 You are in a much bigger category of customers than you might think. Many customers cut hay with 25-35 HP tractors and have their hay custom round baled. When you talk about making hay, you have two questions to answer that are the biggest determining factors in tractor HP choice. 1. Do you want to produce round bales? If so what size? If you are interested in round bales 4x4 or 4x5 then 40 PTO HP is the minimum. Any of the Vermeer 4x5 F,G,H,I or Rebel balers can be run by 40 PTO HP tractors. A Hesston 530, just smaller than a 4x4, takes 30 PTO HP and a Hesston 540,4x4, takes 45 HP. The John deer 330,335, & 448 (All 4x4) all take 45 PTO HP. The New Holland 630,634,638 & BR730 (ALL 4x4 balers) all take 40 PTO HP minimum. The Vermeer has the advantage in these smaller balers because you can make larger bales with less HP. You can also make a 4x4 or smaller if desired with the Vermeer. Not one of the other manufacturers can make a 4x5 bale with 40 PTO HP. In fact we do not recommend this but we have customers using 5400 rebel balers on tractors like a 3000 Ford 38 PTO HP. In my opinion I would choose a tractors in the 45-55 PTO HP range if I was going to round bale hay. 2.Do you want to run a disc mower conditioner? 70-80 PTO HP minimum. If you say square bales then 35 PTO HP is a good choice. You can square bale with less HP but most of those tractors do not have the mass to safely operate all the hay equipment in all situations. 35 PTO HP will also let you safely operate a 7" shaft drive disc mower like a Lely, HayMAXX, AGCO- New Idea or a smaller drum mower.
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