Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics

[Doyle670]

Thats great using the old iron:thumbsup: Maybe with only 2 cows could put up enough like this Baling hay without a baler! - YouTube and graze the rest...

I think doing 350 bales like this I would go nuts. I admire his hard work and ingenuity. Luckily my cows don't require strings on their hay in order for them to eat it...

Knocked down another 5 acres yesterday. Once that's raked and picked up we'll be down to about 2 acres left to do.

 

[jim_wilson]

Cool thread.

I've seen a few parcels of land for sale recently that have gotten me thinking about buying as an investment - and doing something "farmy" with them. It would be a "hobby" since I already have a day job. When I was thinking about what type of operation would make sense - haying was the one that popped up to the top of the list. I've still got a lot to learn - but it's nice to see stuff like this because it gets me thinking about the options.

What are the smallest balers that are out there? If I was going to run any sort of operation - the hay would be getting sold so it would have to be baled.

 

[Doyle670]

Cool thread.

I've seen a few parcels of land for sale recently that have gotten me thinking about buying as an investment - and doing something "farmy" with them. It would be a "hobby" since I already have a day job. When I was thinking about what type of operation would make sense - haying was the one that popped up to the top of the list. I've still got a lot to learn - but it's nice to see stuff like this because it gets me thinking about the options.

What are the smallest balers that are out there? If I was going to run any sort of operation - the hay would be getting sold so it would have to be baled.

Small balers and tractors to run them have a few threads devoted to them on this forum. I've personally seen a smaller massey ferguson baler being run by an 8n which is around 25hp. Alot of the older non-kicker balers are usually small enough to run with a 30hp tractor.

 

[foreman Etexas]

I think doing 350 bales like this I would go nuts. I admire his hard work and ingenuity. Luckily my cows don't require strings on their hay in order for them to eat it...

Knocked down another 5 acres yesterday. Once that's raked and picked up we'll be down to about 2 acres left to do.

I dont think that stack would make 350 bales,didnt say had to do it in all in one day Plus good exercise,keep you young....

 

[Doyle670]

I dont think that stack would make 350 bales,didnt say had to do it in all in one day Plus good exercise,keep you young....

Well that stack is only half of it. The other half is in the barn...and I still have another 7-8 acres to do.

I'm thinking it'll be closer to 400 when it's all said and done...

 

[IndyIan]

When you are all done, I'd be interested in some sort of time estimates for how long thing are taking to do. I was all set to get a flail mower but now I'm interesting in a brush hog again from reading your posts. We usually have 12-20 goats over winter and buying and hauling hay is always an adventure and expense I'd like to avoid if possible.

 

[Doyle670]

When you are all done, I'd be interested in some sort of time estimates for how long thing are taking to do. I was all set to get a flail mower but now I'm interesting in a brush hog again from reading your posts. We usually have 12-20 goats over winter and buying and hauling hay is always an adventure and expense I'd like to avoid if possible.

Sure no problem… I'll start keeping track of the time now so that I don't forget. So far this is how much time I have invested.

Mowed first 7 acres of pasture - 4 hours
Raked first 7 acres of pasture - 1 hour
Raked first 7 acres of pasture again - 30 mins
Picked up hay with dump rake - 4 hours

Mowed next 2 acres of pasture - 1 hour
Raked next 2 acres of pasture - 20 mins
Picked up hay with dump rake - 1.5 hours

Mowed next 5 acres of pasture - 1.5 hours
Raked next 5 acres of pasture - 45 mins
Mowed Last 2 acres outside of pasture - 1 hours(mowed because no rain in forecast for next 4-5 days)
Raked next 5 acres of pasture again - 30 mins

And this is what I anticipate for the hay that I have left.
Picked up 5 acres of pasture with dump rake - 3 hours
Raked last 2 acres outside of pasture - 30 hour
Raked last 2 acres out side of pasture again - 30 mins
Picked up last 2 acres with dump rake - 2 hours

So total I'm looking at 22 hours. If I did it 100% by myself it would've added 9.5 hours because the time to pick up hay with the dump rake would've doubled. Luckily I put my dad on the tractor for a good portion of using the dump rake and my wife for the rest of the dump rake.

The longest part of the haying is definitely the brushhogging. You figure you're probably getting about 4' of cutting width with each pass so that's the part that takes the longest. My tractor at 28hp allows me to brushhog at about 4mph inside my pasture. Outside where it was thicker I was more like 2.5-3mph. The raking I can cruise right along at around 8-9 miles an hour. Now having done it, I can say it is definitely not that bad. I know having it baled is a lot cleaner and better looking, but I don't think it saves much labor if at all. It seems like I've worked harder and sweat more unloading a haywagon than slinging hay up on my pile. And my hands aren't tore up with hay slivers around my fingernails. Out of the 22 hours 9.5 hours was the actual manual labor part of it. The other 12.5 hours was sitting on my tractor in the shade under my umbrella. And also that 9.5 hours was spread out over a few weeks.

 

[Doyle670]

Here is some pics of what I mowed outside of the pasture. You can see the hay is much heavier. In the one pic it is clearly 6-7' tall in some spots.

Also a pic of the windrows from brushhogging the thicker hay outside of the pasture.

 

[Doyle670]

Drying times will be much slower outside of the pasture too. Being much thicker I can tell just feeling it that it's going to take probably an extra day to dry.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Isn't it harder on the plants being cut by a brush hog blade as opposed to a sickle or rotary cutter. I have always been told that the blunt cutting edge on a brush hog blade pulls on the plant and damages the stalk, slowing the regrowth. Any hay experts know the answer to that?