4720 goes a hayin'

[CCL]

Just thought I'd tell you all - the JD4720 does a great job haying small square bales. NH1465 haybine pulls easily as does the JD660 ground-driven rake. Can't comfortably pull a haywagon behind the JD337 baler, so I drop 'em on the ground, wife drives the trailer for me to pick up, then into the loft by elevator. Did 460 nice grass & clover yesterday. 93F and ~70F dewpoint, but at least the south wind was howling - blew all the dirt onto sweatty skin & clothes

 

[2720wes]

I've never done haying before so I may not know what I'm talking about but that looks like pleasant, satisfying work. Maybe the heat would change my mind.

That's a nice set-up you have there, and the country side is beautiful. That 4th picture with the bales in the field looks really nice.

2 novice questions. What is the NH1465 haybine? How does it work?

 

[Thomas]

Team work along w/good equipment does help,but those dog days of summer tho.

 

[bullbreaker]

Awesome pic's!Truly enjoyed them.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
Boone

 

[Egon]

Nice pictures. Thanks.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

I've never done haying before so I may not know what I'm talking about but that looks like pleasant, satisfying work.

Give a try some day. My back starts aching just looking at the pictures.

 

[AKfish]

Good job! Looks like great fun! (Like Egon.. brings memories right to my back!) Thanks for the pics and the encouragement that the 4000 series tractors can be great small-scale hay machines.

AKfish

 

[zzvyb6]

That's very nice equipment and a great job. Isn't this fun? (all except for loading the barn)....

 

[dmay]

Great job! Try to see if you can find a NH1002 bale wagon in your area. This is the smaller unit that picks and stacks 55 bales. I had one and loved it.

 

[CCL]

You guys that have hayed or do now know what it's like...haying this way is hard, hard physical work, but rewarding for Jan & me and worthwhile for the volumes of hay we use, with some over that to sell. More this year - yields about 30% above last so far. @Egon - back and heat exhaustion recovery continues today, good tomorrow off for more of same! That 4720 is truly amazing - not enough hp to run a disc mower and not heavy enough to safely pull a wagon for the baler kicker, but otherwise, does everything we need it to do with very low fuel consumption. Cutting's fun, raking and baling noisy and dirty; manual bale pickup and stacking exhausting and very strenuous.

This is one of those times I wish we had a bunch of kids to help load & stack :laughing:

@2720wes: the NH1465 is a mower-conditioner - tractor pto drives a rotary rake that pulls standing hay into a sickle-bar cutter head set @ ~4" height, and then feeds the cut hay into rotating serrated rubber rolls that condition or crimp the plant stems and lays it on the ground in a lofty swath. Conditioning isn't really necessary for grass hay like we have, but still helps speed up drying some. Since it's a sickle-bar cutter, it doesn't need much power. Ours has hydraulic head lift and tongue positioning, so you can pick up at the end of a row and adjust the offset from the tractor in real time.

Anyone wanna come help? Have 4 more fields to get done before it gets too mature....

 

[2720wes]

Thanks for the info CCL. Even though I've been around tractors most of my adult life I've never been around haying work and find it very interesting. The one local farm left around here has gone back to hay after 4 years of sod.

From some of the replies I've read maybe 'pleasant' isn't the right word to use but I still think the work looks 'satisfying'

Again, great pics

Thanks