The Color of Money

[zzvyb6]

To dispel the many half truths and old wives tales about makin' hay, I took some shots in the past few days of my simple little operation using 'just' a 35 hp tractor and some old equipment I picked up and put to good use. I used to have horses which we were a bit picky about hay quality for. Instead of relying on all the local 'ex-spurts' I became brave enough to go it alone. The baler was $250, the mower was $1200 and the rake was $100 and the stacker was $1500. All were in rough shape not usable by real farmers. But applying some fab time and a little extra care, I got it all together. Basically, I learned how it was supposed to work. Then made it work that way or better. Since I had plenty of extra hay from this operation, the locals soon became customers. In fact the equipment (except for the tractor) was paid for the first 2 years by just hay sales. Since then its been all gravy. Last year, I ran out of product and tomorrow night they will be lined up with their pickups, snowmobile trailers and car haulers to get the latest cutting. All those dots in the pictures are $3.00 bills. The mower is an early '70s NH 479 which I have tuned up and strengthend to keep it from vibrating so much. The baler is an 1956 JD14T with some new kotter parts and some modern ball bearings. The stacker has some extra hydraulicks added to help guide the side loader pickup. The tractor is a 35 pto hp JD1070 which I bought new. I borrow the hydraulics from the loader circuits for tongue swing and header pickup cylinders. Other than that its all stright forward. Getting the right ground speed and material pickup rate is the only experiment that had to be run. Its all done at a fast walking pace (except mowing can be done as a runner would fly. I have no chuggle motions, no overheating, no tractor complaints of any kind. The only time the governor kicks in is during baling when you sense a 1 cycle per second plunger assist. No 65-70 hp needs here. Some weight on the front end keeps the stacker load from being back heavy.

So, all you folks wondering about ways to pay the taxes, feed the pigmy ponys, employ the kids and make some lifelong friends, I recommend this element of agriculture that justifies a lot of neat stuff (like tools, welders, gas wrenches, battery operated impacts, and a nice boat): all paid for by the hay money. The folks down the road actually pay me to cut their fields once or twice a year (whicjh I take home as baled product or drop it in their driveway). ) Keeping it simple and maintained has given me a great experience I wanted to share with you all. By the way, as a city boy moved to the country, I got some early advice from a friend with similar machinery interests: He told me to have a bunch of stickers made up with: "This Machine Wants to kill You" on them. I've never taken a shortcut, get off the tractor on the left side, blocked the jacks, waited for all rotations to halt before I've ever stuck my fingers into anything.

 

[john_bud]

I like your stacker. That used to be my job. It was tractor - baler - trailer. With me on the trailer picking up bales and stacking them on up 6-7 high. Hot sweaty and exciting when you found 1/2 a snake in a bale!

The tractor was a ford 640, so you don't need gobbs of power to make a bale.

Also, you may want to make a soft wood poke stick. Sometimes there can be quite a bit of tension remaining on a jam and the parts can still grab and bite real hard.

Your friend is only partly right. The machine does't "want" to kill you. But it doesn't care if you get hurt and won't stop hurting you just because you cry uncle.

jb

 

[flusher]

To dispel the many half truths and old wives tales about makin' hay, I took some shots in the past few days of my simple little operation using 'just' a 35 hp tractor and some old equipment I picked up and put to good use. I used to have horses which we were a bit picky about hay quality for. Instead of relying on all the local 'ex-spurts' I became brave enough to go it alone. The baler was $250, the mower was $1200 and the rake was $100 and the stacker was $1500. All were in rough shape not usable by real farmers. But applying some fab time and a little extra care, I got it all together. Basically, I learned how it was supposed to work. Then made it work that way or better. Since I had plenty of extra hay from this operation, the locals soon became customers. In fact the equipment (except for the tractor) was paid for the first 2 years by just hay sales. Since then its been all gravy. Last year, I ran out of product and tomorrow night they will be lined up with their pickups, snowmobile trailers and car haulers to get the latest cutting. All those dots in the pictures are $3.00 bills. The mower is an early '70s NH 479 which I have tuned up and strengthend to keep it from vibrating so much. The baler is an 1956 JD14T with some new kotter parts and some modern ball bearings. The stacker has some extra hydraulicks added to help guide the side loader pickup. The tractor is a 35 pto hp JD1070 which I bought new. I borrow the hydraulics from the loader circuits for tongue swing and header pickup cylinders. Other than that its all stright forward. Getting the right ground speed and material pickup rate is the only experiment that had to be run. Its all done at a fast walking pace (except mowing can be done as a runner would fly. I have no chuggle motions, no overheating, no tractor complaints of any kind. The only time the governor kicks in is during baling when you sense a 1 cycle per second plunger assist. No 65-70 hp needs here. Some weight on the front end keeps the stacker load from being back heavy.

So, all you folks wondering about ways to pay the taxes, feed the pigmy ponys, employ the kids and make some lifelong friends, I recommend this element of agriculture that justifies a lot of neat stuff (like tools, welders, gas wrenches, battery operated impacts, and a nice boat): all paid for by the hay money. The folks down the road actually pay me to cut their fields once or twice a year (whicjh I take home as baled product or drop it in their driveway). ) Keeping it simple and maintained has given me a great experience I wanted to share with you all. By the way, as a city boy moved to the country, I got some early advice from a friend with similar machinery interests: He told me to have a bunch of stickers made up with: "This Machine Wants to kill You" on them. I've never taken a shortcut, get off the tractor on the left side, blocked the jacks, waited for all rotations to halt before I've ever stuck my fingers into anything.

Really neat stuff.

What kind of rake do you use? What kind of disk, plow, ripper, planter?

I'm fixing up the 1966 MF-135 diesel (45-hp engine) I bought last year and plan to try hay farming on my 10 acres of pasture land. Glad to see that you've blazed a trail for us city boys gone country as far as hay farming goes.

Hope I can find a 14T baler and a neat stacker like you have. Been hitting the local auctions and watching the ag classified closely looking for implements that I can use.

 

[BTDT]

Great post. Thanks for showing it can be done. How many acres are you baling on your own? Nice place, is it yours? I like the old windmill.

 

[mikeyd]

Well no wonder your turning a profit.....you outright cheatin' with the stacker. I grew up on a hay farm in Upstate NY where we typically put up 1000 tons of hay each summer. The only stackers we had was me and my two brothers who required to be fed and watered, as my Father would often remind us should the topic of work for pay come up.

 

[Onthesauk]

Enjoyed the post! Looking at the pictures I can almost smell the hay from when I was a kid.

 

[zzvyb6]

Hey Mike: I apprenticed by riding the kick baler wagons. That means stacking bales launched off a JD 336 kick baler. i got hit a few times during heavy windrows. Best time was when an air bale got caught in some power lines while trying to reach the second wagon in the train. It caught fire and dropped on the first wagon, setting the chaff on fire. Only smoke but what an arial view it must have been!

BTW: windmill is a 1926 Flint & Walling Star 26 8' wheel, That's 1.5 hp in gale force winds. Restored it from a local farm whose owner cut the wheel off the drive axle because he didn't realize it was a left handed thread. Had a friend make up a new driveshaft. Also, rake is either a NH 56 5 bar or more recently a Kuhn tedder combo rake. I got that for a steal because the owner broke off the lever that converted it to rake action and had no use for a full time tedder. Naturally, I used a VERY long welding rod to reach in and re-attach a lever rod without having to take it all apart.

As far as smelling the hay, much of this property was used for growing hemp for the Navy in WWII. (Hence the street down the road is Hemphill court). When I had horses pastured here, they often looked at me funny as if to ask if they could order a pizza and some butter pecan ice cream and listen to some groovy tunes ....

 

[dtd24]

Nice job!!! Thats a dam good looking tractor as well! Your thread makes me do some thinking!!

 

[schmism]

sence we dont have a busness forum....

first come first serve?

do you limit the number of bails any one person can buy so you can sell a little to everyone.... (dont have bob buying all your $3 bales then reselling them for $4 to a guy who didnt get any of your bales to begin with)....

do you load them?
do they load them?
how many acers do you cut and maintain with that little setup?
Considering a second tractor incase your JD goes down?

 

[zzvyb6]

I have only a few regular customers who have horses. They feed out 1 bale per day so its very easy to figure how much they need and when. These folks only have small barns or sheds that hold 30 or 60 bales. This works well since I can put about 60 bales on the stacker. I will help load the 30 to 100 bales they take at a time. Best policy is to get them to take the hay away when it's baled. I give a price break for this. If it goes into my barn for later sale, the price goes up $.50 a bale. If I have to deliver it from the barn, its $3.50 a bale and they must help unload at the site. I only deliver 30 or 60 bale quantities and use a 4 place snowmobile trailer to do this. This trailer worked well behind the bailer when I had a friend standing there. If customers help put someone elses hay into the barn I give them a price break in their hay. Since I know my customers pretty well, they know me, too. I could care less if they re-sell my hay. I got my price, my cost and my satisfaction from it. Last night, a lady who came back to help told me her horses would rather eat my hay that the fresh pasture they have available.

The 30 or 60 bale quantity deal is all about the calendar, trailer sizes, tow vehicle, number of horses and my interest in self-preservation. I have a day job. This is a hobby and I balance fun, exercise, fraternity, safety and a love of simple machinery against the Township's property assessment and zoning police. The 1000 or so bales I do per year brings in some cash that I can spend foolishly on other things without any guilt.