Blog

When it comes to producing high-quality hay, few factors are more critical—or more unpredictable—than the weather. Rain, temperature, humidity, and wind all directly impact how effectively hay dries in the field. For small-acreage farmers using compact equipment, understanding and planning around weather conditions is essential to protecting your crop and maximizing forage quality. Rain is one of the biggest threats once hay is cut. Moisture during the curing stage halts th …

"You can bale when your pasture is at its nutritional peak—not when the farmer down the road gets around to it." Do you operate a small farm? Do you own a little livestock and a few acres of hay pasture? Are you tired of waiting until the farmer down the road gets around to baling your hay—usually long after it has reached its nutritional peak? Then maybe it’s time for you to make the jump to haying independence. Fortunately, we at Tractor Tools Direct have developed …

You have one of our Ibex TX31 Mini Round Balers with Twine Wrap, and now you are wondering what type of twine will work best with it. Well you aren’t alone. Calls come into our support team regarding twine types almost daily. Let’s take some time to wrap up this issue once and for all!Multiple types of twine can be used in the TX31 baler. Over the years, we at Tractor Tools Direct have tested a variety of types, brands, strengths, and lengths of twine. We now sell the two types of twine that we …

Here at Tractor Tools Direct, we receive many inquiries about sickle bar mowers. While at one time we included them in our inventory, we stopped supplying them in 2021. This blog will discuss the reasons why and include details on drum mowers – mowers we have found to be superior to sickle bar mowers and much better matches for our customers’ needs, especially in the hay field.Sickle bar mowers, though their design is a bit antiquated, do have a place on a small farm. As the first mechanical hay …

Since opening in 2013, Tractor Tools Direct has been operating under the motto that “compact tractors do real work!”. While our emphasis has primarily been on bringing “haying independence” to small-farm operations through our lines of compact hay equipment, we have also provided power harrows and flail mowers for gardening and landscaping. This summer we are happy to announce an expansion of our Garden & Landscape department with the addition of several new products. At the heart of many sm …