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If you own a small tractor and want to put up hay without relying on a sickle mower and small square baler, this video is for you. In my last video, I covered the basics of putting up hay with a small tractor the old-fashioned way. Today, I'm going a step further and highlighting three specific products — one still available new, and two discontinued but available on the used equipment market — that were designed with small tractor owners in mind.
These are the tools that the big farm equipment companies never promoted heavily, because they're too busy catering to large-scale row crop and hay producers. But for those of us running smaller operations, these products were a game changer.
Why Small Tractor Owners Get Ignored by Farm Equipment Companies
Let's be honest — major farm equipment manufacturers and dealers focus their attention on the big producers. The guys farming thousands of acres, running expensive machinery, and burning through parts and service are the profit centers for these companies. Small tractor owners like most of us buy a lot of tractors but don't generate the parts and service revenue that keeps dealers happy. That means very few companies bother designing equipment for us. The three products I'm covering today are rare exceptions, and I think they deserve recognition for that.
Product #1: The Reese Drum Mower (Still Available New)
The first alternative to a sickle mower I want to talk about is the Reese drum mower. This New Zealand-designed hay cutter features only five moving parts and uses a belt-drive system instead of gears or shafts. That belt drive gives you automatic driveline protection — if you hit a stump or rock in the field, the belt slips instead of damaging your tractor. Reese drum mowers dominate the New Zealand and Australian markets and are distributed here in the U.S. by a company in Missouri. The smallest model requires just 30 horsepower PTO, making it a legitimate option for compact tractor owners who want a more reliable cut than a sickle mower can offer in heavy or thick hay conditions.
Product #2: The New Idea 5406 Disc Mower (Discontinued but Worth Finding Used)
Disc mowers revolutionized hay cutting because their fast-spinning blades cut through thick hay faster than a sickle mower ever could. The challenge was always horsepower — most disc mowers require more than a small tractor can deliver. New Idea, a company later acquired by AGCO, solved that problem with their shaft-driven disc mower design based on Lely's European technology but built heavier for North American field conditions. The model you want to look for is the New Idea 5406, a 5-foot-6-inch cut disc mower that requires only 30 horsepower PTO to operate. It runs on grease lubrication instead of an oil sump, which also solves the hillside lubrication problem common with older European designs. If you can find a 5406 or 5407 on the used market, grab it. It's one of the most small-tractor-friendly disc mowers ever built.
Product #3: The Hesston 530 Small Round Baler (Discontinued but Available Used)
If you've ever wanted to make round bales but thought you needed a big tractor to do it, the Hesston 530 and its predecessor the 5530 prove otherwise. These compact round balers use spring tension instead of hydraulics to form the bale, keeping the design simple and the horsepower requirement down to just 30 PTO horsepower. The bales they produce are three feet wide by four feet tall and weigh around 500 to 550 pounds — manageable for a small tractor. The twine wrapping system on the base model is even operated by a rope pull, keeping complexity and cost to a minimum. This baler was sold under five brand names — Hesston, Case, New Idea, Massey Ferguson, and Challenger — so there are units out there on the used market. It's so simple, there are even stories of Amish and Mennonite farmers pulling it with horses using a battery-powered hydraulic pump for the tailgate.
Bottom Line for Small Hay Producers
You don't have to settle for a sickle mower and square baler just because you're running a small tractor. Cutting with a Reese drum mower, a New Idea disc mower, or baling with a Hesston 530, are real options that work with 30 horsepower or more. The used equipment market is your friend here. These tools didn't sell in huge volumes, so most of them haven't been worked hard. Keep an eye on auction sites, farm equipment dealers, and local listings.
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