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Makin' Hay on 20hp...


Many farms here used a Farmall A as the BIG tractor back in the day to do the hay.
 
After WWII my father and grandfather retired the work horses for the most part and bought 2 Allis Chalmers B tractors,AC Roto Baler,John Deere side delivery rake and other farm equipment.Amazing what they did with those little AC B tractors,baling hay,growing corn,wheat,oats etc.
 
One time when the JD R was down for repairs we pulled the JD baler with a kicker with a IH B275. Ever time it would kick a bale in the wagon it seemed like the back of the tractor would jump off the ground! The R was a great baler tractor, live pto and hyd. The hyd. steered the kicker so you could hit the wagon when going around a corner.
 
When my brother and I started farming we were making hay with a John Deere M, a #5 mower, a 4 wheel David Bradley rake and a New Holland 66 bailer. When we got the DC Case we thought that was "big power". I would sure hate to go back
 
Growing up, Grandpa still farmed cooperatively with a couple of neighbors- they shared ownership and use of several implements- the two row corn planter, JD 40 with loader, etc. The next door neighbor Erv had the baler, single row corn picker and pull combine.

We mowed with JD 1010 and three-point mower (#9?), raked with JD rake on steel wheels, then Erv would come over with his MI and NI baler and bale for us. He was a mechanic stationed at the Army Air base at Pearl Harbor during the attack, and could make/repair anything. He had done enough to that MI that it was stronger than many bigger tractors around. He also had a 50NF and AO that some times saw hay work, but usually that MI.

Erv was about 80 and had gotten pretty un-reliable when we lost enough good hay to the weather to pay for two balers of our own. I convinced Grandpa and Dad that we should have our own stuff to be able to get our own hay done on our schedule, not just when Erv could get to it. He used to put our crops ahead of his own, but the old machines just would not cooperate, and he was WAY too stubborn to ask for help.

Things kinda changed after that, I still went over to help him whenever I saw him out working, but I think we kinda ticked him off by not relying on him anymore. At one time, he likely would have sold us his 80 acres, or left it to me when he passed, but that never materialized.
 
I dug out my 1955 Case 130 and used this summer,, the little TFD Wisconsin runs it very well rated at 17 hp
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I did it for a few years when I first got started with my little Kubota L285 compact tractor. Only about 23 hp at 540 PTO rpm.

Cut with a Bushhog brand rotary cutter, raked, and ran a NH 65 PTO baler all with the little Kubota. Dropped all bales on the ground just as I still do today.

Believe it or not by far the hardest work on the tractor was cutting the tall grass with the bushog. baler was easy in comparison.
 
I realize this baler is a 224, but the original owners manual for the John Deere 14T baler specified a John Deere 40 tractor or equivalent as the minimum power requirement for the baler. A 40 is just an updated m...so does not really surprise me at all.

Real nice video, I sure would have liked to seen rake footage...

They were going too slow on travel speed when cutting with the sickle bar as you could see the crop building up on the bar instead of falling behind the bar but that slow travel speed may have been for filming purposes. Looks like they got er done...
 
We also baled with a B and a 45 IHC baler. Dad & I put out over 1000 bales one day. Never stopped for lunch.
 
Used to be a small tractor was your haying tractor. If you had a Farmall M,John Deere A,Oliver 88,those were big tractors for tillage.
 
I've been in a pinch and baled with my Farmall M and 24 T baler. There was plenty of power for grass hay but I about got car sick from that plunger throwing the tractor back and forth. I've even got the M weighted out. I looked to see if his head was snapping back and forth, but he clearly had "loosened up in the saddle". Those old balers have such powerful strokes on them - the 24T rocks the 4020 and 886 like they are lightweights.

Things we wouldn't think of doing now we did so often years ago. That's what you had, so that's what you used. It doesn't have live power take off? So what! That's when you learn the art of down shifting and matching speed. I could use a big tractor on the auger, but I kind of like putting it on the old Farmall A and working it hard. I can't overdo it, but there's no need to most times.
 
Maybe in your area. In the far west wheat belt the big wheatland diesels and crawlers were the main tractors and the Farmall Ms and Hs were the small tractors used for haying. Grandpa bought a Farmall M in 1950 and that is all it was used for.
 
All a matter of perspective. Even M's,A's,88's and such were only on the larger farms. H's,B's,and 66's were more likely to be the only tractor on the farm. If there was a second tractor,it was likely to be a Ford 9N,Massey Harris 22 or something like that.
 
Took more acres to make a living out here. When we bought the M in 1950 we had a W-9 and a TD-14 to go along with it. That was normal around here. We bought our first "utility" in 1959 a IH 240.
 
Ya,around here,if you has an M or an 88,you were probably doing a fair amount of custom work.
 
For many years my Uncle made hay with his JD M with belly mounted sickle mower, IH side delivery rake and NH baler with air cooled engine. For a few years we used a SC Farmall and a PTO driven IH #45 baler.
JimB
 
The most we ever baler 750 bale and baled from noon till milking time and was baled and put in barn. We made hay on other farms from 3 to 10 miles from home.We loaded from back of baler and used an IH M to pull the JD 14T.I had my wife run the baler and did great for not being raised on a farm.
 
Made a lot of hay with aJD 350 mower, NI 49 rake, a NH 268 pto baler. All pulled by a Farmall 200. Often pulled wagon behind baler. Yes you can do with small tractor.
 
I ran a Farmall B and #5 mower, baled with a IH #27 baler with a Wisconsin 2 cyl motor from 1968 to 1976. Traded for a 2 yr old IH 454, and a new 990 MC and 430 baler....James
 
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