The 8N, what the heck can I use with it!!!

The gentleman who is cutting what half good hay there is off of it runs a Case 931. Looks like a nice machine, he runs a small round baler and a NH mower/conditioner.

Gotta get me to some fall tractor auctions!

And, you just want to spruce up the hay, but you will continue to hire the baling done?????

_Then_ the little fella can get you done what you need - if slowly.

You might wish to plow 20 acres a year, disk them, harrow/pack them, run a seeder over it, & pack it again.

In 3 years you will have 60 acres of good alfalfa.

A field lasts perhaps 5 years on average, maybe a tad longer. So, when you get done planting 20 acre plots, you will get a year or 3 off, then start in again. Remember that alfalfa is auto-toxic to it's own seedlings, so you need to plant something else for a year before returning an alfalfa field to new alfalfa..... Be a nice rotation for you, not everything in one year....

I remember the neighbor farming 80 acres of good rowcrops & oats & hay with an N tractor. So those saying it can be done are true - but it was his whole life, & his 3 kids worked at it a lot too. It was not a part time job.

The N will not keep up with making the hay for you. It would pull the side rake & maybe wagons.

So, still not sure of your final goal here. If you want to totally farm 60 acres, do it all yourself, you need more tractor.

If you want to slowly upgrade your hay ground, it can do it - slowly - with a 1-2 bottom small plow, a 6-8 foot disk, a harrow/drag, a seeder (drill or broadcast) and preferably also a packer.

Alfalfa likes nuteral ph, so you will need to add lime if your soil tests low. This is real important. It also like P & K - but you need your ph right first. It has little use for added N, because it makes it's own. A soil test is a good thing - you need it to find the ph, might as well find the P & K levels too, should only be $20 or less - your govt might offer free even.

A sprayer sure is helpful for getting rid of perannual weeds before you seed the crop, and to help knock down some after planting. Also alfalfa tends to get aphids & other bugs around 'here', don't know if you want to spray insecticides or let the pros do that with their charcol filter cabs.....

A sickle mower or rotory bush hog might be nice to knock down weeds or cut a bit of grass yourself, but certainly not as a prinmary alfalfa mowing machine. You're underpowered & no live pto for doing the major hay cutting.

But, as I and others mentioned, the N can't handle cutting & baling the hay on that many acres. You'll need a tractor with a bit more power, live pto, and slower gear choices to be any fun at all running those implements.

If you don't mind going slow at the improvements, and continue to hire out the mowing & baling, that N might just do it for you.

--->Paul

The hydraulics are minimal, mostly suited only for the internal 3 point. 4 speeds foward is several shy of the speed variations needed for making hay, whether mowing, or baling. Its probably good at raking.

Its better at a yard decoration than a working tractor. But it does beat doing what work it will do using a team and even smaller implements.

The gift may have been a strong hint to give up the idea of growing a crop, and trying it with the 8N will try your patience.

You might be far better off to hire the ground worked (weeds mowed and plowed down and disked) with larger equipment. You will need to get soil samples and fertilizer and if alfalfa didn't last, probably the pH is low which kills alfalfa fairly fast. You would need to not have alfalfa for a while (few months or so) to not have the existing alfalfa prevent the new alfalfa from sprouting. You probably will need lime to correct the pH.

Then you will need a market for the alfalfa that pays which is not necesarily the horse trade. Most horses don't really need alfalfa because they don't work but many horse owners don't understand and it can be really hard to mow, rake, and bale alfalfa without it getting rained on and horssey types tend to not accept it well. They also don't like it heating from being baled too damp or having gathered mold from being rained on while curing. One or two bad checks and all your profits are gone. I quit raising alfalfa, my land makes more income with corn and beans and after last year and all the aphids this year, I'm wondering about beans.

Gerald J.

...and couldn`t find anyone any closer that would take it.

steveormary

Otherwise, Think the other guys are right. You need a good 60-80 horse tractor for other jobs and buy your equipment around that tractor-not the Ford.

I'd disc the fire out of your weedpatch, early next spring plant it back to oats/alfalfa, which will choke out the weeds.

Allan

Keep you 8N for small jobs like raking hay, 3pt work, etc. and buy yourself a larger one for the tillage jobs.

Your four foot brush hog is exactly what I was thinking of, although your tractor can handle a variety of mowers.

You want to do row crops?

Kinda steep work curve there.

I'd sell the collector tractor & use the same money to get a working 60-80 hp newer tractor with more gears & pull to get the work done on nights & weekends.

Not sure I know what you intend to do with the land tho, if just seed it to deer plots then timeliness doesn't really matter, just have fun.

--->Paul

Looking at producing a better crop of hay I'd guess. Alfalfa is a good grower up here, throw in a mix of some vetch and clover and grasses. I've got a guy cutting it this year but he had mentioned it was basically a weed field. Of the 25 acres he cut he found 2 alfalfa plants... ouch.

Can't sell the tractor as my father in law who was very generous and drove it up to us (1000 miles of trailering give or take) might be a touch peeved. Not to mention he used it on his farm for a few years before he got a bigger machine.

Thanks for the ideas so far, any information is helpful!!!

Talk with him about it. He already knows you can't farm with that machine alone.