Help selecting an L-series for haying

[High Compression]

Not to divert the thread too much - but does anybody have any suggestions for references I could go to - to learn some of basics of haying?

I've seen some decent plots of land for sale recently and it's got me wondering whether they would make a good investment to use for something like a haying operation. I'd like to know what I would be getting myself into if I thought about doing something like that.

What is your market for the hay? Personal, bovine, equine, etc.
What is your climate like? Moisture, temps
What kind of hay do you want to do? Brome, Alfalfa, prairie mix, etc.
Square bale, round bale or both?
What equipment do you already have?
What do you need to buy?
How much do you want to spend?
Lastly, are you ready to work really hard for little to no return, more likely a loss?

 

[TripleR]

What is your market for the hay? Personal, bovine, equine, etc.
What is your climate like? Moisture, temps
What kind of hay do you want to do? Brome, Alfalfa, prairie mix, etc.
Square bale, round bale or both?
What equipment do you already have?
What do you need to buy?
How much do you want to spend?
Lastly, are you ready to work really hard for little to no return, more likely a loss?

Good points, we already own a small farm that we considered doing this with several years ago and after a lot of though just rented it out.

 

[charleyfarmall]

I would NOT go up to the M. But then I am different. I have used an M for haying. Yes it works. My issue is that with a square baler, the M does not have the right gear range to efficiently bale. Too fast or too slow. You don't need to to hay effectively. High Compression has it right. The 5740 is a good tractor for small farming and square baling. I have the equivalent Deere, the 4520, as well as a New Holland TN75DA which is a full size utility with a 16x16 shuttle and cab. The HST is The Cat's Meow for haying and mowing because you have completely variable control over speed which lets you feed the baler or mower very efficiently. The TN is pretty good and certainly spacious but I'm not a huge guy and the 4720 cab is super deluxe and I like more. If you need to move down the road then you need more horsepower but if you are staying at home you can go with less horse power. I have hayed with all kinds of tractors and the Grand L and Deere 4x20 series are excellent for smaller farms.

 

[foreman Etexas]

I would NOT go up to the M. But then I am different. I have used an M for haying. Yes it works. My issue is that with a square baler, the M does not have the right gear range to efficiently bale. Too fast or too slow. You don't need to to hay effectively. High Compression has it right. The 5740 is a good tractor for small farming and square baling. I have the equivalent Deere, the 4520, as well as a New Holland TN75DA which is a full size utility with a 16x16 shuttle and cab. The HST is The Cat's Meow for haying and mowing because you have completely variable control over speed which lets you feed the baler or mower very efficiently. The TN is pretty good and certainly spacious but I'm not a huge guy and the 4720 cab is super deluxe and I like more. If you need to move down the road then you need more horsepower but if you are staying at home you can go with less horse power. I have hayed with all kinds of tractors and the Grand L and Deere 4x20 series are excellent for smaller farms.

I'll have to take my 2 M's back then(M7040,M5040) .... Guess it doesnt have the right gear range to pull a 15ft batwing efficiently either(M5040) or run an 8ft cutter(M5040)or run the correct speed to spray(M5040) or the baler(NH 315)

 

[jim_wilson]

What is your market for the hay? Personal, bovine, equine, etc.
What is your climate like? Moisture, temps
What kind of hay do you want to do? Brome, Alfalfa, prairie mix, etc.
Square bale, round bale or both?
What equipment do you already have?
What do you need to buy?
How much do you want to spend?
Lastly, are you ready to work really hard for little to no return, more likely a loss?

Those are exactly the kinds of questions I'm asking.

I guess If I had to sum it up in one sentence (or so) it would be: Can haying be a successful business going at it from scratch - or is it just a piece of a farming operation that you make money with because you already have the pieces in place (land , equipment, etc.)

The thing that's got me thinking about this is that I have been thinking about buying land, mostly as an "investment" - since our lovely economy has squashed a lot of other places that were previously decent places to put money into. The next question that comes into my mind is - what could the land be used for to bring in some income. The land could obviously be rented out to a farmer - if there were any in the area. Or I could use it to farm something on it myself.

Hay seemed to me to be "crop" that has a lot less time investment than just about any other crop that might get planted, and the avenues to sell it (I have seen hay for sale on Craigslist around here) - are more open to the amatuer like me, than any other crop I can think of.

I've been doing quite a bit of reading up on equipment - and although it does appear that I could run some smaller haying equipment behind my current tractor (B3200) - I would likely need to invest in a larger tractor and other equipment.

Right now I'm just doing as much reading as I can and thinking about whether this idea has any legs at all.

As far as the working hard for little return - I tend to do that all the time. That's not necessarily a huge turn off for me.

The climate would be the Northeast, most likely NH or Maine. I honestly don't know what kind of hay would be the best to do - but I suspect one of my primary markets would
be horse people. There's actually a pretty decent amount of small farms with horses right around my area (Northeast MA) - including lots of small farms in some of the more
expensive towns around here. My guess is that this would mean square bale - and I'm thinking square bale simply because it appears that used equipment can be had for not
too much money.

 

[High Compression]

If your ground doesn't have too much clay, hopefully maybe even loamy, I would plant alfalfa and square bale it for your horse customers. You should be able to get a cut every 3-4 weeks for 5-8 months depending on moisture and temps. But even if it turns hot and dry, alfalfa roots down over 8' deep looking for water. If you had 3 fields and timed them right, you could bale 3 weeks a month with a week off for rest and equipment maintenance.

I get 600-700 bales off one 20 acre piece. I have 40 acres this year. This fall we are going to plant everything that was in wheat to alfalfa. Should have close to 90 acres total for next year. Round here, we get $7/bale when they pick it up out of the field themselves. $8.50/ bale picked up out of our barn and $10/bale delivered within 10 miles. We generally have 500-600 bales pre-sold every month before we even cut. Soo... Alfalfa with horse folks can pay for equipment, labor, and fuel, pretty quick.

 

[foreman Etexas]

Well I traded the M5040 in today and desided to get another M for Hay tractor.
They had a L5740 there that sure was a nice tractor....

 

[High Compression]

Well I traded the M5040 in today and desided to get another M for Hay tractorView attachment 273392.
They had a L5740 there that sure was a nice tractor....

Boy that's a good lookin ride you go there. Glad to see you grabbed a cab. Besides the obvious dust and dirt, the hornets have been horrible this year in one of our alfalfa patches. It also enjoyable to hay, when your in the a/c listening to tunes. :thumbsup:

The L5740 is a great tractor! Still kinda want an M. Especially for cab room... Power... better ride... air seat... um yeah sorry. Started to wander there.

 

[flusher]

If your ground doesn't have too much clay, hopefully maybe even loamy, I would plant alfalfa and square bale it for your horse customers. You should be able to get a cut every 3-4 weeks for 5-8 months depending on moisture and temps. But even if it turns hot and dry, alfalfa roots down over 8' deep looking for water. If you had 3 fields and timed them right, you could bale 3 weeks a month with a week off for rest and equipment maintenance.

I get 600-700 bales off one 20 acre piece. I have 40 acres this year. This fall we are going to plant everything that was in wheat to alfalfa. Should have close to 90 acres total for next year. Round here, we get $7/bale when they pick it up out of the field themselves. $8.50/ bale picked up out of our barn and $10/bale delivered within 10 miles. We generally have 500-600 bales pre-sold every month before we even cut. Soo... Alfalfa with horse folks can pay for equipment, labor, and fuel, pretty quick.

My neighbor has three 10-acre fields in irrigated alfalfa. Cuts every 4-5 weeks from May thru Oct. Three-twine square bales 120 lb or so. Most of the time his customers take the bales right out of the field. He uses a NH bale stacker to keep a hundred bales or so in the barnyard for his occassional customers who buy a few bales at a time.

 

[High Compression]

My neighbor has three 10-acre fields in irrigated alfalfa. Cuts every 4-5 weeks from May thru Oct. Three-twine square bales 120 lb or so. Most of the time his customers take the bales right out of the field. He uses a NH bale stacker to keep a hundred bales or so in the barnyard for his occassional customers who buy a few bales at a time.

120 lbs bales. OOh my back! :shocked: No thanks! I'm out!
Irrigated and he only gets a cut every 4-5 weeks. How warm does it get there? I would think he'd be closer to 3 weeks, unless it's not getting warm enough and or the ground isn't warm enough.