haying equipment questions

[jerseycows]

I'm getting mixed signals here. So far I'm on board with a drum mower with conditioner available from tractortoolsdirect.com, tractor weight and hp are fine. I'm unsure of why DrHAY says I do not have enough horsepower to run this mower. And I meet the pto hp and minimum tractor weight requirements for both round balers but am being told here I cannot do it. A square baler was actually what the dealers strayed me away from because the jarring actions on the transmission, which a round baler does not do. In time I will have a bigger tractor, 40-50hp range, but for now this is what I have.

 

[LouNY]

I would think one other thing to take into in consideration of your equipment choices is the type of land you will be working, is all that 35-40 acres down on flats? are they clay?
If you are working hillside fields a lot of long distance sales may not be used to some of the steeper ground that gets farmed around this area.
If your tractor is 3000#'s I'd be leery of a round baler on a hill, heck any baler on hills.
Good Luck

 

[zzvyb6]

I do everything with a 35 hp JD 1070 all by myself. Mow, condition and windrow with a NH 479 , ted with a Kuhn GRS-25, rake with a NH 55, bale with a JD 14T and pick up the bales with a NH 1012 Stack wagon. Please don't tell me it can't be done. Going on now about 25 years with the same equipment. Can't hardly tell the mower is there, the tedder needs front weights because its a Cat-2 machine (heavier). I pulled the rake once with a Yamaha Timberwolf ATV just for fun. My baler does not rock the tractor because the knives are sharp, the hitch is setup according to spec, my driveline shafts are aligned properly, my hitch is not all wickered out and the (measured) pto rpm is kept at 540 like the manual specs. I plop out a 30 - 40 lb bale every 13 seconds at 1 stroke per second. I produce about 1500 bales per year for a few long time friends and horse owners. My fields are not exactly flat and have never had a concern about bogging down the mower. Only problem I ever had was the mower's cutter bar plugging occasionally causing a skip. Once I adjusted the reel speed to match my ground speed, the problem went away. OK now tell me how impossible this is. You can watch my Youtube videos of cutting and baling.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I'm getting mixed signals here. So far I'm on board with a drum mower with conditioner available from tractortoolsdirect.com, tractor weight and hp are fine. I'm unsure of why DrHAY says I do not have enough horsepower to run this mower. And I meet the pto hp and minimum tractor weight requirements for both round balers but am being told here I cannot do it. A square baler was actually what the dealers strayed me away from because the jarring actions on the transmission, which a round baler does not do. In time I will have a bigger tractor, 40-50hp range, but for now this is what I have.

I've been baling with a Deere 24T square baler and my 35hp tractor. My understanding of how the square baler is supposed to work: there is a flywheel and a slip clutch on the baler driveshaft. The flywheel stores energy and the slip clutch slips if excessive resistance is encountered. Together they are supposed to prevent shocks to the transmission. I know that square balers are often used on tractors quite a bit smaller than mine. What I have noticed is that the baler has quite a bit of mass moving around, when it's running but standing still it rocks back and forth. I can feel the rocking on my tractor and I imagine with a smaller one it might get bothersome.

Power isn't so much an issue with baling as weight. If your tractor is slightly underpowered you can slow down and just bale more slowly, or rake smaller windrows. The problem with weight is that a baler is heavy, at least 3,000 lbs. That's a lot to be towing with a tractor with limited brakes, especially in hilly terrain. Round balers tend to carry their weight higher than square balers, and with a round baler you have to add in the weight of a finished bale. I just looked on TractorData and your tractor is listed in the 3,000 lb range, I think that's very small for a round baler unless your land is perfectly flat.

The real drawback with square bales is the amount of labor required. Round bales can be gathered without ever leaving your seat. Your 30 acres should produce about 150,000 lbs of hay, would you rather pick that up by hand or with a tractor?

 

[Creamer]

Here's another option. Your tractor would easily handle this one. Roto-baler action - YouTube

 

[jerseycows]

Massey and Case call for 3000lb tractor (mine is 4000lbs with loader,bucket,loaded rears, wheel weights, and myself), 30 PTO HP (I have 37hp,30pto), makes a 39x52 bale weighing roughly 500lbs, and weighs 2800lbs itself. As far as hills, the loader is putting 900lbs on the front which adds traction. Engaging 4wd puts the front wheel(s) into the position of holding the tractor back thus not relying entirely on rear wheel braking. I know I'm stubborn, my wife tells me that, but I'm not in the market to kill myself either. These numbers work for me and an empty run on my worst slope will give me a good feel for it. Am I really that stubborn?

 

[BrokenTrack]

I think the orginal poster would be fine, but then again I am a minimalist and really hate the thought of buying more than what is required. Here finding a 100 hp tractor 2 wheel drive is tough because people think they need that to operate their round baler. REALLY? The things just sit all but but a few times a year and then complain because they don't make any money.

There are always work-arounds. One trick is to do what the Amish do, and put supplemental engines onto implements. It sucks having to fuel up two engines, and hearing the noise from two engines, but a engine from a junk yard is less expensive then buying a bigger tractor just to tow a hay baler once or twice a year.

Myself, I am a huge fan of silage as its cost is so much cheaper, and it is easier to do with no drying days. I have had so many people say it cannot be done on a small scale, or that it cannot be fed to sheep, or even that horses cannot tolerate silage...I have busted every one of those myths on my farm. It may not be the direction that the original poster wants to go, but buying a single piece of equipment makes much more sense then buying and operating several pieces of equipment in my opinion.

 

[Texasmark]

Four days to dry huh? That's what salesman don't tell you. Sickle mower is no longer an option, I'll have to find a way to collect myself a haybine or drum mower with conditioning. My neighbor might be able to help me but he works a day job along with running his own farm so I don't feel real confident he could help. I'm also considering a larger tractor because I know the 3520 is kind of small. The mower I originally found was at Salem Farm Supply, I'm guessing Lou knows the boys over there.

Had enough of sickles both stand alone and on MOCO type implements. Bought a drum mower and an old IH 404 conditioner. However, I also have come to realize that a Tedder not only spreads out your crop for better drying but running it at PTO speeds, whacks the stems about every 6" or less on small stems like bermuda and conditioning isn't necessary. I need to run the Tedder anyway due to irregular fields and pileups at the corners so I get the best of both worlds with one implement. Bought a Morra from ASC many years ago. Made some adjustments to suit me but otherwise had no problems with it....other than breaking tines off when I had it set too deep...making a plow out of it accidentally!

 

[TractorToolsDirect]

Your JD3520 is a prime candidate to operate our TS51 Terra drum mower with the conditioning system, if this is the route you prefer. This mower requires a minimum gross engine HP of 25hp. Your overall tractor width is also a good fit to properly operate this mower. And your tractor weight is also looking great. Feel free if you have any questions to give us a call or email. We would be happy to help answer any questions you may have. We also have an option to look into if you are curious about compact square balers or mini round balers. I have attached a link to our buyers guide as well. We have some great information and helpful tips for assisting with what to look for when researching hay equipment and how to make decisions for what's best for your operation. I hope this helps and don't hesitate to let us know if and how we can help any further!
Tractor Tools Direct | TS51 Drum Mower-Conditioner by Terra
Tractor Tools Direct | Buyer’s Guide

 

[LouNY]

I think the orginal poster would be fine, but then again I am a minimalist and really hate the thought of buying more than what is required. Here finding a 100 hp tractor 2 wheel drive is tough because people think they need that to operate their round baler. REALLY? The things just sit all but but a few times a year and then complain because they don't make any money.

There are always work-arounds. One trick is to do what the Amish do, and put supplemental engines onto implements. It sucks having to fuel up two engines, and hearing the noise from two engines, but a engine from a junk yard is less expensive then buying a bigger tractor just to tow a hay baler once or twice a year.

Myself, I am a huge fan of silage as its cost is so much cheaper, and it is easier to do with no drying days. I have had so many people say it cannot be done on a small scale, or that it cannot be fed to sheep, or even that horses cannot tolerate silage...I have busted every one of those myths on my farm. It may not be the direction that the original poster wants to go, but buying a single piece of equipment makes much more sense then buying and operating several pieces of equipment in my opinion.

Silage, haylage is a workable crop. I have used and worked with most types of silos, wood stave, trenches, bunkers, concrete stave and Harvestors and ag bagers and wrapped baleage.
Bunkers are the cheapest, they also are the hardest to maintain quality feed in especially for a small operation it would have to be long and narrow so as to not have an excessive amount of face open at any time, the spoilage and waste is high. Never put haylage in a Harvestor silo unless you enjoy fixing unloaders.
Also I would never try to use a fail chopper to put up haylage, even direct cutting which will result in to high a moisture to store the length of cut is way to long and if you try and chop windrowed hay with a flail chopper all I could see would be a total disaster. Any haylage type operation is going to require multiple tractors.
The least expensive is hard to say. The original poster was going to be feeding dairy cows, so he needs protein and digestibility for productivity and fiber for butter fat. Grass hay can do this but it requires quite a commitment in time and money. I would almost say that for starting out to try and find someone to custom work his fields would be the best. With the farm economy the way it is in this area now that may be difficult most of the smaller (<50-150 cows) dairys are gone or going. If the first cutting is taken off early before heading as haylage or wrapped baleage the 2nd and 3 rd cuttings can be dry hay for the roughage and fiber needs. Possibly someone that has just quite milking may have the equipment to custom work for the OP with an ag bagger or wrapped baleage.