What I'm curious about - is there any sort of general formula about how big of a tractor you would need with small baler behind it - and what kind of acreage that would handle.
I guess what I'm wondering is: If I had say 10 acres - how long would it take to cut, turn over for drying - and then gathering the hay into bales if I had say a 35hp tractor with a small baler.
How much time do people typically allocate for haying on a acre by acre basis?
I know it's probably all over the place but I just curious if there are any general rules that would be a good place to start.
Everything boils down to money and time in the end - so I'm trying to figure out what factors I would have to take into account if I was thinking of buying land and growing hay as a crop on it.
I've been reading a bunch of the threads on haying and baling and I have learned quite a bit about the different types of equipment that are available - but I haven't seen much about what it takes to build a successful haying operation.
Well I know for me, it comes down to money. I don't have thousands of dollars to buy equipment, so I had to make do with what I had and luckily I only had to buy a $300 rake. I also am not doing hay to sell, i'm looking to not have to buy any hay for my animals so my goals are a little different than your goals. It really comes down to what you can afford. Being you are looking to only do 10 acres, I think a 35hp tractor and mower/sickle, rake, baler would work fine. As for amount of time to do 10 acres for me mostly depends on the weather. If you can get 5-6 days of no rain, you could probably do all 10 acres in a week.
Some advice from me to you is:
1) buy a tractor that has remote hydraulics - i'd love to at least have the option of running a small haybine, or small round baler.
2) what you lack in fancy equipment you can makeup with in manual labor.
3) the more tractor the better.
4) Don't ever forget that you're equipment can breakdown at anytime.
For me, successful haying is getting my hay done without it getting rained on and making sure I have enough.
For you successful haying will also include having your hay income exceed your expenses. I mean if you can sell 1000 squares for a total of $4000 but you've spent $12,000 on equipment, you really better enjoy doing hay as a hobby for the first 3 years.