hay making

[barticus73]

Does anyone here ever make hay with their compact tractors??? If so, lets discuss the ins and outs of it!!!

Jerry in Pa

 

[Mosey]

I might this summer. Not alfalfa, though. I have a friend who has horses and he said he feeds them grass. I have about an acre of timothy grass, at least I think that’s what it is (it gets over 5’ tall), growing on my property and told him he could have it if wants it. I have a sickle bar mower, so I could mow it down, then he'll have to make arrangements to get it baled up. First I need to bush hog it down though, since it’s been a couple of years and it’s full of tree seedlings and thorns. If it ever stops raining, I’ll get that done and then let it grow and cut it down later this summer.

 

[cowboydoc]

What would you like to know? It can be done with a compact if it's big enough and you have alot of time.

 

[frank_f15]

DAN: so your the guy sending all that rain our way?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif been very wet here this spring also, ground never gets a chance to dry out, i have standing water all over, and nothing but rain showers and thunderstorms for the next 5 days.

 

[barticus73]

Well, I have a 27 hp Cub Cadet and want to know what people would recommend as far as haying equipment goes. And no I can't afford a 15,000 dollar Carver mini baler!!! ( [censored], I wish I could though Steve!)

Jerry in Pa

 

[Darren]

Last year I did one cutting on maybe seven acres using an L3710, a 3 pt sickle bar, NH 276 rake and a
NH 311 baler. On the hills and uneven fields the tractor is more maneuverable than a larger tractor.

I like the hydrostatic transmission which lets you vary ground speed and still keep RPMs up while baling so if a windrow is uneven you can ease into it to slow the feed or speed up if the windrow is light. This year I'll do at least five additional acres and maybe another five if I get them in decent shape in the next month.

 

[cowboydoc]

Personally I don't think there's anyway possible that you can cut and bale hay with a 27hp tractor. I think it would just tear that little tractor up trying to run a full-size baler. I have a jd 4600 and when I run the baler on it it throws the tractor around pretty good. My old NH baler, which is small, the tractor can pull it too but again it's a chore for it. You could probably pull a 6' sickle mower with that tractor but you really should run a crimper over it after that. The rake you should have little problem running IF you can find one of the small ones, 6' or less. If you want to get a regular baler though I don't see anyway possible you could run one with that tractor.

 

[RichZ]

This is going to be my first year haying, and after doing considerable research, I learned that, as Richard said, the limiting factor is the baler. If you run a full sized baler, a compact tractor is way too small. In addition, a mower conditioner is the best way to cut hay, and a compact probably wouldn't run that either. I'm going to try my first harvest with a sickle bar mower (unless I find a moco cheap), but eventually I intend to get a moco. I just bought an Oliver 1550 for haying. It's 55 hp at the pto, and should be just enough to run everything.

 

[oldgrizzlybear]

You should be able to cut and rake the hay. However, for most balers you need 35 hp. You could put it up loose like they did before balers. My great uncle, when I was a kid, did all his hay loose. He had a loader that pulled be hind the wagon and lifted the hay up. Then a couple of guys on the wagon distributed the hay with pitch forks. He used system of ropes and forks to get in the hay maw (sp). These were common in the 50's but you see them any more. For small acreage, you could pitch fork the hay onto awagon, trailer, sled. I still remember one lneihbor using hay stacks. I would assume lost would be similar to todays big round bales. The stack needs to be rounded on top to shed rain. In antique stores you can still come across hay saws used to cut chunks out of the stack for feeding.

A lot of labor, but doable.

Larry

Larry

 

[barticus73]

How much did you pay for the Oliver tractor? Maybe thats an option for me.

 

[Soundguy]

I've seen square balers that will run on 30hp (PTO)tractors. If you cut, rake, and bale as a 3 pass operation, sounds like you could make it.

Soundguy

 

[cowboydoc]

Problem on those 30 hp tractors is most of them that I've ever seen run a baler are the old full size tractors. That you may be able to get away with. I've never seen a compact that small run a baler though.

Rich,
Congratulations on your tractor purchase. Too bad you aren't here. There is a really nice haybine moco by JD that is for sale for $3000 right by where I live. I doubt it will be there long at that price.

 

[rlw]

Here is an interesting article about hay making:
http://www.18james.com/rural/hay.shtml

www.agriquip.com has smaller hay making equipment. I have no idea of costs.

Article above references the JD 14T baler for under 30 HP tractors. Looks like you may be able to find these at auctions or listed in some classifieds for $1000 and under. Don't know anything about them, just listing it as an option.

 

[RichZ]

Barticus, I got the Oliver at an auction for $5000. It has a loader, and is in excellent shape, except for the steering. The auctioneer, who is a dealer, agreed to give me any parts to fix the steering for free, so I'm just paying for labor which will be just a few hundred bucks. So I got a tractor for haying with a loader for less than $5500. It's a 1967 Oliver 1550, and it's 2wd and gas. I actually wanted gas. Most of you guys will think I'm nuts, but I feel that gas is much quieter and much easier to start in the winter. If you're willing to go with a vintage tractor, you can get a lot of bang for the buck, and if it has been well maintained over the years, it will serve you well. I also have a 1951 Ferguson that I love, and it's been a real workhorse for me. I've done a lot of research on vintage tractors for haying, so if you decide to go that route, I'd be happy to help any way I can.

 

[RichZ]

Thanks, Richard! I hope to get a moco soon, but I may have to try to make due with the first harvest with a sicklebar. Eventually, I'll have the moco, and do it right.

 

[skent]

Only thing I can say is the older tractors like my 1950 Case DC must have been rated on the conserative side. Has a 250 cubic inch 4 cyl engine with red line at 1250 RPM. I regularly run a Case square baler and never really lugged the engine and it's rated 33 (or so) HP.

 

[MJB]

I'll second skent on the conservative ratings on the older tractors. I have an old 1952 Case DC that seems to have quite a bit more power than the official rating would indicate. When I was a kid I regularly helped the neighbors cut and bale hay for their horses. They used an old John Deere A, which is rated somewhere around 30-35 PTO horsepower, to run their New Holland square baler. We would hitch a hay wagon behind the baler so we could grab the bales and stack them on the wagon as they came out of the baler. That old JD would run the baler and tow a heaping wagonload of hay without any trouble. I can still hear the sound of that old Johnny Popper working./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif To cut and rake the hay they used an old Oliver 60 or a Farmall C with a trailer type Cockshutt sickle bar mower and a ground driven side-delivery rake.

 

[RichZ]

I agree! My Ferguson TO-20 is rated 25 horsepower, but it sure seems more powerful than that. I have no trouble brush hogging on steep hills or pulling a pto driven manure spreader on steep hills with my Fergie. I always felt that, somehow, the ratings on vintage tractors were different.

 

[Soundguy]

I agree on the vintage tractors. Our neighbor runs a 2 cyl gas jd ( model 40 I think ) and bales with it.

Alot may have to do with weight. Some of the smaller compacts have similar HP as older models, but only half the weight. I also think the way generated hp is used and the way the engine and trans are / were designed has changed the picture a bit. The lugging capability of certain engines, large flywheels, etc.

Most notably, kubotas have a lower weight ( in general ) at the same hp rating as some of the other common compacts. Aslso, I was at the massey fergusion dealership yester day looking at a 1220, and a 1225. These units are sopposedly 20 and 25 hp respectively.. but were not much bigger than a large riding mower, and as a comparison, were probably 20 to 30% smaller than a NH tc18......
If the HP values are correct.. one can only assume that the lighter MF tractors would be slightly challanged when it came to heavier implimints, as opposed to say a less hp tc18 which was larger.... go figure.

Soundguy

 

[RichZ]

Soundguy, I agree with you on the weight. Also some of the engines are so different on vintage tractors. My Oliver has a 6 cylinder gas engine. You'll never find a 6 cylinder engine in a tractor today. Even my Ferguson has a 4 cylinder gas engine. Maybe the bigger engines somehow relate to more horsepower than they were rated for.