hay making

   / hay making #2  
I might this summer. Not alfalfa, though. I have a friend who has horses and he said he feeds them grass. I have about an acre of timothy grass, at least I think that’s what it is (it gets over 5’ tall), growing on my property and told him he could have it if wants it. I have a sickle bar mower, so I could mow it down, then he'll have to make arrangements to get it baled up. First I need to bush hog it down though, since it’s been a couple of years and it’s full of tree seedlings and thorns. If it ever stops raining, I’ll get that done and then let it grow and cut it down later this summer.
 
   / hay making #3  
What would you like to know? It can be done with a compact if it's big enough and you have alot of time.
 
   / hay making #4  
DAN: so your the guy sending all that rain our way?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif been very wet here this spring also, ground never gets a chance to dry out, i have standing water all over, and nothing but rain showers and thunderstorms for the next 5 days.
 
   / hay making
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Well, I have a 27 hp Cub Cadet and want to know what people would recommend as far as haying equipment goes. And no I can't afford a 15,000 dollar Carver mini baler!!! ( [censored], I wish I could though Steve!)

Jerry in Pa
 
   / hay making #6  
Last year I did one cutting on maybe seven acres using an L3710, a 3 pt sickle bar, NH 276 rake and a
NH 311 baler. On the hills and uneven fields the tractor is more maneuverable than a larger tractor.

I like the hydrostatic transmission which lets you vary ground speed and still keep RPMs up while baling so if a windrow is uneven you can ease into it to slow the feed or speed up if the windrow is light. This year I'll do at least five additional acres and maybe another five if I get them in decent shape in the next month.
 
   / hay making #7  
Personally I don't think there's anyway possible that you can cut and bale hay with a 27hp tractor. I think it would just tear that little tractor up trying to run a full-size baler. I have a jd 4600 and when I run the baler on it it throws the tractor around pretty good. My old NH baler, which is small, the tractor can pull it too but again it's a chore for it. You could probably pull a 6' sickle mower with that tractor but you really should run a crimper over it after that. The rake you should have little problem running IF you can find one of the small ones, 6' or less. If you want to get a regular baler though I don't see anyway possible you could run one with that tractor.
 
   / hay making #8  
This is going to be my first year haying, and after doing considerable research, I learned that, as Richard said, the limiting factor is the baler. If you run a full sized baler, a compact tractor is way too small. In addition, a mower conditioner is the best way to cut hay, and a compact probably wouldn't run that either. I'm going to try my first harvest with a sickle bar mower (unless I find a moco cheap), but eventually I intend to get a moco. I just bought an Oliver 1550 for haying. It's 55 hp at the pto, and should be just enough to run everything.
 
   / hay making #9  
You should be able to cut and rake the hay. However, for most balers you need 35 hp. You could put it up loose like they did before balers. My great uncle, when I was a kid, did all his hay loose. He had a loader that pulled be hind the wagon and lifted the hay up. Then a couple of guys on the wagon distributed the hay with pitch forks. He used system of ropes and forks to get in the hay maw (sp). These were common in the 50's but you see them any more. For small acreage, you could pitch fork the hay onto awagon, trailer, sled. I still remember one lneihbor using hay stacks. I would assume lost would be similar to todays big round bales. The stack needs to be rounded on top to shed rain. In antique stores you can still come across hay saws used to cut chunks out of the stack for feeding.

A lot of labor, but doable.

Larry

Larry
 
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