Hay Equipment for 50hp Tractor, small acreage.

[NinjaB]

Hi, we have just bought a Boomer 50 with Cab and are looking at doing our own hay. We have about 4 acres on site we need to do and will probably also transport our equipment and do 10-20 acres of a relatives unused small fields.
Primary use will be to feed our donkeys and goats. Will be grass hay but we are thinking about also doing Barley straw at some point as well. We are thinking square bales as that is easiest to put in our hay loft and to feed with.

What are your thoughts on this set of equipment?

TAR River BDR185, New 6' drum mower.
$3200 un-assembled price with pickup

New Holland 268 Baler $2400

New Holland 256 Rake $1650

Recommendations for what to look out for and price range? Obviously don't want to spend a ton of money as we are doing such a small amount, but also do want something that will work most of the time.

 

[NinjaB]

Those 3 pieces are available from the same dealer, it is 4 hrs away from me so somewhat a pain to pick them up, but they drum mower price is about $1000 less than I have found for it shipped to me.

Couple closer baler options

13
1976 NEW HOLLAND 273
Small Square Balers
For Sale Price: USD $1,850

Purchase today for USD $31.09/monthly*
Number of Bales: 1
Gauge Wheels: Yes
Hours: 1
Knotter Type: Twine
New Holland 273 Square Baler, 540 PTO, Good Knotters and Good Needles, Very Original Looking, Just off the Truck from Northern Illinois, $1850 thanks,
Updated: Mon, April 19, 2021 9:08 AM
for Financing

8
1970 NEW HOLLAND 269
Small Square Balers
For Sale Price: USD $1,275

Purchase today for USD $21.43/monthly*
Number of Bales: 1
Gauge Wheels: Yes
Hours: 1
Knotter Type: Twine
New Holland 269 Square Baler, 540 pto, its ugly but was used last year, has 2 new needles, twine tie, good mechanically, $1275 thanks
Updated: Thu, April 22, 2021 6:51 AM

 

[Hay Dude]

I think you have the right idea keeping the costs down. Hay is a very low paying/profit operation at that size. I had baled with a NH 273 probably 35 years ago and it was a good baler. Had a NH 315 for my own operation more recently, but they are about double the cost. You’ll give $5,000 for a 315.
Are you buying wagons? I had an EZ trail bale wagon when I used to do small squares and it was good for your situation. You can bale with the EZ Trail behind your baler with no bale thrower at the remote property you are doing, then unhook and pull the loads home behind a truck. It will also dump the bales with the tug of a cable at your barn. Pretty cool, but affordable bale transportation.

 

[NinjaB]

Another option came up, family of a friend has an old John Deere Rake and Baler, has been sitting in the barn unused for 10+ yrs. He said last he used it is bales pretty well but misses a knot every 20 bales and you have to pull the bale out? To get it going again. He doesn't think the rake had any issues. I think he said he used to bale 1000 bales a year with them.

He is only asking $400 each or $700 for the pair.

He was pretty sure the baler is a 24T, I was talking to him on the phone while his wife showed me them. I couldn't find the model number on it looking at it, but I am not sure I looked very well at the back which is where it appears to be on these. I could not read the serial/model number on the rake, found them but they are illegible now.

Should I get these? Otherwise I also looked at a 273 NH that appears to be in working order baled with last year minimal rust, dealer is asking $2500 for.

 

[Tx Jim]

Even though the knobs are absent on reel adjusting cranks JD rake resembles a model 640. There is no good reason that I'm aware of that one needs to remove hay from bale chamber anytime a knot is missed. I think the prices are low enough even though RH rake frame is bent & I'll recommend you buy them.

 

[Hay Dude]

Agree. At that price, you might be able to fix them and still be ahead of more expensive pieces that are “field ready”.
Depends on how much time and ability and money you have to fix them.

 

[NinjaB]

Thanks for all the comments, seems to reinforce my gut feeling that I should buy the JD and if I can't get the bailer working right I'm out minimal or ahead reselling it.

I have zero knowledge on balers so I am considering taking it to my dealer to go through before I start learning and tinkering with it. Guessing that might cost a few hundred dollars.

I think I misunderstood him, would it make more sense if when the baler mis tied he would stop and pull it out to manually fix the tie so that bale wasn't wasted? I think that is what he was describing to me.

 

[Gee Ray]

Do you have a place to store the equipment inside? Do not waste your money buying hay equipment until you can keep it dry. The weather will destroy it and a tarp laying across it is not enough.

Second, can you get the labor to pick up the bales? That is the problem with the small square bales.

Are you retired? Think about the amount of time away from work if you are still working. Think about missing 3 days in a row from work. Day 1 cut, day 2 ted it and dry it. Day 3 bale and pick up. And what about if it rains? It may be cheaper to buy the hay out of someone else's field as they bale it.

I applaud your gumption but want you to learn from my experiences.

 

[NinjaB]

I'm not anywhere near retiring. We have a barn to store all equipment. I'll probably be picking up the bales myself, or maybe pallet forks on the FEL could be used to get all the bales in the trailer? My significant other, she will probably do a lot of the tractor work while I'm tied up at work.

It would definitely be cheaper to just buy hay but we want to be self sufficient.

 

[Gee Ray]

I am with you on wanting to be self sufficient. Just wanted you to think about some of the problems that will come up. Even with my wife and 3 small boys loading a trailer full of hay was not doable. Physically it is tough. Moving and stacking 200 bales on a trailer is enough work for a day but then you get to stack it in the barn.

Best of luck to you. But stop and think why there are so few people doing small hay field any more?