pickups with more teeth." Another was blunt about the value of stepping up a class: "5k should put you into a NH 315 or up. Huge difference in capacity and speed to a 224t."
Two model-specific notes worth knowing. The John Deere 348 changed very little over a very long production run, which is why used ones command strong money — parts and knowledge are everywhere. And New Holland's traditional side-fill layout is a genuine design position the company still markets, not just an accident of history.
What used small square balers cost
Used prices swing hard on condition, region and time of year — a baler in March is a different price than the same baler in June. The ranges below reflect current dealer, auction and classified listings on the major marketplaces such as Machinery Pete and comparable outlets as of mid-2026. Treat them as a sanity check, not a price guide.
| Model | Typical used range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New Holland 273 | $2,000 – $5,000 | Enormous parts availability; knotter know-how is widespread. |
| John Deere 336 | $2,800 – $6,850 | The classic step-up buy. Condition drives the spread more than year. |
| John Deere 346 | $2,300 – $5,000 | Often cheaper than a 336 simply because fewer buyers search for it. |
| Massey Ferguson 124 | $3,500 – $7,000 | Good machines, thinner dealer parts support in some regions. |
| New Holland 570 | $7,500 – $10,000 | Real capacity; a working producer's baler. |
| John Deere 348 | $6,200 – $14,900 | Holds value better than almost anything in the class. |
| New Holland 575 | $14,900 – $17,500 | Approaching new-machine money; inspect accordingly. |
Run the same math you would on any hay purchase: what the machine costs per bale over the years you will own it. If you are deciding whether to own iron at all, our breakdown of custom baling rates and buying hay versus baling your own is the right comparison to make first.
The pre-purchase inspection checklist
This is where the money is. The single most repeated warning on the hay forums is that a small square baler's condition lives in the knotters and the driveline, not in the sheet metal.
"You can paint a good running baler but a good looking broken baler is worthless when the rain is coming."
— Sterling6.7, on HayTalk
A mechanic with a lifetime of baler work in the same thread put it in two words: "Ignore the paint." Then work through this list.
- Make it bale. The best test is the simplest: run hay through it. As one longtime baler mechanic advises, run it in one barn door and out the other if you have to — but see it tie. A seller who won't let you bale is telling you something.
- Ask for the service ticket. If the seller says a shop just went through the knotters, ask them to provide the service ticket. A real invoice names the parts.
- Knotters and needles. Look for worn billhooks, dull or nicked twine knives, weak or missing twine-finger springs, and end play in the knotter stack. Check that the needle safety latch works — that is a safety item, not a nice-to-have.
- Needle-to-plunger timing. Bent needles or sloppy timing means the baler will eventually put a needle into the plunger. Expensive.
- Plunger and knives. Check plunger-head clearance and the shear-bar knife edge. A worn plunger knife makes ragged bale ends and feeds trouble back into the knotters.
- Chains, sprockets and bearings. Hooked sprocket teeth and stretched chain are cheap individually and brutal in aggregate. Spin every bearing you can reach.
- Pickup. Count missing and bent teeth, check the cam track and the auger flighting. More teeth and a wider pickup is exactly the upgrade you are paying for in the mid class.
- Hay dogs. Stuck hay dogs or broken hay-dog springs cause bizarre, hard-to-chase tying problems on an otherwise sound baler.
- Bale chamber and tension rails. Rust pitting and worn rails mean you will fight bale density all season.
- The gearbox and flywheel. Listen for knock. Check the shear-bolt or slip-clutch setup, and whether someone has "fixed" a shear bolt with a grade-8 bolt — a sign of past abuse.
Take the tying test seriously. Missed knots are the number-one in-season headache with small squares, and most causes are visible on a pre-purchase walkaround if you know what to look at. Our companion guide, square baler knotter troubleshooting, walks through diagnosing a miss by what the failed knot looks like — useful before you buy and essential after.
Budget for the baler and the repairs
Nearly every experienced buyer says the same thing: the purchase price is not the price. One veteran put a number on it — if you spend $5,000 on a baler, you had better have another $1,000 to $2,000 available for what it needs. That is not pessimism; it is what a 30-year-old machine costs to make reliable.
A real example from one buyer's season: $1,250 for the baler itself, then a finger bearing, hay dogs and sweep tines on top of it. None of those are catastrophic parts. They add up anyway, and every one of them was found after the machine came home.
Two practical implications. First, buy the better baler when the gap is a thousand dollars — the cheaper machine usually closes that gap in repairs. Second, buy in the off-season. Fixing a knotter in February is an evening in the shop; fixing it in June with rain forecast is a crop.
Match capacity to your acres — not your ego
Bale capacity is measured in plunger strokes per minute and pickup width, and it is genuinely the difference between finishing a field and watching weather roll in. But faster isn't automatically better, and the forums are full of people who learned that the hard way.
"He who makes the most hay isn't making the best..."
— Hayjosh, on HayTalk
Push a small square baler past its comfortable feed rate and you get soft ends, uneven bales, more missed knots and, in alfalfa, more leaf on the ground. Size the machine so that your normal windrow is comfortable at your normal ground speed, then leave headroom for the one heavy first cutting a year. Make sure the tractor matches too — a small square baler asks less than a big round baler, but PTO horsepower and hydraulic capacity still set your ceiling. See tractor horsepower for baling for how to think about the match.
And be honest about labor. Small squares are only cheap if someone stacks them. If you can't reliably get help on a hot afternoon, an accumulator and grapple — or a different bale format — is the real answer, not a faster baler.
Where rounds still make more sense
Plenty of operations run both, and for good reason. Small squares sell into the horse and small-livestock market at a premium per ton and stack in a barn beautifully. Round bales move the tonnage. If you are feeding your own cattle, storing outside, or short on stacking labor, the round baler does the work of a crew.
The storage math is where the two formats really diverge. A small square bale needs a barn; a round bale wrapped tight in quality bale net wrap sheds water and holds its shape outside for a season. That is exactly the trade-off we cover in round vs rectangular bales, and it is why so many producers keep a small square baler for the premium market and a round baler for everything else. If you are shopping both ends, how to buy a used round baler applies the same inspection discipline to the round side, and net wrap vs twine covers why the wrap choice matters once the bale is made.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best small square baler for a small farm?
For most small farms, a well-kept John Deere 336/346 or New Holland 271/273/311/315 hits the sweet spot — real capacity, wide parts availability and prices in the $2,000–$6,000 range. Step up to a 348 or 570/575 only if you are baling thousands of bales a season or running an accumulator system.
How much should I pay for a used small square baler?
Roughly $2,000–$7,000 buys a sound 1970s–1990s side-pull such as a New Holland 273 or John Deere 336, while late-model machines like a John Deere 348 or New Holland 575 run about $7,000–$18,000. Whatever you pay, set aside another $1,000–$2,000 for knotter, chain and bearing work.
Is an inline square baler better than a side-pull?
Inline balers generally handle crop more gently, which shows up as better leaf retention in alfalfa, and they track straight behind the tractor — which most bale accumulators and bundlers prefer. Side-pull balers give you a clear view of the pickup and keep the windrow out from under the drawbar. Decide based on your bale-handling system first.
Are small square balers still being made?
Yes. John Deere now builds the S200, rated at 90 plunger strokes per minute, and New Holland sells its Hayliner small square line with the plunger listed at 93 strokes per minute. Case IH and Massey Ferguson also remain in the segment. Most buyers still shop used, because the used inventory is deep and far cheaper.
What should I check before buying a used square baler?
Run hay through it and watch it tie — that single test finds most problems. Then check knotters and billhooks for wear, twine knives for sharpness, twine-finger springs, needle timing and the needle safety latch, hay dogs, chains and sprockets, pickup teeth and bearings. Ask for a service ticket if the seller claims recent knotter work.
The bottom line
The best small square baler is almost never the cheapest one on the lot. Step up one capacity class from the bottom, pick side-pull or inline based on how you plan to move bales rather than on brand, and inspect the knotters and driveline instead of the paint. Add $1,000–$2,000 to whatever you pay, buy in the off-season, and make the seller show you a tied bale before money changes hands. Do those five things and a thirty-year-old baler will make hay for another decade.
Baling rounds too? XES Netting makes heavy-duty bale net wrap that wraps tight, sheds water and keeps round bales in shape through storage. Not sure which roll size your baler takes? Check the baler size checker. Shop net wrap →
Sources: John Deere, S200 Small Square Baler product page (accessed July 31, 2026); New Holland Agriculture, Hayliner Small Square Balers, North America (accessed July 31, 2026); used-equipment price ranges compiled from Machinery Pete, Fastline and comparable dealer and auction listings (accessed July 31, 2026). Grower quotes from HayTalk.com and newagtalk.com discussion threads, linked above.
Image: "Baling Small Square Bales with Accumulator" by Glendon Kuhns, released under CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
