Advice on equipment needed for farming

My father in laws renters decided that they are not going to farm any more. The land +or- 40 acres came out of crp 2 years ago and has been moldboarded and planted to beans both years. There some hills and a 5 acre pond in the middle of it.i go to a lot of auctions when im not working(masonry)and need to figure out what i can pull with our ac 180 and be somewhat efficient. Were planning on doing alfalfa hay squares for second and third cutting and big rounds for the first. We'll be putting about half of it out to corn as well. The first thing we need is a manure spreader, as we are 4+ years behind schedule (a crappy situation) for getting it out of our steer lot. It has straw in it as well. I was told not to get a tandem axle spreader by a friend because we will inevitably overload it and not be able to pull. What size or models of brown gold distributers should i be looking for?

Going to the 6th auction this year tomorrow. I just wish i had known sooner about them not renting the ground anymore. Here's my list of things i need to get so far:

Spreader,disc,haybine,hayrake,square baler (saw a really nice allis chalmers one go for $750 and still kicking myself for not bidding), id also like to get an accumulater and grapple for the skicloader, cultipacker, corn planter, two row picker, a 4 bottom plow, and a new barn to put it all in.

For what you are doing, I’d look for a New Idea 214 or New Holland ( several numbers around that size). Stick with singe axle or you most likely will not pull it up hill. Check the axle out good on the older New Holland’s as they were installed upside down and have a tendency to rust out from the inside. Both are very good spreaders for dry media at lower price points. As said, more bars are better for spreading and hold plastic twine. That’s why we don’t use plastic on round bales in the feed lot.

#1 consideration is what is the budget?

as far as cleaning out your steer lot hire it done. We had the 20 year old manure pile spread at the farm 2 years ago its was a very big pile 200 cows for 20 years. it took the guy with a quadtrack a spreader and real big payloader 2 weeks 160 loads  and we just kept farming as usual. when we started the smaller pile at the outer farm we never did get it finished we could only get a load or two out before something else came up and wed stop and go fix some other more pressing problem. we still have about 20 loads left out of the pole barn pile to move.  this year the man that dozed out the winter feed lot only took 20 triaxle dump truck loads of manure as payment. was a big win for us.  we try to remove the twine when we fill the feeders but some always gets out to the field.

Ii feel like we can rent some out to other family members with all of the hay equipment, and corn planting stuff, but were still out half of it if we do it on shares. We really want to have hay and corn on hand for our cattle. And sell some rounds and squares through the winter.

You see, we have 28 head of cattle and are sick of buying hay and corn. I used to feed out steers in tubs by bucket. I got tired of it, and was fortunate enough to pick up a 2 ton steer stuffer (very clean!!!) For $150 at an auction. Then bought a feed grinder for $500 (paint still on the knives), then a 115 bushel grain truck for $1200. We can now feed out steers at 1/3 the cost of buying feed from the elevator. Owned the equipment for over a year and it has definitely paid for itself. I just want to be able to have it on hand and store it rather than be at the mercy of market price of $4+ bushel corn or hay prices at the end of February...

FOR 35 acres rent it out or just plant in hay.

You can do it.  Spreader wise I would look for a tandem axle because they usually sell cheaper than a single.  The hobby guys want a single axle and the big guys arnt  interested in the older tandems.  A New Idea 244 is a good sized spreader.  

I really like the hydra push spreaders. You only have to lie under a spreader on a freezing day once trying to fix a broken table chain. If you have a day job ,don't under estimate how valuable your free time is. Fixing older equipment can turn an enjoyable adventure into a burden

Thank you everyone for the input! I didn't figure on getting this much back in a day. I will be checking on a spreader tomorrow. Not sure if ill buy or not, if not another will come along.

We have family with equipment to do everything we need to do. Really nice hay setup for rounds and small squares. Their outfit for squares is super slick! Accumulator and grapple for a skid steer. If we can sell off some of the hay and save up to get our own, i feel that would be a good bet.

Ok,so we bought the spreader. Its an international 540 that sat in a barn fom the 70s to 2015 or 16. Then deck was replaced and it was run in the field a couple dozen times. T links and beater looks ok. Slop gate fell off less than a quarter mile down the road though. We probably wont use it, but will repair it just in case. Pulled it home at 50mph no problem. $600.

Someone had corn cribs they were going to sell us for $500 for the pair.

Where are you located jim I might have some equipment for your 180