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I agree with what the others have said. What's your location, & what type of hay? Grass, 1 or 2 cuttings? Alfalfa, 3 or 4 cuttings? You'll want a better cutter for alfalfa, but I suspect you have grass. You'll maybe want a sickle mower in a year or 2..... Round bales are a lot easier to deal with if you don't bale for the horse market. Your 50 hp tractor could make a small (4x4 or so) round baler work if you wanted to go that route. You make the tractor work more moving & feeding the bales, but you don't need to handle all those baled 2-3 times.... Your 50 hp tractor _should_ handle moving a 4x4 round bale, with a 3-point lifter. Storage is everything tho, if you can't get round bales into your current hay storage, then maybe go with small squares. Alfalfa keeps better outside than hay..... Are you hand stacking, or getting a bale thrower? Hand stacking gets real old real quick with the small squares.... You said the baler & rake were $2000, but you didn't tell us what brand/models!!! A 4 wheel old steel wheeled rake goes $50 - an almost new 256 NH rake goes $1400. A IH 45 baler goes $150, while a 1980's NH or JD baler with thrower go for $3000 or so. Tell us what you want to work with! :) I'd go for a good baler with your acres, something with some capacity & reliability. That would be a somewhat newer JD or NH baler. If you're going to skimp, get a cheap rake. You can always pass it on for what you paid for it, and get a better one. When the rains are coming, you want that baler working! :) --->Paul
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