Hay harvesting options for compact tractors.

[cowboydoc]

There is just no safe way to bale with one of these with a CUT. You will just be asking for a disaster. Even with the smallest balers I would buy a minimum of a 60 hp utility tractor. In my personal experience it is very dangerous to bale with anything less. I've seen plenty of accidents with guys trying to bale with too little hp and tractor. At the very least you are going to ruin your tractor from putting too much of a continous load on the pto system. At worst someone is going to get hurt or killed. There's a reason that farming is the #1 accident and death rate occupation. It's usually because too much was tryed to be done with too little.
For the 1200lb. bales I think it's suicide to try and bale with a 40 or 50 hp tractor. You need at least a 70 hp or above tractor. Not just for the hp but also for the stability adn the weight. Also remember a 40 hp utility tractor does not necessarily have 40 pto hp.

As you go up in baler you need to go up in tractor. When you get to the big 6x5 balers you really need a 100hp or above tractor. Sure you can get by for less but it's just an accident waiting to happen.

If you really want to see what is recommended then call a jd dealer and see what they recommend. I have found deere to be the closest to what a person should really be doing out of all of the dealers. They are very concerned about safety and will error on the safe side at all costs. Even if you don't want to buy deere get a feel for what they are recommending as far as hp to baler size.

I want to emphasize that farming is dangerous. Even those of us that have been doing it all our lives have accidents and are killed. If you are inexperienced and then you also get inferior equipment matches you are just setting yourself up for disaster.

 

[MossRoad]

<font color="blue"> Sure you can get by for less but it's just an accident waiting to happen. </font>

<font color="blue"> I want to emphasize that farming is dangerous. Even those of us that have been doing it all our lives have accidents and are killed. If you are inexperienced and then you also get inferior equipment matches you are just setting yourself up for disaster. </font>

Well said, Doc.

 

[HayDR]

Coyboydoc,
No dealer any where in the USA has sold more round balers than Carter & Carter Machinery, almost 4000 total. We preach safety and teach all our customers how to operate their own baler with their own tractors in their own hay fields. Education and judgment stop most accidents. The fact is if a customer has extra hilly ground we recommend 4 wheel drive and a extra 10 HP, but that still is only 50HP for a 5x4 Rebel. There is no reason this is not safe but anyone can drive off a cliff no matter the HP. Vermeer is so safety conscious they put a Kevlar curtain standard on their 3 point disc mowers, no other MFG does this. If customers die we both lose in many ways. We would not recommend this if it was not proven by 30 years of round baler sales and satisfied customers.

 

[timb]

According to the tests run by (or at least posted on) the Alberta Agricultural site of many balers - it looks like most round balers - even ones of significant size, only pull about 25-30 PTO hp, peak. Of course there are exceptions that are higher and some of the small-end balers are down around 15-20 PTO hp load (again peak) - and of course the material being baled has an influence. Actually on this chart it's the square balers listed that seem to be the ones that tax the PTO, with significant hp demand peaks as the baler operates.

Baler Tests

So - it appears you guys are saying it's the sheer mass of the round baler that is more the deciding safety factor that actual horsepower. Another way to ask the question - if the "little" (relative term) Hesston 530 is too much "tail" for a 4500 lb. ballasted CUT "dog" - and it's more because of the weight than the power needs - then how big of any kind of trailed implement/cart is safe for a given size CUT? Most literature seems to suggest limiting to one to one-and-a-half times the weight of the ballasted tractor for safety on a trailed implement without brakes. But that seems to bless a 4500 - 6000 lb. trailer and the experienced folks here seem to be leery of that much mass.

(Or have I got this all twisted up?)

 

[cowboydoc]

Timb,

You're talking about two totally different scenarios. Yes I have hooked up to a 500 bushel wagon of corn with the 4600. The key here though is that I'm only towing the wagon to the bin. I'm not running the piece of equipment, lifting up the bed and dumping it or anything else, just pulling. The wagon is completely self contained and does not depend on the tractor for stability. With a baler the tractor does provide stability for it and the engineering is designed as such that the tongue weight is completely dependent on the tractor. The wagon or anything is not dependent on the tongue weight. This factors in with the front end of the tractor. If you have alot of tongue weight and hit holes, raise the back end up etc. you better have more weight in the front or you are going to tip your tractor over, esp. when you're raising the backend and letting loose of a big round bale. There are many other factors that play into this but those are the biggest ones.

 

[MikePA]

Afternoon, Tim. Please don't take this question wrong...Have you called some local farm equipment dealers, ones who sell baling equipment, and asked them what baler, if any, they recommend for use with a JD 47xx size CUT in your area? These are the people that know the equipment as well as your local farming conditions. BTW, your assessment of the opinions as expressed in this thread is correct.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I baled cornstalks with my 6x5 Vermeer 605F baler this fall. It took _all_ of the 85 hp tractor I had on it to both pull the baler & spin the bale. This is a large baler, and extreme conditions. But, you need to count both what the baler needs, and what moving both the baler & tractor requires.

Another problem with a CUT is many are quite low. You need to straddle the windrow - which might not fit under some of those tractors.

Another problem, the wheel spacing should be as wide as the bale or wider - much easier to feed the baler, as you need to weave back & forth the full width of the bale. Yes you can drive on the windrow with the tractor, but that will knock leaves off alfalfa, put the hay in dirt, etc.

Some of the larger CUT probably have enough power & weight to handle a round baler. But it's not a good match IMHO.

--->Paul

 

[MikePA]

timb, I actually re-read all these posts this morning /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif and everyone agrees that;

<font color="red">You should not bale hay with anything but a mini-baler using a CUT because it's not safe.</font>

The debate that has 'raged' in the last few posts has been how much horsepower was needed with a utility tractor.

Perhaps confusion has arisen because of the title of this thread, i.e., Hay harvesting options for compact tractors. Since harvesting hay includes everything from cutting to baling, and, optionally storing, hay harvesting options for CUTs does not include anything but a mini-baler.

In other words, a CUT can not perform all the tasks needed to harvest hay using standard sized (not mini) farming implements. Perhaps a compact tractor can cut the hay (the start of the harvesting process as well as the start of this thread) and some compact tractors can move the bales around, the end of the process. But for most of the steps in between, if not all of them, you need a utility tractor.

 

[HayDR]

Mikepa,
The round baler industry estimates that 30-40% of round bales are baled by custom operators. So likely a custom operator is available in most areas. This works for a CUT owner if they can mow and rake the hay. Even if the bales are 6x5, they can feed and move 2000 LB bales with a Tumble-bug.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">The round baler industry estimates that 30-40% of round bales are baled by custom operators. So likely a custom operator is available in most areas. This works for a CUT owner if they can mow and rake the hay. Even if the bales are 6x5, they can feed and move 2000 LB bales with a Tumble-bug.</font>
I think this is a fantastic solution for a CUT owner. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Use a CUT for what it's capable of doing safely then call in the people with the right equipment for the rest.