Hay Equipment for 50hp Tractor, small acreage.

[Tx Jim]

If one desired to manually(hand) tie a small sq bale then this task would need to be performed while hay remained compressed in bale chamber not after hay had left bale chamber.

If baler will only miss 1 every 20 bales my guess is tying system only needs a minor adjustment. JD sq baler operators manual contains some very good info on correcting tying problems.

 

[r porter]

if the guy that had that JD baler baled a thousand bales a year and he could not fix it ---------it needs an experienced mechanic. every 20 bales to miss a tie is a lot if you bale a thousand a year. if you bale a couple hundred bales then clearing the missed tie a half dozen times is not too serious.

the trouble with the dealer thing is he cant test it without running hay through it. or they send a tech to your place when you are baling.

after you clear a few in the summer heat you will get the message.

 

[zzvyb6]

I run a NH-479 9' mower/conditioner, a NH-55 rake, an JD 14T baler and a NH-1012 stack wagon (to automatically pick up the dropped bales) all with a 35 Hp JD 1070 tractor. All by myself. All the equipment is easy to maintain and service. Before getting the stack wagon, I towed an 8 x 16' deckover snowmobile trailer behind the baler with a hay buying customer helping with the stacking. It's all very easy to do, very little cost other than the initial investment, and was paid for in the first season with 10 acres of hay processed. Around here, small square bales are selling for 6-7 bucks, so it's worth your while to get an operation going, even as a tax dodge.

 

[NinjaB]

So pretty sure I am going to get the JD rake and baler.

Next decision for a mower.

Was basically set on a new Tar River BDR 6' Drum mower for $4000 with hydraulic lift.

Saw this haybine when I was looking at used equipment. $1500, supposed used last year.
Located in central Indiana. Wasn't planning on tedding. So not sure if haybine would be better seems to dry faster with it. I was really drawn to the drum mower for it's simplicity and reliability.

 

[Hay Dude]

Haybines are slow as molasses and plug if hay is heavy, but they do have the conditioning. Conditioning decreases dry time.
I am making 1500+ tons of hay a year, so I am always thinking about speed. Maybe speed is of little importance to you, so haybine would be ok, but they still plug.
Heres my haybine from 10 years ago

 

[KubotaToy]

It would definitely be cheaper to buy hay.

This!!!!

I tried what you want to do a few yeas back. It took two years to get it out of my system...

I had about 25 acres of level pasture around the house and no livestock on it for a few years so I had a good stand of grass hay. Had been buying about 200-300 bales of hay to feed my horses and a few cows from a local friend who cut hay for a living. But, I thought if I could get 100 bales per acre which seem doable, I could keep what I needed and sell the rest. What is hard about getting some equipment and just cut some hay... My hay friend tried to talk me out of it offering to give me 200 bales of hay. But, I was all in.

I already had a couple of tractors that would work so I shopped around for what I thought were good deals for hay equipment (which seldom are deals) and bought a disk cutter, rake and JD 336 square baler. I was all set... I thought... Well, when you get used, it is generally well used (and maybe abused), so spend a small fortune replacing wore parts, repairing broken parts and general maintenance that has been neglected for years.... And, unless you grew up working on square balers, they will chew you up and spit you out getting them to work (I did grow up on a farm and we cut a lot of hay but I did the loading and unloading which did not prepare me for working on a square bailer).

Finally, the day came to cut and I cut about 4 acres to start with as I a one man crew. Cutting was mostly trouble free, except when I found some wire that had been half buried in the ground and missed by the brush hog for years but my disk cutter had no problem finding and wrapping several feet of it around most of the disks which ended up locking it up up and burning the PTO slip clutch up... more work and money...

Fast forward a week and now I am ready to bale. I had the baler serviced and supposedly tuned by the JD dealer who replaced a lot of worn parts. Spend the better part of a week of vacation trying to get it to tie a knot. My friend was no help, he trades equipment every 4-5 years and had not seen a 336 since the early 80s. Finally, got a JD service tech to come out and help. No deal, it would not tie knots consistently. He even left me their service manual and a OM for the 336 they had in shop. Did everything the SM stated to do, nope, it just would not cooperate.

Visited my local farmers lunch stop watering hole, found an older gentleman who I knew did hay back in the day who told me the 336s were great machines no matter my experience. I talked him into coming to visit me in exchange for all the adult beverages he could drink while he watched me bale my hay. He spend about an hour wrenching and walking behind the baler. Presto, it baled like a new one. Best beer money I ever spent.

Now for the rest of the story. I baled about 550 bales the first year but lost about half to mold as it was rained on a few times before I could get it out of the field (one man crew thing was rough). But putting up around 300 bales in the June sun wore me out, so I quit for the year as I had more than enough for my needs. Afterwards, I thought, well that was not that bad, so I was ready for next year. The following year, did almost the 5 acres and got about 700 heavy bales. Paid for some help this time as I did not have time or willpower to get all the hay up (hired some of my brother in laws farmhands). Now I have some to sell, well it was a great year for hay and everybody had plenty, could not give it away.... I told my wife, she could make fun of me now as she said in the beginning it was a stupid idea (she grew up farming). Wife reminded me I was at $30 a bale with all costs counted. Hay was selling around then for $2.50-3 a bale.

Sold my equipment the following year and never looked back yet... but I retire in a few years, never know when the itch will start again... maybe a mini round baler this time .

Sorry for the long winded response.

 

[NinjaB]

Great story, I would not be surprised if I have a similar one in a yea or two! I can't talk my spouse out of it and I am looking forward to the challenge now.

 

[CH4Ohio]

So pretty sure I am going to get the JD rake and baler.

Next decision for a mower.

Was basically set on a new Tar River BDR 6' Drum mower for $4000 with hydraulic lift.

Saw this haybine when I was looking at used equipment. $1500, supposed used last year.
Located in central Indiana. Wasn't planning on tedding. So not sure if haybine would be better seems to dry faster with it. I was really drawn to the drum mower for it's simplicity and reliability.

You'll find that a tedder makes a BIG difference in your ability to make good hay. It will definitely save a day on drying time. Let's you fluff up and turn over hay in marginal drying conditions. When the weather doesn't cooperate, if you get a little rain on it, a tedder can make all the difference. Even if it gets rained on after it's raked, a tedder will spread it back out so you can get it dried again and manage to get it off the field.

I always use a tedder except in the very lightest hay. You can't bale and store and feed wet hay, so getting it dried down properly is vital.

All of my family made hay when I was a kid but I never even saw a tedder till I was an adult. Now I think it's an indispensable piece of equipment. Just my opinion.

 

[CH4Ohio]

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.

If it misses a knot, and you catch it in the bale chamber, you can pull it together with another piece of string and manually tie the knot. Your other option is to just cut the one tied string and run it through the baler again either by carrying it around to the pickup or pitching it into the next windrow.

Either way, the hay doesn't get wasted. Only your time gets wasted.

Makes for a really long day when you're re-baling the same hay over and over.

 

[CH4Ohio]

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 $2400View attachment 696581

New Holland 256 Rake $1650
View attachment 696583


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.

Just a thought -- have you considered having a neighboring farmer make your hay for a year or so? That gives you a chance to watch how he does it, get familiar with the process, observe how his equipment works and what kind of equipment he's using. Most importantly, it will get your hay made right, for the most part, and in your barn while you're learning. This will also give you time to watch for bargains and start putting your equipment package together so you can do it yourself later on.

I think for small squares, the absolute oldest balers to consider are the JD336 and the NH273. Those are 40 - 50 years old. There's just no savings in going older. Balers are like boats or old cars -- there's no book price. Everything depends on condition.

For rakes, a wheel rake is, in my opinion, the best overall. Simple, no PTO or ground-driven mechanism. Rakes a wider windrow and an 8-wheel rake is perfect for small fields. Easy to control windrow size by just adjusting your overlap. No adjustment, just lower the wheels and drive forward. Don't get a 3-point wheel rake. I'm talking about a pull behind v-rake.

A haybine does great on small acreage, but haybines and their cutting bars and guards really get beat up over time. I had a NH 479 that would break knives on the sickle bar every day and I was always replacing guards and various parts. I still use a haybine. But, I can see the argument for getting something newer like a disc or drum mower and not having yet another 40 year old bucket-of-slinging-bolts to try to keep patched up.

If no conditioning on the mower, all the more reason to get a tedder. You could get by with a 2-basket tedder. I don't think you can make consistent good hay in our part of the country without one.

You will need a wagon or two. And help.

Just my opinion. Good luck! It's always a nice day when I'm making hay. Even nicer when I get it on the wagon!