JOHN DEERE 5m SERIES

Welcome to TBN.

I took delivery of my 5105M in August of 2011. I now have about 250 hrs on it. I agree with what others have said: controls are well placed, 540E is fuel saver, adjustable modulator valve for tranny is nice, manuevers in tight spot very well, plenty of hp for haying and chores, air condition will run you out of cab, but my favorite options is the 32/16 Plus tranny, air ride seat and remote fender mounted 3pt switch.

I have had two issues at about 100 hrs: hydaulic line fitting leak and had to have the remote SUV spooler valve assembly replaced. All done by my dealer at no charge.
The only design flaw I have issue with is the inside cab rear view mirror is positioned so that you can't see very far behind you.

Bottom line, I have no regrets and am very happy with my "M".

I like my M as well but I need to find some summer work for it. Not much field work here. I've been looking at used tillage equipment. Probably could make something with a square baling operation. Most have gone to round but the horse folks still like the square. Labor intensive so I probably wont go that direction. Highway mowing I don't know anything about. Probably trash my good tires and they are big bucks so can't see myself going there.

I also dont have a way to haul it at the moment so I may just give up and save it for winter. I was also looking at forest mulchers for field logging road/trail renovation but huge investment and woods work beats the crap out of equipment. I could see myself doing road boom mowing perhaps but most towns around here have machines. Must be the winter, but I'm seeing the glass half empty at the moment.

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Originally Posted by Greenpto35

I like my M as well but I need to find some summer work for it. Not much field work here. I've been looking at used tillage equipment. Probably could make something with a square baling operation. Most have gone to round but the horse folks still like the square. Labor intensive so I probably wont go that direction. Highway mowing I don't know anything about. Probably trash my good tires and they are big bucks so can't see myself going there.

I also dont have a way to haul it at the moment so I may just give up and save it for winter. I was also looking at forest mulchers for field logging road/trail renovation but huge investment and woods work beats the crap out of equipment. I could see myself doing road boom mowing perhaps but most towns around here have machines. Must be the winter, but I'm seeing the glass half empty at the moment.

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You can minimize the need for extra labor with small squares.... but, at a cost! General approach is to go with an accumulator (Hoeschler, Kuhn Manufacturing, Steffen) and a bale grabber and a couple of trailers. I mention trailers; 'cause folk's have a way of not showing up at the field for you to load their trailers on time - or not at all!

Of course, then you're faced with either tarping the loads or unloading them. That can mean another tractor with grabber and a big hay shed...

It can get pretty expensive --- pretty fast --- for a "summer" fill-in job! :laughing:

AKfish

AKfish, there are quite a few small acreage owners that want square bales from their fields. Most are 5- 15 acres. The round bale industry is pretty saturated. And no one wants to mess with the small stuff. The small livestock owners don't mess with the large rd bales. I've been told that you can make a premium with the small fields. Though I have no actual experience, I haven't seen a real efficient way to do square. It seems like a lot of material handling vs just cutting and processing into bales. And like snow plowing, you can't be everywhere at once. Those weather window's of opportunity to cut and bale may mean the difference between sink or swim I imagine. Just thinking aloud.

Mostly the old-timers would go around with the old equipment but now they are getting scarce. I don't really want to deal with old equip. That was/is probably the cheapest way. I guess that is why no one wants to do it now. I only have the two tractors. A 38hp JD1070 and the Deere 5115M. Both have loaders. I am not good at depending on a lot of laborers but i know it is not a one man job either. If I could make money at it, with one other dedicated person I would do it. Probably a fools game... but I have no idea. Looking at smallest round bale systems too though they are still pretty heavy bales for farm help to manhandle.

Much would depend upon the kind of arrangement's you could work out with the landowner's. If you're doing "custom harvesting" i.e the farmer desires to keep all of the bales versus you "renting" the hay ground and being responsible for storing, selling, etc. the hay.

Custom work would not necessarily require the same equipment investment as renting.

The tractor's you've got would certainly do the job. The 1070 could manage an 8-bale grabber and/or a bale spike for round bales. And the 115M is definitely up to the task of handling all of the current slate of square balers as well as most round balers on the market.

The 1070 would also be a great raking and tedding tractor!

AKfish

Thanks AKfish, I've been looking at the accumulators since your last post. Again, I don't know the industry or what is the norm for these parts. I assume most want the hay cut to maintain their fields and have use for part or all of the bales and I would be paid per bale or per acre. If I need storage than I probably am out of luck at this point in time. I think we have an import situation down here where we do get a lot of square bale from canada. I am going to check on it. I see alot of supposedly quality square bales still available on Craigslist for New England but that may not be a good indicator. Between $3. and $5. US for a small square bale. Landowners that do not want to utilize the hay would I imagine go to a large rd baler for speed and efficiency since they don't intend to store it inside but I dont know. I'm interested what the investment would be so I am going to talk around to see what the demand is really like. So custom harvesting is what I would be interested in.

I've had a 5085M for two years. I'm more of a weekend warrior than a farmer (150 hours in a year and a half). I made the mistake of getting 2WD instead of 4WD and the tractor gets tossed around by the 15-foot HX7 cutter. I like the tractor though. Fuel economy is good. With different terrain and equipment, it would be great.

I have a 5115M and have had it for about a week, so far I have pulled fences with it, disc with it, harrowed with it, hauled water, moved trailers and graded my driveway with it. It has handled all of it with so much ease it felt like it was asking for more work. The air ride seat is very comfy and makes what used to be long rough days go smooth. Controls are easy to use and well placed, I got the 16/16 transmission and so far it has worked out for me, as others have said it can take some getting used to with the forward/reverse lever but it is user friendly, blow a shift or do something wrong and it will just go into neutral and you have to re put it into gear. I wish I had the knob to select how aggressive the forward/reverse activates cause going to reverse can be a little aggressive if your not using the clutch (especially since reverse is faster.) the air conditioning is really nice and keeps me cool even on the hottest days and the heater keeps me nice and warm on those cool mornings. Lighting at night is awesome, lights the area up like daytime (I am thinking about the HID upgrade kit.) I haven't used the PTO yet but will be getting some mowing time very soon (I have the 540/540E/1000 PTO so all aspects are covered.) as you can see nothing bad for me to comment on as of yet and I have 20 hrs put into it. I spend more time in it than I do in my house (I always say I'll be in my office, lol.)

Corey.

I read this thread with interest as I am looking for a tractor in this range size, etc. I did the on line build and the price just about made me fall of my chair. Are those prices in line with what the units are actually selling for?

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Originally Posted by Slippy

I read this thread with interest as I am looking for a tractor in this range size, etc. I did the on line build and the price just about made me fall of my chair. Are those prices in line with what the units are actually selling for?

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If I paid full price for everything I would be looking at $114,000