Tractor for cutting hay and brush.

[Briana03]

Welcome to TBN

I moved your thread to the Buying/Pricing/Comparisons forum.

[bensfarmingchannel]

hi, welcome to TBN
i use a 16hp yanmar to cut my 3 acre hay field using a 7 ft sickle mower, a vicon acrobat to turn and rake. or a vicon pto hayrake to turn and rake. then i use a mf baler. the 16hp does struggle a bit with the baler but it seems to work fine. i know many people say that <30 hp wont pull a baler but i could so well... point made

[RPW]

Welcome to the board. You've bit off a big chunch of information. I'm just getting into haying myself. Here's my 2 cents worth. Read, Read, READ I'd suggest that you sit down and start with a piece of blank paper and ask yourself some very important questions. Why do I want to make hay? What am I going to feed this hay to or am I going to just sell it? What is the market around me like? Do I want to make a profit if selling? What time frame am I looking at? What external resources do I have?

These are some tough questions to answer but it will help "you" decide what machinery you'll need. You can get by like bensfarmingchannel is doing and you can be successful or if your pockets are deep then you can go all out and spend $100+ grand on new equipment etc.

Now for some basic recommendations based on what I'm learning. Tractor weight is your friend. A good solid heavy tractor (within reason). As you are new and I don't know your mechanical ablity a good field ready baler (square or round). New balers are $$$. You'll need a cutter (disc, drum, sickle). A rake/tedder. A method to remove the baled hay out of the field. Rounds are easier to move. If doing square you'll need to store in a properly covered ventilated area. A good sprayer for herbicide/insecticide etc. A method to seed grass.

This is not to scare you off but there is a lot to consider.

Now for some numbers based on what I'm doing
Tractor 50+ HP 2wd/4wd depending on terrain. If I had it to do over I'd have gone with a 70+HP tractor.
Round baler. 5x5 bales can be done with a 50HP but more is better.
Side bar rake (I just prefer them).
Mower, sickle requires the least HP, disc the most.
Sprayer, probably around 100gal.
Disc, the larger the better and heavier.
Other attachments as necessary.

And lastly TIME and PATIENCE as you're working with the weather etc. And don't expect to do this in one year. Figure at about 3 to 5 years before you really see your results.

Good luck.

[Turbys_1700]

I guess my biggest question is what is your budget?
Personally, I would opt out for some older well seasoned tractor to get something in the 50 to 60 HP range...
Weight is your friend with either round or square baler...
Just as an example, you can find D-17 AC's for 2K to 5K...
That is a lot of tractor for the money...
Or a 4000/5000 Ford series comes to mind...
Just food for thought....

[bigbull338]

depending on what you want to spend you can cut hay with a MX5100 or a 6040.both will pull a cutter rake an baler.with those tractor sizes a 4 by 5 would be best.

[deadmoose]

Haying *can* be done with a larger CUT. But the tractor wont like it. Been there done that. Look for a decent sized 45+ PTO hp Utility tractor with enough weight to pull the kind of baler you are looking at. For a one tractor operation depending on amount of tillage or lack of done, the baler will require the biggest weight and HP to pull.

I started (already had Kubota L3400) looking into haying and bought a 7" haybine, rolabar rake, and a Hesston 5530 rounder (smallest one I could find). The little Kubota worked hard but got the job done. Next year I will have the same hay equipment and double the tractor. Maybe the year after that I will start upsizing my haying equipment. The nice thing about what I bought is that it doesn't have much to depreciate as far as the equipment is concerned. It has all taught me a lot that I just had to learn with experience. Good luck.