I have raised alfalfa in the past with decent luck, but when it comes to mowing it I like everyone around me here in East Tennessee can"t get a clean cut like you see pictures on the internet of a harvested alfalfa field. I leave alot of stems uncut. I"m not missing the stems just can"t get a clean cut. I have used a vermeer roller discbine, and I can"t tell a difference in the dry down time than a regualer disc mower. Some have told me the flail conditioners have better down down times, but I am afraid of the leaf lose. What should I do? What brand mower conditioner do you feel is best?
- Thread starter IH26
- Start date
I've never run a diskbine but know several people who have. About the only way they get a good cut is to really be moving. Most have gone back to a regular haybine becuase here we have pocket gophers. Go fast enough to make a diskbine cut good and you shake the tractor to pieces.
Rick
Rick
Anyone have experience with a DRUM mower?
I'm drooling over one for my smaller operation.
Sickle bars just "don't cut it" in my grassy conditions. I have a flail chopper that I have removed the auger and pan from so it shoots the forage right back out the back. Not the best either, as losses are fairly high.
I'm drooling over one for my smaller operation.
Sickle bars just "don't cut it" in my grassy conditions. I have a flail chopper that I have removed the auger and pan from so it shoots the forage right back out the back. Not the best either, as losses are fairly high.
Most of the European mowers are tested in Ireland as our crops are so dense and wet. To date we find the Kuhn to be the most reliable mowers, followed closely by Taarup/Kverneland. John Deere sell the Kuhn in their colours but use a different conditioner. The deere conditioner is real aggressive and if we hit a wet spell after cutting the grass goes all yellow....So people are buying the Kuhn instead. Kuhn and Taarup use the same 'System Bucher' conditioner with rigid tines as opposed to the flail tines on other makes. I visited the MF factory in Hesston last summer and the mower they built is very similar to the European Kuhn with many Kuhn parts being used.
Sam
Sam
Rabbit,
I bought a CCM 190 drum mower this year, replacing a broke down haybine. It cuts great. I have little experience with Alfalfa, only having cut 1 field this year. It cut it as good as the mostly grass fields.
I am in a part of the country that has NO rocks (well almost none). The height of the cut is not easily adjusted, pretty well fixed. Cuts very clean. Only field I had trouble with was Canary grass. It would occasionally plug. That was the only field that did not cut easily.
John
I bought a CCM 190 drum mower this year, replacing a broke down haybine. It cuts great. I have little experience with Alfalfa, only having cut 1 field this year. It cut it as good as the mostly grass fields.
I am in a part of the country that has NO rocks (well almost none). The height of the cut is not easily adjusted, pretty well fixed. Cuts very clean. Only field I had trouble with was Canary grass. It would occasionally plug. That was the only field that did not cut easily.
John
I think the "big time" alfalfa growers in eastern Washington use old fashioned "swathers"- like a sickle-bar haybine, but just brings everything to the middle and makes a windrow, and doesn't condition the hay. But its hot and dry over there, and they actually want it to dry a little slower. They bale right from the swath, usually at night, to minimize leaf loss.
I have heard that disc mowers of any type just don't get as clean a cut as you get with a sickle bar. Sickle bars cut alfalfa very nicely, and aren't the aggravation that they can be in downed grass. I'd just go back to a New Holland Haybine, I guess.
I have heard that disc mowers of any type just don't get as clean a cut as you get with a sickle bar. Sickle bars cut alfalfa very nicely, and aren't the aggravation that they can be in downed grass. I'd just go back to a New Holland Haybine, I guess.
the tractor vet
Well-known Member
We have fought the clean cut thing over the years. with what we use . We are running a 1219 john Deeere haybine . with this piece of equipment what we have found is to keep the guards set and setting them with a feeler gauges like the book says helps a lot . Keep a good knife in it and GROUND SPEED is most important . 3.5 to 4 MPH is MAX for us to get a good clean cut.On the two tractors we use for the mowing the one tractor is a 1965 706 gas with 18.4 x34 tires and the tires are Firestone Radials and with it third gear low side T/A in high in first crop is as good as it gets , the second tractor a 1964 806 Diesel with 18.4 x34 off brand goodyears stile bias it is 4th gear low side with the T/A in low as high side gives the long stem affect . We have tweaked fiddled and tried everything to make it work better and gain a little ground speed . a disc bine that another friend has does a great job at a lot higher ground speed as he can mow the same field in less then half our time . He has a new Kuhn and runs it with a 1950T Oliver and it takes all the 1950 has for power at that higher ground speed. Myself i would be happy to just run first high . since we do around a 120 acres atleast four times a year. running third or forth low plum stinks
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Pair-a-dice farm
Well-known Member
I don't understand why some aren't getting a good cut with a disc mower. I've been using one for over 30 years and get a better cut than I did with a sickle mower. You have to keep the blades sharp and the rub plates in good condition but the same is true with a sickle. My 1st disc mower was a Taarup, I then went to a Fort but not for long. The one I use now is a Krone and I like it very much. I don't cut alfalfa but I cut mostly bermuda, I would think it would be harder to cut.
Thanks guys for the information. I am planting round up read alfalfa in the spring. I am going to buy a inline small square baler probly massey because of the banana bales are none existant. Plus I think the low profile pick with help with leaf loss. My neighbor has a nh haybine he has a really hard time with stems getting cut clean. What about the vicon triple blade I know they use them alot in bermuda.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I have used a Vicon brand disc mower for several years it has 3 blades on each disc and cuts clean. The others are good but a Vicon running leavel to the ground is the best.
It's going to depend on whether the alfalfa's standing or has gone down. Standing,anything will cut it,down,say what you will but an old New Idea CutDitioner or MC Rotary Scythe will cut it cleaner than anything. That and corn stalks are the only thing those machines are good for though.
Northvale - PA
Member
I ran a NH 469 for years. Alfalfa / Grass mix. Cut well if knives were sharp and hold downs were new. Now I use a NI 5209, all new knives. Cuts just as nice, but the screw angle adjust needs to be tipped correctly.
My New Holland 1475 probably cut 10,000 acres of alfalfa, alfalfa mix before trading it off. A good sickle mower, properly set up, should have no trouble making a clean cut. Just traded it for a disc mower, similar to what most people in my area are using on alfalfa with no problems. On the sickle mower I could only do about 7mph. I think the machine could have done more, but I didn't have enough horsepower. This new one should cut at about 12mph. I'm hoping.
Old one
New one
David
Old one
New one
David
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
My New Holland 456 sickle bar mower will leave the stubble looking like a lawn mower cut it and it won't beat the leaves off.
I have used 2 Vicons. They do a real good job cutting. I now have a Vermeer which is a better mower, but you have to keep the rpms up to get a good clean cut. Sharp knives help also. None of these had conditioners.
I have heard that it is not a good idea to use the flail type conditioners on alfalfa because of leaf loss. Don't know, I have never grown alfalfa.
KEH
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I don't remember who, but msu or purdue did a study, and properly adjusted rolls dried a little faster than flails. I don't remember the point per day difference but it wasn't much. Mow your hay sooner and make sure it's dry when you mow it. If it's down flat to the ground, the only way to get it all is to adjust your cutting height down. This has held true to me for sickle haybines and discbines. Deere and new holland for both.
showcrop
Well-known Member
Something worth checking if a mower is not cutting clean in a light crop. In heavy going pretty much anything will cut clean but in light going you need your lifters working properly. I bought a ten year old NH-411 in '96. It worked well in first cut, but when it came time for second it wasn't cutting so clean. In checking things I found that two pairs of discs had apparently been swapped in the shop, so that even though the blades were facing the right way the lifters were not. After swapping them back to where they were supposed to be it cut much cleaner. This last summer I was talking with a friend at his shop and he mentioned that his mower, a Gehl, was not mowing clean on 1/3 of the header. I took a look, and sure enough, two of his discs were swapped so that the lifters were facing backwards.
Hay hay hay
Well-known Member
I run a Reese drum mower on my little place. Works very well, cuts grass, alfalfa, hidden stumps, downed tree limbs, rocks. Mow on!!!
Suggest you get the spreader attachment, like a windmill on the back of the mower. It spreads the windrow behind the mower and speeds up drying time a lot. I can often eliminate the tedder, with the spreader.
Suggest you get the spreader attachment, like a windmill on the back of the mower. It spreads the windrow behind the mower and speeds up drying time a lot. I can often eliminate the tedder, with the spreader.
If it a heavy laid down crop good luck. My heaviest producing fields look like craps on first but I wont complain 7 to 10 bale first cutting round bales a acre. But on second a third they look like a lawn and I use a 920 jd at about six mph . The knives got to be in good shape though or it leaves lines and i have owned a vicon and they do cut beautiful bit the conditioner started falling apart and it was to expensive to replace but it was a older one
Paul from MI
Well-known Member
Back when I had alfalfa, about 15 years ago, the best thing I found was a New Idea Cut-Ditioner. They do take some power. A 7' unit needs at least 50 horsepower. I ran it with my JD D, gas pistons, and it was all it wanted in heavy hay. The hay cut with the Cut-Ditioner seemed to dry faster than comparable hay mowed and crimped.
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