Haying in WV

[Backwoods Welding]

Just thought I would share a pic from the hay fields this summer. Mowing with a John Deere 1020 with mid mount 7' sickle and I'm on the Massey Ferguson 231 with the Galfre 2 spool tedder. This was one of the gentler hills we bale.

 

[smstonypoint]

What type of baler are you using?

Steve

 

[Backwoods Welding]

We used a Massey Ferguson 12 square baler but I upgraded to a New Holland Super Hayliner 69

 

[Backwoods Welding]

We used a Massey Ferguson 12 square baler but I upgraded to a New Holland 69 square baler later in the summer.

 

[smstonypoint]

We used a Massey Ferguson 12 square baler but I upgraded to a New Holland Super Hayliner 69

I was thinking that I wouldn't want to be downhill if you were using a round baler.

Steve

 

[dieselcrawler]

Gotta love them WV hillsides.... I've got 118 acres of them. My dad has a MF 12 baler also, been using it since I was a kid...

Thanks for sharing

 

[Backwoods Welding]

The one field we do I sat with both legs on the up hill side of the steering wheel ready to jump it was that steep! I actually had the hay rake tip up with me. I got my Ferguson TO-35 and it sits so low and it is out wide I didn't feel a thing on them hill. The person who cut the one farm before us did round bale it!

 

[Backwoods Welding]

More pics, Massey 12 baler, Kioti DK35SE running it.

 

[Backwoods Welding]

Kioti tractor and old International side delivery rake

 

[dieselcrawler]

My father-in-law has baled hay on some crazy steep hills with his round baler... 300 to 400 bales a year, when my wife was a kid, they did 10 to 12 thousand square bales every summer with an old NH 243 hayliner.

I have yet to try baling our fields, be a few more years until the briars are beat back enough in the fields to yield good horse feed hay. The previous owner let the fields go a few years before we bought it 3 years ago.

 

[Backwoods Welding]

This year we started doing our own hay on leased fields but my wife and I are closing on our first farm and it has 12 acres of FLAT hay fields and plenty more fields around to lease.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I have re-baled more than one bale that ran away and unrolled as it went. We had some pretty steep hills on the farm and round bales don't like to stay put. Ed

 

[flusher]

The one field we do I sat with both legs on the up hill side of the steering wheel ready to jump it was that steep! I actually had the hay rake tip up with me. I got my Ferguson TO-35 and it sits so low and it is out wide I didn't feel a thing on them hill. The person who cut the one farm before us did round bale it!

That's what you need to work on those WV hillsides--a straddle tractor like your TO-35.
My 1964 MF135 diesel would be my choice to work on such hills. It was set up to squat low to work in the orchards around my place. Rear tires are 18" wide on 16" diameter rims and are loaded 2/3 with water. The front spindles have been shortened to keep the tractor level.



Good luck and be careful out there.