75-80 pto cab tractor picks

Slippy · Jan 6, 2009

Power reverser is top on the list.

I do need MFWD. My farm is not flat, I mow around ponds, so yes, it is a must.

I use an IH 1086 to do my heavy work, including running the mower. 140pto hp. Works great. I have been using open station 60 hp tractor for baler, and some raking. Although, it seems to work best if we cut, let it dry a day or two, then ted if necessary and rake. One of my boys pulls the rake with the 1086 and I follow with the baler on the 60hp tractor. He gets done in no time, and then we put the mower back on, and he cuts while I finish baling. By the time I am done, he has enough cut for next round, and so forth. Works pretty well as long as the weather holds.

So, we do not need the big 1086 to rake, but makes sense to keep the mowing going. I don't really need the hp of a 5455 to bale with, but like the other features, like me being out of the sun and dust...yea! I figured though that if the 1086 is down, I could still get by with the 5455 with 80 or so pto hp.

The biggest challenge is getting all those round bale in out of the field and loaded on trailers for delivery. Thats where something like a 5455 I hope will really shine.

tjkadar · Jan 6, 2009

Slippy,

Down here, tedding is not an option. It is a must. We usually keep the oldest, lowest HP tractor attached to the tedder. We have two others in the 70~80 PTO HP on the mower conditioners and the biggest JD on the stack wagon. The mowing tractors also do the baling and sometimes the racking (usually we let the tedder tractor pull that duty - better fuel economy).

Almost all of our hay is square bales. Horse people want squares and we can make more money on them to boot. When we do rounds, our bales are usually up to 1,200 lbs. Not too much trouble to handle.

We just added a 6230 to the fleet for the baling duties. Having a cab is very, very nice. I don't you'll go wrong with the 5455, not when you have a 1086 as the farm's muscle.

Slippy · Jan 6, 2009

Agreed. I just can't bring myself to spend the cash for a new one. That's why I am looking at other brands that I can buy new for about the cost of a used 5455. We do 4x5 round bales for transportation reasons. I actually sell about a 3rd of my hay to horse farmers who are real happy with it. Cattle farmes love the 4x5 becasue it works well in their feed mixers.

tjkadar · Jan 7, 2009

Personally, I feed round bales to my horses. Much prefer them over small squares. But most small horse operations around here lack the equipment to deal with round bales.

As long as you can get good, timely support from the other brands, they'll serve you well. My biggest fear is having hay down in the field, rain on the way, and I'm lacking a part or something broke.

I think being a professional gambler is less stressful than doing hay!