Investing in Your Own Haying Equipment

Good quality hay and forage play a critical role in healthy, productive livestock. They’re a key part of a nutritionally-balanced ration for cattle, horses, sheep and other small ruminants – so making sure you have the best quality hay and forage possible is essential.

One of the biggest variables that can decrease the quality of your hay and forage crops is the weather. The window to harvest a perfect crop between periods of rain can sometimes be pretty small, so when time is of the essence, the last thing you’ll want to do is wait for a custom operator to cut, rake, bale or wrap your hay.

That’s where owning your own equipment will make all the difference by helping you avoid those roadblocks. You’ll have access to the latest in hay and forage management innovation, and with Kubota’s versatile, low maintenance tractors and implements, you’ll have high performance technology with reduced operating costs.

The biggest benefit, though, is the flexibility you’ll have to get your hay and forages harvested when and how you want it done. And that, in turn, means other benefits too.

Timing the cutting of your hay and forage crops just right can have a big impact on their nutritional quality – if you wait too long, their total digestible nutrients and protein levels will start to decrease. Not only does that reduce the benefit they’ll offer to livestock, but if you’re selling your forage crops, it will lower their selling price.

Owning your own mower, like a Kubota plain disc mower or disc mower conditioner, will help you get your cutting timing just right, and a rake, such as Kubota’s rotor or wheel rakes, will get that hay into baler-ready dryness quickly.

There’s nothing more frustrating than having to waste a perfect day of haying weather because no equipment is available. Kubota BV Series of round balers are ideal for this job and will create dense, airtight bales all day long. If you’re looking to wrap your round bales for baleage, Kubota’s convenient bale wrapper attachments will get the job done quickly – or you could consider Kubota’s new FastBale round baler. It’s both a baler and a wrapper in one unit, turning baling and wrapping into a single pass job that’s quick and efficient.

And don’t forget a little fertilizer – one of Kubota’s reliable precision spreaders will make sure your crops get the nutrients they need to perform all season long.

All of these implements need a reliable and durable tractor to complete the package. Regardless of the size of your farm or whether your forages will feed your own livestock or are grown for commercial sales, Kubota’s M Series tractor family has an option for your needs.

From the versatile M60, M4D, M6S, M5, M5L and M6 utility tractors to the powerful M7 and M8 workhorses, you’ll find a solution that’s perfect for your farm operation.

It’s true that owning your own equipment will require a bit of an investment on your part, but the benefits will pay off in greater flexibility to deal with challenging weather, better quality hay and forage crops that will be a valued part of a balance livestock ration, and modern, low maintenance equipment that offers long-lasting performance.