Looking for recommendations on haying with a Kioto LK3054. I've had the LK3054 for 16 years and it has been great for clearing brush, maintaining gravel driveways, removing snow, pulling a manure spreader, and pulling stuck-trucks from mud. We are looking to start hay-making on our 3-5 acres of pasture for our horses. I'm torn between using used-smaller cutting & baling equipment like John Deere or New Holland (but I'm not sure of the HP needs) or getting new & smaller Chinese, Indian, or Italian made equipment (intended fo small hobby farms). The goal is to make 550-600 small square bales a year. The last several years we've paid someone else to cut and bale but it is hard to get someone to do it as most in this area use large round bales.
Using a Kioti LK3054 for hay baling
- Thread starter cmlykins
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- baling hay kioti kioti lk3054
You have plenty of power to run a 7' or 9' sickle type haybine and a small square baler. I even pulled a 4 place snowmobile trailer behind my JD 14T baler with a 22 h.p. Yanmar (std transmission and NO live power or independent pto). Plenty of Youtube videos showing that it's no big deal. I currently even pull a NH 1012 stack wagon (because the only real work you need to deal with is getting them back to storage). You probably won't get it done in high range or top gear, but you can't do that either with a JD 4020 or a JD 4430 either. I happen to know this from experience. BTW you can pull a 5 bar rake with a golf cart.
All my equipment has been acquired from on-site farm auctions where the owner retired or moved on to round baling because of the absence of qualified help (BTW: you'll need 2 hands on any helpers, not ones with a phone in one full time). I also see where there is a YouTuber who single handedly pulls a wagon behind the baler and stops every 10 or so bales to stack them on the back !
All my equipment has been acquired from on-site farm auctions where the owner retired or moved on to round baling because of the absence of qualified help (BTW: you'll need 2 hands on any helpers, not ones with a phone in one full time). I also see where there is a YouTuber who single handedly pulls a wagon behind the baler and stops every 10 or so bales to stack them on the back !
BillyB196
New member
Watching - I'm looking at the same thing. It's just getting too expensive to continue to hire out. Hopefully you will get some good responses.
This is very helpful and a good start to my search. Thank you.
UPDATE: I've continued watching video's, reading, and talking to other small tractor owners. I purchased a JD14T baler, I'm looking at several NH451 sickle bar mowers, I've located a rake I'm interested in, and I've decided to get a moisture probe. I could probably have purchased this equipment cheaper; but, when I'm all done I expect to have my collection for under $3800.
LK3054 may not have enough PTO power to run a baler unless it was sized for 25-28 hp tractor. Also the LK3054 has dual clutch one for drivetrain and one for PTO. My experience the PTO is not as Robust as expected. I had ran 7’ Lely Disc mower on mine. Had to modify the three point hitch to handle the weight in turns turnbuckles would break. Ended up with square tubing nested in each other before it is now common on todays tractors. The LK3054 is a capable tractor and very reliable once getting past ignition switch and charging issues. Never was impressed with Kioti electric on the tractor. All other aspects it was indestructible. Granted we had to reweld the loader mount since it was giving away at the weld seams.
