Best Baler / MOCO

[ikold]

We are new to hay farming and just bought a 30 acre place near Denver. We have a JD 7130 tractor.

We need a mower, rake, and baler, and loader. We are thinking small square bales as around here you get more per lb for square bales (we think).

Does anyone have any recommendations on what we should be looking for? We would prefer to get lightly used equipment as opposed to new because of the cost savings, but the dealers here are offering some long term financing at very attractive rates so if the consensus is to a certain item like the bale for instance new than we will...

Thanks in advance for everyones help...

Also does anyone have a good fertilizer mix that they like to use out here in Colorado? 25 acres about 25% in alfalfa and the rest in grass. We irrigate with gated pipe and the property has seen no fertilizer in more than 5 years so its due!

 

[ikold]

Any thoughts ? Did I post this in the wrong forum..

 

[blueriver]

We are new to hay farming and just bought a 30 acre place near Denver. We have a JD 7130 tractor.

We need a mower, rake, and baler, and loader. We are thinking small square bales as around here you get more per lb for square bales (we think).

Does anyone have any recommendations on what we should be looking for? We would prefer to get lightly used equipment as opposed to new because of the cost savings, but the dealers here are offering some long term financing at very attractive rates so if the consensus is to a certain item like the bale for instance new than we will...

Thanks in advance for everyones help...

Also does anyone have a good fertilizer mix that they like to use out here in Colorado? 25 acres about 25% in alfalfa and the rest in grass. We irrigate with gated pipe and the property has seen no fertilizer in more than 5 years so its due!

There's alot of good used equipment ... if you go used make sure the local dealer can get parts. For 25 acres you do not need big equipment and for square bales do not forget the accumulator and grapple.

Take a soil sample for best fertilize mix ... it will tell you excatly what you need.

 

[flusher]

We are new to hay farming and just bought a 30 acre place near Denver. We have a JD 7130 tractor.

We need a mower, rake, and baler, and loader. We are thinking small square bales as around here you get more per lb for square bales (we think).

Does anyone have any recommendations on what we should be looking for? We would prefer to get lightly used equipment as opposed to new because of the cost savings, but the dealers here are offering some long term financing at very attractive rates so if the consensus is to a certain item like the bale for instance new than we will...

Thanks in advance for everyones help...

Also does anyone have a good fertilizer mix that they like to use out here in Colorado? 25 acres about 25% in alfalfa and the rest in grass. We irrigate with gated pipe and the property has seen no fertilizer in more than 5 years so its due!

Mower: 8 ft disc mower would work nicely on 25 acres with your 7130.
Rake: I'd get a rotary rake rather than a wheel rake or side delivery bar rake
Baler: mine is a 1970s Massey Ferguson 124 two-twine, small squares. Simple knotter design on this baler is a plus in my book.
Loader: I'd get an accumulator that hitches to the baler and a grapple.

 

[ikold]

was thinking a jd 835 moco and 338 baler and shouldnt need a rake this year. is that overkill

 

[5030]

was thinking a jd 835 moco and 338 baler and shouldnt need a rake this year. is that overkill

I have a MoCo and a disc mower/conditioner and I like the MoCo within it's limitations. You need a rake because it has to be turned at least once, and windrowed. Go buy an old side delivery (roper) and later on, get a rotary.

The rake prepares the windrow. The mower just mows no matter how the deflector is set.

 

[bigbull338]

thats not overkill at all.

 

[ikold]

Around me I notice quite a few folks with self propelled mowers. They don't ever seem to rake their hay. They mow, wait 3 days or so and bale.
Do the self propelled units windrow whereas a moco doesn't?

 

[5030]

That all depends on what you are cutting, the drying conditions, morning dew, ground moisture, lots of factors.

Grass hay will dry down with just a mow providing the conditions are right, however, if you want to sell the bales, people want green hay and that won't happen if you mow and leave it lay flat. It will bleach on the top, possibly mold underneath.

All my hay is contract alfalfa, timothy and it has to be raked at least twice and sometimes 3 times to insure it's dry.

You can't small square bale over about 12% because as the bale packs, it causes the moisture content to climb. Any moisture inside the bale over 18% will cause the bale to mold inside and get hot.