Drum mowers

Ok we had a couple old pz cutters that we
replaced with a kuhn disc mower. We like
the kuhn but it doesn't do good around
gopher holes and aunt mounds where as the
drum mowers went through them. I would like
to get another drum to have for those
fields. So what companies still make them I
would like around a 7 foot cut or bigger if
possible. I know Kuhn makes the pz still
but its only 5'5". Does anyone in north
America make them? Also keep in mind I want
to be able to get parts for it too.

Kuhn made 3 models until recently, the PZ220 was 7 ft cut.
Claas makes the Corto 190 in 6 ft, 210 in 7 ft and 3200 in 10 ft.

Drum mowers are very popular in Europe but not in the US, if you wanted a new one that cuts over 6 ft they would most likely have to import it.
That said Reese makes drum mowers from 5 ft to 8 ft in 3 pt models and two trailed mowers in 10 and 11 ft cut widths.
If they had offered a 9 ft trailed model similar to my 9 ft trailed Kuhn I would have bought it instead.
There is one dealer in the US for Reese mowers.
Tigerco in Braymer Mo.
Talked to them 5 years ago when I was looking to replace my old Claas WM30 trailed drum mower.
Nice folk, just didn't think I had enough tractor for a 11 ft cutter and didn't like the pto setup on the 10 ft model.
I don't like 3 pt disc or drum mowers, trailed only for me.

If Claas still made a trailed drum I'd buy a new one, mine is a 85 model and still going, I purchased it in the mid 90's, unfortunately they have discontinued many of the parts for that old machine so the next time it breaks it's probably headed to a scrap yard.
Last time it broke was 5 years ago so it's not like it's a high maintenance machine

We have a Galfre 190(Italian made) drum mower that cuts 73 inches. It has conditioning vanes on each drum and it does not windrow the crop. It actually spreads it out for quick drying. I use that on a Ford 4610 to mow. It has a shaft power train so there are no belts to deal with and it cuts trough anything I bought it from Tractor Tools Direct (tractortoolsdirect.com). There are cheaper drum mowers that are belt driven and weigh less.These things are heavy and you need a good sized tractor to handle them at the larger widths. They are rugged and simple.

I have Reese Drum mowers. The 2400 models are 2 meters wide (about 8 ft)> If you are not switching fields a lot, I would go for go for a 2400w fold back model. No Hydraulics, simple, easy to use. Needs 60 +++ HP, and very heavy in transport mode. The 2400HL lifts like a disc mower but is more complex due to the long belt routing. I would never go back to a disc mower.

Thanks for the info. I did some more
research and it appears kuhn makes bigger
pz brands but when you go to the kuhn north
America website they only have the 170
option. I would like the pz320 as tractor
hp requirement won't be a problem. I don't
see why these drum mowers aren't more
popular here in the U.S. I feel for me it
gives a better cut although when we ran the
pz's it went through blades a lot faster
than a disc mower. Don't get me wrong I
love the disc mower in smooth fields and
the blades seem to last forever. And in
case yall were wondering I'm from south
Texas so our cutters see some tough stuff.
The pz models we have are the cm 215 (love
it Cadillac of drum mowers 4 small drum
setup.) Cm 220 Greenland it's ok and does
better than the kuhn gmd 800 we replaced it
with. Well it does better in certain
applications. All this said I feel if I had
the bigger drum mower like the pz320 I
could probably part with the disc mower.
I'm partial to kuhn because that's the
closet dealer to us but I will look into
the other brands.

Never having even seen a 3 point drum mower, was wondering if you could put one on a disc mower caddy to make a trailing mower.

Bought a caddy 4-5 years ago for my disc mower, won't go back to 3 point.

Fred

We have a Reese drum mower, had it for a long time 10 yrs at least. It is 8 ft. Folds up hyd. Got it from Tiger co. Put two belts on it, but no other maintenance except blades and wore out square kicker keys. Have it on a 126 hp tractor. It is heavy. Think a 3 point cart would work well. Could use much smaller tractor. Would like to upgrade to a 11ft. Pull type.

Drum mowers aren't more popular in the US because there aren't enough small farms in a concentrated area to make a viable market. Nobody wants to sell something they're only going to move 1-2 of a year, and nobody wants to buy something where the dealer and parts are a 10 hour drive away. Besides unless it's a certain shade of green or red, nobody wants to buy something that wasn't made in this country.

I love the idea of a drum mower and I'm pretty sure it'd work great in my set up. The problem is kind of like Barnyard said, no one has one, no one ever sold one locally and the 3 or 4 I have seen have either been too big for my tractor ( 8 or 9 footer IIRC) or already broken with the sole source for parts (Tigerco) doesn't seem to have an on line presence...something pretty much unheard of today if you expect to succeed and aren't Amish. Heck, there are even Amish concerns online now! So it makes me real gun shy to take the leap.

I never saw a disc mower caddy before. That would probably have made the big drum mower able to be handled by a smaller tractor, but what do they cost? $6-8K, or more, for a new drum mower plus another how many grand for the caddy? You're up into disc mower or used discbine money by then.

Tigers is a distributing co that handles several brands, the have a web site, Facebook page and advertise the brands they sell in Fastline and Tractor House.
Reese is their most popular brand of mower and they stock parts for them.
A 8 ft drum mower is around 200 lbs heavier than a equal sized disc mower, their both heavy.

Patch164,

Picture of a disc mower caddy similar to the one I have...it's a 3 point hitch on wheels, converts the 3 point disc mower to a trailing type.

I smile every time I hook up the disc mower after buying mine. Used to almost rather take a whipping than mount the disc mower to my 3 point.

Friend of mine bought a caddy last year, said it cost him $4200 IIRC. Got mine (it was new) waaay less than that, but the dealer had it on his lot for a couple years and wanted it gone.

Fred

(quoted from post at 22:33:38 07/18/19)
Tigers is a distributing co that handles several brands, the have a web site, Facebook page and advertise the brands they sell in Fastline and Tractor House.
Reese is their most popular brand of mower and they stock parts for them.
A 8 ft drum mower is around 200 lbs heavier than a equal sized disc mower, their both heavy.

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Do you have a working address to their online site? I've tried and I've tried but it always comes back to a dead link.

Can't find them on FB either.

Haven't talked to them in a year or so but you can try calling them
660-645-2212 or
Email: [email protected]

(quoted from post at 12:21:58 07/18/19) Drum mowers aren't more popular in the US because there aren't enough small farms in a concentrated area to make a viable market. Nobody wants to sell something they're only going to move 1-2 of a year, and nobody wants to buy something where the dealer and parts are a 10 hour drive away. Besides unless it's a certain shade of green or red, nobody wants to buy something that wasn't made in this country.

Click to expand...

Very few dealers around because disc mowers make a ton more profit in parts and labor. I run a Reese 2070 and 3100 and have replaced 2 $10 bearings and 2 $25 belts in 10 years. No business for profit wants to stock that kind of dependable product. LOL

tigercoinc.com/reese-mowers.html

Many on here use classic version and a thread that's more than a few days old will never be seen by them, as classic does not move a new post on that thread back to the top like modern does.
I use modern but this thread is 18 months old.

(quoted from post at 17:08:18 01/22/21) tigercoinc.com/reese-mowers.html

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I have been cutting hay with Reese Drum mowers for 15 years. I get parts quickly from Tigerco, but seldom need parts. The mowers are very simple in design and rugged. I don't know why they are not more common? Farmers tend to use what they see others using. So if disc mowers are very common, the crowd follows. I would not want to go back to a disc mower, and worry about the gears disintegrating. The belts on one of my mowers are over 10 years old. The spreader attachment is like a tedder in medium to light hay. I take the spreader off in super heavy hay to keep it from clogging.