Small Scale Hay Making

[flusher]

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.

I have a 6 acre hayfield and use a Massey Ferguson 124 baler (square bales, 2-twine, 30-60 lb adjustable via bale length setting). Recommended pto power is 35 hp. But balers this size have been run via much smaller tractors with success. Here's a video showing a baler like my 124 being run by a 1950s vintage Farmall Super A tractor with about 16 hp (pto). The baler segment is about 6 minutes into the video.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvz8-Sw1ntA]FARMALL Super A - YouTube[/ame]

Balers like these sometimes were outfitted with on-board gas engines like the 4-cylinder air-cooled Wisconsin TFD engine (around 20 hp engine). The baler flywheel is belt-driven by the TFD. This setup is also used by Amish hay farmers with two horsepower provided by a team of 4-legged hay-burners .

Cutting with a 7-ft sicklebar would require maybe 20 hp (pto) depending on the crop and how heavy it is. And raking with a 5-bar side delivery rake or a wheel rake (both ground driven) could be done with 15-20 hp (engine).

My sicklebar is a 7-ft MF31 and my rake is a pto-driven JD 350 5-bar side delivery unit.

Since you don't mention tillage or planting implements, I assume you're just baling native grasses.

Good luck.

 

[Mark Page]

When we bought the property this field was an overgrown mess. I hit it 2x with Round UP then turned it over. In the spring I Roto Tilled it, waited a week or so to see if anything from the seed bank was going to show itself. I put down lime and fertilizer and a mix of Orchard Grass, Timothy and a bit of White Clover for the deer. Turned out to be a beautiful stand of grass.

 

[rambler]

To enjoy baling I'd want a 35 hp or bigger tractor in the ag or utility class, not compact. It would need to have live orindependent pto. Anything less is _possible_ but a pain in the rear. This would also power most small hay cutting machnes as well, tho beware the bigger mocos.

For round bales, I'd want at least 50 hp, 65hp would be better. There are miniture round balers that use less hp, but they are rare and expensive, and a small odd sized bale, no future to that unless you got a market that demands such.

--->Paul

 

[tessiers]

We do 25 acres with a 41' Farmall H, 53' Ford NAA, 7' JD draw bar mounted sickle, ground driven bar rake, New Holland 67 Baler. Nothing is newer than the 60's and it all works very well. Had to do a little searching to find suitable equipment, but I believe the age makes it good equipment. If it wasn't good it would have been scrapped years ago. It drives me nuts when people say 50 hp independent PTO. Some of the best days I have spent have been on that Farmall listening to the sickle work and watching the grass fall in waves. To me you said it all when you said it was just playing around.