Starting to look at hay tools

[PROFarms]

Hey Y'all

I just been out and bought a 42 PTO hp IH 444 (attached picture) and I'm looking to get some haying kit. Id be doing between 10-20 acres of my own and possibly up to 40 acres of a neighbours property on at least one cutting a year, sometimes get two in maybe. Before this year we only ever had a 19hp Yanmar and had to use a Sickle Mower to cut, turned most by hand or with a 4 wheel rake, and then had to pay someone to come in and bale it.

Anyone able to help me and give me ideas of what sort of size attachments i need. Probably looking for a disc/drum mower, 2 or 4 star tedder and then probably a baler cause it costs me so much to get someone to come and bale it.

 

[PROFarms]

anybody got any thoughts?? :/

 

[MrWhippy]

I'm curious if any of the haybines, discbines or moco's will work in that HP range.

 

[Northcountryboy]

I bought a New Holland 7320 discbine this past summer. It has a 9 foot cut and it takes at least 65 hp at the pto.

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

You could run the heck out of a 474 new holland haybine. Good cheap rake and a 2 basket Tedder would have you set minus the baler. You wanting square or round bales ?

 

[PROFarms]

I'm looking to make small square bales.

 

[ddd75]

with that size acreage and tractor i'd look into a 9' sickle bar mower, 8 wheel rake, and a JD 336 sq baler.

 

[blueriver]

Hay grapple and accumulator a must

 

[PROFarms]

Acreage could be from 20-60 acres. Depends if I do the neighbours place. Have got a 7ft sickle but never got on with it. Always too slow and always got jammed up in really thick grass we have got. May invest in a jd baler - should this be able to be powered by a 40hp tractor? Currently got a 4 wheel trailed rake so might invest in a bigger one if I can guarantee I can get the neighbours land to do for at least a few years.

 

[ddd75]

Acreage could be from 20-60 acres. Depends if I do the neighbours place. Have got a 7ft sickle but never got on with it. Always too slow and always got jammed up in really thick grass we have got. May invest in a jd baler - should this be able to be powered by a 40hp tractor? Currently got a 4 wheel trailed rake so might invest in a bigger one if I can guarantee I can get the neighbours land to do for at least a few years.

might be able to push a 336 with 40hp but it'd be close.. might try to find a nice 24T.

I cut 200 acres with a 9' sickle bar and if it ever jams its because the belt isn't tight enough.

i doubt you'll be able to run anything but a sickle bar on 40hp

 

[PROFarms]

I posted a thread on here back in the summer when i had the problem but nobodies solutions seemed to fix. May be because its a pretty old Massey
Ferguson sickle mower. Rebuilt the whole bearing on it when it broke due to lack of grease (my bad, i completely forgot one bearing every time i greased the rest of it and ran it for a few weeks with no grease, then bang - metal from bearing is flying everywhere mid field!) and then tightened everything as i had been told tout still jammed up. would prefer maybe a 3pt disc/drum mower or a haybine

 

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

I think you should be able to run any of the 7ft mower/conditioners, NH, JD, Gehl, Hesston. Just change it to "stub" style rock guards. Also get an extra cutter bar and change it to bolt on style sections instead of rivot style. You may have to change "hold downs" too. Many times its faster to change the whole bar in the field than one section. Most any of the "side delivery" roll-a-bar design rakes are classics for durability and reliability, very little HP needs. Try to get one with a dolly wheel set up 'cause the others are a bit tongue heavy. Change the teeth to the rubber mounted kind. Avoid the rakes that run off a belt not a gearbox. The belts are kind of hard to find, pricey, and don't like to be parked outside in the sun. You should be able to run any 6ft disc/drum mower and maybe some 8ft if your ground is level. Keep a close eye on the oil level in the bar and don't be skimpy on changing a dull knife/blade. They're cheap and easy to change. More later if you want but supper is ready, gotta go.

 

[blueriver]

The Frontier DM 1160 is rated for 40hp ... There's also a lot of disc mowers on the mkt for 40 hp

 

[PROFarms]

Ok cheers guys. Will start researching into different disc and drum mowers. Probably looking at a 5' 6 drum mower or maybe a 6'-6'6 disc mower. What size wheel rake would that tractor pull? Maybe an 8-10 wheel?

 

[blueriver]

Ok cheers guys. Will start researching into different disc and drum mowers. Probably looking at a 5' 6 drum mower or maybe a 6'-6'6 disc mower. What size wheel rake would that tractor pull? Maybe an 8-10 wheel?

Wheel rakes are an easy pull ... in a pinch I Lower the hydraulics and then rake with the JD Gator

 

[PROFarms]

Ok. We have a yanmar ym169d which I pull the 4 wheel rake on. Would this tractor pull a 8wheel rake? Probably going to purchase a new rake as I'm now going to have enough land to do hay that it will be feasible for me to invest

 

[powerscol]

First take a look at posts in the hay forum. I use a IH 1300 sickle mower with good results and a older Ford 503 side delivery rake. My baler is an in-line Hesston 4550. I highly recommend an inline baler if you get one. You may want to look at disk bines with a conditioner roller. While I don't have one, disk and drum mowers are good too. Good luck. BTW - check out my other posts and the advice I got.

 

[PROFarms]

What sort of hp is needed for an inline small square baler??

 

[forestcreature1]

I am reading up on those myself [and they are easier to come by in the EU since small fields are more common]. I am seeing 30hp and up.
This is what I was looking at - until I saw the price... Mini Hay Balers and Compact Hay Balers | Small Farm Innovators

You might also give this site a look - they specialize in all things 'hay': http://www.haytalk.com/forums/

 

[powerscol]

I am running a small one (Hesston 4550) with 26.5 PTO HP, but my tractor is heavy and I keep the windrows manageable and go slow. I am also running at 6500' elevation. I would recommend 35HP for normal operation. New ones are pricy, but good used ones are reasonable. Older units were branded Hesston, New Idea, Case/IH, etc. I think in some of my other posts I listed the various models available. There are usually good sales in the Spring too.