gauging haybine prices

Well, as I shift some of my farming ideologies from playing around with old equipment to actually trying to pull down a few dollars so I can buy fuel for the equipment I'm playing with, I've decided to look for a haybine to replace my old sickle mower. The biggest reason is that for the last 3 years I've put up alfalfa stems instead of alfalfa hay. The weather here in S. Ohio has not allowed time enough for the hay to cure when I sickle cut it. My neighbor came down to his field next to the house and put up a beautiful crop with his haybine doing the cutting. In my field, as the hay laid for days curing, a nice shower would pop up and ruin another cutting. I even borrowed that neighbor's tedder to help but those darn stems were the factor stopping me. I pushed my luck last year on the third cutting and baled a little early to save leaves but I ended up selling the last part of that cutting for $1 a bale due to the mold it had acquired from having moist stems. It was dry but the stems were not. So the question is, what kind of prices do these haybines have? I did price one in Hillsboro, OH last week while on a trip to a sale. It was 7' cut and $3500. What kind of prices do you all know of for used haybines? 7' would be the best due to gate limitations and storage space. I appreciate the help. God bless.

--old fashioned farmer

cut it a week earlier and the stems won't be nearly as large - and if u cut it a week earlier three times a year u may get an extra cutting anyway

also - i am starting to believe the only real good way to do first cutting hay is with a silage cutter -