equipment for haying 100 acres

Here locally there could be about 30,000 bales of alfalfa from a very good stand of 'hay' on 100 acres. That would make an H work! :)

--->Paul

Here in southern MN we have humid weather & rain every 3 days. 100 acres of small squares of alfalfa takes 3 tractors, 2 people, many bale racks with thrower or a NH bale wagon, and lots of luck. 3-4 cuttings a year, those 2 people are real tired by the end of the year. :)

Round bales, grass hay - then it's a managable thing for what you suggested. I'd want the tractor you mentioned plus a 100 hp tractor tho - big one for the baler & to handle the bales, small one for the rest of the work. Constantly changing from mower to rake to baler to bale moving to rake to baler to mower to rake.... Ugh.

You left out any transportation at all?

--->Paul

Now if you are talking a 1000 tons of hay and given the labour situation of today, you better be prepared to shell out $250,000. to $500,000 in equipment. Used gear aint going to cut it.

Starting:

NH 474 haybine (7' cut)
NI 8' 4 bar rake
NH 851 Round baler
560 Long tractor (52 hp) and 1210 Case DB with loader(65 hp)

Now (grass hay, RB, each farm):

NI 8' disc mower
NH 256 5 bar rake
NH 650 round baler
Ford 7610 and 7710 with loader (86 hp)
* NI 18' tedder (I dont always use it on my grass hay, about 50% of the time since I have it. Use it all the time on my square bales and alfalfa. This also doesnt include front loader, skid loader, and wagons to move hay.

But for those folks who were kind enough to ask for more info, so they could post more accurate responses, here's the details:
I'm in Western Washington state. We typically have cool, rainy and generally unpredictable weather right up until the 4th of July, then temps in the mid 80's to mid 90's, moderate humidity, and virtually no rain until the 1st of September. First and third cuttings are a dicey affair here, but second cuttings are usually pretty reliable and good. Yields around here vary from 1 ton/cutting/acre all the way up to 6 tons/cutting/acre, depending on whether you're in a river-bottom area or up in the hills. Alfalfa is rare; folks usually put up native grass, orchardgrass or timothy. I was looking to provide for my own livestock with small square bales, by haying a field that a friend owns about 10 miles away. I quickly realized that transportation would be a royal pain, and I would be better off continuing to buy the bales from my dealer than to try to put up all that hay with just myself and a few friends (some who had never hayed before). Can you spell nightmare, and the end of a few friendships? So I decided against it. I will take the various suggestions to talk to other hay growers here in the area and see what they're doing before going out and buying all sorts of equipment myself. But I wanted to give you all a big thanks for posting so many great responses.