Horse Power required

   / Horse Power required #1  

nckennedy

Silver Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Messages
134
Location
Camillus, NY, USA
Tractor
JD 5425
We have a small farm with a few beefers and am thinking of getting a NH 477 haybine. Would the JD 970 handle it ok? Its about a 30 HP tractor.
Thanks,
nckennedy
 
   / Horse Power required #2  
Depends on the hay and hills. Heavy hay and or hills I would guess prob. no light hay and flat possable.
 
   / Horse Power required #3  
Depends on the hay and hills. Heavy hay and or hills I would guess prob. no light hay and flat possable.
I'm in agreement that tractor is on the small side. These kinds of mower conditioners are sensitive to ground speed especially with a heavy crop. The reel should only help move the cut crop back to the conditioner rollers. If ground speed is on the slow side and the reel is pulling the crop into the MC, power requirements goes WAY up. If I didn't have my ground speed right the additional load placed on the MC due to the reel trying to pull in the crop, it put a strain on my MF 165. For the fields I was typ cutting, the yield was on the order of 4T/A.

You've not mentioned what kind of baler you're thinking about and for a sq baler, for anything other than a light field, your JD is way too small. Agin with my tractor and a heavy field, it wasn't hard to overload the tractor. (50+ HP)
 
   / Horse Power required
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Thanks so much guys. Really appreciate. I have a nice JD 5425 about 65 HP at the PTO which I think would be nice for bailing, probably larger round bails, but was woundering if I could pull the smaller 7 ft conditioner with a smaller tractor I am thinking of buying for the garden and light field work
Thanks for you help.
nckennedy
 
   / Horse Power required #5  
It actually takes very little hp to run that mower. You can actually run a 479 (9') too. I have the 9 footer and used to run it with a 22 hp Yanmar very easily. You may need some front weights to help you steer, though. I run ine 479 with a 1070, which is the same tractor with a 4 cyl 35 hp motor. I can run it in high gear if the ground is smooth. I run a NH 1012 stackwagon with this machine, too. Now THAT"S fun !
 
   / Horse Power required
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Ok thanks so much. The 970 with 30 HP shoulld do ok.
Thanks,
nckennedy
 
   / Horse Power required #7  
All depends on the crop . In heavy first cut our 12 foot can make 90hp labour .
 
   / Horse Power required
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Wow, really. Thats a lot of tractor to cut grass.
Thanks
 
   / Horse Power required #9  
I am thinking your 970 just might handle that 7' haybine in most conditions as long as we are not talking super-fertilized type yields of drastic height.

Glad ZZVYB6 already chimed in. The JD 970 and even more so the JD 1070 were large and heavy as far as compact tractors go. Actually the 1070 is real close to be being a full fledged utility tractor so that bodes well for yah.

My Hesston 1120 mower conditioner (equivalent to a 9' haybine) manual calls for 30 hp minimum per factory manual specs. That said it is heavy with an insane amount of tongue weight. I pull it with either a JD model A tractor 33 hp or a Farmall h at 26 hp. I can see the drawbar flex when I hitch up on either tractor. If I had a 7' model I would be willing to try it on my little Kubota L285 which I use to bale hay with (my Kubota is slightly bigger than a JD 870 but slightly small than your JD 970). Another thing to remember is the side draft of the haybine since you are pulling it from the side instead of the center of it can be surprising. That said I would not be too afraid of a 7' on flat ground in average yielding hay.
 
   / Horse Power required #10  
If you have a JD 5425 by all means use that instead. Based on hp requirements alone your 970 might pull a small mower conditioner but it will be a miserable experience compared to the bigger utility tractor. Granted a 477 NH isn't quite as big, but I tried to just move our 1219 Deere mower-condtioner out of the shed with my Ford NAA and it bent the drawbar it had so much tongue weight. To further the problem to actually mow with one you need to use either an equal angle hitch (JD) or have the drawbar pulled all the way out to proper PTO length specs (NH). I think between the tongue weight, overall weight, and marginal hp available it'd be a good way to tear up a nice compact tractor. You'll get a lot more hay mowed per hour with the 5425.
 
 
Top