Hay mowing

Chief 83 · Jul 6, 2014

I"ve been cutting hay with my 165 drum mower for I think 8" years. It has been great and I still love it. What a difference over a sickle bar (I used one of those for 20 years. I thought 501 sickle mower was fantastic after watching my dad cut 20 acres every year with a cub Farmall. What"s that about a 4.5 foot mower! Well the point is that today I was cutting some real thick tangled stuff that had been pounded with rain a couple weeks ago so it was pretty leaned over also. Had to cut in second gear agonizingly slow. Probably 7 hours to cut just over 4 acres. Have a chancE to buy a Hesston PT 7. How do these old things do in this heavy stuff? The drum works great in the regular grass but a extra cutting width and perhaps speed wouldn"t hurt. Can"t yet afford more horsepower or new machinery so just have to keep upgrading the old stuff with newer old stuff.

RayP(MI) · Jul 7, 2014

Keep your engine speed up. Sharp knives. Make sure the knives are free and able to swing freely, not jammed up with hay residue. I have yet to see anything my 190 Drum won't cut, and far better than a sickle bar. Donno about disks but my impression is that they are very good but require a fair amount of tractor to rin them. Drums are not power hogs but have to have enough tractor to handle them as they're fairly heavy..

So far I have been very happy with my drum. May not cover as much as a large disk, but then I don't have a 100+hp tractor.

Anonymous-0 · Jul 8, 2014

I had to slow down like that with my drum mower once,turned out I didn't tighten the belts enough.

Hay mowing

Chief 83

Member

RayP(MI)

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

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