Round bales with a "small" tractor - my experience

[StuartDK45SE]

This site was helpful when I was gathering equipment to do my own hay. I already had a Kioti DK45 SE (gear tractor) that had 39 PTO horsepower so I gathered equipment based on that.

Here is what I ended up with

Drum mower from Small Farm Innovations in Caldwell TX :

I decided to go with their midsized drum mower, the DM 3065 that has a 65 cut. I have two 5 acre fields. Mowing at a conservative speed, it takes me about two hours to mow each of them. I'm happy with the cut and overall build quality of the unit. It can be a little bit of a handful to swing in and out from transport mode to cutting mode, but not too bad. With two people it is a snap. At close to 900 pounds and 9 feet long in transport mode , I wouldn't want anything bigger. Btw I looked for a used drum or disc mower, but they were mostly worn out and/or too big for my tractor.

Rake from Small Farm Innovations:

I went with their 3 point, four wheel rake and it does a pretty decent job. It also has the feature where you can flip the position of the two sets of wheels and supposedly it will help spread your hay out. I haven't found that feature to be very effective. I will be looking to get a tedder or a tedder/rake combination in the future. I like how it rakes the best at this angle which is great, but I'm not covering much ground.

Round baler:

Through a lot of looking here and other places, I determined that I should go with a 4 x 4 round baler. That really limits availability which is bad on one hand, but good in that you don稚 have as many choices to weed through. I ended up finding a used New Holland 630. I think they stopped making them in the mid 90s, but not sure? It looks pretty rough and it has had its share of repairs and welding done on it but I was comfortable with talking to the guy I bought it from. If I would have known more, I would have checked the CV joint better before I bough it. I noticed the first time I used the baler that it was really loose and making some racket. I decided to bite the bullet and buy a whole new cv joint along with the entire pto shaft. At $1200, it wasn't cheap but the baler was about $1000 cheaper than anything else I looked at in my area. I just need this baler to do between 90-120 rolls a year. As far as the baler / tractor combo, it will be adequate for now. The baler density works off of spring tension and not hydraulics, so that helps. The tractor is working when the bale gets close to full but it is not struggling. I wish I had about 5 more PTO horsepower at times. Btw, I average about 8 minutes run time per bale.

Anyway, just thought I would post this up to help others that were in the same situation I was.

 

[k0ua]

Good info. It won't help me any as I just have woods and lots of big rocks to bale, but it very well could help others.

 

[kirkawilson]

Thanks Stuart. That is good info. I was considering that same thing for my 10 acres of hay fields but have not pulled the trigger yet. My NH 1920 only has 28 hp at the PTO which limits my options for balers and other equipment. I was definitely going with a drum mower. Local hayers cut/bale it now on their schedule and charge $20/bale (large rounds) and leave it in the field for me to store. At their rates, if I spent $10,000 on equipment, my simple break-even point is 500 bales ($10,000/20).

How many bales is your simple break-even point to pay back your equipment purchases, disregarding all other factors such as maintenance, cut timing, "fun", dependable cut/balers, etc.

 

[StuartDK45SE]

Thanks Stuart. That is good info. I was considering that same thing for my 10 acres of hay fields but have not pulled the trigger yet. My NH 1920 only has 28 hp at the PTO which limits my options for balers and other equipment. I was definitely going with a drum mower. Local hayers cut/bale it now on their schedule and charge $20/bale (large rounds) and leave it in the field for me to store. At their rates, if I spent $10,000 on equipment, my simple break-even point is 500 bales ($10,000/20).

How many bales is your simple break-even point to pay back your equipment purchases, disregarding all other factors such as maintenance, cut timing, "fun", dependable cut/balers, etc.

My situation was a little different. When my dad died I bought my sister out of her part of the estate. Dad started the hay in the mid 90s to keep our ag exemption. He would fertilize and spray and just have the neighbor bale it and pay him back for that and a small yearly lease. As dad got older he couldn't go get the fertilizer and sprayers and the people cutting the hay let the fields get weeds etc. So that's when I decided to get the equipment and control things myself. Not counting the tractor, I have $8200 in hay equipment. The cut last week I got 32 round bales that I sold for $35 a piece. In the fall, I will get $45 per bale and a few more bales. In a good year I can get three good cuts so I'm looking at under 3 years to recoup my cash layout. Then I spend probably $800 per year on fertilized and herbicide. As you can see, I won't be getting rich lol. At some point in the near future when I get my fields looking better I would like to go back to square bales. More money in that.

Btw, in my area, the going rate to have someone round bale you place is $30 a bale and then you have to hope they show up when they say they will.

 

[aczlan]

Nice, we also do round bales with our L3830. It works well, but the baler (a older 5x5 Ford 552, aka: Gehl 1500) is a little much for the tractor when you get it completely full.

Aaron Z

 

[Fallon]

Good info. It won't help me any as I just have woods and lots of big rocks to bale, but it very well could help others.

Similar here. Not enough acres or time to do the hay thing. I keep thinking about it despite having a bad back & none of the equipment except the tractor. Fun to ponder the idea though.

 

[StuartDK45SE]

Another tidbit that might be helpful is that it takes me about 8 minutes on average from start to finish on a bale. Thirty two bales in 4 hours is the math, but it takes all day to do my 10 acres. A lot of time is spent going between windrows, and yes I jammed the intake twice and the upper roller once having to shut down the tractor to clear.

 

[Jchonline]

My situation was a little different. When my dad died I bought my sister out of her part of the estate. Dad started the hay in the mid 90s to keep our ag exemption. He would fertilize and spray and just have the neighbor bale it and pay him back for that and a small yearly lease. As dad got older he couldn't go get the fertilizer and sprayers and the people cutting the hay let the fields get weeds etc. So that's when I decided to get the equipment and control things myself. Not counting the tractor, I have $8200 in hay equipment. The cut last week I got 32 round bales that I sold for $35 a piece. In the fall, I will get $45 per bale and a few more bales. In a good year I can get three good cuts so I'm looking at under 3 years to recoup my cash layout. Then I spend probably $800 per year on fertilized and herbicide. As you can see, I won't be getting rich lol. At some point in the near future when I get my fields looking better I would like to go back to square bales. More money in that.

Btw, in my area, the going rate to have someone round bale you place is $30 a bale and then you have to hope they show up when they say they will.

$8200 on hay equipment, how about fertilizer? What other expenses so we have an accurate cost/benefit.
Happy you are making it work and having a good time doing it!

 

[StuartDK45SE]

$8200 on hay equipment, how about fertilizer? What other expenses so we have an accurate cost/benefit.
Happy you are making it work and having a good time doing it!

I put out 300 pounds per acre of fertilizer back in the spring. That was $786 , but it had Chaparral herbicide blended with it. I can get the breakdown when I get home. I will fertilize one more time (usually around $375) and I have to spray for vasey grass soon. A gallon of Plateau is around $180 but will last several treatments. Not much money in it for a small place like mine. Like I said earlier, I want to get back to square bales once I get my grass back in shape. One year my dad got close to 900 squares bales off the ten acres in one cut! Squares in the field are going anywhere from $8 - $12 a bale. That is some better math , I just have to get there.

 

[Farmer495]

I ended up finding a used New Holland 630. I think they stopped making them in the mid 90s, but not sure? It looks pretty rough and it has had its share of repairs and welding done on it but I was comfortable with talking to the guy I bought it from. If I would have known more, I would have checked the CV joint better before I bough it. I noticed the first time I used the baler that it was really loose and making some racket. I decided to bite the bullet and buy a whole new cv joint along with the entire pto shaft. At $1200, it wasn't cheap but the baler was about $1000 cheaper than anything else I looked at in my area. I just need this baler to do between 90-120 rolls a year. As far as the baler / tractor combo, it will be adequate for now. The baler density works off of spring tension and not hydraulics, so that helps. The tractor is working when the bale gets close to full but it is not struggling. I wish I had about 5 more PTO horsepower at times. Btw, I average about 8 minutes run time per bale.

Anyway, just thought I would post this up to help others that were in the same situation I was.

They made them 1989 to 1995

My CV joint grenaded too....big bucks. I just subbed in a regular U joint for $40. Can't turn as sharp though.

 

[super55]

I am operating on almost identical equipment just on a some slightly smaller equipment. I use an Oliver super 55, JD 4310 and a JD 4400 all running about at 30 hp at the PTO. I have a Sitrex 4 wheel rake, Tar River 165 Drum mower, a MF 25 hay rake and one of those China made MRB870 mini round balers.

My thoughts on the hay equipment is very similar. The drum mower works incredibly well. I've never came close to having the tractor bog down from it and you can mow fast. The only thing I don't like about it is how it cuts so close to the ground. I probably leaves only about 2" after the mower went through. The wheel rake does an adequate job on hay that isn't too long. On one cutting I did it was way too long and wouldn't clean from the rake at all. It ended up wanting to just wind around the wheels and clog up. Lighter cuttings the rake does well on gently windowing. The MF 25 rake is pto operated and 3 point and it really does a nice job of making clean narrow windrows for the mini baler.

Initially I bought the mini round baler for several reasons. First it's compact size. I spend no time turning around. End of row lift up turn around and go back down the row right next to it. Easy to store and extremely maneuverable. Another reason was because we were doing mulch hay in our gardens before getting horses and these bales were easier to spread out then square bales. Lastly I didn't want to have to get a larger tractor just to run a baler. That being said though there are some disadvantages to it. One is you need very small windrows as the pickup is only 30" and second it is not nearly as fast as running a square baler because you have to stop moving when it is tying. It is simple design though and requires next to nothing for PTO Hp. Eventually I will probably upgrade to a Hesston 530 or an older small square baler.

 

[shooterdon]

Informative post even though I cannot hay on my 20 acres. Brings back memories from over 55 years ago when my dad had me spend two weeks on a farm during haying season. Square bales back then and quite a good work out for a 12 year old kid.

The old farmer wound up losing his farm....sad...they were good people.

 

[crowbar032]

They made them 1989 to 1995

My CV joint grenaded too....big bucks. I just subbed in a regular U joint for $40. Can't turn as sharp though.

I always wondered about that when/if that happens to me. I have a NH 634 with that PITA CV joint too. I also thought about used too, but most likely they're worn completely out or wouldn't be scrapped.

 

[Farmer495]

I always wondered about that when/if that happens to me. I have a NH 634 with that PITA CV joint too. I also thought about used too, but most likely they're worn completely out or wouldn't be scrapped.

Best part? I had two new crosses ($160 each) put in it before it grenaded, I never did a CV before so I had dealer do it (labor). Didn't even make a bale and it blew up. Found you can cut the whole CV part out and reuse the tractor coupler and straight shaft with a bit of grinder work and a regular cross fits in.

If I had to do it again I would have just bought a whole new CV shaft.....