sizing tractors/implements

[Egon]

Thinking back 40 years ago:

Sounds like different climate and growning conditions would require different machinery. Each area will naturally evolve to what is best suited to the conditions. As new equipment comes out it will tried. If a lot of it shows up at auctions it means it didn't work.

Number of acres involved is also very important. There should be a sorta break point for different areas where the economics become plausible.

Also to be considered is what the local demand is. The equipment must be suited to meet this demand.

Now as I see it there are no set answers as each situation is independant. When my thoughts turn to farming more horse power and larger equipment and more acres always come to mind as manpower versus time is also a consideration.

Egon

 

[JerryG]

<font color="blue"> Sounds like different climate and growning conditions would require different machinery. </font>
That may be it Egon. CCI said about the down time of the hay is right. We did use a MoCo for several years. This is what we do now. We cut one day with a disc mower and tedder next morning and start baling after lunch or in the early evening.

 

[HayDR]

Richard,
50%+ of the cattle in the USA are owned by farmers/ranchers with 100 acres or less. In Iowa a farmer might farm 2 sections of which most is used in production of row crops. In most of the east we average 4-6 farmers per section (640 acres). In KY, TN, NC, VA, WV in the cattle areas the average is 10-12 farmers per section. These farmers do not raise much if any alfalfa or have 100 HP tractors. They have cow/calf operations and usually have income from other sources. These farmers may raise some extra hay to sell but 80% of them raise a hay crop for their own use. This leaves 20% of the farmers as commercial hay producers. The commercial hay producer has to have as much technology as they can afford. Labor is just not available on a consistent basis anymore and technology and HP must make up the difference.
Horse farms are usually smaller than the cattle farms. These farms may raise some alfalfa, timothy and other legume crops.
Richard fewer farmers each year farm the same way you do. I'm not saying what you are doing is wrong because it is not. The guys on TBN usually have smaller operations than you do. They have less resources and want a feasible way to harvest hay. I know many a farmer that harvested hundreds of acres of hay with a AC-D15, 3000 Ford, MF-135, & 1020 JD. Most of them had square balers in the 1970's and then in the 80's they traded up for 10 more HP in their tractors and purchased round balers. The folks in Iowa do not understand how we farm with 35-60 HP tractors because the smallest tractor they have is an old JD 4020 with 93 HP. MFG & merchants understand orders and sales so they are forced by the market to make products the market needs. Those smaller dollar products are not the bell cows for companies like JD but when combine sales are down JD has learned that the profits from lawn mower sales help the bottomline. JD will sell around 400,000 lawn mowers next year. It is all about matching the proper size equipment to the job.

 

[JerryG]

CCI,
Your description of the farmers, tractor sizes and type of operations, hit the nail on the head. That is exactly the way it is here and the way it was.

 

[HayDR]

cowboydoc,
<font color="blue"> "I agree 100% with what you just said CCI. The 5103 has 65 pto hp. That's 5 less hp than I stated at 70 hp. "</font>
The JD 5103 has 46 PTO HP, Check it out. JD 5103

 

[cowboydoc]

Yes you're right I was thinking of the 5303. I guess if you only had 20 acres of hay to make it would be ok.

 

[HayDR]

Yes, 20-40 acres, two cuttings a year is all many of these cattle owners have. They may be pressed for time so they may purchase drum/disc mowers and V-Rakes to speed up their process. Most of us are so focused our own operations that we do not see how others operate. There really is no wrong way in choosing equipment, but there are advantages and disadvantages for each choice. Matching the equipment to the tractor and the intended use is the key to getting the best choice for one's situation.
If we raised many acres of alfalfa, it would be the thing to do to own a discbine. We sold them 8 years ago because in grass hay the discbine mower conditioner had no advantage over the disc mower and tedder.

 

[cowboydoc]

Why would anyone even invest in equipment for 20-40 acres? You could never make that pay. On 20-40 acres two cuttings a year of grass you are maybe going to get 80 -100 bales off of that on a good year. Even take your lowest price baler which I think is what $13k? It would take 16 years to pay for a baler and that's not even counting the tractor wear and tear or a persons time.

 

[slowrev]

Around here most "real" small farmers buy used equipment. That makes it finiancially feasable. The city folks that move out and buy a small farm and have lots of money buy the new stuff.

 

[jimg]

From the replies so far it sounds like machinery decisions are based on what you have (or don't have) to spend or guessing. While Im sure regional factors do play into the bottom line there must be a rational thought out process for deciding what will get the job done (in the required amt of time) and be profitable. Has anyone done this? If so I'd be interested in details.