Small Acreage Haying

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FuzzyCow1

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Hello. I have never put up hay before. I have just under 20 acres of side hill (not too steep but I do live in the Rockies) and valley floor that I sprinkle and would like to hay. I have a 35hp tractor and a good mix of grasses growing on it. Good water. Short season at 8000 feet. Any ideas on equipment? The stuff I've found needs a bigger tractor. In europe I've seen walk behind mowers/cutters. Advice appreciated.
 
If I was bound and determined to hay it, I would look for something like a 5 maybe 6 foot mower and a 2 wire/twine square baler. I decent side delivery rake would work for raking that small of an area and not be too heavy/unwieldy.
 
I put up one field around that size with a 40 hp IH tractor. I use a 6 ft drum mower, a nh 56 rake and an old mf 12 square baler. I had a 2 basket Tedder but it met an untimely demise during the last cutting. Can be done, can be a pita too. Good luck with it!
 
Lot's of old sickle mowers and rakes around,And are easy to fix/workon...
Mowing and rakeing is no problem with your tractor.

Baling can be, Heavy balers and smalltractors on hillsides can get interesting pretty fast when that baler starts pushin...
 
It can be done but if you have to buy all the equipment I think I would buy my hay and run cows on that 20 acres. With a 35 hp tractor u could get it mowed and raked but pulling a square baler up and down hills might not be the safest thing. If it's good grass then 20 acres would give u a lot of squares bales so hope u have plenty of help getting them all up. That's just my 2 cents worth. But 40 years or so ago my dad and uncles put up lots of square baled hay with a 8 n ford.
 

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