Tiny tractor hay.

[minnesotaredleg]

I am purchasing a Massey Ferguson gc1725mb for land scraping and chores on my hobby farm. As I approach retirement the farm will transition into my full time gig (men tend to die when they quit working). I have about 9-10 acres of hay and am looking for the best way to take over the haying (currently have a deal with a farmer a few miles away) with my small tractor. I have been looking at sickle mowers and belt rake/tedders. No idea for baling. I’m all ears.

 

[RjCorazza]

I am not a hay guy, but your question peaked my curiosity. The cutting and windrowing should be easy enough, but I was skeptical about your machine running a baler.
Tractor Time With Tim (YouTube) demoed running an older square baler with his John Deere 1025 , and it seemed to handle it. I don't think I would want that kind of load on a sub compact tractor on a regular basis though. I would also be concerned about the weight of a full size baler behind a sub compact on any type of slope.

There are mini balers made specifically for sub compacts, but I suspect they are mostly Chinese manufactured (just a guess).

 

[minnesotaredleg]

Funny, I just got done watching that exact same video. I think his 1025 has a couple less hp than the Massey. Spent some time looking at some of those mini round balers too but I’m always afraid to drop a bunch of cash without having a good idea about how something will hold up/ perform over time. Thanks for the response.

 

[CobyRupert]

What is your hay handling and storage situation? Alone, have help, lots of time or short on it, have a 1st floor mow, or 2nd floor etc?
That is, you seem to have the capacity to cut and windrow hay, but as mentioned, baling can demand a bigger machine.
Your horsepower might work at slow speed, but I think a 1725lbs tractor running a baler is going to get pushed around, if not be overwhelmed.
But a 60 year old tractor of the same horsepower, but heavier, might not have a problem.

…but back to handling and storage. For more years than not, hay wasn’t baled. Putting a string around it was only because it reduced the amount of time and labor to move it from field to barn. The conversion to round bales handled by diesel power has reduced human labor more.
Look at what some Amish do using 1 or 2 horsepower to get hay to the barn. Found this picture on the internet:

 

[ultrarunner]

This is how we did it with single cylinder 15hp diesel tractor.

Sickle Bar mower and Hamster collector for grass, hay and straw...

When I was not driving I was firmly attached to fender seat.

Previous to the Hamster it was tractor pulling hay wagon loaded with hay forks!

 

[5030]

There are mini balers made specifically for sub compacts, but I suspect they are mostly Chinese manufactured (just a guess).

I believe they are Itallian not Chinese.

 

[5030]

Issue is, tiny tractors produce tiny bales too.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

I looked at one of these, see link below.

Hay Balers | Tractor Tools Direct | Small-Farm Haying Independence

TTD makes baling hay with a compact tractor easy! Mini round hay balers and compact square hay balers for small-farm haying. Call 260-BALE-HAY today!

tractortoolsdirect.com

But decided I would continue using the buck rack and putting up the 2 to 3 tons of loose hay in the barn.

 

[5030]

In reality you could purchase an older New Holland square bailer that is self powered. They made them with Wisconsin engines to be pulled with tractors that lacked a pto....

 

[Smokeydog]

Seen nice kept old square balers going cheap. Bring hay to baler would save some hp. Big old tractors are cheap too.

Bale hay made a tremendous difference in keeping rats and mice out of hay storage. Significant cost savings to the farmer. They will harvest every seed out of loose hay and subsequent population explosion.