Haying Equipment needs 101

[riptides]

Robert,

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Let us know what your plans are and hopefully we can clear some things up for you )</font>

Well, the plan is grow my own, then get to work and sell it to those that need it. I have the acreage to do that. I want to find the time.

I am looking towards the future with equipment purchases in my mind. I see the need for hay in this area.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[riptides]

Charolais,

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Since you're in Va. ... I have one suggestion to add here. You might want to use a rotary rake. )</font>

Agree, most people I have helped and noticed over the past years have rotary equipment. And with the climate we have enjoyed in the commonwealth, it looks to be a must have piece.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[riptides]

Keith,

Thanks for the information. I am on the link. I think your post is informative and what caught me was the keywords -
low maintenance.

To all,
I am hoping with newer equipment this low maintenance holds true.

Thanks.
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

If your plan is to market it then you will want newer equipment. You can not risk break downs while you have hay on the ground. You can get by with an older mower and rake to get started but buy the best baler you can afford. If your mower breaks down you can still bale what is on the ground but if your baler breaks down you are SOL. I have the luxury to have 3 balers at my disposal. So far I have only ever needed one but I did have a problem last year where I was waiting for a part to get the baler back together. Rain was not forecasted and the hay was for cows so it was not too vital (I did buy an extra part though in case it ever happened again).

Two tractors are better then one, raking with most rakes does not take a lot of hp and the lighter the tractor the better as it does not compact as much. The only time a small tractor comes into play is if you have a heavy windrow you are straddling, the hay will catch on the tractor and will be annoying as it makes clumps in the windrow the baler will pick up. If you can afford it, buy a Good 60 pto hp tractor (2wd will be fine as you don't usually need FWA to hay and if you do /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif), a good baler and a decent cutter and rake. The better the equipment the more fun you will have. If you are always working on your equipment you will not care for haying very much.

As for one of your questions, a discbine cuts the hay and lays it in a swath. A 9' discbine will lay a 6-7' swath. You can tighten them down into a very tight windrow if you want but it depends on your fields. A tedder takes the swath and spreads it back out over the entire field and helps to fluff the hay up. This allows more air around the cut hay and will let it dry quicker. You do not need to worry about a tedder at first but if you can afford one it will help speed things up a bit. I do not own a tedder yet and to be honest, it would not have helped this last year anyway.

 

[cowboydoc]

I think you would be very smart to have two tractors.

For cutting the hay you have two options:

1. A disc mower, sickle bar mower, drum mower, etc. are all just going to cut the hay and lay it down, NOT IN A WINDROW. It will just lay where it was cut.

2. A mower conditioner, swather, etc. is going to cut the hay, crimp it or rough it up with rollers or impellers, and lay it in a nice fluffy windrow. You can vary the size of the windrow depending on if you have heavy hay, light hay, need it to dry quicker, etc.

A tedder is also NOT going to put the hay in a windrow. A tedder will take the windrow and throw it back out flat again. With grass hay I think it's a waste of time to do. Some people swear by them but I don't find that it makes enough of a difference to mess with really. If you have hay that was ready to bale and it gets rained on then a tedder is invaluable.

With alfalfa I would 100% suggest you get a mower conditioner. You will be hard pressed to get alfalfa hay dry very quick with a disc mower and no conditioning.

I would also get a newer baler. Alfalfa does not do very well if it gets rained on. You also have a narrower window to get hay up. The reason is because if it goes even a couple hours passed the max. dry time you are going to start to lose leaves big time. Also the newer balers are much kinder on the leaves with alfalfa. The leaves are where your protein and nutrients are. Lose the leaves lose the quality.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Richard, I forgot to ask you, with your alfalfa, do you rake it or do you use and inverter? I know a lot of the guys here use inverters but some use rotarys on the alfalfa

 

[slowzuki]

I agree with cowboydoc, two tractors is smart if haying. One new or near new tractor and an older model is a good bet.

Tedder use depends on crop and area. In our area it is impossible to get in hay without a tedder. Sileage is ok but not hay.

The process here for grass hay is cut with a mo-co with the swath narrow once dry (noon or so). Let the ground dry that day. Ted the next morning after dew burns off. Rake that pm if it was two really good days, otherwise it lays till day three when it gets raked near noon to sit in a window until it is baled.

I would like to try a disc mower so it could be cut earlier. Currently I have to leave work to cut, the haybine won't cut early in the day. If I could cut at 6 am I could knock down 5 or 10 acres before work.

 

[Charolais]

riptides, everyone has their combination of equipment that fits their needs. I'm pretty much a one man operation here. And we all learn as we go through the years of haying. I know what works for me may not be the best for others and their operations.

I use a 8430 CIH round baler. About a 900-1000 pound roll. So I don't want a large windrow for that baler. I've stayed with that size bale because all my hay barns were built for that size roll to get the most use of the storage. I cut with a JD 820 MOCO. I set the MOCO up to spread the hay out to 9 feet. When I rake with the 254 NH rake teddar I pick up 1 1/2 of the cut of the MOCO. That's the right amount of hay that the CIH baler takes well at a good speed. Any more and I have to slow down to get the hay in the baler. With the smaller baler it's better to put a good even windrow up than the biggest windrow you can make. I can get more hay in the roll also. Good even layers of hay in the round bale suit me for unrolling when feeding. I've been unrolling hay since 1986. It cuts down on wasted hay.

The rotary NH rake has allowed me to rake hay in the morning. Because it takes the hay from the bottom of the windrow and stands it up on top. In other words that rake helps dry the hay instead of waiting for the hay to dry and then rake. So I always gain a day on drying compared to the reel type 256 rake I use to have.

BTW: for those that have never seen a NH 254 it has two sets of rotating arms and brings the hay to the center. Fluffs the hay up instead of roping.

I don't teddar but once in the last 7 years I had some hay to get rained on after I had raked. So with the 254 you pull a few pins and rotate the baskets and it'll spread that windrow back out so it'll dry again. As any of you folks that put up hay know it's pretty hard to get a raked up row of hay to dry after a rain. The 254 does some pretty work to take care of that problem. I've seen folks here have to use a rotary cutter on wet windrows to get rid of them. After I spread it out and give it a couple of hours of sun I can rake it back up and bale.

I think the new models are 255. The one I have was used when I bought it. I replaced the wheel bearings as they were worn out when I bought it and last year I bought new teeth for the arms. I traded in a 20+ year old 256 NH rake and $1,100 for the 254.

I know of two farms here that keep a 254 on hand just for wet windrows. They only use it for that purpose. They have larger balers and in normal conditions they use the big V rake like Befco,JD and others.

To make good hay in Va. you gotta be fast. I'm sure other areas are like that too. All this talk about hay equipment is getting me ready for the annual hay race. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

Robert,

We have both side delivery and v-rakes. Depending on the conditions we'll use one or the other. I don't think a rotary rake would do us any good the way we put up hay with the mower conditioners and bigger balers.

 

[slowzuki]

Link

You mean this one wouldn't be big enough /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif 9.3 m is 30 ft wide Has one hefty price tag!