Very small scale farm equipment .....

I have taken a very hard look at those little baling machines for the BCR walk behind. I still might do it, but boy are they expensive. However, the bottom line is that for my area, the baler would pay for itself in about 4 years. That is calculated on what typical hay fields yield around here and the typical price to buy. Then if you really work your fields right, you get better bales than you could buy.

For this area, it's certainly not the best value compared to bigger equipment, but it still makes sense economically.

Every once in awhile, I'll get a call from various friends after we've had a ton of rain and they haven't been able to mow their pastures. And they tell me that if I know anyone that could come cut and bale the field, I could have the hay. I don't know anyone that has the equipment, and even if I could afford it, I'd have trouble hauling it. It's at times like that when I wish I had smaller stuff that I could pull w/my pickup.

My husband has been drooling over the mini haying equipment for years. One of our rotational grazing plans for our goats is to have long hedgerows following the contour of our hillside with rows of grass in between. The mini equipment would be perfect for baling the grass rows. But, alas, we are still in the developmental stages of clearing the land first so that is all back burner stuff for now.
In the mean time, we wanted to gather what we could from our pasture last summer and all we had at our disposal was a walk-behind Gravely with a big sickle bar and a big antique rake. It's amazing what you can do with a little determination and ingenuity...

__________________
Anne
Give me a sweet home set among the trees,
With friends whose words are ever kind and true.
-Phoebe Carey-

LONE PINE FARM
Barnesville, PA
Boer goats, Angora goats, Eclectic mix of poultry