Small Scale Hay Making

[Mark Page]

If I got into making hay on a small scale, maybe 8 or so acres, how much power would I need? Cutting, raking and baling. I don't expect this to be a profitable venture, just something to play with.

 

[Fossil Farm]

We used a Massey 35 to do everything. Have 40 tillable acres. Sold it to a friend who restored it, and it could work well for another 50 years I think. One of the farms I worked on as a teenager, we used a Farmall M for everything except running the baler. Course we didn't have haybines and fancy rakes back then either !! Converted some horse drawn equipment to use on the tractor and it was not fast, but worked just fine.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Funny you'd bring this up today. I just posted a thread over in the attachments forum about mini balers. It seems you CAN do it with about any size tractor clear down to the two wheeled BCS type tractors.

To really do it right though, you should probably have a 30 hp tractor or larger. 8 acres would be a nice size piece for haying.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I have a 3000 Yanmar thats 30 hp. I run a 501 Ford Mower, an old Deere Rake and a Takakita mini baler. It bales small round rolls. I rolled about 500 bales this summer on some small plots. Its slower than a square baler but I m not in a hurry.

 

[zzvyb6]

I easily ran my JD 14T baler with a 22 hp Yanmar. I used the same tractor to run my NH 479 mower conditioner. Needed some front weight help with that one, though. You can pull a NH rollabar hayrake with a 4 wheeler...

Its a lot of fun, exercise and a good excuse to buy a welder, compressor, tools, trailers, snowmobiles, 4 wheelers and some dogs to protect the equipment from stray cats. Oh, and a bass boat for customer appreciation day.

Handy to have some neighbors with horses and who also have teenagers for slave labor.:laughing:

The IRS will only audit you once. Lost money ever since.

 

[Catfish Man]

We run a gehl round baler that was rated for 50 ish pto hp with a MF 235 for several years until we could upgrade to a larger tractor.

It wasn't an ideal setup but it got the job done.

This was in the deep south with virtually no hills, there is no way I would attempt it where I live now.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

If you go with all smaller equipment and older your 231S will do just fine. On 8 acres you will not need the bigger, higher capacity equipment so just start looking for good, older equipment with good local dealer support. New Holland and John Deere have some of the best hay equipment parts and support networks. You won't go wrong with either of those brands.

 

[LastSTRAW]

I use a Ford 2110 with a New Holland 311 Baler. No issues whatsoever even on the hills.

If you have a smaller tractor you might be able to find the older type balers with the two cylinder gas motor that uses a belt to run the large flywheel. That way your only tractor task is to pull the baler not operate it.

 

[bucktaker]

MF 35 deluxe tractor, Ford 501 sickle, IH hay conditioner, New idea rake John Deere 24T baler 2 16 foot wagons been there done that lost all my help, had a heart attack so now I buy and resell hay to my horse friends.

 

[plowindeeper]

I have a 3000 Yanmar thats 30 hp. I run a 501 Ford Mower, an old Deere Rake and a Takakita mini baler. It bales small round rolls. I rolled about 500 bales this summer on some small plots. Its slower than a square baler but I m not in a hurry.

I want to come watch one day when your baling with the mini baler been thinking about buying one myself