How many arces of hay did I cut

old · Sep 22, 2008

I have an Oliver 77 and a NH 460 9 foot MOCO. I cut hay for 3 hours today. First hour I used 2nd gear and ran it about 3/4 throttle. Last 2 hours I ran it in first gear, hay was very thick. Had a guy call me today wanting the hay and he asked how many acres I was cutting. I have no idea how big my hay fields are so I could not tell him. Any body have any idea of how much hay in terms of acres I cut today??
Thanks
Hobby farm

Pair-a-dice farms · Sep 22, 2008

Hard to say. You should be able to go to your FSA office. They should have a satellite picture of your farm and can measure the field

thurlow · Sep 22, 2008

Generally speaking, VERY GENERALLY SPEAKING, miles per hour times width of cut in feet divided by 10 equals acres per hour........with an allowance for calls of nature, minor breakdowns, etc.

Doug in Illinois · Sep 22, 2008

If you can figure out your ground speed in MPH it is fairly easy to figure. There are 43,560 square feet in an acre and 5280 feet in a mile. Therefore, at 9 feet wide x 5280 = 47,520 square feet covered at 1 MPH. By the time you turn points, figure one acre per hour times tractor speed in MPH. In other words if you averaged 2.5 MPH overall, that would be 2.5 acres an hour times 3 hours, about 7.5 acres. Only you know how slow or fast you were going. DOUG

showcrop · Sep 22, 2008

Hi Thurlow, I tried your calculation and found it to be very accurate, allowing of course for terrain. I think another big factor also is that if your good forecast is going to go bad on you that you will always get more down.

JohnH MD · Sep 22, 2008

Try google earth, find your filds,outline them and it will give you acres.

John

thurlow · Sep 22, 2008

It's an old farmer's calculation.......naw, a calculation of old farmers......naw, an old calculation known to farmers...........going back many generations; of course, probably only a fraction of one per cent of the folks who frequent these forums are actually farmers and would know the 'trick'.

Walt Davies · Sep 22, 2008

One acre is 43560 Sq. Ft.

If you take 200 X 200 you get 40000 Sq. Ft. that is close enough for a good guess.
Walt

GeneMO · Sep 22, 2008

Old, Step it off. 1 pace = 3 feet. Feet X Feet = square feet. Divided by 43560 equals acres.

A Garmin Etrex Ledgend will also measure acres. Look in the menu under accessories. Pretty accurate

Any local crop adjuster worth his salt will also have a measuring wheel and could wheel it off.

Gene

Buckeye Oliver collector · Sep 23, 2008

How are you going to bale it? Small or large squares, or small or large rounds? Can sometimes tell how many acres cut by how many bales you get.

For yields I've been told 100 small squares an acre is good but I don't think we ever got that on any farm I've worked on. Would have to be some very thick hay. Most I remember was 500 bales on 7 acres making for around 71 an acre. We seemed to average 60 an acre. This was without fertilizer though.

It doesn't read like any more than 4 or 5 acres at those speeds, and those are normal speeds. Cutting with a mower like that is pretty slow work. Farmer I worked for used to run a 469 on a 770. Usually ran 1st gear at 3/4 throttle. Averaged an acre an hour. Very slow but it did cut well. I think the side mounted sickle bars work good, though I wouldn't like to see what would happen if one hit a rock. Neighbor can cut 3 acres considerably faster with a 5' sickle bar than he can a 7' foot haybine. I think some people call the haybines sickles and the sickle bars are then cycle bar or something but I always knew them as sickle bar, haybine, MoCo, discbine, SP, etc.

Buckeye Oliver collector · Sep 23, 2008

I just re-read that. A 460.....is that a newer or older machine? Guess it doesn't matter though because a 469 is a 9ft. too. Kind of surprised a 77 will run a 9ft but those Olivers are tough tractors!

Anonymous-0 · Sep 23, 2008

What difference does it make how many acres. Sell it by the ton or by the bale.

old · Sep 23, 2008

NH460 is an older machine, early 60s. My Oliver 77 plays with the things, at 38 HP an Oliver 77 is a pretty strong old tractor.

How many arces of hay did I cut

old

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Pair-a-dice farms

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thurlow

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Doug in Illinois

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showcrop

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JohnH MD

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thurlow

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Walt Davies

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GeneMO

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Buckeye Oliver collector

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Buckeye Oliver collector

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Anonymous-0

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old

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