Thinking about buying hay equip??

[DDT]

1st off, with rods in my back my corpractor wants me into round instead off small square. I only have about 25 acres to do yearly. I dont have a lot to spend but I need to do this myself because my farmer freind down the road does not have time when its ready.
I have looked online, seen some cheap ones but dont know if you can get parts easy at this point.
I called 2 dealers and they want to sell new 4x5 bales. about 20K....
I have a Kubota L5740, 50 pto hp. so I was told was not enough hp for a lager balers. I am in large ag area so small equipment is hard to find.
I will need a mower and rake as well....hoping I can find some at auctions that is not too old for parts availablity.
I do run a few cows to feed through the winter.
any thoughts??

 

[Ed of all trades]

I used to run a 4x4 vermer round baler on 52 pto hp and it worked well, I assume that is prob. what you want. Get a mower conditioner and a tedder it makes a huge difference in dry time and some tedders can be used as a rake and a tedder. Can't tell you how well the things swap back and forth but it is something to think about. Ed

 

[RPW]

If you are a fair mechanic careful shopping can go a long way. I've picked up an older Vermeer baker (605c) for 1k, an IH 16 rake for 250 and an older JD seed drill for 250. Having to a fair amount of repair but won't be ready to cut until next year so I have some time. Bottom line, $$$ up front for new or field ready equipment or wait for the bargins.
Good luck.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Make sure you don't get an old round baler with compression rolls. I made that mistake once, a stick 6 in long and the size of a golf ball and you are off the tractor and pulling hay out of the front of the baler. NOT fun.

 

[flusher]

Don't know about round balers-never used one--my baler is an MF124 (two twine, small squares 40-50 lb).

Mower--with a bad back, I'd go with a rotary mower rather than a sicklebar. For just 25 acres, my choice would be a 5-ft drum mower that'll cost about $4K new. From what I see the drum mower is the easiest mower to use and maintain.
Don't know if you need a moco in your neck of the woods. Around here the humidity is so low that hay (oat, wheat, alfalfa) normally does not need conditioning.

Rake: you can find inexpensive pre-owned 10-ft wide side delivery rakes (5-bar type). If you need to combine windrows, a dual side delivery rake setup works well.
Wheel rakes are reasonably priced but some people dislike them because they can contaminate the hay with dirt if the rake isn't set up correctly.
If you have the case, rotary rakes are apparently the hot setup.

Good luck.

 

[DaveOmak]

My neighbor switched to large square bales from the large round bales..... More bales per storage area... If storage is a consideration, think about large square....

 

[AKfish]

My neighbor has a very nice JD435 baler. It will bale 4x4, 4x5 or 4x6 bales if you set up for that size. He has used that baler on a JD 2240 tractor (50hp) with the smaller bale size and not had any problems whatsoever.

He's baling grass hay, though. If you're baling alfalfa or a heavy clover hay mix; 50hp might not be enough "snort" to pull through even with 4x4 bales.

Fair number of good used 435's all around the country and part's support is very good as well.

AKfish

 

[Bigfoot62]

My opinion:
50hp is bare minimum for a 4' wide baler. I'm running my 4x5 JD457 with an 85hp tractor, and it's not too much. If I were you, I wouldn't even consider anything bigger. (wider than 4')
That said, with less horses, you will just have to go slower, that's all.
I would look for a good, clean 4' wide JD or Vermeer. (in that order) You can bale a 4x4 with a 4x5 or 4x6 baler, and it won't work your tractor so hard. Plus, a 4x4 bale will be easier for your tractor to handle.
I bought mine 3 years ago. 2005 model with 6000 bales on it. (mine has the monitor) Paid $19k for it, a 1 year old Sitrex 10-wheel V-Rake and 1 year old Kuhn GMD600 mower.
Here's a link to a baler like mine: http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=7786473

 

[DDT]

Thanks for all comments. I would rather do large square but doubt I have enough hp. I do have a 12' rotary mower, thought about using it to cut until I found the right mower.
I do like the 4' wide X 5 or 6. If I ever got a larger tractor I could keep same baler. If I ever do trade up in hp it would be a M7040.
I will be baling brome, sorghum and wheat straw.
I am thinking about a Hesston or Case IH since there closer to me, JD and Vermer I to far away

 

[Tx Jim]

Thanks for all comments. I would rather do large square but doubt I have enough hp

Large sq's require 150+ hp. I own a M7040 and I think it's tongue would hang out if I hooked up my JD 467 rd baler to it and asked it to pull baler @ 6 mph. I normally pull my 467 with a 120 pto hp tractor.