Small tractor hay baling???

ahoude · Jun 30, 2006

I'm thinking of doing some small scale farming in my property in MI. I have about 6 acres to play with. I think I want about 4 acres of hay. I anticpate buying a 30 HP CT for FEL work, mowing, ect. My question is would a 30 HP tractor (24 PTO HP) be enough to to operate a small square baler. The other 2 or so acres (of my 17) would be pumpkins or gourds for a roadside stand. Is this a reasonable consideration or just another craze idea of mine. Any input would be a help.

Farmwithjunk · Jun 30, 2006

This has been a hot topic over the years. Back in the day, people would use 9N/2N/8N Fords, Ferguson 20's and 30's, smaller IH tractors, all sorts of smallish tractors to bale with. It worked, just slow and slower.

Those tractors were built with a little (very little though) more beef in the drivetrain than most modern day compacts. (Didn't say ALL compacts)

A baler will slug the life out of a tractor if it isn't built substantial enough.

I've baled with 45 HP tractors and 60 HP tractor until last year. The 45 HP was barely enough sometimes. 60 wasn't over-kill.

ahoude · Jun 30, 2006

Slow isnt too much of a problem. Only 4 acres or so of hay and I have a fair amount of time available to do something like this. I just dont want to kill a new tractor in a few years. I'd probably find a horse farmer to sell most of it to just to make a few bucks and keep myself in toys!! Better to find out its not a good idea now than after I spend money on a baler I cant use.

Bob_Skurka · Jun 30, 2006

There are some new bailers that have come onto the market within the last decade that are designed for use with smaller/lower horsepower tractors. The CK30 would be plenty of tractor to run some of the newer equipment designed for compact tractors.

http://www.tractorconnection.com/Hay Hay Hay.html

ahoude · Jun 30, 2006

Never seen a small round baler like that before. I was thinking of an old square baler just because I dont want to put big $ into something I'm not going to make alot of money doing. My brother in law and I have been talking about getting a few beef cows and thought some supplemental hay feed would help. Whatever we didn't use, I could sell to help pay for equipment.

Doc_Bob · Jun 30, 2006

ahoude said:
I'm thinking of doing some small scale farming in my property in MI. I have about 6 acres to play with. I think I want about 4 acres of hay. I anticpate buying a 30 HP CT for FEL work, mowing, ect. My question is would a 30 HP tractor (24 PTO HP) be enough to to operate a small square baler. The other 2 or so acres (of my 17) would be pumpkins or gourds for a roadside stand. Is this a reasonable consideration or just another craze idea of mine. Any input would be a help.

My friend with a 2005 NH TC40DA (40 HP) tried running a square baler (details unknown about baler) and said never again, as he could pull it, but the weight of the baler jerked him all over the place. He said he will never do it again.
Bob

JoshJ · Jul 1, 2006

We used to bale with an 80 HP Ford, never used the 50 ish horse Ford for baling for the reasons Doc Bob gives, more jerking with a smaller tractor.

Instead of all the aggravation of maintaining a baler (a headache in itself sometimes) and getting thrown around on your tractor, why not hire it out to a local farmer or strike a deal where he gets a certain % of the bales?

7864 · Jul 1, 2006

Baling hay with too small a tractor is very hard on the tractor,especially todays small displacement(cubic inch) compacts.The balers rotating and reciprocating parts have a lot of mass to them and will overwelm the drivetrain.What can happen is the tractors engine RPMs will fluctuate (noticably with each plunger stroke).Ideally what you want is a tractor with a large enough engine (both horsepower and displacment)to run the baler smoothly.Older tractors generally had large, heavy engines relative to their horspower ratings and ran balers much better than what their horspower rating would suggest.Compacts are great for a lot of reasons but it isnt totally about horspower(at least when it comes to baling).Use enough tractor.

rdbigfarmboy · Jul 1, 2006

I have used the Ford 3000 and MF 135 baling square bales. Both are in the 35 -40 hp and 4000# range. The baler does give some lunge on the packing stroke but I never thought much about it. My chinese foton 40 hp is much heavier that either of those. About 25- 30 pto hp is as low as I would go. Low hp just slow you down or chokes off.

ahoude · Jul 2, 2006

Thanks everyone for the replys. Gives me alot to think about. The main reason for a CT is portability. I need to be able to tow this tractor frequently and over long distances and my truck can only tow 5500 lbs. I wish I could get a new diesel truck, but I cant now. Tractor will mow about 4 acres, brush hog 5-6 a few times a year and plant misc hunting plots. It seems I may be better off paying someone to bale it or borrowing a larger tractor for the baling. Thanks to all who replied.

Small tractor hay baling???

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