TX Jim, Got another question, different subject.

This time it's stem conditioning/crushing. I have been running sudanxsorghum....seed available for a reasonable price and provided a super crop, for years. Got this wild idea I would dispense with that for several reasons. Also I retired and sold all my haying equip.

Got back into haying last year due to obtaining some cattle (again) and the drought and prices for hay and lack of support for custom bailers doing a small acreage, especially when you needed them to come out. I bought some down sized equipment to do what I needed for my current requirement.

One of my ongoing peeves was sickle bar cutters like used on the JD 1209 which, as you surely know, had a crimper, even though it was a benevolent albatross for a small operation. I had just had enough of them. So I bought a 6' drum mower that works really well; really like it. Problem is, it doesn't crush/condition and if I went back to sudan to get a sizeable yield out of my current hay patch, I definitely will need a crimper or something.

I had thought about cutting with my drum and then coming back with a regular shredder and just chop the stuff into small pieces so that it could dry in a reasonable time and I am still toying with that idea. The equipment is here and I know it will work.

The other idea I had was to buy a stand alone crimper but finding one is one thing and figuring out how it would work when you have the crop already down and in a windrow is the other.

Penny for your thoughts sir.

Mark

I'd rather have a JD 1209/1219 Mo-Co than a plain old pull type crimper/crusher. My thinking is cutting & crimping at the same time saves one trip over the field. Also IMHO the previously mentioned Mo-Co's are some of the best models that JD put their name on. BUT personally I would chose a NH or Hesston over a JD. I don't like disc cutters for cutting Sudan/Haygrazer because it shatter's the stalk which cuts down on surviving plant population.

To sum it up you just don't know what "FUN" you've been missing out on until you unplug the pull type conditioner on a 100 degree day !!!!!!! :wink:

I am not TX Jim but I am from TX. I would think a shredder would chop the forage up too much plus you would lose more leaves. I tried shredding some corn stalks/crab grass and baling it on year. I was able to bale the stuff but it was chopped up pretty fine and I lost a lot when baling. IMHO, a crimper is the only way to go in haygrazer especially if you live in the eastern part of the state. Hope this helps, TF

I don't know the outcome. My last cutting I just put up had a lot of Bahia in it and it was the last of the crop so it wasn't very tall. In short I had short grass and not much of it. I rolled it and lost some, but not much considering.

Considering all the trouble of a crimper, I may go ahead next year and plant the crop then I will have 3 options: Drum cut and wait for it to cure; follow with a shredder adjusting for best results; find a crimper.

Thanks,
Mark

I can't imagine it being worse than having a clogged round baler;
especially baling Maze stalks.

My 1209's (had 2 over the years) never were a problem in that
regard. Would pick up a little on the far side between the frame
and the wheel, but no problem to dislodge. But:

My peeve was sickle bar related: loosing sections, crawdad
mounds, stem juices making a wad of cut material right at the
base of the cutter which had to be cleaned out rather frequently
so that the cutter could cut, and last but not least by any means,
removing and reinstalling the sickle bar.

Thanks for your reply,
Mark

(quoted from post at 09:11:40 09/14/12)
My peeve was sickle bar related: loosing sections, crawdad
mounds, stem juices making a wad of cut material right at the
base of the cutter which had to be cleaned out rather frequently
so that the cutter could cut, Mark

Click to expand...

Mark
I was thinking you were inquiring about cutting Sudan/Haygrazer not Bahia grass. If you had build up on a sickle type Mo-Co from crop residue then the reel teeth weren't sitting down close enough to the sickle guards. If crayfish mounds were that high in Sudan you must of had Sudan planted in a swamp.

Sometime take a look at the plate between the sickle and the crimp rollers on a 1209. Notice the angle it sets at.

Then go look at a New Holland machine. The NH is not as long and steep as the JD.

The longer and steeper it is the more apt stuff will build up and not get pulled thru by the rollers. Dirt and mud is the worst.

Gary

(quoted from post at 22:19:18 09/14/12) Sometime take a look at the plate between the sickle and the crimp rollers on a 1209. Notice the angle it sets at.

Then go look at a New Holland machine. The NH is not as long and steep as the JD.

The longer and steeper it is the more apt stuff will build up and not get pulled thru by the rollers. Dirt and mud is the worst.

Gary

Click to expand...

Gary
I agree. I'd pick a NH Haybine over a JD Mo-Co any day if I wanted one but IMHO the 1209/1219 were JD's best effort at building a Mo-Co.

These were short pieces of residue, scraps from multi-cuts if you
will, not lengthy material as would be caused by what you said.

Mark

Well, I had a NH once too. Don't remember the number....9 footer.
My biggest peeve, other than it being a bear to swing the boom
from road to cut position and back was that it had an enclosed
drive shaft and impossible to lubricate. Soooo one of those hot
days you mentioned, I took it to the shop and cut a big hole in the
side with my torch. Problem solved.

Mark