Haying with a Mahindra 4110. Enough horsepower?

[teuqus]

Hi,

I've got a mahindra 4110 (Engine:41 hp PTO (claimed):33.6 hp). I was told by a local salesman that it wouldn't be powerful enough to cut and bale hay. Is anyone out there haying with a comparable tractor and if so, what equipment are you using? I need to hay about 30-50 acres. Buying a new tractor isn't really an option...

 

[Gee Ray]

What kind of baler do you want? What kind of terrain is the field? What kind of transmission is in your tractor?

The tractor that you have can be used as a hay cutter, operate a tedder and a rake. It is not big enough to run a round baler. It could be used to do square bales with an older New Holland baler or JD baler as they are both require little or low HP. The problem is if your land is hilly the balers can push you around as you descend a hill or you may not be able to pull the hills.

If you check out the internet you can find "power fore carts" that you could mount a stand alone engine to power the baler. Look for Amish baling hay as this is their solution to powering a round baler.

Here is a video using a 25 hp Kubota with 19 HP at the PTO.

I did thousands of bales with a MF 1528 HST 28 HP and a NH 273 baler.

 

[Willman]

You would fine with a small square baler
Years ago on my dad’s farm we used a ford 8N hooked to a NH square baler for many years

 

[oldnslo]

We used a 520 JD for years on Ford small square baler and pulled hay wagon behind on 99% of our fields. Also used our JD 420 when not pulling hay rack. Never had power concerns just use your head if on hills. 9 ft haybine might make it work.

 

[5030]

Heck, way back when, I used a 49 Farmall A wide front and ran a sickle bar mower and an ancient New Holland 66 square bailer as well as a pull type New Holland side delivery rake. It did fine. Only issue was the square bailer threw me around a bit as the plunger cycled.

Horsepower isn't a factor with a square bailer because it has a large flywheel that keeps the motion going. You won't be pulling a hay rack behind the baler however. Sickle bar mowers take very little power and a pull behind side delivery rake can be pulled with an average quad even.

 

[Willman]

Heck, way back when, I used a 49 Farmall A wide front and ran a sickle bar mower and an ancient New Holland 66 square bailer as well as a pull type New Holland side delivery rake. It did fine. Only issue was the square bailer threw me around a bit as the plunger cycled.

Horsepower isn't a factor with a square bailer because it has a large flywheel that keeps the motion going. You won't be pulling a hay rack behind the baler however. Sickle bar mowers take very little power and a pull behind side delivery rake can be pulled with an average quad even.

Yes our 8N rocked back and forth with the baler stroking, we did not pull a wagon, just dropped bales in the field

 

[5030]

Understand, if you want to round bale, the game changes appreciably. You need a pretty substantial tractor to run a round baler, I think (could be wrong) but the minimum power requirements for a typical New Holland round baler equipped with infeed discs is 40 pto horses and the tractor has to weigh a good bit or the round baler will drive you.

My new Kubota round baler I just purchased the minimum required pto power is 60 to roll a 4x5 round bale and wrap it.

Square bailing is certainly well within the capabilities of your tractor.

 

[5030]

we did not pull a wagon, just dropped bales in the field

Neither did I actually. The last small square baler I owned (and sold 2 years ago), a New Holland 565 high capacity would rock my M9000 cab tractor especially in a turn, as the plunger cycled. Lot of mass moving back and forth inside the bale chamber.

 

[teuqus]

Square bales are fine.

What kind of baler do you want? What kind of terrain is the field? What kind of transmission is in your tractor?

The tractor that you have can be used as a hay cutter, operate a tedder and a rake. It is not big enough to run a round baler. It could be used to do square bales with an older New Holland baler or JD baler as they are both require little or low HP. The problem is if your land is hilly the balers can push you around as you descend a hill or you may not be able to pull the hills.

If you check out the internet you can find "power fore carts" that you could mount a stand alone engine to power the baler. Look for Amish baling hay as this is their solution to powering a round baler.

Here is a video using a 25 hp Kubota with 19 HP at the PTO.

I did thousands of bales with a MF 1528 HST 28 HP and a NH 273 baler.

To answer your questions:

It’s a synchromesh 12 speed transmission.

The terrain is a combination of flat and a gentle slope.

Square bales are fine.

I understand the hesitation with bailing especially round bales, but what about cutting? What should I be looking for in a mower?

Pardon my ignorance but haying is new to me.

 

[5030]

Sickle bar hay bine with conditioning rolls or a side mount sickle bar. Lots of older NH and JD MoCo's on Tractor House for sale. You don't have enough pto power for pull type disc mower with conditioning rolls and you would need at least 2 sets of remotes as well. One set for the table and one set for the tongue swing. ASC sells a nice side mount disc machine that goes on a 3ph but has no conditioning rolls. They also sell a nice tedder and rotary rake. For low pto power, a side delivery is nice like I said but you have enough pto power to run a single head rotary rake as well.

I prefer a rotary myself. I have a Kuhn 2 head Masterdrive rotary but they aren't cheap.