New Idea Cut/Ditioners and Rotary Scythes

Kerwin

Member
Looking for opinions on the flail-type mower/conditioners and if they are good for making hay or just pasture mowing? Do either of these types (cut/ditioners and rotary scythes) have conditioning rolls like mower/conditioners do? I've got some fields that like to get thick and tangled, and this past wet summer was hard on the sickle mower conditioner. Been thinking that one of these flail type mowers in a 9 foot width might be a good back-up if they can cut hay well or baling.
 
The main thing is just keeping them sharp. I used a Cutditioner for 13 years in alfalfa and grass hay. No conditioning rolls,but they break the stem so you don't need them. They leave the hay real soft and palatable. I didn't remember how soft until I bought a disc mower with a flail conditioner in it instead of rolls. I'd been using a haybine with rolls for the last 25 years. Those tines in the disc mower leave it like the Cutditioner did.

I've got a rotary scythe here now for corn stalks. I prefer the Cutditioner. They have a one piece paddle in them where the MC has a bolt on,two piece deal. Where both of them really shine is in down hay. They work about like a vacuum cleaner and suck it right up.
 
I've been seeding about 50/50 grass mix with alfalfa. Where the alfalfa has been thick is where my sickle mower/conditioner has had some issues this summer.
 
Like Randy said, the Cut/ditioners break the stems up, which makes it dry down nice. They basically do it by beating the heck out of the hay, so they might not be best for alfalfa, due to leaf loss.
They do use more power that a sickle style machine (they work great for leveling off woodchuck mounds too, but make sure you keep your head down)
Pete
 
I'm thinking my seven footer was a 270? It was the older chain drive. The belt drive was a 272 I believe. Seems like the nine foot was a 292.
 
They'll cut alfalfa cleaner than they will grass. In grass,they'll leave a longer,more ragged stem than in clover or alfalfa.
 
We had a MC rotary scy. We used it mainly for corn stalks and it worked great. One year we planted a sorghum sudan that we wanted to chop at about 3 ft high. Rain set in and this stuff was nine ft before we could cut it. We used the MC and it left it ragged so we got the idea to take a tractor and disk (in the raised up position)and drive in the opposite direction knocking the stuff down. Then the MC did a good job of both cutting and breaking the stuff as well. I gave one field away and they tried to cut it with a discbine and could not as the stuff was down and tangled and the rolls would grab it before the discs cut it off. Tom
 
What years (approximately) did New Idea make the Cutditioners? Seems like good reviews so far, why didn't that type of cutter keep going?
 
I had a 9' cutditioner at one point. Cons- HP hungry, it can strip the leaves off the plants. Pro- it will cut just about anything, no matter how rank, the leaves that are stripped off usually land top center of the windrow. I used mine primarily to cut red clover for baleage. It worked great for that, the stems were somewhat chopped, any loose leaves were on top of the windrow, at most I would roll the windrows a half turn with a rake to dry the bottom. The leaves would get wrapped up inside. If you use a tedder to make dry hay, all the good stuff gets lost.

Only problem I had was keeping the slip clutch together, but I was running way more HP than it was designed for, so could slip the clutch and not notice it.
 
Fella I worked for when I was a kid had one , paired with 165 MF tractor. I cut hundreds of acres with that pair. Easy to operate, any fool can use one, guess that?s why the neighbor had one . So he could hire a kid to go and cut hay, and not have to change guards and sections. Simple machine, but before I would buy one , I would want to see it hooked to a tractor, and the pro brought up to operating speed. That way you can see how much it shakes or vibrate. If the rotor with the flails on it is bent or somehow out of balance, it will shake itself a part
 
I remember seeing new ones on the dealer lots in the 70s. The neighbor bought a new 9 foot MC in the mid 70s. I think there was even Cutditioner that mounted on the front of a New Idea Uni Harvester. They went out of favor when the discbines started to reach perfection. There are a lot more mechanical parts in the disc mower,but knives are cheaper and easier to change than those paddles were,so it was easier to keep them sharp and cutting well. I know it's hard to imagine when you're looking back now,but angle grinders weren't a common thing back then. If we'd had those,there would have been a lot of hay cut a lot cleaner than it was by those things.
 
I have a Mathews Rotary Sythe. If you slow down, your field will look like the fairway on golf course. I keep the paddles sharp. I love it, pulled with a 65 HP diesel tractor.
 
Is the Matthews company still around? Just wondering about parts support for the rotary scythes.
 
I have been using a New Idea cut-ditioner 272 for about 20 years. rrlund pretty well stated what my experiences have been. They do like their horse-power. The worst problem I've had was getting the drive belt pulleys aligned. That will eat a belt in a New York minute. Another plus is that it is almost impossible to plug one. But it can be done.
 

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