CIH 781 forage harvestor,1000pto

The 718 you are using is cut and throw, right or wrong? The 781 is cutter head and separate blower, right or wrong? If I'm right on both counts, my guess is if you start using that 781, the 718 will soon get parked. I would bet on that.

The 781 is NH right, I've lost tract of these model numbers. The one I had and couldn't remember number, I'm betting was earlier model to the 781, does 780 seem reasonable. If that be the case I wouldn't want to use much over 125 hp on that harvester. That is the precise reason I don't remember model number, I only had it 4 months from new. I could see very quickly 1066 was going to make mincemeat of the harvester. New Holland dealer gave me an awfully good trade on 890. I pointed out some of weak points and he could quite easily see he and NH were going to be ones with black eye.

The most important factor with any tractor harvester combination in cutter head sharpness and adjustment. A dull poorly adjusted harvester will zap the power out of any tractor. I had an operator on my 1066 and 890 that would keep knives in condition, I swear you could have used like a straight razor and shaved with it. The shear bar and other adjustment were well maintained. It didn't matter whether we hauled silage with 20' wagons, high dump with trucks or even tractor trailers, he still had time to give stone a little rub over knives. I never did find a hauling system, that didn't create a bottleneck behind 1066 and 890. We were close to having him loaded to capacity, but no cigar. He still had time for maintainence, sitting back listening to radio or other leasure.

Depends on the harvester (how much power it eats), speed through the field, how much material there is, how sharp the knives are, etc.

BUT, many loads of silage have been cut with tractors that aren't even as big as that.....