Better equipment!

Bret4207

Well-known Member
After 20 plus years of farming with junk, I'm finally getting better equipment. This year marks the first time I've ever bought any major implement brand new, an EZ Trail Bale Basket. It's been a godsend and I am 100% happy with it. In the past week I've also taken delivery of a NH 256 rake, (worlds better than my ancient IH and JD rakes), and now a Hesston 1120 haybine in great shape. This also marks the first year I've hayed for someone else and it looks like that may continue for a couple more years at least.

Thats a lot of change for a guy like me to deal with in one year! :shock:
 
Got to spend money to make money!

You'll like the Hesston 1120. With a credit card, you can download a manual for it from CaseIH in PDF format for a few $$'s. I believe the
CaseIH version is 8330. I'm going through my 1110 and the half swaybar drive this fall/winter. It is a simple mechanism. Make sure your
rollers are in time and not touching. Do a search on my 1110 as I documented how I timed and spaced the rollers on mine with IMHO some
good pics. Also check your reel drive belt tension spring, mine was broken.

IMHO - the 256 is a fine rake.

Can a newer baler be far behind...... :)

Good luck,
Bill
 
My first question is will it be cost effective to your operation or will you actually make enough extra money with the new piece of equipment to to pay buying it? My wife is always telling me I need a new tractor with a cab and this that and the other but if I can make the same hay
and get pretty much the same thing done with the older far,far less expensive stuff then I'm going to do it and the money I make goes to me and not to the equipment companies.
 

I know what you mean Trad Farm, but is it cost effective to lose a good crop to breakdowns? To no one to load hay on a flat rack? To have to fight a machines constant quirks and providing the TLC to the point that you spend more time fixing than farming? It's not like I want to spend money on anything, but not being able to make a crop isn't cost effective either. If my sheep sell decent this year it'll all be paid for.
 
"Is it cost effective to lose a crop to breakdowns?"

Keep in mind anything can break. If the used stuff is cheap enough though, you can buy two, put them in good condition during the winter, and if you do have a break down during harvest, switch to your backup and fix the broken machine late. Two older balers may be a better option than a newer baler costing twice the money as well. Or a newer higher capacity baler, and an older one as a spare. Because anything can break.
 
This has been our experience. When you are making over-ripe trash hay, you can run old equipment that might run untouched for
the next 5 years and when it breaks (speaking of hay equipment), you get nice brown, nutrient free and sometimes moldy hay. Who
cares if it's $1 or $2 hay - IT WILL SELL..... :)

But if you invest in your fields, spray for weeds, cut at the right time to balance yield and quality - IMHO, you risk losing
much more $$$'s by not having more reliable equipment and in some cases two, i.e. balers.

If your beautiful weed free second cutting is on the ground, raked in to windrows and your baler goes down - you lose $$$'s when
you wait for a day or two or a week for parts and a fix. So you're 500 square bales that would bring $X each is now $X. If
that $X was $4 and now you've got $2 per bale hay - you've just lost $1,000 and you still have to fix the baler!

Moreover - most farmers I know have a full time day job. Only so many hours in a day - so when your baler conks out at 5 pm
after work - just as you are getting started and you can't get to it until the next evening to fix and then the next evening to
bale, it's doesn't pencil out making quality hay - and quality hay sells and sells for a higher price. Good quality hay WILL
pay for a LOT of newer/better/more reliable equipment.

It pays to invest. You have to spend $$$ to make money.

YMMMV

Bill
 
You make a very good point and its always a problem,but even new stuff can break down.I have helped solved the problem for myself by buying cheap duplicate machinery and tractors.Probably have over done it for sure but right now I have a 257 NH rake and a 55 NH for back up(cost $500 for the 55 works good),I have 5 NH 851 balers 3 that I can bale hay with and 2 for parts and I always keep a 2nd baler hooked to a tractor thats ready to bale during baling season.I have only $1800 in all 5 balers total $500 in 3 of them each,$300 in one and the other was given to me.
2 mowers and I have a 847 NH baler that sat in a barn for 30 years so its like a new baler keep that hooked to my Oliver 1550 gas.Even if you buy new it can break down just walk into any shop in most any dealership and its pretty new stuff they're working on and if the new $30,000 baler breaks down you still won't get your hay baled if you don't have a backup.Plus having older back up equipment lets me take my time finding parts and doing the work myself as I tell my wife I'm making $5 hr running the baler and saving $75 hr when I work on it(LOL) And almost anything that can happen to one of those 851 balers I can repair since I've been running them so long and the dealer sends guys out to me to buy used parts off my 2 parts balers to boot.
And the good part is if I decide to quit farming tomorrow I'm one of the few farmers I know that could sell their equipment for as much or more as I paid for it.
 
Could not agree more! At this point in my life, I don't see scrambling to get hay in (because the "weather-guessers" got it wrong, again) before the rain AND fighting to keep equipment that was built near/before my birth operating as a fun way to spend my time away from the firehouse. The farming should be a stress-reducer LOL!
I'd been quietly thinking of upgrades, but my lovely bride has really started to push the issue after we had to really hustle to make bales these past couple years. Did get a "newer" NH315 baler, and the NH488 haybind has been dependable (bought new 20 yrs ago}. Now looking at moving up to a different rake, the NH56 has been dependable but the twisting motion has created a few drying issues when combining multiple windrows- so considering a V-style or rotary... Then we'll talk about a larger tedder! I think she feels spending $ will prevent my retirement!
This work is hard enough by it's nature...the equipment should make it easier- not harder!
 

I upgraded quite a bit at around the 20 year mark. NH 411 mower and MF 224 baler with thrower and three wagons. I could handle 700 bales all by myself with a four day stretch. The mistake that I made though was buying a Ford 8240 that was 9 years old. After 200 hours I got into expensive electronics problems with it.
 
Be careful on the custom baling. It can get big fast. Many years ago I thought it would be a great summer job for my son(16 yrs old) to do custom round baling. Bought him new NH baler and used case 930. He did 1500 bales the 1st year. 2nd year he grossed $30,000.00. Customers were asking him to cut, rake and bale. Purchased new NH 12' hay conditioner. Plan was cut hay from early morning to noon and than bale another customer after noon. Customers did not like him pulling out of half cut 40 acre field to bale another customers hay. So the addition of one more machine resulted in the purchase of another case 930, John Deere G and rake, and operators for 3 tractors. My wife became the run between jobs person (no cell phones in those days) to keep us all going. What I thought would be good summer job turned into 4 full time jobs.
 

I have the "multiple cheap backup plan" down pat. I've been doing that for 20 years. Cheap tractors, cheap balers, cheap haybines and rakes and plows and harrows and spreaders and everything else. So now my "best" cheap backup becomes the backup to the much newer cheap implement. All except for the Bale Basket. That I have no backup for other than a flat rack. Eventually I will run across a backup for that too.

All told, between 5 wheeled tractors, 1 round baler, 2 square balers, 4 rakes, 3 spreaders, a tedder, 3 haybines, 5 or 6 plows, assorted harrows, planters, bush hogs, wagons, etc, I don't have a total of $10K invested over 20 years. Only by adding in the basket do I break over that. Most people spend that much or more on a single tractor, or a vacation for that matter!
 
(quoted from post at 09:29:55 09/28/16



Can a newer baler be far behind...... :)

Good luck,
Bill

Bill, I have 3 bushings to replace on the 68 yet, but she's making bales like never before. A wider pickup would be nice, but I'm not complaining at this point! I did 2 more loads yesterday between 1 and 3PM and found it still takes a lot longer to mow it away in the barn than to bale it up in field! Time to start thinking about that mow conveyor I've had sitting in pieces for 10 years in the barn....
 
(quoted from post at 04:21:25 09/29/16)
I have the "multiple cheap backup plan" down pat. I've been doing that for 20 years. Cheap tractors, cheap balers, cheap haybines and rakes and plows and harrows and spreaders and everything else. So now my "best" cheap backup becomes the backup to the much newer cheap implement. All except for the Bale Basket. That I have no backup for other than a flat rack. Eventually I will run across a backup for that too.

All told, between 5 wheeled tractors, 1 round baler, 2 square balers, 4 rakes, 3 spreaders, a tedder, 3 haybines, 5 or 6 plows, assorted harrows, planters, bush hogs, wagons, etc, I don't have a total of $10K invested over 20 years. Only by adding in the basket do I break over that. Most people spend that much or more on a single tractor, or a vacation for that matter!

Think of the additional hay that you can make on the ground that you will clear getting rid of a lot of that old stuff!
 
Without a doubt our long pole in the tent is stacking in the barn. IMHO the NH68 is a fine baler and really put New Holland on the map. If you
ever have a look-see at a new - New Holland BC5050 baler, many similarities, including the chain driven flow action tine feeders.

We have a conveyor, don't know how long it is - at least 18ft. The chain is rusted up bad and it needs a new electric motor. Another project for
another day.
 
(quoted from post at 10:37:46 09/29/16)
(quoted from post at 04:21:25 09/29/16)
I have the "multiple cheap backup plan" down pat. I've been doing that for 20 years. Cheap tractors, cheap balers, cheap haybines and rakes and plows and harrows and spreaders and everything else. So now my "best" cheap backup becomes the backup to the much newer cheap implement. All except for the Bale Basket. That I have no backup for other than a flat rack. Eventually I will run across a backup for that too.

All told, between 5 wheeled tractors, 1 round baler, 2 square balers, 4 rakes, 3 spreaders, a tedder, 3 haybines, 5 or 6 plows, assorted harrows, planters, bush hogs, wagons, etc, I don't have a total of $10K invested over 20 years. Only by adding in the basket do I break over that. Most people spend that much or more on a single tractor, or a vacation for that matter!

Think of the additional hay that you can make on the ground that you will clear getting rid of a lot of that old stuff!


OUCH! You've been talking to my wife! That would be like selling my kids!
 
(quoted from post at 13:57:15 09/29/16) Without a doubt our long pole in the tent is stacking in the barn. IMHO the NH68 is a fine baler and really put New Holland on the map. If you
ever have a look-see at a new - New Holland BC5050 baler, many similarities, including the chain driven flow action tine feeders.

We have a conveyor, don't know how long it is - at least 18ft. The chain is rusted up bad and it needs a new electric motor. Another project for
another day.

I believe I have 100' of mow conveyor. That will get me to the far end of the mow, but first I have to add a second floor to an old loose hay mow so I can store the 3 households worth of "stuff" that sits where I want to put more hay!
 
If that is the type you set a piece to knock the bale off whever you want the pile remember that you need a very short bale so that they will not bend and come apart when they hit and also the short bale will not leave big holes in stack like long bales will. Back when Deere was advertising them they had just came out with the first thrower and they were talking 18" bales for both the thrower and the mow conveyer so bales would stay together better. I never had either, just their advertisements on them. I don't know if that first kicker could handle a 36" bale or not or only an 18" bale.
 

I don't know Leroy. It's New Holland by the color. I got it at auction for $75 complete with the motor. I've never had a chance to really look at it to be honest. I just know it'll get the hay down to the far end of the barn that used to be serviced by a trolley system.
 
It is when the bale drops that you will find the problem if it does not hit square and bends the bale from hitting on a corner with that loosing up the strings the same as if you go to pick up a bale in field and it bends and falls out of strings. The other thing is the smaller bales fill the gaps between bales better when they drop than longer bales. Just thinl about how close together a 1 1/2" diameter tomato will fit in a basket as against a 3" diameter tomato. The larger leaves more space between the tomato than with the smaller tomato and you take the larger tomato and you can get a lot of grape size tomatoes down between that larger tomato. Best way I know how to describe the difference in short or long bales being dropped in a pile. Those shorter bales it is also easier to pull out of a pile than longer ones. The machinery on that conveyer would work the same from make to make. Just on the elevator to fill they used a top cover with the short bales to keep them from tumbling backwards down the elevator if at a steep angle. Have only ever seen that conveyer in pictures. But that bale dropping problem we had when filling a mow using a hay fork from loose hay days. Lots of broken bales like that and from your conveyor would be same height drop.
 

Everyone here seems to like a "kicker bale", something about 30-35 lbs and 30-32" long. The last tine I made what I thought of as a "full sized bale", it ended up being about 42" long and weighed what seemed like 60 lbs! I was not a popular guy that day.

As far as the conveyor, I can run it at whatever level seems good. I've seen mows filled with dropped bales, not a lot of fun to load out of. My intention was to stack them, but at a place I can't even think about getting them to now by using the conveyor. They'd actually be going up the first elevator at a shallower angle than t hey do now.

No sense worrying over it, that's a big job to hang and I have a lot of other big jobs ahead of it. But thanks for the info!
 
Knew of a barn with a full length conveyor hung on a winch system. Whole conveyor went up or down to the level of the hay, and could be reversed for removing the bales from the barn
 

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