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Poo Bear, Although I have a number of tractors to chose from, there are still tasks that I do with the 8N in the process of haymaking. Currently the 8N gets used to pull a 4 wheel 3 pt mounted rake. In using this system, you want to keep the rows somewhat straight, and cut headlands. Rake the rows first, lifting the rake at each headland (end of row), make your turn with the rake up, and set 'er down as you enter the next row. The 4 wheel rake will easily turn a 9 ft cut swath. Or turn that same windrow a second time just before baling. You rake the headlands last, and set the pattern to pull the headlands away from the rows. I like the relatively peaceful sounds and speed of the 8N for this task, even though I have 4 diesels to chose from to do the same job. If you get a Tonutti (Italian) rake, it is light enough that the 8N 3 pt can pick it up for transport and turning at the end of the rows. We used to pull a side delivery rake (JD) with the 8N about 20 years ago. We set up the 3 pt hitch so that we could lift or lower the front of the rake so as to not scrape on the ground, but float the rake teeth about 1/2" above the ground. Use the anti-sway bars to get this control, do not expect the sway chains to control this much load. When I first got the Italian rake, it confused the heck out of me, and I preferred the side delivery. If you use a side delivery rake, it means that your raking pattern must be like a spiral, making for way too many tight 90 deg corners at the middle of the pattern. The rake can do it, but the baler jams up often, and the PTO drive U-joints are constantly fighting with the baler. The SD rake was a constant maintanence problem, and broken teeth would end up in the bales. The Tonutti rake went for many years with no maintanence, no broken teeth, and it can be run faster than the SD rake and the hay dries faster. We now use 2-4 wheel, 1-8 wheel bifold, and just 2 weeks ago bought our first 10 wheel bifold rake. The 8 and 10 wheel rakes need a 40 to 50 hp tractor. When we first started baling (early 80's), we used the 8N to pull and power a JD 14T, and then a 24T JD baler. It can do it if you keep the windrows small, and drop the bales on the field to be picked up later. We tried to pull a wagon behind the baler, but the 8N was not heavy enough to maintain traction going up or down hills. And our Farmall H was too light for safely handling such a load, and our Farmall 300 got into trouble with baler and full wagon on a downhill pushing the tractor and jack-knifeing baler and wagon and luckily my son on the wagon, pulling bales from the chute, was able to jump clear before getting injured or worse. If you want to stay small, and are willing to pick up bales off the field, the 8N or Farmall H can do the job with a PTO baler. If you have not bought the baler yet, I recommend the JD 24T as being a cheap and reliable machine with some safety features. It is much better than the JD 14T, and lighter weight. New Holland made some good small balers, but I do not know what models. Do not buy a Ford baler! It is impossible to get parts for, and wasn't very good when it was new. I think it was made by New Idea, the manure spreader company. They made good spreaders, but their baler wasn't worth a half load of fresh cow pies. My son and I make about 20,000 small square bales each year now, most going to horse stables. We bale with 2 JD balers with throwers and 9 catch wagons. Some days we could use another wagon or 2. Our peak day a few years ago, we raked, baled and delivered 2,000 bales. It rained the next day, but every bale was dry in a barn. Paul in MN
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