Can my tractor handle running this Baler?

[rankrank1]

... I have a 45 acre hay field (all flat) and was hoping to be able to make my own bales after hiring the cutting. But I am going to look into this some more before I buy a baler...

Thanks for all your input and I will hunt around here on the site to find more info on CUT's & baling.

While I do currently bale with a compact tractor with success on a shoestring budget on limited acreage; I am not sure I would want to use my set up on 45 acres as that is quite a bit of acreage. I believe you have enough acreage to justify having a bigger tractor and a newer faster baler that would be better suited to the task and would get the job done much quicker - remember the rain is a coming - LOL. Also, a bigger tractor would open your options up more if you decide to eventually do your own cutting/conditioning.

You will still be able to get most parts for a 14T, its just that you have to retrofit some 24T parts in some instances. Of the mainstream manufactures I would only consider New Holland first and John Deere second and pretty much no others. New Holland and John Deere were the pioneers and ahead of everyone else back in the 1950's and 1960's which is where you need to look for low hp balers. I have no experience with any of the brand new mini-baler manufacturers as they are out of my price range for my limited acreage, but very well could make fiscal sense to you having 45 acres.

When you search for baling with a compact tractor: also search this site and (Yesterday's tractor) for people that have had success baling with tractors like a Ford 9N, 2N, 8N, NAA, Jubilee. Allis chalmers B, C, CA. International A, B, Super A, H, etc. An advantage your tractor will have over most of these is your tractor will have much better ground speed selection due to having more gears which is very helpful.

 

[flusher]

Alrighty then, at least i know now that I can bale hay but now that I know more about this particular baler and parts availibilty being not so good I may look into a different baler. I have a 45 acre hay field (all flat) and was hoping to be able to make my own bales after hiring the cutting. But I am going to look into this some more before I buy a baler.

Thanks for all your input and I will hunt around here on the site to find more info on CUT's & baling.

45 acres is a nice size hayfield. If you drop the bales on the ground, then you'll need to find a bale stacker or some kind of bale accumulator/bale grapple to get them onto flatbeds.

For my 10-acres (6 acres in oat hay), I built a combination accumulator/squeeze for my Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 2WD, gear tranny) to round up small squares from my MF124 baler.



It was a winter welding project (just to see if I could fabricate something like this)--about $1.5K invested in steel and hydraulic parts.

For your 45 acres, I'd look for a used self-propelled New Holland bale staker.

 

[USNative]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you guys on this topic. Just wanted to let you all know I found my best solution for the time being. I found a guy to cut and bale for me on 50/50 share. Until I am ready to go with a bigger tractor I will be doing this.

I would rather do it this way for now than to put so much wear on my small unit. I don't mind working it hard but I think I would be putting way too much work on it with the amount of hay I am doing. This field will produce close to 3000 75lb square bales and even more after I redo the field in a few years.

Below is pictures of the guy cutting my field and a few bonus pics of my place. We will be baling it today or tomorrow . Thanks for all your suggestions and opinions. By the way , the tractor is a Case 2290 with a John Deere 945 Pull Behind Cutter . He just rebuilt the JD 945 and he says he's very pleased with it. It really made easy work of my field , that's for sure.

My field has concrete flood irrigation with about a dozen water release gates. Combination of Orchard Grass and Alfalfa . My place has 75 acres total with the 45 acre hay field, 4 grazing pastures, including a natural spring feeding a man made pond. We are adding a new 90'L X 65'W Barn with 5 Stalls and Tack Room and the rest will be open for Hay storage. I am running 28 head of horses with 6 new foals this year . Enjoy the pics guys.

 

[Harvey9]

very nice property.

 

[Verticaltrx]

I would rather do it this way for now than to put so much wear on my small unit. I don't mind working it hard but I think I would be putting way too much work on it with the amount of hay I am doing. This field will produce close to 3000 75lb square bales and even more after I redo the field in a few years.

Good choice. The drivetrain and PTO of modern compact tractors really aren't built for the rigors of running a square baler. We tried pulling a JD 336 square baler with a 4400 JD (28 pto hp, but bigger tractor than a 3038e) and it broke the PTO clutch housing.

 

[wmonroe]

Very nice looking place

 

[USNative]

Good choice. The drivetrain and PTO of modern compact tractors really aren't built for the rigors of running a square baler. We tried pulling a JD 336 square baler with a 4400 JD (28 pto hp, but bigger tractor than a 3038e) and it broke the PTO clutch housing.

That's exactly what I was worried about is possibly putting to much stress on the PTO. I wasn't worried about the tractor itself as it is quite the little powerhouse . It really works well with loader work and the PTO works very good with my 20' Hay Elevator and my Post Hole Digger but a baler to me seems to be a gamble of doing some serious damage to the PTO. It may or may not but it's a chance I have decided not to take.

If and when I start doing my hay myself , I think I will look into getting good used equipment (in decent shape of course) that will get the job done without the cost of new equipment. I just want something capable of getting it done efficiently , plenty of power but not more than I need.

I have been told by many farmers in my area that 80 to 100 HP is a good place to start when it comes to haying. They say that the bigger the machine the harder to break things on it. Makes pretty good since to me. Most of them use tractors with 200+ HP but they are doing some serious farming with many acres involved. I figure 80 HP would be enough for my needs. But then again I would go for 100 or more HP if the price was right. I think a good used John Deere 5520 with Cab would be a great choice (after fixing a few known issues) and they are just what I have in mind price wise.

 

[flusher]

That's exactly what I was worried about is possibly putting to much stress on the PTO. I wasn't worried about the tractor itself as it is quite the little powerhouse . It really works well with loader work and the PTO works very good with my 20' Hay Elevator and my Post Hole Digger but a baler to me seems to be a gamble of doing some serious damage to the PTO. It may or may not but it's a chance I have decided not to take.

If and when I start doing my hay myself , I think I will look into getting good used equipment (in decent shape of course) that will get the job done without the cost of new equipment. I just want something capable of getting it done efficiently , plenty of power but not more than I need.

I have been told by many farmers in my area that 80 to 100 HP is a good place to start when it comes to haying. They say that the bigger the machine the harder to break things on it. Makes pretty good since to me. Most of them use tractors with 200+ HP but they are doing some serious farming with many acres involved. I figure 80 HP would be enough for my needs. But then again I would go for 100 or more HP if the price was right. I think a good used John Deere 5520 with Cab would be a great choice (after fixing a few known issues) and they are just what I have in mind price wise.

I indulge my hay hobby on 6 acres using a 2008 Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto) and a MF124 baler (two twine, small squares). The minimum requirement for the baler per the book is 35 hp pto. The 5525 is a heavy machine but that baler lets you know it's back there.

 

[Verticaltrx]

I have been told by many farmers in my area that 80 to 100 HP is a good place to start when it comes to haying. They say that the bigger the machine the harder to break things on it. Makes pretty good since to me. Most of them use tractors with 200+ HP but they are doing some serious farming with many acres involved. I figure 80 HP would be enough for my needs. But then again I would go for 100 or more HP if the price was right. I think a good used John Deere 5520 with Cab would be a great choice (after fixing a few known issues) and they are just what I have in mind price wise.

In your region that's probably true. Around here for square baling operations most start with something in the 50-60pto hp range. For round baling closer to 100hp is better if you are dealing with bales of any size.

The problem goes both ways however. Make sure the equipment you have is properly matched to the tractor and built to handle the hp of a larger tractor. Some of the old square balers you'll easily plug up or tear up behind a new 60-70-80hp tractor. It's just too easy to get to really cramming hay in there when you have plenty of hp on tap. Same problem, to a lesser extent, with mowers.

 

[USNative]

That's a very good point you brought up there Verticaltrx. Never thought about having too much tractor power and tearing up the baler. I definitely will be sure to match up equipment when the time comes. Good advice there.

Anyway , we started baling the field now and it will be done tomorrow. After getting it up we will get on to flood irrigating for our 2nd cutting. Should be interesting working with the irrigating. I can't wait to get started on that. Below are a few picks of my hay guy baling with his New Holland Baler. It's an older baler (I think 1980ish) I think a model 1440 and it's doing a pretty good job. Not bad for a $700,00 Baler.
Our hay guy buys mostly older equipment and fixes it up and he is really good in all aspects on mechanics. I hope to learn quite a bit from him. Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy! :thumbsup: