Rookie Hay Farmer

mightyquin · Dec 21, 2011

Hi there. The rookie part is a little misleading, I've been baling grass hay for a couple years now. The wife has four horses, and we have seven acres of brome pasture. We were having a guy custom bale for us but it was getting frustrating working on his schedule. So the first step was finding a Farmall 460D on craigslist. The generator didn't work, brakes nearly gone and weak compression but working TA, fasthitch and straight tin. How could I say no! Then the following summer and in a crunch we procured a New Holland S69 Hayliner. I'd love to say this was a smart purchase but moving on. So over that winter, craigslist provided a New Holland 469 Haybine and a really good deal on a New Holland 268 Hayliner and its twin part supplier. This was the first summer we did everything with no hickups. So like all intellegent married men I decided we needed a few acres of alfalfa to supplement the brome. Last weekend provided the means for this via a farm sale with the purchase of a Van Braunt grain drill. Join that to the Allis Chalmers 190 with loader, Dad's old disk and a Little Genius plow I'm taking the plunge. As a side note, I also have an old steel wheel Case rake, John Deere No. 8 sickle bar, custom sprayer, auger, and a Ford 6' blade.

creekbend · Dec 21, 2011

It certainly seems that you are getting all the equipment together to accomplish your endeavor. Good to have you aboard.:tractor:

TripleR · Dec 23, 2011

Welcome to TBN; lots of members with experience in haying, all I ever did was pick em up and put em in the truck.

creekbend · Dec 23, 2011

TripleR said:
Welcome to TBN; lots of members with experience in haying, all I ever did was pick em up and put em in the truck.

I, like you, have never operated hay making equipment. I have picked up and tossed many a bale in my earlier years. Stacking the bales in the barn was always the hardest.

TripleR · Dec 23, 2011

creekbend said:
I, like you, have never operated hay making equipment. I have picked up and tossed many a bale in my earlier years. Stacking the bales in the barn was always the hardest.

Ain't that the truth, we had to rotate people on that or we would pass out from the heat.

We got one cent for every bale and we handled it twice; three times if the stacker didn't do his job right.:laughing: