Hay Equipment Update

Bill VA

Well-known Member
Back in business, MF50 is running again and I added a John Deere to the fleet too.

Had a great day baling hay today. We've had good weather for making hay this week. My two teen boys and my teen daughter all got a nice workout and square baling experience. We put up about 400 bales today.

MF32 sickle bar mower. Replaced about 15 guards with new ones (these came with the mower) and the 7ft mower cut great. Only problem was an occasional build up of steammy hay wanting to wrap around the drive shaft. The mower was impressive in the mixed grass hay.

JD350 7ft side delivery rake - really like the PTO driven rake and the ability to lift it over windrows.

NH68 - I ran that baler today as hard as it would have been run in 1958/59. Bales are much better since adjusting the knife clearance (to the extent I could) and adjusting the feeder forks.

All in all we made about 1,000 bales this second cutting.

Next up is continuing over the winter refreshing the MF32 sickle mower and the NH68 will get more plunger/knife adjustment and other tweaks. I've got a hay wagon in the weeds I will refresh over the winter and pull it with the baler.

Thanks again for all the help in our hay making journey this summer.

Bill
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Yup, get a tedder and hitch a flat wagon behind the baler. Dropping them on the ground and then going back to pick them up is a lot of extra work.
 
We towed a wagon behind the baler from the first bale that we put through the Case wire tie baler that Dad bought in 1946. I rode that wagon and stacked the wire tie bales that weighed from 90 lbs. up to 110 lbs depending on the hay.

Also towed those wagons behind the JD 14T baler when we quit using the old wire tie Case, but the bales were a lot lighter.

Brother gave the wago to our nephew who now uses them to haul round bales home from the fields.
 

Over the winter you could build you one of these shields. They used to come with all the earlier model Ferguson mowers to prevent hay from wrapping around the pto shaft. They are also useful for when your raking hay. I use a Ferguson 3pt pto rake and have had the hay wrap around the pto shaft on it several time. Since you have a drawbar on your MF 50 you could just make one that attaches to it with a pin or clamp so it could be removed in just a second.

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Good looking bales!

How are you storing the hay? You can save a lot of labor by learning to weld and building yourself a grapple system. I did, and I can put up 400 bales a day myself, without touching a one unless it falls off the wagon. You need a tractor with a loader though, or a skidsteer.
 
Been following your posts. Tell us more about the new JD. Year?, size?, hp? etc. I musta missed that post about your JD.
 
Picking bales off the ground by hand is a lot of hard work and risky in wet weather. Can you pull a hay rack behind your baler? With four people, three hay racks makes baling small square bales more efficient. It's also a lot easier to keep your help around.
 
Hay is stored in an old barn and a good size shed. I've got another building half done and will have it ready next spring.

Thanks,
Bill
 
Thanks - I thought about fashioning some sort of apron to
cover the bottom of the driveshaft. It will be on my winter' slits
of things to do.

Bill
 
The tractor is new. It is a John Deere model 5055d, it is 2
wheel drive, 55 engine hp and 47 PTO hp. The Nebraska
tests show it at 50/51 PTO hp.

Another tractor purchase has been in the making for a long
time, two things propelled me to buy now. First was the simple
fact that my fine MF50 diesel is 52 years old, so a breakdown
or two are inevitable - understood, not a problem, but it was
time for a second tractor. Second was the EPA mandates for
final tier 4 emissions coming. I don't want any part of that.

The engine in this Deere is tier 2 and turbo'd. It is a 3 cylinder
3029. From what I can gather, it has been around JD tractors
for many years. I don't read much negative comments on
them and from personal hands on experience as an engineer
that designs generators for military applications, I have seen
thousands of 3029 turbo powered generators fielded all over
the world, in Iraq and Afghanistan too. Tested temperature
extremes of -50 deg F and over 140 deg F. There are
generators fielded, in hard use, with over 10,000 hrs and some
at 15,0000 hrs with no mechanical breakdowns. The 3029 is
just a great engine IMHO.

I also wanted a tractor with the ability to make 4x4 round bales
down the road. This tractor fits that bill.

I looked at the New Holland Workmaster 55, the MF2615 and
the JD5055d. I could have lived with any of these tractors. In
the end, it came down to which had the features I
wanted/needed, dealer (support/like/dislike) and price.

I also looked hard at some used machines, in particular, the
MF65. Gave consideration to a used gas machine too. I
spent months reading and trying to understand what I
needed/wanted in a tractor. In the end, I choose the JD5055d.

Knock on wood, so far, so good.

Thanks,
Bill
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Got one hay rack we will be rebuilding this winter. Probably add more to that. My baler is set-up to tow one too. A tedder is also on the list.

The help ain't going nowhere for a few more years, unless they move out of the house - LOL! But when they do, I foresee a nice 4x4 round baler showing up on the scene!

Thanks,
Bill
 
Bill that hay looks good in the square bales.

For the sickle mower PTO wrapping. Just make a flap of rubber that you attach to the drawbar support so it lays out towards the rear of the tractor under the PTO. Make it 12-18 inches wide and about 2 foot long. As you mow back over the cut hay the flap will ride over the cut hay and keep it off the PTO shaft.

In a hurry I have just used a empty paper feed sack tied to the drawbar support.

I have seen them made out of old roof tin too. I like making them out of rubber so if you back up an the back edge catches it will just fold under without hurting anything. When you drive ahead it will just fold back like it should.
 
Bill - Thanks for the update. I like your new tractor. If I was in the market for that size tractor then I think the Deere you picked would be the one I went with too. For giggles last night I did some brochure comparing of the models you mentioned plus a few others in similar hp. My finalists were your Deere, a Mahindra 5525,and a Kubota (not the entry level one so it was more $). Really like the Deere as it has 4 reverse speeds. My experience with the 2 speed reverses are usually way too slow and way too fast with no in between speeds.

Surprising did not get sticker shock too bad either just looking at MSRP so was pleasantly surprised at that. My piddle patch simply can not justify new paint though so only a dream for me.

Having 2 tractors is nice with haying. Course my primary two haying tractors are a Farmall m and a Farmall h. Either of these old cheap warhorses can do each and every job in my piddle patch haying operation. Had to resort to the back-up mowing tractor (the h) to mow with the mower conditioner this year. Having a back up tractor was crucial for me getting my hay cut the exact day that I wanted too. If I had had to take the time to fix the m when it started acting up mowing well lets just say that I would have been baling in the rain instead of 1 day before the rain.
 

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