# What type of baler for our tractor?



## paolahayseed (Oct 17, 2013)

My brother and I are going to start baling our own hay next year. We will be working about 20 acres of brome and blue stem in mostly nice flat areas. We have a 32hp tractor with 29hp PTO. Is this tractor too small for round bales? If so, what is a good square baler recommended?

Thanks in advance!


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Sorry, that tractor will only pull a rake and a little sickle mower.

You might consider something like this: http://www.smallfarminnovations.com/ for small squares, sell through pet stores, and corner the "backyard pet" market. You'll probably make more money than all of the rest of us.....


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## Orchard (Mar 12, 2013)

PaolaHS, I will disagree with Mike120 and say you CAN bale (regular 14x18 bales, that is!) hay with your tractor.I have observed numerous Amishmen baling with older NH balers outfitted with Honda engines in the 15-20 hp range, so I can assure you your tractor will power a baler.Will it pull the baler and possibly a hay rack?Depends. First off, engine/pto hp is not the entire story.Does your tractor have significant size/weight to it?I once had a 1963 John Deere 2010 gas that I believe had 43 hp and pulled a baler and wagon ok.My neighbor had one of those newer, lighter tractors (Branson?) that was rated about the same hp but could only pull the baler.He dropped bales on the ground and picked them up later with the branson and a hay wagon, and he also had a trailer he'd pull behind his truck. So to answer your question, look for an older small baler, NH 68, 268, 273 quickly come to mind. They are lower capacity and parts are available. You will be able to bale with those. You will probably do what my neighbor did and drop them on the ground and pick them up later.However, think about if you get 3 tons to the acre, you will be picking up 2,800 bales off the ground (maybe that's why you've recruited your brother&#8230.


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## Dill (Nov 5, 2010)

I agree plenty of guys who are still baling with 8Ns, 2cyl Deeres and Ms, heck I know a guy who is running a 4x4 round baler on a super H, but a compact with the same power, not going to do it.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I know a guy who pulls a 4x4 round baler with a compact tractor. It is flat ground and only about 12 acres. He moves right along.


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## cornshucker (Aug 22, 2011)

Look for a 530 Hesston around 2900-3000 pounds know people pulling them with Ford 3000 or MF 135. Hesston also made some balers for C-IH seem like the number is 5530. Neighbor has a Hesston 540 which is slightly bigger and pulls it with a MF 245 although he has a somewhat bigger tractor. Mostly flat land and not getting in a hurry you should be ok. Other posts are right in that is a lot of difference in older 30 h.p. tractors and the new compacts.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Neighbor pulls an old allis 440 square baler with a 30hp compact. Also uses it for an old 9ft haybine. Well, I guess I should say when he doesn't feel like calling to to make rounds he bales ...


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## cmd (Oct 26, 2012)

Maybe you should tell us what your tractor actually is.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

They've pulled a CaseIH 1250 Grinder Mixer, it's a big grinder, with a compact Kubota L3940 with 31.5hp on the PTO but you have feed the corn, grain and supplement into it at least quarter to half the rate of anything else that pulls it around here but when everything else is tied up you have to do what you have to do. With 100hp you can pretty much feed as fast as you want.

I wouldn't be afraid to pull a JD 24T square baler here with the Kubota, wouldn't do it but I think it would pull it ok in a pinch.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

There is a youtube video of a NH TC40 compact tractor running a NH 450 Utility round baler (4x4). The utility model round balers are intended for smaller farms that don't have/need the big HP tractors, but still want to do round bales. I've been keeping an eye out for one of these smaller balers as a means of cleaning up rained on/low quality on hay, but I have everything from a 60HP JD 2520 to a 94HP JD 4020 to choose from as far as tractors. The tractor and baler in the video seem to do okay, but there are a couple downsides that would concern me.

1) You will probably be pushing the tractor to its limits which means you will wear it out a lot quicker and probably be replacing it.

2) The prices I have seen on the "utility" model round balers are high enough (at least around me) that for the same money you could pick up a decent used round baler and slightly larger tractor

There are some small round balers that you could probably run without too much trouble, but be sure that you have enough tractor weight-wise to control the baler and whatever else you hook to it. There are already numerous posts on this site about what to look for when shopping for used small square balers, so a little reading is all you really need there.

Good luck, Josh


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Paola-most of the comments in here talk about guys seeing guys do it. I have done it and would not do it again. I used a JD 950 2wd with 28 " rears and pulled a NH273 and dropped bales. Guessing I made about 4,000 bales that way over about 3 years. Wore out the pto clutch on the 950 because it just isn't designed for that. That said, our neighbor had a JD420 2cyl and baled for years with a 14t and wagon behind without clutch problems. So depends on the age of your tractor. Also, if you make round bales with a tractor too light, moving them and stacking them won't be any fun either.

Also agree with Orchard that if you put a motor on the baler you should be fine. Heck, I have seen people pulling an old NH77 with a wisconsin engine with an Allis Chalmers C. Granted, he was not having any fun but he was baling hay.

So, if you are determined to use the existing tractor, I would go with the lighter small square baler and the NH273 or NH315 without a kicker is hard to beat.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

cornshucker said:


> Look for a 530 Hesston around 2900-3000 pounds know people pulling them with Ford 3000 or MF 135. Hesston also made some balers for C-IH seem like the number is 5530. Neighbor has a Hesston 540 which is slightly bigger and pulls it with a MF 245 although he has a somewhat bigger tractor. Mostly flat land and not getting in a hurry you should be ok. Other posts are right in that is a lot of difference in older 30 h.p. tractors and the new compacts.


The same basic baler has had many different badgings. Hesston 5530 then 530 then 730. Case 8420 Massey Ferguson 1734. I pulled my 5530 with a 28.5 PTO ho Kubota. It pulled it but it worked it hard. Could hardly know it is behind my 7040 (64pto HP). The weight of the smaller tractor was a limiting factor. I loaded the rears with rim guard and that helped.

I would think an older heavier tractor would have no problem for power in that HP range. CUT's are not built for the same tasks as farm tractors.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I have a Ford NH1720 which is 28 pto hp that I Ted and rake with. It probably could pull an older small capacity square baler if it had to but I really wouldn't want to do it regularly. As far as a round baler I would not even think about hooking up even a small round baler to it. If your really set on using that tractor to bale with I would look into a square baler that is powered by a motor and the tractor just tows it.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

FarmerCline said:


> I have a Ford NH1720 which is 28 pto hp that I Ted and rake with. It probably could pull an older small capacity square baler if it had to but I really wouldn't want to do it regularly. As far as a round baler I would not even think about hooking up even a small round baler to it. If your really set on using that tractor to bale with I would look into a square baler that is powered by a motor and the tractor just tows it.


Years ago I had a Ford 1700 with loaded tires that my daughter used to drag an arena rake with. I used it once to pull my 9' NH 456 mower, NH 256 rake, and IH-37 baler to do one cutting just to see if it would do it. We both survived my experiment and the little tractor did a lot better than me. It was a small field, it took three times longer than normal, and it almost beat me to death. That little rough-riding thing was a lot better in a soft arena. It didn't mind the 256 rake, so I guess it liked rakes. It tolerated the mower but it really didn't like the baler, and I didn't want to ruin a perfectly good little tractor doing something it was not designed to do. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD do it......


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Mike120 said:


> Years ago I had a Ford 1700 with loaded tires that my daughter used to drag an arena rake with. I used it once to pull my 9' NH 456 mower, NH 256 rake, and IH-37 baler to do one cutting just to see if it would do it. We both survived my experiment and the little tractor did a lot better than me. It was a small field, it took three times longer than normal, and it almost beat me to death. That little rough-riding thing was a lot better in a soft arena. It didn't mind the 256 rake, so I guess it liked rakes. It tolerated the mower but it really didn't like the baler, and I didn't want to ruin a perfectly good little tractor doing something it was not designed to do. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD do it......


 My 1720 pulled my NH 256 like it wasn't even back there....now that I have upgraded to a rotary rake when going up hills I do have to go a little slower than I would like because the rotary pulls harder than the rolabar. On flat ground it would pull the rotary just fine. But as you said that is really not a tractor to be baling with.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

I think 20 acres is too much hay to be cultivating with a single, compact tractor.

That said, I don't think I would hook that tractor up to a square baler. I have run a square baler with a Ford 3000 before and it just beats the heck out of you and the tractor. I think a small round baler such as the Hesston 530 would place less stress on you and the tractor. It's rated at 30 hp minimum.


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

Newbie when I was a kid 35 years ago my great uncle and the hired man would mow with farmall C (21 hp) side mount sickle bar and pull JD crimper behind in thin hay. On heavy hay they would pull crimper with super C. They also baled with old IH engine baler pulling wagon. I'm sure you could make hay with compact tractor just have to do it old school and not sit in a $100,000.00 tractor and $30,000.00 discbine. I regualary use a 60 year old flat wagon when my basket wagons are full to get hay in the barn and out of the field to get done.


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## Thumbtack (Jun 18, 2012)

I have baled with a JD 770 24hp, MF126 small square baler but as said before you have to go slooow. You can do it, but plan on spending all day doing it. It will wear out your tractor really quick.


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