Absolutely new to haying, need some advise

[powerscol]

Hey guys, again, thank you for your responses. I am not likely to be throwing 50 - 60 lb bales of hay at my age. I did that as a youngster and didn't care for it then. That said, my SIL and grandson may opt to go that way. They will be selling the hay as they have no stock at this time. I suspect that will come later. My part in this will be to loan them my tractor (New Holland TN70D) and then sit back and watch the fun.

From your responses it appears that the minimum equipment they will have to acquire will be some kind of mower and a rake. This assumes that they will hire someone to bale it for them. i have looked at the sicklebar mowers and was surprised to see that even those were in the 3k range. I haven't even started to price rakes yet.

At this point, their plan is to cut and bale what is in the field now (kline grass and weeds) and try and sell that as cow feed. Even if they can't sell it, it will be good experience for them.

Tim

To solve the bale handling problem you need one of these. Specialty Grabbers | Kuhns Mfg LLC | North Bloomfield, OH
I have the 205 model on my tractor and it makes quick work of gathering, stacking and loading folks out. Its rare I need to man handle a bale now.

 

[keljan11]

Hey there tmc_31, so I got into haying because my dad had a mare that was becoming too much to look after at the age of 85. I had the room, and the land available to put up the hay. Long story short, we worked up the land, seeded it, and had the neighbor cut and bale it. We split the hay to pay him. The next year i found an old MF #9 baler for $500. I already had the tractor. He cut it for me the second year and I baled it. (That was a learning experience as it needed a lot of going over. That year I found a NH 489 swather in pretty good shape, for $2000. Also a sundial rake for $250. It all worked okay until the rake blew up, so found a belt rake for $1500, which woked fantastic. A few years later i found a NH 273 baler for $2000. This is up in BC Canada.
So for around $6000 I can cut/rake/bale it, all said and done. Like I mentioned, It is definately a learning curve, considering weather conditions (rain), when to cut, how dry the hay is to bale after raking, baling the hay, etc. Then the work starts, loading it on the trailer to store in the hay shed by hand, and I'm turning 62 this year. Thats not old, but I'm worn out, (knees).
Its all fun and games till it either looks like rain, or something breaks, which is why I kept the first baler.
Wish you all good luck

 

[Maineuropa]

Hi all, At the risk of hijacking this thread: I am finally getting into mowing and baling my own farm after 8-10 years of having someone hay it for me. I picked up a 7 foot sickle bar mower for my 955 Deere, and a used 7 foot McCormick side rake. I have put up pix of the siderake: can anyone identify its model/vintage? What is the history of all these hay manufacturers? It looks like the hayrake teeth are identical to the New Holland 56/256 rake.. would any other parts work interchangably?

 

[keljan11]

Hi Maineuropa,
My only suggestion about older used equipment is to confirm, from your local farm equipment supplier, if parts are available for said equipment before purchasing. I once bought a Kverneland belt rake that looked in good condition. Loved it, worked fantastic for my needs. It was made in 1998 so thought parts would be easy to get being only 20 yrs. old, and then it broke. Guess what.... No such luck. I've been looking for a parts machine but none in my area.

Also, older machines need to be operated with care. If something breaks with hay down, its an issue, unless you have back up equipment, or a neighbor who isn't using his at the same time.

Good luck, it can be good, or frustrating. Just depends on how things go.

 

[om21braz]

Also, older machines need to be operated with care. If something breaks with hay down, its an issue, unless you have back up equipment, or a neighbor who isn't using his at the same time.

Good luck, it can be good, or frustrating. Just depends on how things go.

+1 On that. I have a good friend that tends probably 100 acres total. I helped him rebuild a rusted out disc mower where the roller had broken out the end bearing plate. Fortunately it was at end of season and wound up a wintertime job. Not something one would want to repair in the spring. Keeping things clean and maintained will make a big difference.

 

[Carl_NH]

Hi all, At the risk of hijacking this thread: I am finally getting into mowing and baling my own farm after 8-10 years of having someone hay it for me. I picked up a 7 foot sickle bar mower for my 955 Deere, and a used 7 foot McCormick side rake. I have put up pix of the siderake: can anyone identify its model/vintage? What is the history of all these hay manufacturers? It looks like the hayrake teeth are identical to the New Holland 56/256 rake.. would any other parts work interchangably? View attachment 606719View attachment 606718View attachment 606720

Those colors are New Holland and vintage late 60's- so its a NH rake I believe. McCormick was bought by IH International Harvester as I recall.

We had a McCormick steel wheel rake that I broke the inner drive gear raking, so dad got the parts I and fixed when I was 11 years old then back to work. We upgraded to a used NH rake like that one, and from a 14T baler that dropped them on the ground to a 24T that threw them in the wagon. We did 2000 bales a year on average.

Good luck in your haying adventure!

 

[CobyRupert]

Those colors are New Holland and vintage late 60's- so its a NH rake I believe. McCormick was bought by IH International Harvester as I recall.

We had a McCormick steel wheel rake that I broke the inner drive gear raking, so dad got the parts I and fixed when I was 11 years old then back to work. We upgraded to a used NH rake like that one, and from a 14T baler that dropped them on the ground to a 24T that threw them in the wagon. We did 2000 bales a year on average.

Good luck in your haying adventure!

The colors look like New Holland, but something looks funky about the gear box.
Looks like I-H McCormick International had a rake like that. But can’t tell what color it was from the old black and white manual.
IH International Harvester McCormick No 14 Side Delivery Hay Rake Farmall Cub | eBay
I thought I-H’s and McCormicks were red, don’t know where the yellow came from.

 

[westcliffe01]

For a rake / tedder, get a rotary tedder like this TX11� Two Rotor Tedder by Terra Tractor Tools Direct

For cutting, look at drum mowers. Ranch Rite 65" Drum Mower They can cut fast without needing a high HP tractor. Flail type mowers use a lot of HP and fuel and thrash your product to pieces so reducing your yield by turning the hay into dust. The blades (on the drum mower) are also small and cheap and easy to replace when you hit a rock that was popped out the ground by the last seasons frost...

I just sold my Hesston 4x4 round baler. I bought it in near new condition for $7500 and used it for 2-3 years to learn about hay making and finally sold it for $5500 to the new owner. The key thing with a round baler is to realize that a full bale of dry hay is a big fuel load and to always carry a fire extinguisher or 2 and keep the hay dust off it every day in season. The most dangerous operations feature with my baler was starting the bale. If you get started too quick on a windrow and plug the intake, the square feed shaft will rub against the plugged up hay and will ignite it in a pretty short time. The first time one sees your baler nearly go up in smoke, you quickly adapt and pay very careful attention when starting a new bale and watch the intake carefully to make sure the material is moving. Once thebale reached 10-12" in diameter, the belts have a good grip on it by then and feeding is a non issue.

I personally will never get into square baling of the 60lb variety. Horse people love those bales, but unless you invest in an accumulator to tow behind your baler and a grapple to match the accumulator, all you will get out the deal is a bunch of medical bills for joint injuries and pain medication..... Not to mention that I find the square balers to be one of the most terrifying thrashing pieces of machinery made by man and if you ever shear a pin and get it out of time, bad things can happen really quick involving a lot of expensive parts, not least in the knotting system. Just pick up a piece of oak limb that decides to fall off in your windrow and try to bale that....

I spent several years helping with haying activities on a sheep/horse farm in SE Michigan and other than anything I bought, everything was made prior to 1960. Every day that you took any of that equipment out in the field, you had no idea whether it was going to work properly or not. Everything has an economic life limit and pretty much all of that equipment was past its due date by about 2 generations.....

Actually, my son in law and grandson want to try haying. They have a 60 acre field and a 18 acre field available to them for this grand experiment. They are going to have to acquire some equipment to get started. I was wondering if anyone uses a shredder (rotary cutter) for cutting hay. I have never heard of anyone around here doing it but why not. It looks to me like a fellow could cut it with a shredder then windrow it with a rake.

Tim

 

[Turbys_1700]

I like those drum mowers. My only concern would be no local support. They are very simple and have been used in Europe for years. That company had a nice Italian designed mower that had horizontal bars on the drum that would crimp your hay and spread it better than the older designs, however they no longer carry them. I wonder how good parts support is? Never really caught on in big numbers here.

Around here you can get an old New Holland haybine that is in good condition for 1K-2K and a roller bar rake for the same. Add a New Holland square baler and you are good to go. Parts support is for the most part a non issue on the red machinery.

 

[bazman82]

I personally will never get into square baling of the 60lb variety. Horse people love those bales, but unless you invest in an accumulator to tow behind your baler and a grapple to match the accumulator, all you will get out the deal is a bunch of medical bills for joint injuries and pain medication..... Not to mention that I find the square balers to be one of the most terrifying thrashing pieces of machinery made by man and if you ever shear a pin and get it out of time, bad things can happen really quick involving a lot of expensive parts, not least in the knotting system. Just pick up a piece of oak limb that decides to fall off in your windrow and try to bale that....

I spent several years helping with haying activities on a sheep/horse farm in SE Michigan and other than anything I bought, everything was made prior to 1960. Every day that you took any of that equipment out in the field, you had no idea whether it was going to work properly or not. Everything has an economic life limit and pretty much all of that equipment was past its due date by about 2 generations.....

If one is not planning to sell the square bales then why make them heavy for yourself to handle? I do about 1200 to 1600 square bales a year but I only make them about 30-40lb bales. We started doing this awhile back because of the help available to stack the hay has mostly been ladies or teens. I realize we are using a bit more string but it sure saves on the body when your tossing them up to be stacked in the barn. I have a kicker on the baler so the field work isn't an issue other than the baler being from the early 70's I think.

Old equipment is still very useful and if properly maintained can be run with little issue. My tractor is from the early 80's, the baler from the 70's, and my haybine is a late 60's early 70's model. I do however have 2 haybines, a NH 479 and NH 469. I purchased the 479 for around 1200 and the 469 I got for a steal at 400 bucks and was basically field ready. Needed some new teeth on the bar and a cylinder to lift it up. I start the hay season by getting both machines ready and use only one and if something happens I switch to finish up. Then I work on the down haybine and get it ready for the next time. This system works well for me. I do have a round baler as well so if I am ever square baling and something happens I'll just switch to round bales if the problem cant be fixed right away.

To comment on the OP, unless you are willing to spend a bit more money on equipment, it may be best to pay someone this year to do the field work and to start looking now for equipment for next year. It only took me a few years to acquire the equipment I have but I have family that can go to auctions for me while I work and bid on things. Haybines and racks are easily picked up for around 1 - 2k at most auctions around me and are usually field ready at those prices. Square balers I see on craiglist all the time for around 2-3k for good working balers. Round balers are usually the most expensive purchase other than a tractor. If you guys are decent with troubleshooting or can turn a wrench, then you may want to look at used and look at local auctions in your area.