Jinma 284 - Haybaler size

[zfreak28]

Looking to get into baling hay, i have about 4 acres on very flat river bottom ground.

Want to do square bales, any suggestions on what the tractor will be able to handle?

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Here's a video of a guy pulling a New Holland 65 with a Jinma 254
Pressage de petits ballots avec un Jinma 254 et une presse New Holland - YouTube

The tail seems to be wagging the dog but he's on flat ground. The video never shows a complete bale being made but I'd estimate about a bale every ten seconds. Everything seems to slow down when a bale comes out.

See also this page.
Jinma Dealer, Wood Chipper , Compact Jinma Tractors

I'd like to get into small scale hay, but it seems like the equipment is really expensive unless you mow a lot. Like all summer long. For a four acre lot I think you'd be paying tens of thousands of dollars for the equipment to make hundreds of dollars of hay each year. Even used equipment requires a lot of maintenance.

 

[Rich Waugh]

The other thing to consider is the cutting. While a bush hog is cheap and will cut the grass, you really need a sickle bar mower if you want to make good hay. Oh - and a windrower/rake as well. Haying is really equipment intensive and I don't see how it could possibly be cost effective with only 4 acres. Of course, you could job out you equipment on other's land and pick up some money that way.

 

[Affordable]

Here is a company in Texas that sells compact square and round balers ,and cutters for small tractors


Mini Hay Balers and Compact Hay Balers | Small Farm Innovators



Tommy
Affordable Tractor Sales
"Your Jinma Parts Superstore"
Home of compact Jinma, Foton, and Koyker Tractors and Parts, Wood Chippers, Backhoes - Affordable Tractor Sales Company

 

[bjr]

I bought a SFI drum mower last yr and it's very good. I rake with a very old IH No. 5 side delivery that works okay and I bale with a old NH269 that isn't very good. I'm mowing and baling 1-1/2 AC. More or less just to keep the weed work down. bjr

 

[flusher]

Looking to get into baling hay, i have about 4 acres on very flat river bottom ground.

Want to do square bales, any suggestions on what the tractor will be able to handle?

Your tractor weighs about 3000 lb and puts out about 24 hp (pto). The usual size square balers (14"x 18" x 30-50" long bales) like my Massey Ferguson 124 baler weigh about 3000 lb and the recommended pto hp ranges from 30-40 hp. That said, people have run this size balers on much smaller tractors like the Farmall Super A in this video (the baler part starts about 6 minutes from the start of the video). The Super A only puts out about 16 hp (pto) and weighs 2400-3400 lb depending on how much added weight is included.

FARMALL Super A - YouTube

So you could operate something like my 124 that cost me $2K about 5 years ago, which is a typical price for one of the old JD or NH balers similar to my MF.




The back and forth plunger motion from the baler can give a rough ride on a small tractor like yours, but you only have a few acres to bale, so that probably isn't an issue.

Good luck.