Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Small scale haymaking  (Read 30764 times)

pwhent

  • Joined Jun 2009
Small scale haymaking
« on: June 02, 2009, 09:05:17 pm »
Hi all,

We have about 6 acres of pasture from which we would like to make hay. Because the land is divided into paddocks it is not easy to get standard hay making equipment in and out of fields. We have a small Kubota tractor and a big horse!! Apart from the "Victorian Fram" technique, does anyone know off any small scale hay make equipment that we could power from or behind a small tractor. We would like to cut and turn the hay this way. I think we are resigned to not being able to bale normally - but we are less concerned about that. Any help woulod be greatly appreciated. Peter.

hexhammeasure

  • Joined Jun 2008
    • golocal food
    • Facebook
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2009, 11:29:28 pm »
the old back breaking way, a nice sharp scythe or a strimmer with a blade angled to 'throw' the grass in strips
Ian

rustyme

  • Guest
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2009, 12:40:16 am »
a scythe is far easier than a strimmer, costs less and doesn't hurt the ears ....if your horse is well trained to drive then you could teach it to pull a finger mower. They are about for £50-£100 or so , an old hay rake could be bought for a similar sum . However an old small bale type baler could be used off field if need be . Cut and dry the hay as per whatever way you decide to use , then cart off field to the baler and feed it in slowly with the tractor running out of gear , but with the pto on , running the baler. I have done this before when I was given  a few big bales of hay . I had no way of moving them so used a small baler to re-bale . Just broke open the big bales and rolled them out , and then fed it into the baler. I did the same with some big bales I bought for £6 each . Rebaled them small, and sold them at £3 a bale , I got 12 small bales from each big one , so made £30 a bale. There is a very small round baler available also . I think it an Italian make, not sure if it runs off of ground wheel power or if you need a separate engine to power it , but it can be pulled along by I think two horses , or even a small mini tractor, even a 4x4. Cutting 6 acres by hand will take the best part of 2 weeks and that is if you are fit already . They say a man used to cut 1 acre a day by hand, well I have done it , but it nigh on killed me doing it. But my old body is a bit broken up !!!! You could also get an old Allen Scythe to cut it. One of those would do the job too . The reason I say it nearly killed was I was cutting just about 5 acres of hay and I had to cut and turn all of it on my own by hand. It worked out about 12 hours a day for about a week . 8 hours cutting the hay , and the other 4 turning and rowing each day ...phew murder. Each day you cut another acre, the more there is to turn and row.  Then after all that , you still have to row up and take off the field , I had a wheel barrow !!!! A scythe is very easy to use , and not too much hard work . Doing it all on your own though gets to be very hard work . An acre or 2 would be fine ...but 5 is a bit too much ...for me at least  !!!
cheers

Russ
« Last Edit: August 09, 2009, 08:13:39 pm by rustyme »

countrygirlatheart

  • Joined Apr 2008
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2009, 10:55:01 pm »
at the Royal Highland Show today there was a stand with various pieces of equipment towable by a quad and one of them was a mini baling machine which spits out little baby round bales - looked really neat!  Unfortunately because I dont have a quad didn't pay attention to the name of the manufacturer.  There therefore seems to be smaller equipment out there - speaking for myself it would probably be far too expensive as I have just under 5 acres - perhaps such things could be hired?

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2009, 09:37:24 pm »
Where did you see the mini baler? I looked on the Logic stand but it was in the horsey bit and he'd never heard of a mini-baler.

rustyme

  • Guest
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2009, 09:44:32 pm »
http://www.siromer.net/abbriata_baler.htm
http://www.carthorsemachinery.com/html/cart_horse_machinery_0.html
http://www.wolagri.com/p4_eng.asp?pagestate=p4


 I don't know if thats the one , not heard of any others though ......I have had bales made by them though and they are good little bales , very solid.

cheers

Russ
« Last Edit: June 26, 2009, 09:47:26 pm by rustyme »

Crofter

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Isle of Lewis
  • We'll get there!
    • Ravenstar
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2009, 10:06:06 pm »
Our local cotractor uses a Wolagri baler to make 2ft round bales of silage. He also has a wrapper.  They run off the tractor pto and hydraulics but cost about £3,000!  He charges £4 a bale for silage which I think is a bit steep so this year I'm going to have to fix the old International B47 baler.

As Russ says, you can cart it in with a buck rake and bale it in the yard, we've done that in the past too.

Dave
Comfortable B&B on a working Croft on the Isle of Lewis. www.Ravenstar.co.uk

Old Empty Barn

  • Joined Feb 2009
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2009, 07:15:52 pm »
Hi - we are considering using our 6 acre field to make hay next year.  Very interested to see that there are mini round balers!  We're thinking that the mini round baler would be good for us as some of our field is on a slope.  Is there a lot of demand in Central Scotland for the mini round bales as hay or haylage?  Or would we be just as well with the traditonal small square bales?  Does anyone know what sort of price they go for versus the traditional small square bales? And roughly how many mini bales could we get from 6 acres?  Lots of people round here are using their land for hay but it's mostly the big round bales that you see not smaller ones.

We want to investigate all our options before we decide on any equipment purchases !!  :-\

 :farmer:  :farmer: :farmer:

ps thanks Rustyme for the links - very useful!

countrygirlatheart

  • Joined Apr 2008
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2009, 07:29:09 pm »
Rosemary - sorry for not replying re your query re the mini baler - haven't been in this bit of the forum for ages.  Unfortunately I can't remember which stand I saw it on at the Highland.  Husband says the name CLAAS comes to mind but it might be absolutely nothing to do with it!  worth a try tho?

Bodger

  • Joined Jul 2009
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #9 on: August 24, 2009, 09:52:25 am »
Even mob handed, trying to scythe six acres would kill you.

We've got a grey Fergie tractor and we used to have lots of implements to go with it.

We had a finger mower, a wuffler and one or two other things. Small balers can sometimes be purchased at farm sales, but a word of warning. You need a degree in engineering to keep some of this old equipment going, thats why bit by bit I've sold mine.

rbno22

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • West Ukraine
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2009, 05:18:05 pm »
Even mob handed, trying to scythe six acres would kill you.

We've got a grey Fergie tractor and we used to have lots of implements to go with it.

We had a finger mower, a wuffler and one or two other things. Small balers can sometimes be purchased at farm sales, but a word of warning. You need a degree in engineering to keep some of this old equipment going, thats why bit by bit I've sold mine.

No no no we regurlay cut 2 hectares with a scythe and a dram or two of vodka  :D :D
Legio Patria Nostre

haybaler

  • Joined Dec 2009
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2009, 08:17:15 pm »
 ;D

Just read your post albeit late in the year.

We had the same problem 5 acres and tried doing this by hand, impossible unless you find about about 12 very willing and fit volunteers.

We bought a 1.65 metre grass drum mower for £300 and and PZ Haybob for about the same price and could then cut, and dry the hay and row up ready for a contractor or local farmer to bale it for us.

Large bales cost £20 each baling and wrapping however you are totally reliant on contractor or farmer turning up on time.

Small bales are cheaper to do probably run at about £1 each (unwrapped) but are easy to manage and stack but you will need to have these under cover to protect from the weather.

We decided a couple of years ago to go the whole hog and buy a Wolagri Mini Baler and wrapper for £2500 complete (SH Year man
 2001).

The mini bales are really dense and weigh about 90 -100 Lbs but can be lifted into a small hatchback and are very saleable to people with horses and can be sold for about £5 to £6 each.

Even with a small compact tractor the whole process from cutting to final baling and wrapping takes 4-5 days depending on good weather.

Another option you may wish to consider is buying a small self propelled Hay Baler (Caib mini baler) which is bit like a self propelled mower but picks up and bales with net or string think these might run at about £2000 second hand but are quite rare.

Phil


Sylvia

  • Joined Aug 2009
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2009, 11:34:11 am »
In our youth and energy my husband and I were offered two acres of grass for cutting. We cut it with scythes, turned it with garden rakes and took it home on the back of a motorbike!!! Good old days.

Wizard

  • Joined Nov 2009
  • North East Lincolnshire
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2010, 05:42:04 pm »
I have read the replies and understand your problem.So why not look for a Fergie or an international finger bar Mower Its category 1 linkage.and is a little wider than the tractor.There are plenty of old tedders about a Vicon Acrobat is also cat 1 linkage and would do you nicely it spreads the trail turns the trail and rows up.See if you can find a A-C Roto-baler You will have to check if it will go through gateways though,it is wider than the tractor.Having acquired these you can bale when you want to and even do your neighbours for a fee to help pay for it. :farmer:
Don't do today what can be put off until tomorrow because today will be yesterday tomorrow

lazybee

  • Joined Mar 2010
Re: Small scale haymaking
« Reply #14 on: April 11, 2010, 06:56:07 pm »
The first question you have to answer is how many Horse power is the tractor? you need 35/40hp for a standard small square bailer. Also bear in mind an old tractor could be down on power. I only paid 200quid for my bailer.

 

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