RamingtonStall
New member
New to farming and looking for Tractor for Cutting 20 acres of Hay, doing Brush Hog work and developing trails through 55 acres of woods. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Tractor for cutting hay and brush.
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The kid
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:welcome: to TBN. Depending on your budget, terrain and what you want to do with it would reflect what you need. Do you want used or new. To bail hay you'll need a bailer. Round or square. You already mentioned needing a bushhog. Five foot or six. Depends on the size and power of the tractor you buy. Trails? Boxscraper? There are many types of tractors. There are several good forum threads here you can pose your same question and get a variety of answers. Have a great day.:wave:
TripleR
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Sorry, but I know nothing about haying, I believe there is a special forum on that. Several members do that bigbull338, foreman Etexas, Mountainviewranch come to mind; can't remember the others off hand. If they don't show up might want to look for their threads or PM them.
OP
RamingtonStall
New member
Hi guys! Thanks for the welcome. I will check through the other threads.
creekbend
Super Star Member
The previous members have offered sound advice, and I concur. BTW. welcome aboard. Best wishes.
foreman Etexas
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I use a Kubota M7040(64pto HP),my cutter is a 8ft Vicon and baler is a Vermeer 5410 Rebel(5x4) works perfect for me. My shredders are a Landpride 8ft and Woods 12ft,pulls both fine.What are you looking at doing square or rounds? Guess most important is budget,got any idea? Cab vrs openstation,2x4 vrs 4x4,place level or hills,so many descions and questions
Give us a budget and I can assure you,you will get alot of great suggestions and welcome to TBN.....
Give us a budget and I can assure you,you will get alot of great suggestions and welcome to TBN.....
kensnelling
Elite Member
Welcome from Oklahoma.
Ken
Ken
flusher
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Welcome to TBN-join the fun.
Something like my 2008 Mahindra 5525 (55 hp engine, 45 hp pto) with a front end loader (FEL, 6-ft wide bucket) would be a good fit to your jobs. All the major dealers have comparable tractors that you can check out. YOu'll need to decide the type of tranny (straight old fashioned gear like my 5525, shuttle shift, hydrostatic, etc). I have a little 6-ft hayfield that I mow with a 7-ft sicklebar mower, rake with a 10-ft wide 5-bar side delivery rake, and bale with a Massey Ferguson 124 baler (two-twine, small squares 14x18x45-60 inch long bales).
Good luck.
. Something like my 2008 Mahindra 5525 (55 hp engine, 45 hp pto) with a front end loader (FEL, 6-ft wide bucket) would be a good fit to your jobs. All the major dealers have comparable tractors that you can check out. YOu'll need to decide the type of tranny (straight old fashioned gear like my 5525, shuttle shift, hydrostatic, etc). I have a little 6-ft hayfield that I mow with a 7-ft sicklebar mower, rake with a 10-ft wide 5-bar side delivery rake, and bale with a Massey Ferguson 124 baler (two-twine, small squares 14x18x45-60 inch long bales).
Good luck.
flusher
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Make that a 6-acre hayfield
Briana03
Elite Member
Welcome to TBN
I moved your thread to the Buying/Pricing/Comparisons forum.
I moved your thread to the Buying/Pricing/Comparisons forum.
PROFarms
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hi, welcome to TBN
i use a 16hp yanmar to cut my 3 acre hay field using a 7 ft sickle mower, a vicon acrobat to turn and rake. or a vicon pto hayrake to turn and rake. then i use a mf baler. the 16hp does struggle a bit with the baler but it seems to work fine. i know many people say that <30 hp wont pull a baler but i could so well... point made
i use a 16hp yanmar to cut my 3 acre hay field using a 7 ft sickle mower, a vicon acrobat to turn and rake. or a vicon pto hayrake to turn and rake. then i use a mf baler. the 16hp does struggle a bit with the baler but it seems to work fine. i know many people say that <30 hp wont pull a baler but i could so well... point made
RPW
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Welcome to the board. You've bit off a big chunch of information. I'm just getting into haying myself. Here's my 2 cents worth. Read, Read, READ I'd suggest that you sit down and start with a piece of blank paper and ask yourself some very important questions. Why do I want to make hay? What am I going to feed this hay to or am I going to just sell it? What is the market around me like? Do I want to make a profit if selling? What time frame am I looking at? What external resources do I have?
These are some tough questions to answer but it will help "you" decide what machinery you'll need. You can get by like bensfarmingchannel is doing and you can be successful or if your pockets are deep then you can go all out and spend $100+ grand on new equipment etc.
Now for some basic recommendations based on what I'm learning. Tractor weight is your friend. A good solid heavy tractor (within reason). As you are new and I don't know your mechanical ablity a good field ready baler (square or round). New balers are $$$. You'll need a cutter (disc, drum, sickle). A rake/tedder. A method to remove the baled hay out of the field. Rounds are easier to move. If doing square you'll need to store in a properly covered ventilated area. A good sprayer for herbicide/insecticide etc. A method to seed grass.
This is not to scare you off but there is a lot to consider.
Now for some numbers based on what I'm doing
Tractor 50+ HP 2wd/4wd depending on terrain. If I had it to do over I'd have gone with a 70+HP tractor.
Round baler. 5x5 bales can be done with a 50HP but more is better.
Side bar rake (I just prefer them).
Mower, sickle requires the least HP, disc the most.
Sprayer, probably around 100gal.
Disc, the larger the better and heavier.
Other attachments as necessary.
And lastly TIME and PATIENCE as you're working with the weather etc. And don't expect to do this in one year. Figure at about 3 to 5 years before you really see your results.
Good luck.
I'd suggest that you sit down and start with a piece of blank paper and ask yourself some very important questions. Why do I want to make hay? What am I going to feed this hay to or am I going to just sell it? What is the market around me like? Do I want to make a profit if selling? What time frame am I looking at? What external resources do I have?These are some tough questions to answer but it will help "you" decide what machinery you'll need. You can get by like bensfarmingchannel is doing and you can be successful or if your pockets are deep then you can go all out and spend $100+ grand on new equipment etc.
Now for some basic recommendations based on what I'm learning. Tractor weight is your friend. A good solid heavy tractor (within reason). As you are new and I don't know your mechanical ablity a good field ready baler (square or round). New balers are $$$. You'll need a cutter (disc, drum, sickle). A rake/tedder. A method to remove the baled hay out of the field. Rounds are easier to move. If doing square you'll need to store in a properly covered ventilated area. A good sprayer for herbicide/insecticide etc. A method to seed grass.
This is not to scare you off but there is a lot to consider.
Now for some numbers based on what I'm doing
Tractor 50+ HP 2wd/4wd depending on terrain. If I had it to do over I'd have gone with a 70+HP tractor.
Round baler. 5x5 bales can be done with a 50HP but more is better.
Side bar rake (I just prefer them).
Mower, sickle requires the least HP, disc the most.
Sprayer, probably around 100gal.
Disc, the larger the better and heavier.
Other attachments as necessary.
And lastly TIME and PATIENCE as you're working with the weather etc. And don't expect to do this in one year. Figure at about 3 to 5 years before you really see your results.
Good luck.
Turbys_1700
Elite Member
I guess my biggest question is what is your budget?
Personally, I would opt out for some older well seasoned tractor to get something in the 50 to 60 HP range...
Weight is your friend with either round or square baler...
Just as an example, you can find D-17 AC's for 2K to 5K...
That is a lot of tractor for the money...
Or a 4000/5000 Ford series comes to mind...
Just food for thought....
Personally, I would opt out for some older well seasoned tractor to get something in the 50 to 60 HP range...
Weight is your friend with either round or square baler...
Just as an example, you can find D-17 AC's for 2K to 5K...
That is a lot of tractor for the money...
Or a 4000/5000 Ford series comes to mind...
Just food for thought....
bigbull338
Elite Member
depending on what you want to spend you can cut hay with a MX5100 or a 6040.both will pull a cutter rake an baler.with those tractor sizes a 4 by 5 would be best.
deadmoose
Member
Haying *can* be done with a larger CUT. But the tractor wont like it. Been there done that. Look for a decent sized 45+ PTO hp Utility tractor with enough weight to pull the kind of baler you are looking at. For a one tractor operation depending on amount of tillage or lack of done, the baler will require the biggest weight and HP to pull.
I started (already had Kubota L3400) looking into haying and bought a 7" haybine, rolabar rake, and a Hesston 5530 rounder (smallest one I could find). The little Kubota worked hard but got the job done. Next year I will have the same hay equipment and double the tractor. Maybe the year after that I will start upsizing my haying equipment. The nice thing about what I bought is that it doesn't have much to depreciate as far as the equipment is concerned. It has all taught me a lot that I just had to learn with experience. Good luck.
I started (already had Kubota L3400) looking into haying and bought a 7" haybine, rolabar rake, and a Hesston 5530 rounder (smallest one I could find). The little Kubota worked hard but got the job done. Next year I will have the same hay equipment and double the tractor. Maybe the year after that I will start upsizing my haying equipment. The nice thing about what I bought is that it doesn't have much to depreciate as far as the equipment is concerned. It has all taught me a lot that I just had to learn with experience. Good luck.
