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Hay baler

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Scott

08-31-2001 08:58:01




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I am looking at cutting and baling my own hay.
What size tractor would be the minimum to pull a square baler? I would just be baling 10 - 15 acres.




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Mushroom Steve (WI)

09-01-2001 09:04:38




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
I would highly suggest an Allis WD-45. There still pretty reasonable to buy and parts are easy to come by. (It's still considered a "working" tractor.) Whats nice about the WD/45 is the hand clutch. If your bailer needs to catch up you can stop the tractor with the PTO still running. Im kind of partial to AC's but that's my 2 cents.

Steve "One man gathers what another man spills"-Stephen Hunter

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Snuffy

09-01-2001 06:40:27




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
All the posts offer good advice on power requirments. However if you have any hilly or steep ground you will want to have a tractor with enough weight to hold the bailer back when you are going down hill and also heavy enough to keep the front end on the gtound when pulling up hill. I realize that most folks have pretty level ground but if you don't then you have these other issues to consider. In any case do yourself a favor and don't get a tractor that is marginal in size. It will only be a pain in the rear.

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John

08-31-2001 23:15:11




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
Although I don't recommend it I cut, rake, & bale 20 acres with an AC C. It pulls a NH276 pto powered baler and bales without a miss. You just have to pay attention to your equipment as the baler only takes about 12 HP. John



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Bill B

08-31-2001 19:56:11




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
Hi, Have a JD337 with kicker which I pull a 16 ft wagon. I use a MF 135D , (38 hp) and a MF 165D (52hp) , both work fine. The heavier tractor is smoother, doesn't rock as much. The bailer and windrow size determines the speed you run, both tractors can over run the bailer. Bill



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Don H

08-31-2001 18:39:23




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
If you are thinking about an older tractor, 25-30 hp is plenty. As a young man I baled thousands of bales with an H Farmall and a John Deere 14T pto baler pulling a 16' hayrack. We generally loaded about 110 bales per load and baled in third gear in most conditions. Significant hills with a load might slow you down to 2nd gear, but in most conditions with 7' swaths, third gear works well. We had a neighbor who baled with a WD Allis Chalmers and a pto baler and he baled in 2nd gear, similar in speed to our H in third. A third neighbor did it with a 530 John Deere tractor, and all three of those are close to the same in horsepower. Horsepower must not be measured the same way today that it was then, because they seemed to be able to pull a lot more with less of it in those days.

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paul

09-01-2001 09:54:55




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 Re: Re: Hay baler in reply to Don H, 08-31-2001 18:39:23  
Slow low compression engines of old had some lugging & torque compared to higher spinning new stuff.

Baling in 3rd???? How'd you hang on the hayrack, much less carry any bales?

I cut with a 9' mo-co, and I rake 2 - 3 windrows together, then bale with an IH 300 (replacement for the H) and a 270 NH baler. Mostly run in 1st gear, as often super low (my TA works!) as 2nd gear. I get knocked around enough on the hayrack in 2nd!!!

--->Paul

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john

09-04-2001 06:57:18




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 Re: Re: Re: Hay baler in reply to paul, 09-01-2001 09:54:55  
Those Deere balers would bale at about twice the speed that you could bale with a NH baler. I got a 271 NH baler and I've been in hay that 1st gear on an 8 speed ford 4000 was too fast. But I think NH bales better and tighter bales than a JD.



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T.J.

08-31-2001 16:03:42




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
I have a engine driven New Holland 66 baler and pull it with an Allis Chalmers C it has plenty of power to pull it,But we pull the wagons down the road with the pickup truck instead of the tractor if your ground is pretty level it would work fine to use a smaller tractor on 10 or 15 acres but these little balers can be pretty hard to find and just as expensive to maintain and buy as larger ones, one plus is they seem to be really easy to sell and usually go real quick, it does take a while to figure out all the adjustments on one too. I would like to have a live pto when I cut though and am probably going to buy a CA or a WD to use with the sickle bar. I prefer the smaller tractor because I move it on a trailer a lot and the baler pulls real nicely behind my pickup. I do this as a hobby to help out a few friends feed their horses if I were doing it for a living I would definitely get bigger equipment. T.J.

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paul

08-31-2001 12:00:14




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
The others have good advise. An older slower baler thakes about 15 hp for itself. So a tractor should have about 40 hp to handle the baler & pulling itself through the field. Also balers tend to be heavy, and we often put a hayrack with 100 heavy bales behind it yet, so rather then a lot of hp, you want a big heavy old tractor to control all the weight you are pulling. (A new compact 40 hp tractor can spin a baler, but it will NOT move it through a field! :)

There are balers with their own engine so the tractor doesn't need to use the pto, but that is another engine to keep running.

Using the pto, a version of 'live pto' on the tractor is a WHOLE lot easier to bale with.

You can search these topics in the archives, as this question comes up pretty often & you will see a lot of replies, on what tractor & baler to get, & what live (or 2 stage or independent) pto is and why you want it.

--->Paul

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REDNECKMATT

08-31-2001 11:35:08




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
Would not recomend trying this but I baled this year with a ford 9-n. Didn't get 1 round done and was pissed said i'd never make another bale without live pto and more power. Three weeks later I bought a case sc (needed an excusse to get a new tractor anyway). It has more power, live pto, more weight, live hyd.



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BK

08-31-2001 09:21:35




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 Re: Hay baler in reply to Scott, 08-31-2001 08:58:01  
It depends on what kind of square baler you will be using, some require more HP than others.
A 40-50 HP tractor should handle a square baler fairly easily. 30 HP could do it if you take it easy and don't strain the tractor.



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