Narrow front for hay #2

After reading the topic of making hay with a narrow front tractor I started to rethink this subject. I have been thinking about a 4010 trike for helping out in hay season. Always wanted a 4010. I now use 2 4020s, one is set up for 30 inch rows. I used to cut all of my hay with this tractor. Unless you make a very narrow windrow you are running over the edges of the windrow with not only the front tires, but also the rear. Seams like a narrow front driving on the windrow wouldn't do anymore damage than The weight of the loaded/weighted rears. Mine, as well as anyone else who uses a tractor set up for narrow rows are driving on our hay. Still drys.We still bale it. Livestock still eat it. We still haul out the used product and put it back on the field. I think maybe salesmen started to tell farmers they needed a wide front to make better hay so they could sell new tractors. Al

Maybe we can get Myth Busters to go to work on it.

I use a narrow front tractor to cut my hay. If is a Farmall BA front half B back half A. I also use a narrow front tractor like the WD45 or Case VAC to rake hay. As for what I use to bale with if I do round bales I use a wide front Oliver S88. But if I bale squares I use a narrow front tractor like the WD45 or Oliver 77

Drive in a narrow front on dry windrows(to turn/flip or combine two) will crush/destroy hay especially alfalfa.You will have a pile of dust where the tire ran over it. Mowing,rakeing 'flat' hay into windrows wont hurt.Pulling a (offset)small square baler is of coarse a no brainer. But you would not want to pull a round baler,or an inline with a narrow front.

This is why you want a wide for rakeing windrows. A narrow will leave a pile of dust where you drove on the windrow.Any other operation probably wont matter.

A whole lot depends on your set up. I mow with an old sickle bar mower so wire or narrow makes no difference at all

Only real problem is dry alfalfa it will knock the leaves off pretty bad.

I tell you Al, I been doing grass hay with a SMTA narrow front for most of 20 years. Doesn't make a bit of difference that I drive over the hay with the fronts. The rake hits it right after and that is the end of driving on it. Balers are offset. If you want the 4010 I would buy it.

Driving over a windrow of dryish grass hay will reduce the test value of protein due to shattered leaves and increases the ash content from picking up dirt. If you don't care its fine, but if you are trying to make good quality hay its quite counter productive.

Try to do that with a dry legume hay and you are just destroying the RFV of the stuff.

I have never found what you say to be true.

One thing that would make a difference is the moisture in the hay. I don't mind raking with a narrow front if the hay is a little tough but try and avoid it if it's dry.

Well around here, Alfalfa hay is cut with either hydroswing disc mower-conditioners with crimper rolls. or SP machines of the same configuration. The next day a tractor and big tedder hits it,with no reguard to straddling the downed hay swaths,and then a big rake preps it for baleing. A narrow front would not make any diff here as long as it had power and hyds enough to run the tedders and rakes. Nf tractor sure woulden't be appropriat for a center feed baler though, or would they???? Might just mat it down so it feeds better???. Most here is baled green and ensiled in bags.
Loren

One thing I can tell you for certain - I'm gonna use what I've got. Always have, and it's always worked.

in 1942 grandpa moved to the farm the horses cut the hay raked the hay and loaded the hay . just think of all those hooves stepping on the hay. the animals survived. in 1954 a farmall 200 and fast hitch mower were purchased the only tractor that had a wide front was the wd9 which was only used to pull the baler around the H or the M raked the hay. in 1966 dad bought a 504 with a mower dad didnt have any wide front tractors yet the M and the oliver 77 raked the hay. in 1973 a haybine was tried the next year one was purchased grandpas 806 and dads 856 cut the hay all raking was done with narrow front tractors. then in 1990 dad and a family friend went into a dairy venture together. friend said driving on hay with narrow front tractors was bad so only wide front tractors were used.at the time they were raking with 3 rakes i had seen an article in a magazine on how to make a tandem rake set up with pipes. i just needed a dolly front for one of the rakes but was denied because to many leaves were lost. funny thing was i dont remember any great increase in milk production.

How long do you let it lay? When I was at home yet I'd mow about every morning in nice weather. Used an M with a side mt. balanced head mower with a conditioner on the draw bar and usually baled the next afternoon. Some 3rd and 4th crop sometimes got baled the same day. The two farms to the north had narrow front Farmalls, two to the west had narrow frt. JDs, A/Cs to the south and the one on the east had all colors of narrow frt. junk. He also had a little Ford wide frt. which was the only one I can remember seeing for years and he used it to get the cows. And we had 3 narrow frt. Farmalls. Hard to believe all these dairy farmers survived baling hay with narrow frt tractors all those years.

You ted wet hay. If I run my tedder through dry hay I get a dust cloud and sticks to bale.

Another subject that is an opinion subject. We all know our opinions are the correct one and any other opinions are just wrong. And we all can back up our opinions with more opinions. I started doing custom baling when I was 15 and baled hay last year at 78. I am sure no one gives a hoot what an old mans opinion is. Fact is after turning my farm over to my Grand Son that was all put to alfalfa and he baled 2200 acres total of hay ground last year, I lost all opinions.
I watched as they baled with the 4'X 4'X 8' square baler and it looked to me they were driving highway truck speeds in the field. Windrows seemed to be raked as high as my waist. I think a narrow tractor would have pushed the windrow rather than drive on it. Of course this is just an old mans opinion.

We mowed with a 12' machine for 20+ years, and it leaves a 10' wide swath. You always had to run at least one set of wheels on the hay no matter what, usually two.

Then when you blow it out with the tedder, there's no place to run your wheels without running over the hay.

If conditions are right, you'll end up leaving a small streak of hay in some places where the mowing tractor ran and packed the green hay into the stubble. Other than that, no problem.

Unless you invent a practical hovertractor, you're pretty much going to have to run on the hay at some point.

The only way to avoid running on the hay is to mow with a 7' machine, don't use a tedder, don't have a dolly wheel on the front of your rake, and use a wide front.

The big difference appears to me to be that many guys just don't understand and won't believe that there is a lot of moisture in the ground in some areas. All that you guys in the west have to do to dry hay is to turn the irrigation pump off, and then you mow wide and it dries quickly, or after a day you rake two swaths into one, and bale it with no tedding either way. Here in the Northeast virtually everyone that produces dry hay mows it into a narrow swath, lets the exposed ground and grass dry 5-10 hours, tedds it out, lets it dry another 10 to 15 hours, then rakes, and bales. It is not unusual for moisture in the ground or the weather to make a second tedding necessary. Most of us mow with wide front tractors in order to not drive on the mowed grass and press it down into the damp soil. It makes little difference whether we use a wide or narrow front tractor to pull the rake because we are not turning or merging swaths, we are raking spread hay into windrows. Now doing it your way is fine for you and your ground because it works on dry ground. However, there is rarely a week goes by that no one tells a beginning hay maker to lay it out in as wide a swath as possible in order to dry it faster. Yes some of it will dry faster, but all of what you drive on, mowing the next pass, that gets pressed down into the moist ground, will be making wet bunches when you bale it.

I believe if you think it hurts your hay it probably will . I use narrow front-end tractors and my cows don't know about wide fronts yet , don't tell them they may jump the fence .

This topic is getting to be like a ethanol vs non ethanol, sea foam, red vs green debate. It all depends on what we have available to us and the geographical region we operate in. A narrow front tractor sure does make turning that 90 degree turn easier when using a mounted sickle mower. I've never checked but I would think the hay the narrow front wheels drive on in the next pass would dry a little slower because it is closer to the wet ground here in NW Iowa. However, maybe the hay that goes under the wheels is partly crimped, making drying easier. Just my .02