Tiny tractor hay.

[bottletree]

A few years ago we looked into haying the ten acres of field/ pasture on our farm. After much research on equipment. time etc. I found it was cheaper to have my neighbor who hays a couple hundred acres come over and do our fields as well. Been retired for a while and don't work like I used too. but still find plenty of things to keep me occupied. Enjoy!

 

[tecnicoman]

Some people like their subcompact tractors and want to do as much as they can with them. On farms of less than 10 acres that makes a lot of sense. The short answer is that there is equipment out there that is designed for making hay with that tractor. Even if you had enough horsepower to run an old square baler, I wouldn't recommend it for two reasons, both of which have to do with weight. First off, that old baler is going to weigh twice as much as your tractor. That is simply not safe, even on gentle slopes. Once that baler decides to go down a hill you are not going to be able to stop it. The second reason is that the plunging action of the baler is going to be rocking your tractor back and forth in a very uncomfortable way. Heavier tractors can absorb most of that jerking action, but yours won't. That's going to make for a long day of baling. If you decide to buy a baler, go with a mini round baler. It will make a bale about the same size as a square bale, and be much more comfortable to use, simpler to maintain, and won't require its own barn for storage.

 

[samharley]

I have helped bale hay with an 8N. If you can find an older baler I think you could manage it.

 

[OzarkChris]

I don't know anything myself. One of my friends baled bermuda grass in Tennessee. He said he had customers come from as far as Texas. My understanding from what he told me is bermuda is a specialty item and he was able to charge much more than regular hay. But it also took more care. He said he got some johnson grass coming up and had to use a wick with herbicide to kill the johnson without killing his bermuda. He was also making square bales because his customers wanted those kind of bales to feed their horses.

Two neighbor cow farmers here just lost 3 and 4 cows last week from Johnson. Nasty stuff.

 

[Jchonline]

On reality. acreage is but a small part of overall production. If you maintain the field and keep it fertilized and weed free between cuts, even 10 acres can produce an abundance of hay.

Fertilized? There goes the budget!

 

[cityboy938]

Long time reader, first time poster. This topic interests me because I've kicked the idea around of doing this myself with my BX2350 which has very similar specs to your Massey. Some people are making this into an old vs new equipment discussion, but really there is no old equipment that is properly sized to run safely on a tractor that size, except for maybe a sickle bar mower and a few of the rakes out there, but certainly no older balers. Even if you're willing to ignore the safety and tractor wear concerns with larger equipment, you have to ask yourself these questions: how comfortable and prepared am I to work on it when it breaks down (and it will)? Can I even get parts for this thing? Do I have a knowledgeable person I can turn to when it breaks down for advice? Do I have the tools required to do complex repairs? This would be a different discussion if there weren't any new options available but there are. Advantages of buying new far outweigh the advantages of buying used, IMO. You can get mini equipment for a reasonable price (less than $20k, even down to under $15k depending on the package). You should be able to get support and parts from the dealer, and you'll have equipment that is built to work safely with your tractor. The downside vs used is higher cost, but as others have said here, if you focus on increasing yield in your field you can sell the extra and eventually break even and better.

 

[rScotty]

Long time reader, first time poster. This topic interests me because I've kicked the idea around of doing this myself with my BX2350 which has very similar specs to your Massey. Some people are making this into an old vs new equipment discussion, but really there is no old equipment that is properly sized to run safely on a tractor that size, except for maybe a sickle bar mower and a few of the rakes out there, but certainly no older balers. Even if you're willing to ignore the safety and tractor wear concerns with larger equipment, you have to ask yourself these questions: how comfortable and prepared am I to work on it when it breaks down (and it will)? Can I even get parts for this thing? Do I have a knowledgeable person I can turn to when it breaks down for advice? Do I have the tools required to do complex repairs? This would be a different discussion if there weren't any new options available but there are. Advantages of buying new far outweigh the advantages of buying used, IMO. You can get mini equipment for a reasonable price (less than $20k, even down to under $15k depending on the package). You should be able to get support and parts from the dealer, and you'll have equipment that is built to work safely with your tractor. The downside vs used is higher cost, but as others have said here, if you focus on increasing yield in your field you can sell the extra and eventually break even and better.

Good points. Haying seems to be real hard on equipment. Everyone I know repairs their own - there are just too many breakdowns and adjustments to be involving an outside mechanic. Plus hay is on a weather schedule.
So parts availability seems the most important thing to my neighbors - new vs used is less so.
Water is becoming increasingly more important. Do you have shares?
rScotty

 

[makey98]

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.

Max-24- Dean, what is a buck rack? also interested in this post because i have about 3 acres of hay and hard to justify the 18k small bale combo package!! thanks.

 

[JWR]

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:
View attachment 765371

That is ultramodern. "When I was a kid" (50's) we raked the hay into rows with a horse drawn rake, piled it into "shocks" by hand with pitch forks, then pulled the shocks by rope/pole/horse to a location where a pole was set into the ground and the hay was stacked around the pole. The stacks were done such that the center was packed tightly and about as high as a long pitch fork and a strong Uncle could boost the hay up to the top. Once it settled it shed water fairly well with only some loss and lasted all winter to feed the cattle.

 

[JWR]

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....

True but those self-powered old square hay balers are too heavy to be handled/pulled by a GC1725.