Haybine - Heavy Heavy Hay

Bill VA · Jun 25, 2016

I get it that a discbine is pretty much unstoppable, even in down/lodged hay.

Sickle haybine...

Ever walked out to the hay field, took a look-see. No down/lodged hay, but everything else clicked that year, the fertilizer kicked in perfect, the
grass is very thick, tall and heavy. You're just going to have a record crop of hay with his cutting. All you got is your trusty haybine.

Ever encountered such heavy hay that you thought your haybine wouldn't cut it? How'd you make out when you got into it?

Just curious.

Bill

NY 986 · Jun 25, 2016

I've seen sickle bar units cut through and condition some heavy tangled material that I for sure thought I would see uncut sections when going to rake but that never happened. I've cut 115 bale hay (around 3.5 ton first cut) and was glad the tractor was in excess of 60 hp as the haybine gobbled the material as long as the power was there.

draftx · Jun 25, 2016

The later it gets the tougher it gets. New cutter blades are a must. A wise old farmer told me one time. The best fertilizer is rain". We got the rain this year. People that got the fertilizer or the poultry litter down before the rain have really heavy hay. Good luck.

Fred Werring · Jun 25, 2016

Mow when it's dry, no dew

New/sharp sections

For me, no clog guards were a big help

Slow the ground speed down if you need to, keep the rpm's up

And remember, we used to mow heavy hay with sickle bar mowers with no rollers or reel to help out....got real aggravating at times, but that's what we had.

Fred

mtny · Jun 26, 2016

Last year we couldn't do a thing till almost august due to rain . This year we had a rainy cold spring . Being so late last year everything went to seed and to my surprise the timothy and clover came in ridiculously thick . Like others said mow when it's dry , good knives help and I don't know how old your machine is but check the length of your reel teeth .

glockky · Jun 26, 2016

we fertilized heavy this spring and got a lot of rain which kept us out of the fields. By the time we cut the hay was thick and blown over.
My Hesston 1070 did not like it. It was slipping the belts even when moving really slow. We ended up just going and getting the drum mower.

MoMike · Jun 26, 2016

one of my fields was like that, 5' tall stems with 3'6" undergrowth. Mowed slow, ended up increasing roll pressure a bunch to stop top roll wrapping. I have stub guards and that is the best thing you can have on a sickle machine. Raised the skid shoes to about 4" stubble as well.

kurk · Jun 26, 2016

Sounds like a good problem to have

SHALER · Jun 27, 2016

I had that situation 2 weeks ago. Turned out to be 110/bale/acre hay. Orchardgrass/timothy/clover. One of the heaviest crops I can remember in quite some time. I recently purchased a used 3 pt mounted disc mower but was too scairt to try it out in that heavy stuff. Instead, took out old reliable NH488 and basically cut close to one gear slower than usual. Over the winter I installed new top serrated chrome sections, they had only about 20 acres on them. Did not mess with roll pressure, which I think I generally run a little light. All in all, I thought it did a good job

Don-Wi · Jun 27, 2016

As long as it's still standing straight, no reason to slow down with our new idea 290. It does come with 2 different sprockets to change the reel speed, but we have the bigger one on so it runs faster, and only one or twice found a need to slow it down. If the hay is matted, I'll drop from first high range, multi power low, to 3rd low range, multi power high. Dropping from mp high to low helps the reel pick up a little more. The only reason to slow down is to let the reel pick up more downed crop. With our Hesston 1014+2, the limit is the 4' wide crimpers on a 14' machine. In heavy hay I have to go in 3rd low, mp will be shifted between high & low. In second 3rd cutting, 1st high mp low all day.

Donovan from Wisconsin

co_mike · Jun 27, 2016

Hi Don-Wi,
I have a New Idea 290 on Saturday was cutting very heavy grass and alfalfa, then the reel chain came off I put a bigger spring for the tensioner but the chain still pops off after a few feet. This unit has been very good to me for 10 years, new knives last year. I'm thinking the drive sprocket (chain and driven sprocket looks OK)must be too worn and of course I only have the smaller sprocket. Any suggestions? Did you ever replace and sprockets?
Thanks
Mike

Don-Wi · Jun 28, 2016

Chains are a regular maintenance item and without seeing your machine, they probably need to be replaced. If the chain is starting to climb the sprocket at all, or if it's loose on the driven sprocket where it first contracts it so it's only pulling on the last few teeth of the sprocket, it was time to replace 5 years ago. New chain on a worn sprocket can get you by in a pinch, but in the long run a new sprocket is a must.

If I recall, the larger sprocket is a 21 tooth, and the smaller is 13. I used to work at a shop that made lots of replacement sprockets for AGCO's older equipment, as well as for new stuff. Also did lots of farm repair work there, including replacing sprockets on special hubs.

You should still be able to get a new sprocket from AGCO (or if nh is closer, it was a Ford 535, and also a Massey Ferguson #89 hay tender. I think the model number was #89. I could be wrong on that one.)

If I can help with anything else,let me know. I've come to understand this machine pretty well.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Don-Wi · Jun 28, 2016

Just did some digging and the Massey version was the #81 haytender.

Haybine - Heavy Heavy Hay

Bill VA

Well-known Member

NY 986

Well-known Member

draftx

Member

Fred Werring

Well-known Member

mtny

Member

glockky

Member

MoMike

Member

kurk

Member

SHALER

Member

Don-Wi

Well-known Member

co_mike

Member

Don-Wi

Well-known Member

Don-Wi

Well-known Member

Similar threads