John Deere 2280 Haycutter

[Builder]

Hi Guys. I may be purchasing ~20 acres of land, mostly hayfield. It's in "act 319" which is an open space preservation tax rebate. If I were to buy this property, it would have to be maintained as open space as a small hay field. It has to show a small amount of income to stay qualified. I've been asking some of my friends who farm for a living about doing the hay work, but I'd really like to do it myself. I notice one local guy has a small haycutter, but most guys use a standard tractor and pull their implements.

So my question is, what advantage does a small stand alone haycutter have over a tractor with pull behind implements?

I found a 1980 JD 2280 diesel 14' windrower with a/c cab for 10K. It looks to be in good condition. As you can tell, I'm no farmer, but it's always been a dream of mine to do some haying part time on my own piece of land. I know other neighbors have large fields that need the same treatment.

Would a hay cutter make it faster & easier, perhaps more "fun"? I want to do some things I've dreamed of before I'm too old to do them. I could always get a neighbor to bail it for me or buy a small hay bailer to pull behind my 47HP Challenger tractor in the future.

 

[AKfish]

Whoa... Builder you're gonna have so much goin' on that you'll be sleepin' standin' upright just so you don't have to slow down too much from one job to the next...

IMO - a self-propelled windrower is a "high volume" implement. And a bit "over-the-top" for 20 acres. But, it'll sure get 'er done fast! (Does it have crimper or conditioner rollers, too?)

If your local area producers don't use MoCo's religiously to get the hay off the field faster - your 47hp Challenger will pull a 7'-8' disc mower ($3-4K). A tedder and rake will add $2-2.5K. So, for $5-6.5K you've got all the jobs covered that the windower will do and you can re-condition the hay (likely have to do it with the windower as well) once it's on the ground with the tedder and rake.

Lot's of discussions here on TBN; pro and con, regarding using small square balers and small CUT's, too. But, at 47hp your Challenger would power some of the smaller square balers, too. (You didn't say if you were considering large squares or large rounds, though.) If you go with big bales - you're gonna have to "farm" that out cause the Challenger won't handle that job.

Best of luck.

AKfish

 

[Builder]

Whoa... Builder you're gonna have so much goin' on that you'll be sleepin' standin' upright just so you don't have to slow down too much from one job to the next...

IMO - a self-propelled windrower is a "high volume" implement. And a bit "over-the-top" for 20 acres. But, it'll sure get 'er done fast! (Does it have crimper or conditioner rollers, too?)

If your local area producers don't use MoCo's religiously to get the hay off the field faster - your 47hp Challenger will pull a 7'-8' disc mower ($3-4K). A tedder and rake will add $2-2.5K. So, for $5-6.5K you've got all the jobs covered that the windower will do and you can re-condition the hay (likely have to do it with the windower as well) once it's on the ground with the tedder and rake.

Lot's of discussions here on TBN; pro and con, regarding using small square balers and small CUT's, too. But, at 47hp your Challenger would power some of the smaller square balers, too. (You didn't say if you were considering large squares or large rounds, though.) If you go with big bales - you're gonna have to "farm" that out cause the Challenger won't handle that job.

Best of luck.

AKfish

You know AK, I figured that would be most guys reactions-too big of a machine, but I have soooo little time, I thought if I could get the job done fast, and maybe do some neighbor's properties, too.

I thought if I had very little time on my hands, one big windrower would get the job done faster. I'm no kid anymore and I'd like to do some small scale farming of some kind. I really don't want 3 extra implements for my Challenger.

On the bales-they'd be small square. All we have to sell hay to is horse owners & landscapers.

The only thing that really worries me is the windrower might be unreliable, expensive to maintain.

 

[zzvyb6]

A 14' swather will form windrows 4-5' wide and 3 - 4' high. Only a wide throated high capacity baler can swallow that much hay (like a JD 348). Even a conventional 9 or 12' rake will have some difficulty with it. This all presumes you would take about 3 cuttings. The first will be the chicken choker. If you were going to green chop the hay, that would be terrific, but you will need a lot of power and 1000 rpm to run a chopper box combination (and a place to store it).

Perhaps you could swap out the 14' header and get a 9' conventional mower conditioner front end for it. BTW: That's 14' of storage width you will need to keep it inside. and a highway escort if you paln on driving it on the highway to get to the field.

 

[JDeerekid]

Like zzvyb6 said with a larger cutter it will produce large windrows which we be almost impossible to bale with a small baler. If you use the larger cutter you will have to get a larger tractor, larger rake, and a much larger baler.
I would get a 3pt. disc mower and equipement that will match your tractor. 20 acres will not take as long as you think. You can travel pretty fast with the disc mower.

 

[funny farmer]

I can cut a 20 acre field in about 6.5 hours, useing a 9ft. haybine, the hay isn't as thick as it could be, but I'm working on getting it fertilized this spring. With the disc mowers, you will be able to travel faster but I'm not sure how wide you could cut with the 47 horse tractor you own. All we do is let it sit for a day, and the next day (if we have good drying weather), rake it with a 5 wheel john deere rake, putting two windrows into one, and I bale it with a hesston 5530, it makes a 4x4 bale and is a perfect match to my 50 horse tractor. Or I make small squares if I have the help. I've never kept track of time but all in all I can probably do it all in 16 hours. Not counting moving the hay and stacking it.

 

[Builder]

A 14' swather will form windrows 4-5' wide and 3 - 4' high. Only a wide throated high capacity baler can swallow that much hay (like a JD 348). Even a conventional 9 or 12' rake will have some difficulty with it. This all presumes you would take about 3 cuttings. The first will be the chicken choker. If you were going to green chop the hay, that would be terrific, but you will need a lot of power and 1000 rpm to run a chopper box combination (and a place to store it).

Perhaps you could swap out the 14' header and get a 9' conventional mower conditioner front end for it. BTW: That's 14' of storage width you will need to keep it inside. and a highway escort if you paln on driving it on the highway to get to the field.

That would be great. I have found several units with no head on them and wondered if I could add a smaller cutter head for just the reasons you describe. My barn would probably not have a 14' opening and I would want to store it inside. Might be able to get it under a roof, though.

The other option is to just let one of the local guys with a rake & biger baler finish the job so i don't have to buy attachments for my Challenger MT285B.

A new 9' conventional mower conditioner on a older used windrower might get expensive.