Hay equipment

[G1000VISTA]

336 and 346 are not that much more expensive than the older JD balers anymore as well. A good 336 with thrower can be had for under 2,000 dollars at auction. The demise of small dairies has greatly reduce the demand for them.

Not around here their not. Spring consignment sale had a field ready 14 that brought 1200. Any 336 346 is 7000 plus. Would love to find one but that price is out the window .

 

[olddavid]

If you decide to use a sickle bar mower, IH had a model 1300. JD had a model 350. Both are good. I'm not acquainted with New Holland models, but their equipment has a good reputation.

Dad used a New Holland 456 pull behind 7' cycle bar mower that worked very well. I have it now.

 

[NY 986]

Not around here their not. Spring consignment sale had a field ready 14 that brought 1200. Any 336 346 is 7000 plus. Would love to find one but that price is out the window .

Any 336 or 346 here bringing 7,000 dollars or more has to be mint, low bale count, and one owner. Of course 40 years ago this region was loaded with those models but even today guys are still cleaning out machine sheds which has equipment from the old small dairy days. Just today at an area sale there are two excellent New Idea forage wagons that look like they got stored out of the sun around 1983. I'm going back to the auction site to check the bidding.

 

[NY 986]

Any 336 or 346 here bringing 7,000 dollars or more has to be mint, low bale count, and one owner. Of course 40 years ago this region was loaded with those models but even today guys are still cleaning out machine sheds which has equipment from the old small dairy days. Just today at an area sale there are two excellent New Idea forage wagons that look like they got stored out of the sun around 1983. I'm going back to the auction site to check the bidding.

The NI wagons just sold for 850 dollars each with gear. I think they were Calhoun's with orange paint.

 

[m16ty]

You will prefer a side delivery rake over one of those wheel rakes if using a square baler. A side delivery rake just makes a more uniform windrow for even feeding of a square baler.

I went from the old days of just dropping them on the ground and having kids pick them up and put in the barn, to a New Holland bale wagon, to just pulling a wagon behind the baler and loading them off the bale chute. The bale wagon was super nice and cute out most of the manual labor of getting up hay, but it got to the point where I wasn’t putting up but about 200 squares and the bale wagon just wasn’t worth it. With 200 bales I just load 2 wagons behind the baler, back the wagons I to the shed, and feed off the wagons.

 

[m16ty]

GFinS.IL is the only one who mentioned a tedder. He is in IL. In many parts of the country people don't know what a tedder is, while in other parts it is very unusual to make hay without one. You need to find out what our local conditions are.

A tedder isn’t a absolute must around here, but it will let you get the hay up a day earlier in most cases, which could be the difference in getting hay wet or not.

 

[ss55]

I have a John Deere 3020 gas and I’m looking at starting to make hay on my 10 acres. I’m in northwest IL, What would you recommend I get for equipment? Going to do small square bales

How much of your time is available to put up hay and how much help is available on short notice? If you have a full time job and can only put up hay working alone evenings and weekends, you need really reliable equipment. If you must burn vacation days to put up hay you might soon find there are be better ways to spend your valuable vacation time.

A seven foot sickle mower in good condition should be able to cut about 3 acres an hour at 5 MPH. Depending on the hay ground and rainfall, grass alfalfa mix in Western Iowa you might expect 1.5 to 2 tons per acre first cutting in early June, 1 to 1.5 tons per acre second cutting in late July and maybe 0.5 tons per acre third cutting in September.

A small square baler with a bale thrower and several wagons or several EZ Trail Bale Baskets might allow you to bale with only one person. Fill the wagons one day, unload and stack the next day.

If selling hay pay attention to what your local markets wants and will pay for. Baling straw for bedding can be just as profitable as hay.

 

[Keith Molden]

I may be a little different than what has been posted, but I put up hay here in S.E. Ohio for a long time and sold the hay. I used a drum mower and never had any breakdowns at all in the i5 or s years I did it with her mower. They are a LOT cheaper than a disc mower and in my mind, do a good job with less bearings to fool with. find a used baler, It does not have to be painted green any brand will do but beware of ones at consignment auctions. a 2 basket tedder will work fine and you will need one if you use a drum mower, they will windrow the hay when you mow it and the hay won't dry without the tedder spreading it out. a side delivery or wheel rake will do fine as long as the wheel rake is set up properly. Just the thoughts of an old man that sold his hay equipment last fall after 50 years of it. Remember, you're only doing 10 acres and not doing a thousand acres so you don't need all the big expensive stuff the big farmers do. And enjoy it, you will have lots of memories especially if you have your kids and grandkids helping.

 

[Barenz125]

To answer everyone’s questions I work a full time job so I need it dry as quick as possible, not really trying to make money off of it might sell some but plan on getting cattle eventually. I don’t have any help right now besides my 9 year old son. I’m sure a buddy would help if I asked him to but can’t count on it. And it is all grass hay.

 

[olddavid]

In Dad's later years I did (30 acres or so) for years part time with just a cycle bar mower, a side delivery rake, and an AC roto baler pretty much by myself. The grandkids sometimes helped haul it in. It was grass hay and I didn't do it all at once but watched the weather and tried to knock some down on say on say a Thursday evening or sometimes a Friday evening after work and bale it on Saturday or Sunday. Sometimes I would burn a day of vacation to get it right. The roto baler did give me a little more leeway in that I didn't have to haul it in immediately. IMHO you don't need a lot of expensive equipment to do it especially just 10 acres.

 

[BillinCentralMO]

In Dad's later years I did (30 acres or so) for years part time with just a cycle bar mower, a side delivery rake, and an AC roto baler pretty much by myself. The grandkids sometimes helped haul it in. It was grass hay and I didn't do it all at once but watched the weather and tried to knock some down on say on say a Thursday evening or sometimes a Friday evening after work and bale it on Saturday or Sunday. Sometimes I would burn a day of vacation to get it right. The roto baler did give me a little more leeway in that I didn't have to haul it in immediately. IMHO you don't need a lot of expensive equipment to do it especially just 10 acres.

My dad liked his roto baler. Hauled a lot of them in the winter on a wood sled he built. I did not like them as much. Found them awkward to handle and to stack. That baler seemed really slow to me , stopping for every bale.

 

[olddavid]

My dad liked his roto baler. Hauled a lot of them in the winter on a wood sled he built. I did not like them as much. Found them awkward to handle and to stack. That baler seemed really slow to me , stopping for every bale.

I got used to handling round bales with a hay hook and even got to the point where I preferred them. The roto balers were slower than square balers, but they had two windrows thrown together so that partially made up for the stopping and starting.

 

[G1000VISTA]

I may be a little different than what has been posted, but I put up hay here in S.E. Ohio for a long time and sold the hay. I used a drum mower and never had any breakdowns at all in the i5 or s years I did it with her mower. They are a LOT cheaper than a disc mower and in my mind, do a good job with less bearings to fool with. find a used baler, It does not have to be painted green any brand will do but beware of ones at consignment auctions. a 2 basket tedder will work fine and you will need one if you use a drum mower, they will windrow the hay when you mow it and the hay won't dry without the tedder spreading it out. a side delivery or wheel rake will do fine as long as the wheel rake is set up properly. Just the thoughts of an old man that sold his hay equipment last fall after 50 years of it. Remember, you're only doing 10 acres and not doing a thousand acres so you don't need all the big expensive stuff the big farmers do. And enjoy it, you will have lots of memories especially if you have your kids and grandkids helping.

Agreed. For just a few acres go with reliable but cheaper equipment. No need for a 30000 discbine etc.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

That qualifies as the understatement of the century ! If you aren't extremely well versed on how that style of knotter
works is a fast way to change from a hay producer to a landlord.
The IH 990 haybine has been mentioned , the rollers on this machine are both metal.
An IH 1190 has one roller made with a rubber facing. Hay dried faster with the 1190 doing
cutting than the 990.
Good luck with your idea. Report back on how it goes. Always interesting to hear other's
experience especially making small squares.

What knotter DON'T you need to be well versed on? If you turn all the wrong screws on a conventional knotter, they don't work either.

 

[gf in S.IL]

To answer everyone’s questions I work a full time job so I need it dry as quick as possible, not really trying to make money off of it might sell some but plan on getting cattle eventually. I don’t have any help right now besides my 9 year old son. I’m sure a buddy would help if I asked him to but can’t count on it. And it is all grass hay.

Please understand that I am not trying to tell you what to do. Do you have any farmers, with cattle, who feed round bales (4"+ size), and have their own equipment near to you? If so, a possible option would be to contract with them on shares ( 50/50 or 1/3 - 2/3). Small square bales need to be put up without getting wet. Round bales can shed rain until you get them under roof. The only equipment you would need at first is a bale spear to move them. When you get cattle you can feed your share of the bales. If you don't get cattle right away you can sell the bales.

 

[m16ty]

To answer everyone’s questions I work a full time job so I need it dry as quick as possible, not really trying to make money off of it might sell some but plan on getting cattle eventually. I don’t have any help right now besides my 9 year old son. I’m sure a buddy would help if I asked him to but can’t count on it. And it is all grass hay.

Have you been involved in a hay operation before? Just want to make sure you know what you are getting into with 10 acres of square bales. That much square hay is a awfully lot to put in the barn with just you and a 9 year old, and buddies tend to be nowhere to be found when hay is on the ground. One person could do that much round bales by themselves no problem, but with squares you either have to go with some sort of mechanized bale handling or you're going to have to have more help.

A normal hay operation for us is to cut one day (usually about mid day or even later in the afternoon). The next morning after the dew burns off we will run the tedder over it (ideally it will be already starting to dry on top of the down hay). Depending on weather, sometimes we can bale the 3rd day, but more often than not on the 3rd day the hay will just lay there. On the 4th day we will usually rake the hay about mid day after the dew burns off. The bottom of the tedded hay will usually still be a little damp, so it will sit in the raked windrow at least a couple hours. After that we will bale, often not starting baling until around 2-3pm. Then the goal is to get all the hay picked up and put in the barn by dark that day. We also will sometimes wait until the next day to get all the hay up if you know there will be good weather the next day. This is all in optimal weather conditions, if you get rain or even cloudy days in the mix it can throw the above timeline way off, but that's farming and you have to be prepared to roll with the punches. Things like time of year (first cutting is usually the hardest to get dried down), type of hay, thickness of hay, and moisture in the ground can all significantly effect drying times.

 

[Northvale PA]

I started out with a 24T baler, 55 NH rake and a NH 461 Haybine. Borrowed mom’s tractor and barn. She kept horses so there was the customer. I quickly learned about hay quality requirements and equipment breakdowns. Inexpensive equipment is worn out and more expensive equipment is a long term investment and likely out of reach. You will need a crash course in mechanical repairs, welding, where to buy parts and most of all preventive maintenance. I used the proceeds to buy more and better equipment. So essentially I was working to work. You will also give up the nicest weather days of the year to work and family members will not choose to. But all this is what I wanted to do. At this point here’s where I am at: two 336 balers that I go over constantly and run like new. A NI discbine, same thing. 4 star Tedder, wagons, tractors of appropriate size and a pole barn to put the kicker wagons in quickly. My goal is to bale perfect hay every time. My other goals are minimize time at every step, zero breakdowns. Good luck with all.

 

[used2bmike]

My biggest question is simple. Do you have experience with hay? Jumping into something like this with no knowledge whatsoever is going to have a steep learning curve. I started with a Heston PT 7 haybine, AC rake and an AC 303 baler. Baler had some issues, solely because the previous owner probably had no knowledge of how to adjust the machine. I do about 12 acres of hay with a NH 474, same rake, NH 273 Baker with thrower, and Heston 530 round baler. Way over equipped probably but so be it.

 

[Barenz125]

The only reason I want to do square bales is because the barn on the property is setup with a hay loft and i wouldn’t be able to get round bales up to it without doing some modifications to the barn. I used to do hay with my grandpa until he got to old and sick to do it and sold his property so I have an idea of what I’m doing but I’m no expert just wanted peoples opinions on what equipment they like or don’t like. Again I’m not trying to make money off of it and want to get the hay dry as quick as possible because I work a full time job. I appreciate everyone’s input and advice.

 

[deere4040]

Still lacking critical information.

Budget? There is 60 years of equipment in all kinds of condition to choose from.

Not looking at making money but how much are you willing to lose?

Since you’re not looking at making money one can only assume you are only “making hay” meaning you have no interest in maintaining your fields? That would put you in the 70-90 bales per acre on a good year pending how good your ground is now.

Work full time.

Rent your field until you have a good idea on the direction you want to go. You’ll be money ahead