Used hay equipment

[40Kchicks]

Hay season is just around the corner. This spring I bought a Kubota M9000 to use on my poultry farm. It has 90hp gross and 80hp on the pto so I would like to also use it to mow and hay my upper pasture (~20ac). I was wondering if some of the older hay equipment is worth anything or is it just junk that will be more of a hassle than its worth. An example would be a baler for less than 1k and a mower conditioner also for less and 1k. I really haven’t started shopping yet so I’m not that informed but I want to be before heading out. Again remember this is for taking care of my own property. A slower rig would work fine if the price was right. But at the same time I don’t want to buy a piece of junk that will just get replaced and end up costing more in the end. I will have to wait awhile to save up for the newer stuff if I find that’s the better way. If these prices are to cheap to get anything worth having what would be the minimum price I could expect to find a baler and mower/conditioner worth having.
Thanks Eric

 

[looch]

Inexpensive, used hay equipment can certainly test one's patience. If you're good with such things (and your profile indicates to met that you are) you may find you can get by with older used stuff.

Around here, a decent (square) baler will run about 3-5K (Canadian funds) and a moco about the same, maybe a little less.

 

[Bird]

My limited experience has been that haying equipment is both expensive to buy and high maintenance. I agree with pbenven. If you shop around long enough, you might find a real bargain, but I'm inclined to think you'll have to triple your estimates if you want to spend more time using it than working on it. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

I agree with the wise ones. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif You need to be thinking $3-5k for minimum for a good square baler. Around 7-10k for a good round baler and at least $3k or better for an even somewhat decent mower conditioner. Now if you're a GREAT mechanic and like messing with the stuff you can get things cheaper and fix them. But heck even buying NEW you have alot of problems. Haying equipment is a pain at best and a nightmare at worst.

 

[cowboydoc]

Just as an aside I would have taken the money you put into that new 9000 and put that into new hay equipment and then bought an older hp of the same range tractor. Tractors are alot easier to fix and figure out than haying equipment for sure!!!

 

[40Kchicks]

Cowboydoc
You make a very good point. The truth is that chickens pay the tractor payment. So far I haven't made anything on the cows or hay (Second year of raising cow/calf pairs). Last year I spent about $350 on hay and I still have ~20% left. So the hay equipment isn't a need it’s a want. I needed a tractor with about 60hp on the pto, low profile kit and 4wd to clean out barns. I have seen some but not any I was interested in. Buying new I was able to get exactly what needed. Actually I got much more.

I was suspecting that some experienced users would tell me I was being too cheap. That’s why I'm asking so I don't have to go through the trouble and expense of buying and running inadequate equipment. I appreciate the experience we get to tap into with this forum.

Sounds like it would be better to find someone to bale it this year. If that doesn’t work out should I just mow it then let the cows in the pasture or just let the cows have at it like it stands?
Eric

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Don't mow it & then turn the cattle in. Let it standing. If you have anywhere near 40% or more legumes (alfalfa, clover, etc.) in it, know what you are doing before turning the cattle into green pastures.

There is a lot, lot, lot of info in the archives of www.ytmag.com. Check the 'implements; section. Hate to repeat it all, when it's sitting there waiting for you. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

--->Paul

 

[RichZ]

Now, I'm just a neophyte when it comes to haying, and I consider Cowboydoc an expert and I've learned a lot from him. But one thing he said, I think, actually makes somewhat of a case for buying used haying equipment. That statement was something to the effect that even new haying equipment is difficult to work on.

What I know about haying, I've learned on-line, and from the my full time farmer friends. I've learned that balers are almost mythical beasts, and knot tying is somewhat of a miracle. Balers break down. Granted (hopefully) new balers break down less, but they still break down. My farmer friends told me, that if you get a GOOD used baler, you'll be OK if you can work on it yourself OR if you have a good reasonable priced farm mechanic. Luckily, I have the second. I'm not much of a mechanic, and as I said, balers are mythical beasts, and hard to understand. My used baler is over 20 years old, but so far, I only needed it worked on once, when I first got it. I probably do about as much baling as you intend to. I just bale 20 - 50 acres at a cutting, just cutting a few acres at a time. So far, I've only used an old sickle bar mower for cutting, and let me tell you, sickle bar mowers are slow!!! If you go fast, you'll have no end of troubles, but the good thing is that they're so simple, even I can usually figure out what's wrong, and get it going. Sometime this year, if I have any money left over form our house and barn renovation, I'm hoping to move up to a used moco for cutting.

My point, after, all that rambling, is that you can do the job with used equipment, if you're willing to put up with a little extra grief. But if you're not haying for a living, you CAN make do.

Of course, if I ever win the lottery, I'm gonna call my friend Cowboydoc, and ask his advice for what new haying equipment to buy, and really do it right. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif But until then, I manage with the old stuff!

 

[cowboydoc]

I'd run the cows on it. Or you can wait until after the first frost and then turn them loose on it if it's tall. I sure wouldn't mow it.

 

[cowboydoc]

Rich is right. If you have the patience and the time you can certainly make do with older equipment. The problem comes when you have hay down, rain is coming, and your 20 year old baler breaks down and you can't find parts. The one thing about the new or at least newer stuff is parts are usually readily available, another reason I buy john deere, and there are alot of good mechanics that know how to work on them. Before I could afford good equipment I had a few crops ruined because I couldn't find parts or couldn't get older equipment going.