If you are setting up a haymaking operation for the first time — or expanding an existing one — the equipment lineup can feel overwhelming. There are mowers, conditioners, tedders, rakes, balers, wrappers, trailers, and forage processors, each available in multiple variants and price classes, each with its own role in the chain.
This guide walks through the entire haymaking workflow as a single connected system. The goal is to help you understand how each machine contributes to the final bale, what trade-offs each step involves, and how to assemble a balanced lineup for your acreage and crop.
We won’t recommend specific brands here. Instead we’ll cover the principles of building a balanced equipment lineup, with links to deeper product comparisons throughout.
The five-step haymaking process
Most haymaking operations follow the same fundamental sequence:
- Mow — Cut standing crop in the field
- Ted (optional but recommended) — Spread the cut crop to accelerate drying
- با چنگک — Gather the dried crop into windrows
- Bale — Form bales from the windrowed crop
- Pickup & transport — Move bales from the field to storage
Two specialist branches sit alongside this core flow:
- Forage processing — for silage and total mixed ration (TMR) feed operations
- Specialised harvesting — for soybean and similar pulse crops requiring lifters
We’ll cover each step, then put it all together with example lineups for different farm sizes.
Step 1: Mowing — the foundation of bale quality
The mower starts the whole process. The quality of the cut affects every step downstream:
- Stubble height affects regrowth, soil contact, and the next cut’s quality
- Cutting cleanliness affects leaf retention and feed value
- Mower speed sets the upper limit of your daily haymaking capacity
- Conditioning (if equipped) reduces drying time, sometimes by 12–24 hours
Three main mower types serve modern haymaking operations:
- Disc mowers — high speed, large field capacity, the standard for commercial operations
- Drum mowers — simpler, more durable, lower-cost — popular for small to mid-size farms
- Sickle bar mowers — old-school, gentle, slow — niche use today
Mower-conditioner units add conditioning rolls or impellers that crimp the stems and slash drying time. For dairy operations producing haylage and for premium hay markets, a mower-conditioner is the standard choice.
Internal link: Disc Mower vs. Drum Mower vs. Sickle Bar: Choosing the Right Hay Mower
Browse product line: Mower Series
Step 2: Tedding — accelerating dry-down
Tedding is the most-skipped step in haymaking, and it shouldn’t be. A tedder is a PTO-driven implement with rotating tine assemblies that lift and spread the cut crop, exposing more surface area to sun and wind.
Why ted? Hay laid in mower swaths dries from the top down. Inside the swath, moisture stays trapped for hours longer. Tedding within a few hours of mowing can reduce total dry-down time by 30–50%, especially in cool or humid conditions.
When tedding is essential:
- Heavy first-cut hay
- Cool, humid conditions
- Drum-mower windrows (which lay tight and dense)
- Wet seasons where every drying hour matters
When tedding can be skipped:
- Hot, dry weather with light crop
- Well-spread mower swaths from disc mower-conditioners
- Operations producing silage / haylage where the crop is intentionally wilted only partly
For dairy operations producing haylage, tedding logic reverses — you want to wilt material to about 60% moisture, not bone-dry it. Plan tedding accordingly.
Most growing operations skip tedders for the first year or two; eventually most add one because the throughput gain is real.
Step 3: Raking — building the windrow your baler will pick up
The rake gathers tedded or wilted crop into windrows shaped to feed the baler’s pickup. As we covered in detail in our companion article, windrow shape directly determines bale shape and density.
Three main rake types serve different operations:
- Wheel rakes — ground-driven, fast, low-cost, but higher ash content
- Rotary rakes — PTO-driven, gentle, lowest ash content, slower field speed
- Twin bar (basket) rakes — hydraulic, produce a square-shouldered windrow ideal for large balers
A rake that is too small for your operation is a bottleneck. A rake too large for your tractor is dead capital. As a starting point, rake working width should be 2× to 4× your mower working width — this consolidates 2–4 mower passes into a single windrow for the baler.
Internal link: Wheel Rake vs. Rotary Rake vs. Twin Bar Rake: Which Windrow Suits Your Baler?
Browse product line: Hay Rake Series
Step 4: Baling — packaging hay for storage and transport
The baler is usually the most expensive single machine in the lineup, and arguably the most important strategic decision.
Two major bale types dominate worldwide:
Round bales — the global standard for forage and commodity hay
– Easier handling for one-person operations
– Better outdoor weatherability
– Higher capacity per labour hour
– Best for storing large volumes
Square bales (small or large) — common in horse hay, export hay, and some dairy
– Stack more efficiently for transport
– Easier to handle by hand for small-scale feeding
– Higher density possible with large square balers
– Best when transport efficiency matters more than handling
Most growing operations choose round balers as their primary machine. Within round balers, the major decisions are:
- Fixed chamber vs. variable chamber — fixed produces softer-core bales; variable produces consistent density and adjustable size
- Tying system — twine, net wrap, or combination
- Pickup width — should match your widest windrow
- Crop adaptation — dry hay only, or silage / straw capable
For silage operations, you may also need a bale wrapper downstream of the baler. Some manufacturers offer integrated baler-wrapper combinations.
Internal link: How to Choose a Round Baler: 7 Key Specs International Buyers Often Overlook
Browse product line: Round Baler Series
Step 5: Pickup and transport — getting bales to storage
Round bales sitting in the field are not assets; they’re work-in-progress. Moving them to storage efficiently and safely matters for both productivity and crop value.
The main equipment options:
Front-end loader with bale spear or grapple. The simplest method — every farm should own at least a bale spear. Limited to one bale at a time, slow for large operations.
Bale pickup trailers / bale wagons. Towed implements that pick up multiple bales (typically 8–14 round bales) and transport them in one trip. The right answer for any operation past hobby scale.
Self-loading bale trailers. Higher-end designs that pick up bales without leaving the cab. Pay back fast for high-throughput operations.
Flatbed trailers. For long-distance transport on roads — bales are loaded with a separate loader and strapped down.
For commercial operations the bale handling and transport step is where labour cost shows up most clearly. A self-loading trailer that lets one operator move 60 bales in an hour rather than 15 transforms the daily output of a small team.
Browse product line: تریلر حمل و نقل و جمع آوری بیل
Branch A: Forage processing — for silage and TMR operations
Silage operations and dairy farms layer additional equipment onto the basic haymaking workflow. The core tool is the forage harvester or forage chopper, which cuts crop and chops it to a defined particle length suitable for fermentation.
For ration-mixing operations:
- Forage crushers / chaff cutters — break down dried straw, hay, and stalks into uniform short pieces (typically 1–5 cm) for easy mixing into total mixed ration (TMR) feed
- TMR mixers — blend crushed forage with grains, supplements, and additives into a complete ration
Forage crushers are particularly valuable for:
- Beef and dairy operations using their own straw and hay as TMR ingredients
- Operations transitioning from purchased to self-produced feed
- Fattening operations where consistent particle length improves intake and conversion
The corn silage version of this same workflow uses a kernel processor — a pair of grooved rolls that crack the kernels — to improve starch digestibility. Particle length matters: too long and rumination is incomplete; too short and rumen function suffers.
Browse product line: سنگ شکن علوفه
Branch B: Specialty harvesting — soybean and pulse crops
Soybean and similar pulse crops sit on the same farms as hay operations in many parts of the world, and they need their own specialist attachment to harvest cleanly.
Bean lifters are header attachments designed to lift lodged or low-pod soybean plants ahead of the cutter bar. The benefits:
- Pickup of pods that would otherwise sit below the cut height
- Reduction in field loss (often 5–15% recovered)
- Cleaner cut on lodged or weather-damaged crop
- Less reliance on perfect crop standing
For mixed operations running both haymaking and pulse cropping, a bean lifter is a relatively low-cost attachment that meaningfully improves harvest economics in lodged or short crops.
Browse product line: Bean Lifter Series
Putting it together: example equipment lineups by operation size
Hobby farm (under 10 ha)
- 1.6–1.8 m drum mower
- 4–6 m wheel rake
- Mini round baler (4×4 or 4×5 size)
- Front-end loader with bale spear
This lineup runs on a 35–55 HP tractor and produces 200–800 round bales per year. Total equipment cost is modest, and the same tractor handles everything.
Mid-size farm (10–50 ha)
- 2.4 m disc mower (or 2.4 m drum mower for tighter budget)
- 6 m carted wheel rake or 4–5 m rotary rake
- Mid-size round baler (4×5 or 5×5)
- Bale pickup trailer (8–10 bale capacity)
- Optional: tedder for premium hay operations
This lineup typically runs on a 65–85 HP tractor and produces 800–3,000 round bales per year.
Commercial farm (50–200 ha)
- 2.8–3.2 m disc mower-conditioner
- Twin-rotor rotary rake or 8–10 m twin bar rake
- High-capacity round baler (5×6 with cutter rotor)
- Self-loading bale trailer (12+ bale capacity)
- Tedder
- Optional: bale wrapper for haylage operations
This lineup needs an 80–120 HP tractor (more for the largest disc mower-conditioner units) and produces 3,000–10,000 bales per year.
Contractor / custom baling operation
- 3.2 m+ triple-mower combination, or two 2.8 m disc mower-conditioners
- 12–14 m twin bar rake
- Premium round baler (or large square baler)
- Self-loading bale trailer with high capacity
- Dedicated bale wrapper unit
Equipment investment is significant but the per-bale economics work because of the volume served across multiple clients.
Mixed crop operation (hay + soybeans + dairy)
Add to the mid-size or commercial lineup above:
- Bean lifter attachment for soybean harvest
- Forage crusher for own-feed processing
- TMR mixer (separate purchase) for daily feed-out
A few principles for assembling your lineup
1. Buy the baler last, not first. Many growers anchor on the baler and try to fit the rest of the lineup around it. The right way is to size your operation, then size the rake to match the windrow your baler will need, then the mower to match the rake’s working width, then the tractor to handle the largest implement.
2. Tractor capacity is the silent cap on your lineup. A bigger baler is useless if your tractor can’t pull it up a hill safely. A wider mower is useless if your hydraulics can’t fold it for transport. Match implements to the tractor you actually have.
3. Plan for service and parts. A balanced lineup means little if you cannot get a replacement belt during peak season. Confirm parts availability and delivery times for every machine before you commit, especially for export buyers.
4. Throughput must be balanced across the chain. A high-speed mower paired with a slow rake just creates a queue of dry hay waiting to be raked. Match field capacity (hectares per hour) across all four steps within ±25%.
5. Used equipment is a real option. Especially for tedders, rakes and small balers, the second-hand market is healthy worldwide. New machines are right for high-utilisation operations and for buyers who need full warranty support; used machines can be excellent value for occasional-use lineups.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What’s the minimum equipment to start a haymaking operation?
A: Mower, rake, baler, and bale spear / loader. Tedder and trailer are useful additions but not essential for small operations.
Q: Do I need a tedder?
A: Not strictly required, but it cuts drying time substantially and earns its keep in cool / humid climates. Many growers add a tedder in their second or third season.
Q: What size tractor do I need to run a complete haymaking lineup?
A: For a small farm, a 50–60 HP tractor handles drum mower, wheel rake, and mini round baler comfortably. For a mid-size operation, plan on 75–95 HP. Commercial lineups need 100+ HP.
Q: Can I bale silage with a regular round baler?
A: Most modern round balers can handle haylage / silage if rated for it. Confirm with the manufacturer that the chamber, belts and bearings are silage-spec, and plan for a wrapper downstream.
Q: How long does a complete equipment lineup last?
A: With proper maintenance and reasonable use, mowers and rakes typically last 10–20 years. Balers see heavier use and may need major service or replacement at 15+ years. Trailers can last decades.
Next step
A balanced haymaking equipment lineup pays for itself in three ways: faster field work, higher bale quality, and lower per-bale labour cost. Browse our complete catalogue of haymaking equipment to see the range of mowers, rakes, balers, trailers, forage processors and bean lifters available for export buyers.
If you’d like a written equipment recommendation matched to your acreage, crop mix, and existing tractor, contact our technical team and we’ll respond within 24 hours.
About the author: This guide was written by the technical team at Australia baler-hay Co., Ltd, an international supplier of haymaking equipment with 24/7 technical support for export buyers worldwide.