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Back Swathing

showcrop

showcrop

Well-known Member
The post below, titled sickle bar length shows James Howell starting out on the back swath. I have seen that others do it that way. I was taught to start out clockwise and after about five times around to get the back swath because the edges need more drying time than the middle. I usually round off my corners on the first time around so that I can make 6-7 times around without having sharp corners, or having to lift the mower. When the corners start getting real sharp is when I U-turn and back swath. How do you do it?
 
I always cut the back swath first. I have hayed way to many wet meadows, and if I have to pull out and go around a spring, I can usually find it with my outside bar. Run your outside bar in the water,and you are usually good to go.
That is bar mowing in the sandhills.
 
I always mowed 5-7 rounds and then mow the first swath. I think it allows the hay to stand back up some where you have run over it. Also I think it is easier to gauge your width off the tractor tire rather than having to guess/guide the end of the mower conditioner. My moco mows 11 ft. 9 inches. The tractor is about 8 feet over all. So you are only guessing about 4 ft. not the whole 11'9". I just think it is easier to mow close to fences and such an not hit anything. I NEVER have hit a fence/post/tree doing it this way. I have came close trying to do it the other way.
 
Mow 4 rounds clockwise then cut the 2 back swaths..that way you have plenty of room to maneuver around trees and other obstacles that are along the edges of the field.
 
NEVER hit anything? Wow, I can't say that as I"ve taken out several t-posts through the years...usually going around corners cutting the back swath. Most of the time it has happened when I mow for neighbors with timber boundaries. I always ask them "did you check for fallen limbs etc this year". They always reply "oh yeah"....but I always seem to find them anyway.
I mow 6 rounds clockwise and then do the back swath....hugging the fence so I don't leave too much. 'Probably why I've hit the posts.
 
Even with the front rear combination mowers I like to run the
first swathe with the mower lifted...Sometimes you can 'feel'
things with the tractor wheels. I then mow 6 swathes and finish
the field up and down in plots before mowing the back swathe.
That way the whole field is mown before I start hitting stuff that
cattle have worked out from the hedge! There is then less chance
of a broken blade leaving an unmown stripe in the middle of the field! .
Once I was doing the first run around a field with a brand new
10ft front mower raised but running, when all of a sudden I
bounced up over something....it was an electric pole sitting
raised slightly, resting on a plank. The electric company had left
it there in the spring to repair the line and had forgotten about
it/ never bothered about it. Had the mower been lowered it
would have been well wrecked!
Sam
 
I never thought about it and I always did the back swath last. This
year I will try getting it after 5 or 6 rounds, that seems like a really
smart idea.
Zach
 
I always cut the back swath first, turn around and make 4 rounds, then strike off a land. Friend of mine that I hayed with always said I did it backwards, can't see that it makes any difference.
 
I have always done the back swath last. If I get into something and knock out a section or something, the field is done.
 
I always did the backswath after a few rounds- didn't wait until last, because I wanted it to get good drying time. With a side delivery rake, the backswath windrow is going to be about 1 1/2 times as much hay as the others, and it can be a bugger to dry if you have overhanging trees, etc.
 
I vote for doing the back cut last. I cut for 2 days and cut
into a small brush on last pass and took out the end
section, ledger plate and bent a guard. I need to order
parts but I have time, field is done.
 
I always do it first.
Can't say I've ever run into anything on the backswath in all the years I've been farming.
 
When we had a 9' haybine, we started out clockwise and did the backswath after the rest of the field was cut. It was easy because the cut width was only slightly wider than the tractor, and all you had to do was drive with the left tire on the edge of the field and it came out perfect.

With the 12' machine, it's tougher to leave enough backswath so you aren't sucking in part of the next windrow. Sucking in already-cut windrows is a good way to plug the machine.
 
We usually cut the backswath last. Sometimes while someone is running the haybine in the field, someone else cuts the backswath with a sickle bar.
 
Five rounds clockwise, then backswath. Five and it
is an easy natural left turn from where you're
cutting to the backswath. Mower cuts 9ft 3 in and
tractor is set outside to outside of rear wheels is
9 ft, so the tractor is a perfect gauge for
backswath width. I like to really be heads-up on
that first round- that's where you find limbs, etc
that might have to be moved before the backswath.
 
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