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Implement Alley Discussion Forum

Cutting Height for Hay?

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Bill

05-18-2004 19:06:57




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I have been clearing off some old small fields for cutting some grass hay in the future, however, there are many old stumps at ground level to an inch or so high.

My quesiton is - how does one clear this stuff with their hay cutting equipment?

How high can one cut with a typical sickle bar, disc mower, drum mower or haybine?

Thank in advance,
Bill




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Deamer

05-24-2004 09:28:32




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 Re: Cutting Height for Hay? in reply to Bill, 05-18-2004 19:06:57  
Hello, I just went through a similar situation...I rented a stump cutter for the weekend and cut stumps for quite some time. It is now like mowing over heaven! Cost was $105.00 for the cutter from friday evening at 4 p.m. until monday morning at 8 a.m. Worth every penny! Cut them low with a chain saw and let the cutter take them down as far as you think is needed. A two person team works well as you can trade off and get the job continuity going.
Good luck. Deamer

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Dave H (MI)

05-19-2004 10:36:50




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 Re: Cutting Height for Hay? in reply to Bill, 05-18-2004 19:06:57  
Bill - I don't know how much hay you are planning on cutting but I find an old fashioned sickle bar is a great mower on grass hay. The bar will either bounce over your stump or it MAY snag it in which case the break-away feature of most mowers will allow the bar to swing backwards. It makes a noise but does little or no damage to you, tractor, or mower. Just back up to re-engage and then start mowing again. Give it a try for this year, it doesn't cost much, and then work on your stumps later.

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rhudson

05-19-2004 10:01:13




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 Re: Cutting Height for Hay? in reply to Bill, 05-18-2004 19:06:57  
as others have pointed out, you don't want to remove the first three inches above the soil for regrowth reasons. if you have stumps, you're going to hit them with the haybine (sooner or later) and it will ruin sections, and guards and other parts of the haybine. if you only have a few stumps, you might consider marking them to remind to lift up the haybine (hydraulically) untile you are past the stump. not much worst than tooling along with your 5 ton tractor, 2 ton haybine that is offset from the hitch and snagging a nonmovable object, something is got to give and its going to be expensive in time and money.

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Jerry/MT

05-19-2004 09:38:31




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 Re: Cutting Height for Hay? in reply to Bill, 05-18-2004 19:06:57  
I used to do some work at Washington State University with a forage agronomist. We had some data around that indicated the fastest regrowth occured when about 3 inches of stubble height was left due to the the leaf area that got the regrowth started. So the closer you can get to 3 inches, the better. That includes grazing also.



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John Martine

05-19-2004 06:50:33




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 Re: Cutting Height for Hay? in reply to Bill, 05-18-2004 19:06:57  
Just a thought, if the stump is small enough and dried hard enough, you stand the possibility of puncturing at tire. If they are near that size, pull them up with a tractor and chain. Nothing ruins a goo day worse that a lat tire!



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txblu

05-19-2004 06:05:58




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 Re: Cutting Height for Hay? in reply to Bill, 05-18-2004 19:06:57  
The Texas A&M U. Research Center At Renner, TX. ag report says to not cut sorghum lower than 4" to obtain desirable regrowth.

As far as grass what do you do to your lawn?

My "X" (meaning it's at the sale barn) sickle bar sat on the ground and would do the grass thing.

My NH 487 swather (mower conditioner) has adjustable skid plates that makes it easy to get your 4" on sudan.

I use my regular type 16" chain saw to cut stumps close enough to the ground to get my lawn mower over them cutting the lawn..course the ground gets a little hot from the exhaust before I'm finished. (lotta my's.....well the stuff doesn't belong to the neighbor.)

txblu

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ChrisL

05-18-2004 20:37:17




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 Re: Cutting Height for Hay? in reply to Bill, 05-18-2004 19:06:57  
An idea I have, and should try on a couple of stumps in my pasture but haven't yet

they sell a grinder disc that goes on your 4 to 5 inch side grinder that has chain saw chain around it -

I figure a few minutes of grinding on a stump would shorten it enough to go over with equipment - then I would n't need to be hiring a stump grinder

BUT I would have to get that little attachment and a generator to run my side grinder out there - haven't done that yet

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kyhayman

05-18-2004 19:19:17




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 Re: Cutting Height for Hay? in reply to Bill, 05-18-2004 19:06:57  
A haybine has skid shoes that are adjustable. My old NH goes from about 1/4" to 3". Disc mower adjusts by lenghtening or shortening top link. 1/2" to 2" before performance drops.



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