MMM??? And other newbie questions....

[Soundguy]

New square bailers are sky high in price... I would imagine in the neighborhood of 30 hp.. possibly less for a new unit. In the 'old' days.. many bailers had their own engine.. allowing a smaller tractor to pull them.. lots of maintenance though.. and parts for those 'wisconson' engines are hard to come by.

I bought (another ) tractor the other day.. a 1946 2n... that machine is about 26 engine hp.. 23 at the pto... and the owner had an older ( 60-70's ) IH square bailer that he pulled behind it... and the 2n pulled it fine he said. These things like this.. if you can find them would be right up your alley for hobby hay... he only wanted 1000 for the bailer.. and it was in running ( but beat up slightly ) condition.

It didn't have a kicker.. probably why the pto hp requirement was less. Normall you'll run a bailer with a kicker and pull a hay wagon... this eats your hp fast... just pulling the bailer, and letting the tied bails fall in the pasture is much less hp.. then you go back and collect with the hay wagon and the neighbors kid.. etc.

I'm thinking of some hobby hay on my 13.2 ac.. and I may.. if I think about it too much.. go back and get the IH bailer...

Soundguy

 

[JohnS]

SoundGuy is correct about those old balers. My dad use to use a Farmall Super C to pull a baler, when it had its own engine. Converting the baler to pto, had to go to a Farmall M. And yes, I was one of the kids that had to pick the bales off the ground! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I am not sure what brand baler he has, but still in use today. With his, you can count on unjamming the knot tyer/cutter, with every use. You get considerable back and forth motion, and with the weight, would never consider pulling with a compact, especially if you have hills. A used utility tractor is going to be a better bet for you. I have heard from people who have used balers on chinese tractors in the 354 class, which are more utility than compact.

PS: SG, is there any market for those old wisconsin engines? Knowing that my dad never throws anything away, he probably still has a 2 and a 4 cyl, lying around.

 

[RobertO]

OK, I now know to hire someone to dig the pond and then move the piles with the FEL. I buried a question about baling hay deep in my discussion, but how big of a tractor do I need to bale hay (square bales)? Is this too big a task for a Jinma? Even the new 45 hp beast that is coming soon?

thanx

 

[RobertO]

OOPSIES! I did not see the hay baling responses before I posted.

Thanx everyone.

 

[bluechip]

The size tractor will depend on the requirement of the bailer. Might want to look at the KAMA KM 454 or even better the KM504/554. These tractors have been in production a few years and are stout machines! KAMA tractors

 

[RobertO]

Thanks SoundGuy and JohnS. That is the information I was looking for. Small operation hay -- few acres. 'Hobby hay' describes exactly what I am going to do... eventually.

thnaks again guys.