gertman
Well-known member
Considering baling my own hay next year instead of buying, I'll have to buy a round baler, mower, tedder, and rake any options or features on the above equipment you all feel are must haves?
Making hay
- Thread starter gertman
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csutton
Well-known member
And patients for when the baler stops working right.
Jogeephus
Well-known member
How are you going to move it? We recently bought one of those EZ-Hauler Hay Trailer. Excellent piece of equipment. Cuts out one tractor.
HAY MAKER
Well-known member
What type of hay are you considering,cane type or the Bermudas ?............good luck
gertman
Well-known member
45-50 acresgabby":woyq0c4y said:
gertman
Well-known member
Ryegrass and bermuda, maybe millet.HAY MAKER":1ri7t7po said:
HAY MAKER
Well-known member
gertman":1fynatxn said:
I like New Holland equipment,without options and features,plain as I can get them works for me,all those electronic sensors etc. have a way of quiting at the wrong time.
If I were buying new equipment ,I would # 1 find a dealer close that would give me good service #2 stick with name brand equipment like New Holland ,John Deere,I think all the new balers have some nice features,like auto tie,and the ability to make differnt sized bales,that's all the features I need on a round baler,keep my rakes simple too,you will find the New Holland roll bar rakes hard to beat...............good luck
sidney411
Well-known member
We just bought our hay equipment last year. We bought it all used, for less then 1/2 the $$$ of new equipment. If you are willing to work on it a little bit and do your own maintenance I would go the used route unless you have plenty of $$$. I would forgo the tedder to start off if $$$ are tight, you probably won't need it anyway if you plan your haying right. We got all ours for around $10,000 on a 5 yr note. We can make the payments for less then what we were being charged to have our hay done and in 5 years we will be able to recognize a profit as long as we keep the equipment up and it doesn't scrap out in that time. Plus - we can cut the hay when it need to be - not when someone else has the time and is "in the area" to do it. 
toby
Well-known member
May I suggest that you save your money, headachs and just plain greef unless you have nothing else to do. Hire it done..
gertman":3pzoirub said:
Can you work on equipment? If so buy used and cheap.
It is hard to pay for equipment with 50 acres.
bailer 20,000
rake 3,000
Cutter 6,000
tedder 3,000
tracter with loader 50,000
sprayer 2,000
That adds up to a lot of hay
Now if you like to work on equipment
Tracter with loader 5,000
bailer 1,500
Rake 500
cutter 1500
parts for 3 trips over 50 acres who knows. some years you get lucky.
I recomend that you fence your hay land and run cows on it and buy your hay.
hurleyjd
Well-known member
http://www.machinefinder.com/ and http://www.newholland.com/h4/used_equip ... 0001316003
Open these two websites and shop and compare prices until your heart is content. Every equipment company has a website where the dealers can display thier used equipment. I have baled my own hay for the last twenty years. I will be using my new-used vermeer rebel. Up until now I have baled with a 330 john deere round baler, makes a 4 by 4 bale. In the twenty years I have replaced the tires, the pickup tines , the spider in the hay pickup and the packing in the cylinders. If the packing on the rams in the cylinders fail you can not pack the hay tight. Also at the start of this summer I had to replace a top roller for the belt. $600 for parts and I did my own labor. I would estimate the cost of maintenance on the equipment at around $1000 a year. The belts look like crap but they keep rolling the bale. Other expenses over the years have been belt lacings. The sand in this area wears them pretty fast. Do you already have a tractor what kind and Horsepower?
Open these two websites and shop and compare prices until your heart is content. Every equipment company has a website where the dealers can display thier used equipment. I have baled my own hay for the last twenty years. I will be using my new-used vermeer rebel. Up until now I have baled with a 330 john deere round baler, makes a 4 by 4 bale. In the twenty years I have replaced the tires, the pickup tines , the spider in the hay pickup and the packing in the cylinders. If the packing on the rams in the cylinders fail you can not pack the hay tight. Also at the start of this summer I had to replace a top roller for the belt. $600 for parts and I did my own labor. I would estimate the cost of maintenance on the equipment at around $1000 a year. The belts look like crap but they keep rolling the bale. Other expenses over the years have been belt lacings. The sand in this area wears them pretty fast. Do you already have a tractor what kind and Horsepower?
George
Well-known member
You don't have enough acres to do,that it would pay to own your own equipment.Let someone else make the payments on the equipment.gertman":1yp8d8ul said:
Jogeephus
Well-known member
The extension service will say you can't come out growing your own - its cheaper to buy it. This may be true if you use hay as a filler but if you are feeding feed quality hay it is not. Had I listened to them I'd be in a real bind this year like many are. True, the drought hurt my production but I have plenty of good quality hay to feed and am in a position to purchase more cows since many are dumping due to lack of feed. Personally, I think you are doing right by raising your own - if your intent is to raise feed quality hay and you already have a tractor. Half the stuff people sell for hay is merely filler that I wouldn't feed to a horse. If you could get someone to custom bale it, this would be a viable option. But will he be able to come when the hay is at its highest nutritional value. Probably not. He'll probably get to yours when he has finished his and your hay quality will suffer.
The one thing I would seriously consider is your ability to drop everything and cut hay when its ready. You can't schedule the weather. Other than that, I'd look for a used mower, tedder and rake but get a new or nearly new baler. The one thing you don't won't to break is the baler since you got too much time and money invested by the time you hook up to this. To me, its pure foolishness to buy a wore out baler - unless you are a mechanic.
You will find that there is a lot to learn about raising hay. It is a crop and there is a lot to learn about it. It can be frustrating, expensive, time consuming, interesting but above all rewarding. To me, it is one of the hardest jobs I ever loved. To me, there is nothing better than to cut the strings off a bale of hay in December and smell spring! ;-)
The one thing I would seriously consider is your ability to drop everything and cut hay when its ready. You can't schedule the weather. Other than that, I'd look for a used mower, tedder and rake but get a new or nearly new baler. The one thing you don't won't to break is the baler since you got too much time and money invested by the time you hook up to this. To me, its pure foolishness to buy a wore out baler - unless you are a mechanic.
You will find that there is a lot to learn about raising hay. It is a crop and there is a lot to learn about it. It can be frustrating, expensive, time consuming, interesting but above all rewarding. To me, it is one of the hardest jobs I ever loved. To me, there is nothing better than to cut the strings off a bale of hay in December and smell spring! ;-)
HAY MAKER
Well-known member
gertman":3n8a1lao said:
gertman,differnt grasses require differnt hay makin methods.
If you stick with the bermudas, you wont need plows/disc's grain drill,cutter conditioner,you can cut rake & bale,when you start planting the cane type grasses you will need more equipment,maybe you could start out with the bermuda and go to farming the cane types as you gain experience if you have the field land,most of us around here have both ,bermuda & cane types...................good luck
PS aint nothin prettier than the sun going down on a freshly baled field ;-)
I pencil whipped the numbers a few years ago and the only way I could make the investment pay was to custom bale for others, after I had baled my own.
There may also be a possibility of goin shares with a neighbor. I ended up with some equipment, the nighbor has some equipment and we cut/rake/tedd/bale jointly. We both have mowers, heowns the baler and the big wheel rake (which doesn;t work on many fields in this area), I have a side delivery rake and we jointly own the tedder.
dun
There may also be a possibility of goin shares with a neighbor. I ended up with some equipment, the nighbor has some equipment and we cut/rake/tedd/bale jointly. We both have mowers, heowns the baler and the big wheel rake (which doesn;t work on many fields in this area), I have a side delivery rake and we jointly own the tedder.
dun
regenwether
Well-known member
Dun, How do you like using a hay tedder? They really not used much in this area. I'm starting to see more of them. This was a good year for them. It seemed like we never got that extra day we needed for hay drying(rain).
regenwether":2s4cxeb4 said:
It's great if the hay has gotten rained on or it just won;t dry because the humidity is too high or the ground is wet. But it sure isn;t anything to do with an open tractor. Other then the hat you end up looking like the tin man.
dun
Cabo
Well-known member
Jogeephus":1x8xs1t9 said:
I do some custom baling and most of what I bale is poor quality because of timing or poor management. If you want good hay, do it yourself or contract from a reputable source and hope for the best. JMO
