Raking Hay

[Colin King]

The local price of hay has increased nearly four-fold in the past 10 years. It finally pushed me to get my own haying equipment this summer. I'll still have to purchase most of my hay this season, but we did put up some of our own small crop this year.

I pull a New Holland 479 Haybine and a New Holland 273 Hayliner with belt kicker behind my 961D.

Here's the 8N pulling a Minnesota No. 5 belt driven hayrake.

 

[JoeNMo]

Looks great, Colin. I bought my '51 8N primarily for snow plowing and bush hogging, but a couple years ago I helped my neighbor with his hay and found the 8N handled the rake just fine. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[JMOR]

8N will even handle a baler when it is a "must do".

 

[TheOldHokie]

(quoted from post at 17:00:31 07/25/20) Looks great, Colin. I bought my '51 8N primarily for snow plowing and bush hogging, but a couple years ago I helped my neighbor with his hay and found the 8N handled the rake just fine. I was pleasantly surprised.

No surprise - in the 30 odd years it was used Grandad's 8N cut and raked tens of thousands of bales. It even baled some of them although the NAA was typically used for that job.

TOH

 

[Colin King]

I bet that was a lot of fun to get out there in the hay field!

 

[Colin King]

Great photo! Is that an Oliver baler? My grandfather had canvas sun "bonnets" just like that one on his two cab-less Olivers. Yes, I think the 8N could run the NH 273, okay, but I think you would certainly know it was back there. If I had hydraulics on the 8N, the 479 Haybine would be a good fit for the 8N. The 961 handled the baler with ease at 1200 RPM.

 

[lha]

Spending Summers on my Grandfathers Northwest Tennessee farm,we cut,raked, baled and hauled lots of hay behind two Percheron
horses,so an 8n shouldn't have too much trouble handling it.

 

[Paul in MN]

Hi Colin,

I'll bet good money that picture is of a JD 14 T baler. I had 2 of them when I started haying in the early 80's. I was sure glad to move up to the next newer model, the JD 24 T, and eventually had one with the #30 pan type thrower. We ran a friend's NH with belt thrower and decided it was not good for us. It shoots the bale at some angle in a relatively straight line, whereas the JD pan thrower is sending the bale in a relatively high arc so we can get a much fuller load on the rack wagons. Currently we are running 4 JD balers with 18 rack wagons, plus a round baler for low ground hay which is scheduled for bedding. Hay in our area is now ~$5/bale, but our land rental costs are way high too. We have been finding many problems with twine quality this year, much more so than previous years. I'll be sending you a private e-mail.

Stay safe, and stay healthy!

Paul in MN

 

[HarryVanderpool]

I think the Ford 8N is a perfect choice for running a hay rake.
When hay season is upon us, we mount our JD-350 sickle bar mower on our 2N, our 4 wheel rake on the 8N and the baler on our newer MF 1540.
And yes. We baled the entire field with the 2N many years ago.
It actually worked pretty well except in areas with larger windrows
that forced me to pop it into neutral at times to let it catch up.
There were also a few times in which the auger would hold back and then send a huge charge into the knife:
KERRR- WHUMP!!!! Stalled the tractor dead in it's tracks!
Clear it out and go back to baling.
If one has a field of less than 2 tons per acre and fairly even and straight windrows, it can be baled with an N with little trouble.
But anyway, raking with the 8N is one of my favorite haying tasks!

 

[Ed S.]

Before I got a second tractor, the 8N did it all - cut, rake, bale, transport.

Used a Ferguson 3pt rake for years before it wore out a bar and balled itself up one afternoon.

Replaced it with a Befco wheel/finger rake that was a little harder to do corners with, but didn't beat the hay up so bad.

Cutting was done with a 7' New Idea sickle bar until I bought a Hesston 6400 windrower.

This pic is of a load of oat/alfalfa bales - first cut after reseeding the field one year.

Used a NH Hayliner 68 for years, then "upgraded" to a 273 when I bought the NH Boomer 8N.

I retired earlier this year and we sold the farm and moved South to be close to our grandkids. I've sold off almost all the implements, and will only keep the Boomer 8N until my new pole barn shop is built - won't have any use for it after, as we did a major downsize and are on 1 acre now. Will keep the '50, as we have a good antique tractor club in the area.

es

 

[2ruNgineer]

You miss the ol' place? I always loved the pictures and memories, and you never lose those.
If i had the ways and means i might try to get the boomer off you after you're done but you're mighty far away and so is my bank account.

 

[Colin King]

Ed, I've sure enjoyed the photos you've posted over the many years! Thanks for sharing them again. Glad to hear that you're keeping the 8N. Hope that you're settling in OK in your new home!

Colin

 

[Colin King]

I toyed around with getting a sickle bar mower, but in the end decided that our haying window can close pretty quick. We can get a lot of humid weather and a lot of rain here in West Central MN. The sickle bar would have been less expensive than the 479 Haybine by some $1,500, but I think it'll pay in the long run. I had a little less than 72 hours to get our first "test" crop in last week, between storm systems, with high humidity, but I put up some nice hay. I'm harvesting what is locally called "upland" grass hay, which is largely a mix of June grass, brome, timothy, and some clovers.

 

[Colin King]

I'm so glad to hear from you, Paul! I'll drop you a more detailed email tomorrow night.

Colin