# New guy - old gear



## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Hi guys!

I have enjoyed lurking and scouring these forums for info over the last 12 months or so, as I try to educate myself prior to cutting some hay on my small property down under. We have horses on the property and I'm hoping to make a few small squares each year to sell to other horse people in the area, I might make enough money to pay some bills if I'm lucky!

Most of you guys are into hay cutting in a real way, I'm just playing around with a few acres and some old equipment! But I cut my first field a week or so ago and did a quick write up about it here if anyone is interested! You may get a laugh out of it?!

Cheers!


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## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

Nice story and pics. Send more! It's going to be a long white winter for some of us, i like to see green fields.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hang in there Jase....you definitely have the intestinal fortitude to be a "hayer". Definitely get a better mower when you can....the rest you can make due. A old NH haybine like a 478 would be good....and reasonably priced....and get a hitch for you baler. It is easier for one person to let the bales pile up on the wagon and go back and stack periodically, than to pick off the ground....just slow going.

Regards, Mike


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Lol definitely do away with the sickle mower. Only thing I use them for is cutting ditches. The baler and rake will do better with a haybine.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Very good for first time! All of your points you learned were spot on, disc mower will be a blessing for you.....myself, I'm going to see if I can find some of that slave labour you speak of so fondly.....think ill put an ad in craiglist for some....and don't worry, I'm not real confident of anyone calling wanting to do any slave labour, that would be silly...here, you just sit on your fat ass and get a cheque...or you can go fishing and get the aforementioned cheque.....

If I post that listing on craiglist, will someone come bail me out? I'll be under the jail in Tift county ga.

Well done Jase! And welcome to haytalk!


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

Welcome! Enjoyed reading and the pictures. Like the looks of the stone structure on the home page.

Like others have said, a haybine, preferably with non-clog guards, would help tremendously or a disc mower.

Keep posting pictures on here - like has been said above, need to see green fields to keep us going until we get through winter here.

Shelia


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## FCF (Apr 23, 2010)

Welcome to HayTalk! Enjoyed the pictures and the spot on article. Others just starting out and lurking here will fine many good pointers in one place with your story. Good job!

Dave


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Thanks for the encouraging words guys - I don't mind a bit of hard work, feels like you've accomplished something worth while at the end of the day.

I've only got the little MF35(~37hp) to work with so was looking at drum mowers to replace the sickle mower. From reports I've read they are quite good for small scale hay cutting. Either that or a little 4 disc mower - depends what I can find used in decent condition around here.

I'm preparing 7 acres for alfalfa(we call it lucerne down here). I've got a local contractor to do most of that prep work, he lives 5min up the road and also does contract hay cutting and baling during the season, but mostly large rounds for the dairy farmers. He's a great bloke and is always happy to help me out with info and advice when needed. That paddock has an annual rye in it at the moment which is ready to cut now too. I need to fix up some drainage over summer after the rye is cut and hopefully get the alfalfa in this autumn.

There are some more articles here on fixing up some of my equipment, probably a few photos of green paddocks in there somewhere!

This page has some videos I took of some of the steps to prepare the alfalfa/rye paddock.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Your little MF will handle a 7 foot haybine just fine and you would probably be happier with it than a drum mower in alfalfa. If you get one that has stub guards or change one over from the standard long guards to stub guards you will have a plug free cutter bar. Welcome to haytalk.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

You should be able to run a 479 with the 35. Maybe get a 477 to be safe


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Well I put the old MF42 mower back to work on saturday - cut about 4 acres of rye. The right hand brake on the 35 badly needs adjusting so I'm having to use way too much pressure to get it to turn sharp 90 degrees - my right quad and arse are so sore today I can hardly walk!

Here's some green fields for ya's:


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

It cut that stuff alot better then the first field.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Great Story! And really nice looking hay!

Thanks

Ralph


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Yeah behaved much better in the nice uniform rye - except in a few thicker patches. It would plug in the exact same 2 or 3 areas each time around, just didn't like the way the grass was lying or something! I'm hoping the raking and baling will go smoother now I've done a better job of the mowing! Still got another 3-4 acres of rye to do in the next couple of weeks.

Looks like I'll be baling on Thursday which is forecast to be 39C (~102F)!


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

Thanks for sharing! I like seeing pictures of your land and would love to come over and see it in person and to try some of your home brew you posted about on your web page!


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Well I got the rye baled that I cut the other day. Still learning a lot - still a lot more to learn I think! Having real trouble getting it to dry down uniformly. I think I raked too early this time, probably should have left it laid out in the swathe longer, but the ground here still has a lot of moisture in it so I figured it might help to windrow it. I turned it twice more before baling to try and get it to dry down. 90% was dry enough but there were still clumps of green, damp material in the windrows. From what I can see they were either dense clumps created when the mower plugged and no amount of raking broke them up, or areas where the grass was left uncut underneath from the mower not cutting properly - in other words where the mower bar plugged.

We basically walked every windrow, tedding it by hand before baling to check for damp pockets, on a 40C humid day! With probably another 10acres left to cut this year, maybe more if I can get a 2nd cut off this rye, this was enough to make me go out the next day and buy another mower! I found a 4 disc Taarup mower a couple of hours drive away which looks like it will suit my tractor so grabbed it. I'm hoping it produces a better result in less time and a more uniform dry down.

Good news was that my 4 wheel rake performed really well and I worked out how to flip 2 windrows in one pass with it. I also put new twine in the MF12 baler and it didn't miss a knot for the rest of the day. I did make a few very long bales though, I think the meter arm may be slipping a little when going over some rough patches in the paddock.


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Here's a BIG small square:


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Lmao at the long bale. I got my new baler abd the bales were to long so I adjusted the arm...the wrong way. I made a few 4+ foot bales lol. Its amazing how different brands of twine can make a difference. I think you need a conditioner. If I cut hay with a rig like yours it wouldnt be dry in 3 weeks lol. Hope the new one works better for you. Good luck.


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

There were about 8 of those big bales, I didn't notice until later when I was looking across the paddock! My partner was trying to talk me into making shorter than normal squares so they are easier for her horsey girl friends to manage, but I reckon that just means more to pickup and harder to stack! She wasn't impressed with the mega bales!

This year has been abnormally wet and mild through spring, so I'm hoping its just a particularly bad season for drying hay and I can get away without a conditioner. They aren't common or cheap here so I cant really afford one. Not many guys around here appear to use them and my local contractor reckons I wont need one. Although they do appear to do more wrapped silage than hay.

Biggest problem this year has been we can't get more than about 4 days in a row with no rain forecast, since the start of spring. Where I would normally be happy to leave it out there for another couple of days the weather is basically forcing my hand to get it in.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

CoraJase, are many Tedders available in your country? Those are really handy about getting hay to dry uniformly and break up green clumps. Also, if it gets wet due to rain it is nice about getting it to dry. Once you use one you will not want to do without. Makes baling life easier.

Regards, Mike


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Yeah a tedder would have been ideal, I have seen them around. I suppose I'm just going to have to battle through this year and get to know my area and what equipment I need, hard to know when its just been a strange season weather wise.

I've had some interest from some neighbours with similar sized horse properties to cut and bale their paddocks - as it hard to get contractors to do smaller farms when its busy. If that works out I may be able to justify buying some more equipment.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

CoraJase, have you ever sharpened your plunger knives? If not, take a small grinder and crawl on the pickup(with cardboard laid down) and check to see if they need sharpening and possibly they might need shemed closer together for that nice even cut.

Regards, Mike


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Well its been a busy few weeks! I managed to get my hay done and also managed to help out a friend up the road by baling her property - well almost - got half it done before rain hit. All up I've put down about 1200 small squares! Not a lot by most standards but am pretty happy with that for first attempt at baling considering the gear I have to work with!

Struggled with a few machinery/reliability issues, weather has been a real problem as its been such a mild wet spring and summer so far. I think there is a bit of market here for a small time contractor to do small squares for the smaller horse/hobby farms. No one can get the larger contractors at the moment, I had another couple of properties begging me to do theirs as well but my equipment is just not up to it(painfully slow and unreliable). I'm looking into the possibility of upgrading my gear for next year and maybe doing a bit of contracting on the side to help pay for it. I'm not sure its going to pencil out though.


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Some pics:


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## CoraJase (Jul 9, 2013)

Been a couple of years nearly since I posted this, and its hay season again here down under, so thought I would update.

I've managed to upgrade a few bits of equipment since I last posted - I got a few more hp in the form of a Ford 6640 with a loader and cab with AC! AC almost feels like cheating - but boy its nice to get off the tractor and not have a film of sweat, diesel grime and bugs all over me! It also has a nice loader which I'm not sure how I lived without!

I got rid of the old sickle bar mower and got a 4 disc Taarup mower - which is much less troublesome to cut with! And just last week I finally replaced the 3pl wheel rake with a well used Fransgard twin rotor rake. I've just spent the weekend tidying up the rake and fixing a few dodgy repairs done by previous owners. Its a little tired but the price was right and I'm hoping it does the job on my few acres.

I'm on my second season of lucerne(alfalfa) and am still trying to work it out in my climate!

On the wishlist still is a larger mower(6 or 7 disc) to save me a few trips around the paddock and less running over the already cut hay, and eventually a newer baler that has a bit more life left in it.

All my gear is still pretty tired and well used but I'm finding the larger equipment is less stressed and therefore so am I!

Here's a couple more pics.


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