Baling Hay With Horses

[ngcmcn]

Hello Folks,

I’ve been baling hay with a NH 66 behind my forecart for about the last ten years putting up a thousand to fifteen hundred bales in a season, first and second cut as well as some scrud bedding hay. The baler runs well. Good bales. Usually pick them up off the field and the horses haul them home. The horses seem to know what to do and whats up with the noisy beast behind them and baling always seems to go faster then all the mowing ,tedding raking. I’ve always thought it a bit odd that dedicated and skilled horse people who mow, ted and rake balk at the fact of pulling a self powered baler with their horses, and use a tractor. I know some people just aren’t set up for it and have PTO balers so they use them, or don’t have multiple hitch teams to pull the weight. I always get the question “Doesn’t the back and forth of the plunger bother the horses?” Nope I say. When the horses are pulling forward alot of the back and forth dissappears. Of course i don’t let them stand there forever, I’m usually as eager as they are to get it done. The noise doesn’t bother them any more then say a chainsaw and with the price of gas headed for $5/gal………five gallons used for the season is cheap!

So i guess what i’m curious about is: are folks using their horses to bale, and what have their experiences been? what kind’ve equipment are they using and what could they possibly do better?safer?cheaper?

I’d love to have a brand new New idea in line baler with a motor on it, but i don’t have a spare 18k. I’ll keep fixing the old stuff for now.

After three inches of rain in the last two days here in Me. i could here the grass squeek today in the bright sun.

Best
Neal Mcnaughten
Unity, me.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Neal, yes baling with horses and mules is great. I use a 24 hp PTO forecart with a four abreast hitch. I pull the baler(NH 68?) and a flat wagon were someone stacks the bales. Nice work, walking on the wagon, stacking bales as they come off. When it is my wife stacking the bales, I call her the hay babe, she seems to like it. Just this winter I added some brakes to my cart. There are a few places on our farm were the turn at the end of the row is down hill and if the wagon is almost full I might for go turning around to fill it. Now I don’t have to. You can see a couple pictures here. I have made 2,000 or 2,500 bales in the past, hope to make 3,000 this year. Donn

[Does’ Leap]

Great pictures Don. I would like to hear your opinions sometime on the advantages / disadvantages of horses vs. mules. But to stay on topic, we go through around 3000 purchased bales yearly. Altough I aspire to make hay one day, we are not quite there for lack of land, equipment, and expertise. Regarding bailing, I have a few questions to throw in:

• Can two horses pull a bailer on rolling land?
• What bailers do folks recommend / use?

Regards to all.

George

[Donn Hewes]

Hi George, yes two horses will readily pull a baler. The reason I use four is two for the baler and two for the wagon load of hay. I have always had good luck with the older NH balers. Look for one that “hasn’t made too many bales” as they say.

As for mules, the truth of the matter is I just really like them. I think they are a great size for farm work. They are fast walkers. You need to be careful in their initial training to make sure and not rush them or skip anything. Buying older mules can be more problematic than an older horse but that is just a gut feel I have based on a few experiences.

[ngcmcn]

Don,

Nice photos. I really like your black horses with the white on the face. Our two Percherons are about that size (16.2-3 and we are always keeping our eyes open for either a stud or more mares /geldings that size. Where’d they come from? Do you have a stud?

I assume you built or had put together the forecart, it looks good and rugged. Brakes are a good idea for a forecart but i haven’t had them thus far. There are times i wish i did, like you say on a downhill into a turn with a baler and haywagon.

What model haybine are you using? It looks about 7′ feet. I looked at a NH haybine #408??? seven foot cut today for $600 bucks. It has a tired gear box, but the rest of it doesn’t look to bad and they’d probably come down in price. What I was wondering was if i could put a motor directly on the Haybine and what kind’ve hp. that might require.? Did ya ever consider doing that. I’m sure i could finagle the hydraulics some how. It seems to me the newer, say Honda engines, have to really spin fast to develope hp.so maybe i could use a older Wisconsin.? Don’t know? With good hay weather sickle bar mowers are good but in a tight window it would be nice have the option of crimping the hay. We ted with an old Grimm ground drive teddar and some times end up doing it alot to get good dry down. The Grimms are gentle on the grass but not always effective in deep damp stuff.

The other thought i had on your photos was the block hanging off the seat of your mower. For what its worth i’ve been told by a guy in Pa. who has rebuilt a lot of McD#9 and #7s that the biggest difference with the older non-enclosed open ring gear driven mowers and the enclosed(#7 and #9) was not the actual weight of the pole and mower on the horses, but the downward force on the pole created by the straight cut gears and gearing configurations. It seems the #9 is the best in being lite on the pole with the #7 right behind. We run D-Rings.

Till Later

Neal Mcnaughten
Unity, Me.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Neal, Yes the Amish use a haybine with a motor on it. They make a two wheeled tongue truck that gives them room for a seat. you could also pull it with a fore cart. I put the engine on the forecart so I could use it for more than one task. The Honda 24 hp. motor works great for me – only runs about half throttle and not working hard at all. I am not much of a mechanic so a new key starting motor was important to me. Quiet too.

Sorry my message is alittle short but I am trying to beat the computer before it times me out. Have a little computer problem, must get fixed. Donn

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[Neil Dimmock]

Here one of us using 2 NH 68,s and a couple of horse side delivery rakes, no the plunger motion is lost when the baler is under load and at rest its not enuff to tighten the tugs. I prefer the ground drive cart but its made from an old cockshutt 30 and a bearing locked up in the trans so until then I’ll use the motors.

[ngcmcn]

Neil,

Wow look at those fields , they’r flat and wide open, not like some of our small whinedy fields here in Maine, and the horses are the right color to. Black!! Thanks for the pic Neil good to see others working their horses. The NH 68 must be a tad newer then my 66, i’m always looking to upgrade, and the tandem wheels on the the one baler makes sense to me.

It don’t get no better then haying with horses!

Neal Mcnaughten
Unity, Me.

[Neil Dimmock]

Thanks just two types of horses for me, Percheron’s and blacks, the rest are just horses. HE, HE, the dual makes it pull easier in ruff ground

[Ira]

Neil, Question about your harness. It appears to have Dring style traces with belly backers. What are the advantages/disadvantages of this style harness?

[Rod]

What old, square type balers would be considered lighter in weight and suitable for my Halflinger team to pull? Assumes a powered forcart (1000# plus) or an engine conversion on the baler. I have had JD 14t and 24 T models in the past and ran them with a 29 hp Ford 2000 (with a wagon on the back). Would one of these old models be a good choice or is there better and lighter units that can be suggested?

[Neil Dimmock]

I can not say which is the best because all I have ever used is NH so I wont tell you they are the one to have but I dant have any problem pulling them with my teams in the hills with out a wagon behind and I think a team of Halflinger,s would have a time trying to pull one with a half full wagon behind!!But you could use more horses, three or four would work better, brakes on the cart would help hold it back on the hills, but just the baler two should do!

[Neil Dimmock]

Hi, not sure what a belly backer is so I might have one and not know, but most tugs up here have a ring in the tug right at the belly band and back pad, there is a short heavy tug from there to the collar and a lighter long tug to the chains, We use western breaching most of the time but I do have a set of yankee breaching and two sets of twin neck yokes.

[Does’ Leap]

We are currently purchasing around 3000 bales yearly. I have always resisted making hay as I don’t like tractor work. Now that we have horses, the prospect of making hay is more enticing and I hope to put up a portion of our hay next summer. Regarding this goal, I have a few questions for you hay makers out there:

1. What is the process of putting a motor on a bailer?
2. What size motor do you need?
3. Can you still run the bailer on a tractor if it is independently powered with a motor?
4. What do folks use for rakes and tedders?
5. I think I have read / heard that you can purchase a new sickle bar for MD#9s or even 7s. Is this recommended?

I would appreciated input on any or all of the above.

Thanks.

George

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