Cutting Hay With a Disk Mower on a Compact Tractor 

It’s crazy how the drone footage changes my understanding of your property. Thanks for adding it in.

Best thing we have found when raking odd shaped fields is make a few rounds raking around the perimeter then start raking back and forth.

You’re real hay farmer now!

Grandson Aiden in the background doing the nose pressed on the Tractor glass thing too FUNNY🤣

Mornin farmer

You mentioned this is your 3rd day of mowing hay. I grew up on an eastern Missouri cattle and hay farm plus we did custom baling around the county (about 30,000+ small squares every summer). We would mow one field 10-15 acres. The next day, we might mow 10 acres more in the morning, then at noon we were raking the hay from the first day and, as dry as it is now, baling it later that day. We hauled hay as soon as the baler started cranking and hauled until every bale was in the barn. This gave us a chance to make sure all the equipment was operating as it should. We never mowed all our hay at once because we never wanted to take the chance that it might get rained on plus we didn’t want the hay just burning up and bleaching out on the ground. We just kept mowing a little and raking and baling every day, unless it rained or the equipment was broken down. Mowing: you can mow around the outside about 3 rounds; then pick the longest direction and mow a strip down through the middle, turn right around and mow back. Keep alternating that way. This eliminates a lot of corners. When it gets too wide and you have to drive too far, move over another 30 feet or so, and open up another straight swath. Now most of your windrows will be parallel and it will make raking them together easier (unless the hay is too heavy for double windrows) and baling easier. In theory, you are using your equipment to create a more valuable product than just grass in the field. The hours on the tractor and the fuel are just a business expense in the creation of that value. We always tried to spend at least 12 hours per day in the field while making hay. It makes you appreciate a job in town.

Very productive week!!

Unusual shap fields are common for me. They are a pain sometimes but thats just part of it. We bale alot of fields that we do not own.

Awesome video. I grew up on 58 acres. Mostly hillside. But we bealed a lot of hay. You got a beautiful place.

You forgot to tell us that was a brand new mower when you started cutting this year! 🤣🤣 Remind me not to let you borrow equipment!! Tractor Hard! 🚜💪!

I love the drone idea, please keep doing it !

Brock......having raised cattle for many many years, it will take you awhile to grow hay that cattle will eat and thrive on...opposed to non productive grass and weeds. It will mean eliminating weeds etc and fertilizing to continually improve the quality of your hay, and plant a blend of seed to improve the hay in the future. It is a long process, take it slow and easy. Good luck, farmer Bob

Morning Brock!

Enjoy watching your videos. I would have the hay tested to see the nutritional value in it. One year we decided to put some cattle in our apple orchard, which had never been used, and one steer died in there. The vet said it starved to death. I hope you have people who want to buy your hay since you have no place to store this hay.

Hi Brock. My best friend has 80 acres. About 10 acres of woods, 60 acres farming and 10 acres living space. When we were kids (57 now) there was only around 30 acres of farmland. We did it with a jd model A, a jd model B and a jd 730. After high school his dad sold the 730 and model B and bought a jd 3020 diesel. My buddy still has the Model A and 3020 and bought a jd 5325 cab tractor. The point is that with that equipment it took a long time to harvest hay, corn and beans. Even with his a/c & heated cab running a 6 foot brush hog to mow the perimeter and the trails in the 10 wooded acres takes a long time. He wants to get an 8 or 9 foot foot brush cutter. For the past few years he has leased the farm property out. That farmer comes in with a huge International quad track first thing in the morning and by 3:00 the crops are harvested and the ground is worked. Now my buddy works full time (the reason he leases his property) and does not farm 2,000 acres so time is not critical like it is for a full time farmer. He could farm that acreage with his 60+ hp tractor(s) but it would time consuming compared to the farmer that he leases to. He has said on numerous occasions that the open station 3020 was beating him up to bad just maintaining the property (not even farming it) and is so glad he bought that cab tractor 3 or 4 years ago. 20-30 years ago he said he didn't need a cab - he doesn't say that now. I'll bet you are also loving that full function cab. Tractor on Brock

Brock: When you do a Crazy Ivan turn (cloverleaf) you do not have to raise the mower as you turn. Keeping it down will only go over grass that you already cut doing no harm.

Yep big Tractor and a brush shredder to push back garbage and weeds and bush so to find the down logs and stuff that needs pushed into burn piles

I think I got "allergic smelling hay" from watching this video. 😁

A few thoughts… you need a bigger cutter lol. That will shorten your cutting time which in my experience takes the longest of the hay making process. Especially with a small cutter. Also, don’t get too caught up into cutting/raking the “proper” direction. That might work on perfectly square or rectangle fields. Those don’t exist here. Just cut it, the rake will still get 99% of it even if it’s not raking the “proper” direction.

Lot of grass for such a small tractor! I mow like 5 acres with my Mahindra 40hp and it takes a few hours with the brush hog. I think you are right about wasting time rounding off corners. I've started almost treating it like a lawn mower and just going up and down, not sure that's faster, but I like how it looks after. Drone shots are A+ I had no idea what the property looked like as a whole, you have much more space than has been shown. Excited to see you improve it and find ways to entertain us!

I couldn't agree more with how much more time everything takes when you're trying to record your activities with a drone, and trying to accomplish some work. I do it for some of my videos, and I really love the perspective that it offers when watching the videos later, but MAN does it add a lot of time to the whole videoing process. Shoot, just videoing normally with GoPro's or other action cameras is so much more time consuming than when just working and not trying to record it. And then add in the editing time for everything and gosh....... You didn't mention which brand of drone you got, but I've got a DJI, and it seems like they are the most common for content creators like us. If so, I encourage you to spend the extra money and buy a "fly more kit" for it. That includes a couple of extra batteries, and a few other things. Having numerous batteries will make your life easier when trying to video content.

You might think about picking up a used new holland 488 haybine. Your little tym will handle it fine . Nice little haybine still made new today. Probably want to hit the land with 2 ton to the acre of lime pending your ph. Try to get it around 6.5. Good fertilizer preferably manure if you can purchase from a nearby farmer. I try to mow my irregular fields by deviding them into sections as square as possible. But it’s just a lot of figuring out what works best.

I enjoyed the drone footage.

Howdy Brock! Looking good. Bet you are glad to have a cab tractor after mowing that kind of acreage lol. Well done and thanks for sharing 🤠

You got the hay ccut . Looks good . Nice to learn stuff . Seeya

I think you will be able to make it you have to learn on every field I have a lot of hay and I will learn on every field sometimes I cut the same field every time lol 😂 😂

Josh at Stoney Ridge Fram’s.uses his drone he has 150 acres.

Nice job!

Send a soil sample off before fertilizing. Waist less money.

I hope you ordered a bigger mower. Your tractor could definitely handle a bigger disc mower, once you upgrade to a bigger mower your time will be cut dramatically. I use a 6ft 8in new holland behind a 50hp John Deere and I could step up to the next size for sure with no problem. As for a rake your best bet would be to find a new holland rollabar rake. A 256 or 258 and you could use it with your tym or even the old John Deere A. I rake with my John Deere B quite often

Your pattern should match the baller or loading wagon ... Normally you should drive along the short side enough times to be comfortable enough to turn. The same thing is of course achieved by circling the field at the beginning. WITHOUT leaving any corners... The longer you can ride at a time, the more effective it is. as many strips of equal length or size as possible.. edit: it took that long because u had no clear plan and also your mower is pretty small ... think your tractor could run a 10ft 3 point mower ...

I don’t do hay cutting but wouldn’t it be smart to start in the center. It seems like only the first two rows would require weird turns but then if you go back and forth from side to side, leavening the perimeter for last, turns would be eliminated from the cutting. Plz let me know what you think .!?

What size is it I started with a 7' than went to a 9 ' than a 11'

Do you need a bigger tractor? That's a lot of land. You could save time with a bigger one.

If the FAA Finds out you posted a video without a Part 107 license they will fine you into bankruptcy!!! I would get part 107 license if I were you!!!

How long did it take you to get your Drone licence. Not easy just to fly a drone

Literally taking your life into your hands using a disc mower without a cover. Those fields need a lot of improvement before you could call it "hay".

Excuses for everything.

Zamboni pattern?