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First you NEED a bigger newer tractor! Not kidding here, I am trying very hard to make hay with a 1955 Ford 600 which is slightly more tractor than your 8n/9n tractors. IT IS NOT BIG ENOUGH for making hay. Doesn't weigh enough on the hills, doesn't have live PTO, doesn't have hydraulics, doesn't go slow enough.....but hey that doesn't stop me from trying... So this afternoon I will use a New Idea Model 251 sickle mower to cut 4 acre alfalfa/grass field. Let it dry until Sunday noon then Rake with New Holland Model 256 5-bar rake (get a five bar rake not a four bar rake I am told). then try like heck to bale with a New Holland Model 66 baler on Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. That's the plan. Didn't go to good with first crop. Had to hire custom baler to make the bales because 66 baler and Ford 600 couldn't handle the volume of first crop winrows. Tractor too fast and no live PTO. Step on clutch to slow down tractor and PTO stops which jams the bale with too much hay in the feeder. Still working on my New Holland model 479 haybine to make it work with no hydraulics. I use a ratching top link to raise and lower. Again no live PTO is a hinderence for clearing the feeder. Plus one roller drive chain is off and the other keeps coming off. Need to spend some quality time getting it field ready. Until then sticking with the sickle mower. Did I say GET a BIGGER newer tractor?! Anyway you could do what I did last year. I do the first two steps: cutting and raking while I hire out the job of baling. Unfortunately you are at the mercy of the custom baler to come after he has finished his own fields.
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