new at haying

IloveJesus · Jul 11, 2013

Hello, I have a Mccormick 40hp, and I am wondering what cutter/mower, small baler and rake would work best for that size of tractor?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks.

keegs · Jul 11, 2013

Not an authority on it but some might recommend a sickle bar mower for haying with that size tractor. It cuts the grass low and leaves the blades long which apparently is better for baling. The mower I have, an older 7' MF Dynabalance, in pretty good condition, cost me $800 US last year. They're a pretty simple machine and parts for this one anyway, are still available.

Bigfoot62 · Jul 11, 2013

With that small of a tractor, I'd say sickle bar or small disc or drum mower.
Look at this one: Kuhn GMD 500 That's a 5-head disc mower that requires 35 hp at the PTO.
For a rake, you can use just about anything except a hydraulic unit, and you wouldn't need one that big anyway. I use a 10-wheel rake that's mounted on a dolly. I can pull it with my 35 hp tractor. You just have to have one set of remotes.
Baler will be a problem. You might can find an old square baler (like a MF 12) or really small round baler (like a 3x4) that was made for the smaller tractors. Currently, the smallest JD square baler has a minimum requirement of 35 hp at the PTO. So, technically, your there. But you won't be happy with it. A baler really works a tractor.

hosspuller · Jul 12, 2013

I have 40 hp at the PTO. I use a NH 477 mower/conditioner (MoCo) that cuts 7 feet wide. I can cut as fast as I can stand the bouncing. Disk mowers cut fast and require lots of HP. Sickle bar mowers ... not as much per foot of cut

The key point is speed/width. More speed/width requires more HP. Your 40HP limits the speed of getting over the hay field.

DaveOmak · Jul 12, 2013

I started haying alfalfa about 8 years ago.... Bought a sickle bar.... WAPITA.... Rebuilt the cutter,still had problems..... finally I bought a drum mower.... what a dream to cut hay with.... doesn't plug up when cutting..... mows clean at about 1 1/2"..... hay dries fast without conditioning.... I use it on my NAA....

I can highly recommend a drum mower.... My neighbor cut my alfalfa, while I was between mowers and he used a disc , JD mo-co 14' wide.... It was faster than the 4.5' foot cutting width of the drum.... but that's about all.... the drum is fantastic....

IloveJesus · Jul 12, 2013

Thanks Bigfoot62 I'll check it out

IloveJesus · Jul 12, 2013

Thanks DaveOmak, for the great advice, I won't be growing alfalfa (too rich for my horses), I'll definitely check out the drum mower!!

IloveJesus · Jul 12, 2013

Thanks hosspuller, I'll check out the NH 477 mower

IloveJesus · Jul 12, 2013

Thanks for the advice keegs, I'll keep it in mind

greasemonkeyok · Jul 12, 2013

You might want to describe the conditions of your hay field. For example, if you have rocks or rough ground, the recommendations might change.

Good luck.

bjr · Jul 12, 2013

I second the Drum Mower. I've never grew hay before and I only have a 35 hp imported tractor and someone suggested a drum mower and it's been a good investment. Now if I can only make that old NH 269 tie a bale of hay. bjr

flusher · Jul 13, 2013

IloveJesus said:
Hello, I have a Mccormick 40hp, and I am wondering what cutter/mower, small baler and rake would work best for that size of tractor?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks.

I assume you mean 40 hp on the pto. If so, a small baler like my Massey Ferguson 124 would work (manufacturer recommends 35 hp pto minimum). Much smaller tractors like the Farmall Super A have been used to run balers this size on mostly level hayfields with no problems. See this video

FARMALL Super A - YouTube

The baler portion is about 6 minutes into the show.

I'd pay the money ($3-4K) and get a small drum mower. Old sicklebars are a PITA to get working properly and are prone to clogging. Rebuilt sicklebars run around $1.5-2K. New ones are $5K+.

Wheel rakes are inexpensive, but could contaminate the hay with dirt and rocks if you're not careful in setting them up. Old side delivery rakes (ground-driven) are available all over the place and are a good choice. Mine is a Deere 350 (3pt hitch model that's pto driven). The pros tend to like rotary rakes which run in the $3K+ range depending on size.

Good luck.

Nissan197 · Jul 13, 2013

I only had a 10 acre field to bale this year, but my Mahindra 3215 was able to handle it all. I used an 8 ft. MF Dynabalance sickle to cut, an old McCormick-International rake, and a IH 37 square baler. I was able to get all the used equipment for around 2K. I was always in L 2 to bale, but with the amount of grass I had I wouldn't have been able to go much faster. The PTO HP is around 27. The bales turned out to be around 45 - 50 lbs. Next year I will be making them heavier; thinking around 60 lbs. This year was the first time I ever baled and next year I will make sure I preplan a lot better. I just assumed I would get around 500 bales and didn't have my barn organized too well and did not have much help lined up to pick the bales up. I ended up with around 1,800 bales and was scrambling to find room in my barn. I got to the point where I had to store over 100 bales in the neighbors barn. For my first time I thought things went pretty well. I was pretty impressed with the sickle. At times it clogged, but it was not very often. The baler would miss tying a knot every so often, but I expected that from a machine that is 40+ years old. Good luck to you. Just make sure you check all of your equipment over real well and keep everything greased up.

flusher · Jul 13, 2013

Nissan197 said:
I only had a 10 acre field to bale this year, but my Mahindra 3215 was able to handle it all. I used an 8 ft. MF Dynabalance sickle to cut, an old McCormick-International rake, and a IH 37 square baler. I was able to get all the used equipment for around 2K. I was always in L 2 to bale, but with the amount of grass I had I wouldn't have been able to go much faster. The PTO HP is around 27. The bales turned out to be around 45 - 50 lbs. Next year I will be making them heavier; thinking around 60 lbs. This year was the first time I ever baled and next year I will make sure I preplan a lot better. I just assumed I would get around 500 bales and didn't have my barn organized too well and did not have much help lined up to pick the bales up. I ended up with around 1,800 bales and was scrambling to find room in my barn. I got to the point where I had to store over 100 bales in the neighbors barn. For my first time I thought things went pretty well. I was pretty impressed with the sickle. At times it clogged, but it was not very often. The baler would miss tying a knot every so often, but I expected that from a machine that is 40+ years old. Good luck to you. Just make sure you check all of your equipment over real well and keep everything greased up.

Glad that MF sickle worked for you. I've struggled several seasons with my MF 31, also Dynabalance, trying to get a good cut. Still not working like it should. I'm going to a drum mower.
Grass? I assume you mean native grass, not a planted crop.
Your numbers add up to a little over 4 tons per acre, which is similar to what my neighbor gets off his irrigated alfalfa hayfield. You must have had a lot of rain this season in your part of KS.
Anyway, nice going.

Ross71 · Jul 16, 2013

I was looking to buy a mower this season and could have bought an 8' sickle bar mower at a good price. I can't afford to buy machinery that isn't up to the task, so I asked some advice from an old guy who comes around my bosses farm, as I don't know a single working farmer who uses a sickle. "Don't touch it" was his reply. He told me all about how they are prone to getting clogged up, blunting, loosing teeth etc, and "when you think you've finished for the day and then have to spend an hour getting it fixed for the next day". He reckoned that when disk mowers came along they were a dream- haymaking without the work was his words. Just one (experienced)man's opinion, but I listened. I'm saving my money to buy a drum mower for next year.

keegs · Jul 17, 2013

The sickle bar mower clogs easily and backing away from a clog kills time. I've had some issues with the cutter bar but it is pretty easy to maintain it seems. I've been told that if you know had to use one and it's in proper working order they'll do the job. I can cut the veg that grows on the banks of the pond and there are sections of my driveway that drop off that the sickle bar can easily access.

What will a decent drum mower set you back?