What is the smallest tractor that will pull a swather and then a square bailer?

[cassandraame84]

I just leased a 6 acre farmstead and I need to buy a tractor, swather and bailer, so I can bail hay for next winter. (Neighbor helped out this year) Can someone point me in the general direction of some good all round machines? Not looking for anything big, property is only 6 acres, but part of it is sloped.

Just found this one. Any good?
http://www.machinefinder.com/ww/en-US/machine/1985-case-ih-234-tractor-2667931

 

[tcreeley]

Might be cheaper to just buy the hay already baled -round or square either pick up in field or at their barn. Some will deliver. It is going to take sometime to pay back an investment in machinery - poor use of money for just 6 acres.

The tractor looks nice- always look it over in person, try it out. There are a lot of scams involving "delivery", pay 1/2 now, 1/2 later on delivery. You never see the vehicle and your money takes a walk.

Good luck. Tractors are fun!

 

[CalG]

15 hp might be a bit light balers are heavy. mowers and side delivery rakes you "might" be OK, they used to be pulled by a team of two.

 

[Ed of all trades]

You are going to want more than the minimum for what you are doing. For one thing you don't know what you are doing and a bigger tractor will give you some extra safety. Someone with years under their belt will know what to do with out having to think and will have done what needs to be done while you think about it. Hillsides and balers don't go well with small tractors. It is not a good feeling when the tractor breaks traction and starts sliding down a hill with very little control. (you don't have to ask me how I know.) Get a 45 or 50 hp tractor, NOT a compact and be at ease knowing you are safe. Someone has to be around to take care of the goats.

 

[tessiers]

hp doesn't have a lot to do with it, small haybine will use under 20 hp, small baler less than that. Weight and gears is what you need, Farmall H is about as rock solid a tractor you will find, around here under 2k. Heavy enough to mow and bale but old and slow. We used one for years on 25 acres of hay and it never let us down in the field. I would look for something 3500# or a little more regardless of HP, and low gear of 2 mph or so. My personal favorite for a small hay tractor is my Massey Ferguson 135 with the perkins diesel. About the same weight as my H but more gears, more hp and less fuel.

 

[Marveltone]

Square balers have plungers that can tend to slap lighter tractors around during use. Operating a light tractor under these conditions can be very tiring. I bought my Fordson E1A Major with baling in mind. It's considered to be around 40 engine hp (35 PTO) but it's a full sized farm tractor and heavily ballasted... My best guess is somewhere around 8640 lbs. This gives a stable platform that only gives a slight nudge with each stroke of the plunger. My raking duties can be handled quite nicely with my little Ford 1510, as my side delivery rake is quite light and the little Ford is very maneuverable. There's no way I'd hook it up to a baler. As for cutting, it all depends on what you're using for a mower. I've cut with both tractors, but with different implements.

Joe

 

[Larro Darro]

If you like the tractor, buy it. But with only six acres of grass, you are wasting money buying hay equipment. See if your neighbor will do the hay on halves. Or just buy what you need and use all the land for pasture. That would make the most sense. You can't run a lot of cows on six acres, anyway. It shouldn't take very much hay. And cows come with traction control right from the factory. The slopes won't bother them.

 

[Larro Darro]

Did you guys see the typo on the HP of the tractor? At the top it said 15.4HP. But lower down it said 51HP. They are doing a good job of stuffing that engine in there.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Yea, I baled for years with a Jubilee About 35 pto hp and it did good on flat land but on a hill off we would go sliding down the hill, and that was with "water" in the rear tires.

 

[tessiers]

Depends on your baler too, I have a new Holland 67 baler and it couldn't pull my NAA down hill if it had too, baled a lot of hay with that combination on some pretty good hills with no problems. I wouldn't hook a wagon on and expect much. Only reason I am still not doing it is lack of lower gears or lack of independent PTO, either one would have been nice. Same baler behind my Farmall H and I never had a problem because the gearing was much better. Same baler behind my MF 135 and I hardly ever use the independent PTO.