Minimum PTO HP for haying and associated implements

[joeu235]

If Florida keeps getting whacky like it has been for the past decade or so, when it's time for retirement I may pack up the family and head to TX.

Texas is getting wacky as well. I joke that Trump has it all wrong, and we need to build the wall on the Red River to keep all the yankees out

 

[Hayseed Andy]

They must be putting something in the water. Crazy is everywhere, unfortunately.

 

[aczlan]

Keep in mind, while a CUT tractor may pull and operate a baler efficiently, what control of the tractor do you have when you also hook a wagon behind the baler? Unless you elect to discharge the bales on the ground and manually load them on a wagon. It will be like the tail wagging the dog. Compound the situation if baling on a hillside. Weight and traction of the tractor play a key roll in a safe operation.

We pull a New Holland 273 with a kicker and a wagon that holds 100-120 bales behind our L3830. It has loaded rear tires and a couple hundred pounds of snowblower bracket on the front. As long as I take it easy going downhill with a full haywagon (ie: not above 6th gear), I have never felt uncomfortable pulling it.
We also use it to pull our NH 489 mower conditioner and the tedder/rake. It is a little light on the front when starting from a stop heading uphill with the mower conditioner behind it, but I think that is mostly needing some nose weight (it does not have a loader). I made a weight barrel this fall to mount on the snowblower brackets that weighs a couple hundred pounds, we will see how it works this summer.
We also pull a 5x5 Ford 552 round baler with the L3830 and it handles it pretty well.

Aaron Z

 

[Tx Jim]

About 3:20 in the video, tell me some more about that trailer and loader please. Ive never seen an accumulator/elevator like that.

Hay loader in video is a Graves that was built yrs back in Clinton,Ok. The unique thing abut that hay loader is as bales tiers get taller on trailer then loader ramp can be raised by an incorporated winch to keep pace with bale height on trailer.

 

[flusher]

If you're interested in baling with a two-twine small square baler, you can run one of these with a small CUT with about 20-25 hp (pto). Here's a video showing a Farmall Super A baling on a level hayfield with no problem. The baling portion of the video starts at the 5 minute 45 second mark. The Super A has about 16 hp (pto).

FARMALL Super A - YouTube


Good luck

BTW-I forgot to mention that I bought a nice running 1951 Farmall Super A in 2010 for $1300, including a mid-mount sicklebar mower and a 5-ft wide rear blade in the deal. It would handle my Massey Ferguson MF124 baler (two twine, small squares) that I bought for $2000. You don't need to spend big bucks to do small squares.

Good luck

 

[powerscol]

I am running a full size Hesston 4550 square baler with 26.5 PTO HP at altitude with little issue. Just need to slow down. Look at my signature and search for the many posts about this topic. I have several out there. Now if your just starting out and buying your first tractor, you need two things Weight 3600lbs or more of tractor and if possible above 35PTO hp. I agree 40 would be better. Hesston has a round bale unit that takes only 30 HP to run. Keep in mind - many HP ratings are to get enough weight of tractor to handle the implement, not what HP will actually run the unit. Tip - research the implements you want to get and determine the HP requirements and weight. That will tell you the lift requirements of the 3pt and HP needed. Last get as many set of remotes as possible on your purchase. They are cheaper at first (if buying new). You may not think you need them now, but at some point you will.

Hope this helps

 

[Grateful11]

Good luck finding a hill in central Florida.

Then you've never been through very much of central Florida. There are hills just not like around NC.

 

[Hayseed Andy]

Thank you for your input.

I am running a full size Hesston 4550 square baler with 26.5 PTO HP at altitude with little issue. Just need to slow down. Look at my signature and search for the many posts about this topic. I have several out there. Now if your just starting out and buying your first tractor, you need two things Weight 3600lbs or more of tractor and if possible above 35PTO hp. I agree 40 would be better. Hesston has a round bale unit that takes only 30 HP to run. Keep in mind - many HP ratings are to get enough weight of tractor to handle the implement, not what HP will actually run the unit. Tip - research the implements you want to get and determine the HP requirements and weight. That will tell you the lift requirements of the 3pt and HP needed. Last get as many set of remotes as possible on your purchase. They are cheaper at first (if buying new). You may not think you need them now, but at some point you will.

Thank you for your input.

Hope this helps

 

[RustyA]

We had an 80 acre hobby farm and made about 40 acres of hay with two cuttings per year. Started out with JD 1070 35hp pto, new Holland 489 haybine, new Holland 5 bar pull behind rake with dolly wheel, new Holland older square baler, and older new Holland chain 4x5 round baler. Would remove loader and had hoses made up to run implements off the loader joy stick. Eventually update to Vermeer Rebel 5400 belt baler and 8 wheel tonutti rake. JD handled it all okay, if round baler was full on a hill it really loaded tractor but it did it. Next step was used Montana 5470 cab and that was perfect HP for that equipment...around 50 HP. Benefit of dolly rake was until we had 2nd tractor the rake could be pulled by ATV drawbar hitch. After using an 8 wheel rake I would never go back to a bar rake, cut our raking time in half and made a perfect windrow for both balers. Older tractors may not have enough hydraulic flow to lift wheel rake...my neighbor's International 460 would not raise it.

 

[TractorToolsDirect]

Hayseed Andy, feel free to give our team a call if you have any questions regarding the hay making process as well as any equipment inquires and we are happy to help however we can. We offer plenty of options for affordable, brand new equipment that comes with a full warranty and free support services. We have a few sales currently that offer a mini round baler, rake and drum mower for all under 10k and we can even ship directly to your farm. We also offer complete custom hay packages as well, if you don't find a pre-built one that will work for your operation. Best wishes to you and with the new operation ahead you. You have plenty of options out there, so be sure to ask questions, take your time and research as much as possible. It is true that you don't have to spend an outrageous amount of upfront funds to start producing good quality hay. I hope this helps, Best Wishes! 260-225-3429

 

[StuartDK45SE]

Just went through this last year.

I have a Kioti DK45 with 39 PTO HP.

I ended up with a used New Holland 630 4x4 round baler
A 3 point rake from Small Farm Innovations
A drum mower from Small Farm Innovations

The tractor handled everything fine on my 10 acres. Any more acreage I would want more tractor though.

 

[Hayseed Andy]

Thanks again for all the input.

 

[keljan11]

Hey there. So, I already had the MF265 tractor (65hp) when I noticed my dad, at around 85 yrs old, was packing water out to his horse during the winter months. Worrying about him slipping on ice from spilled water and breaking a hip, I suggested we could take the horse out to my farm.
Now we have a horse to feed, and 8-10 acres of open land to use as a hay field. Seeded the land, found an MF #9 baler for $500. A year later I found a NH 489 swather for $2000 in good condition, a Kverneland TA 711 belt rake for $1600, and then a "newer" NH 273 sqare baler. Big rounds are harder to deal with for one horse, and, imho, more waste. Have more hay than I need, but using the land and neighbors have lots of goats. Am only haying about 4 acres right now as I was working 2 weeks away a month. I get about 110 bales a cut, 3 cuts a summer, and we feed all year long.