Small Farm Innovations, a Texas Company sells a box of 25 double sided blades for $25 to go with your SFI Drum mower. Blades are universal and fit several other domestic cutters.
The mower is driven by 4 heavy duty V belts and has few moving parts. It functions as I think Ray it was, stated. Unlike sickle bars it cares not what it cuts, crawdad mounds, wet ground, ant hills, rocks or what have you. I don't know how fast the disc blade rotates but the drum turns at an incredible speed, like 10,000 or so and with the 3' diameter drum, the tip velocity is sorta rapid. But at that speed it just hums and there is no vibration. Like a disc mower it does hang off the side in the cutting position and requires a tractor large enough to counter the weight. I have a 65 hp Branson with a FEL and with the bucket off it has no problem with the 6'. For mobility, the mower tucks straight behind the tractor rather than up in the air like a disc or sickle and trees along the road are not a problem like they are for the others.
The mower rides on the ground as Ray stated and follows the contour up to 10 or 15 degrees. You can drive down a road and cut the ditch bank along side.
It doesn't have all the gearing that a disc requires and that saves a lot of expense as the unit ages....I have seen many with welds on the underside from cracks.
The crop is discharged at the center as Ray states and forms a wind row. Personally I like that. Some folks don't. If you don't like it you can always come back with a tedder, but unlike a sickle bar, you can cut clean corners in irregular fields without a big pileup of cut matter like sickles love to do. It doesn't scalp on my fields but I don't have irregular holes and such that would yield to scalping regardless of type cutter.
I have had mine for 2 years now and love it. I had 3 cutters per drum (2 drums on a 6' cutter) and noticed holes for 6 so I ordered and installed an extra set of blades for about $200 with transportation and an extra box of blades. I plan on cutting thick stemmed sudan/sorghum for hay next year which I feel the extra blades will help with a clean cut. I don't know that the original 3 per wouldn't do the job.
Best thing is the price. I got mine for $3750 which is way cheaper that the more complicated disc would cost and dealer service is super.
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Today's Featured Article - A Farmall Story - by Ed Meadors. The year was 1978. Our young family had recently moved to rural Chesapeake, Virginia to a plot of land which would finally allow us to realize our dreams of a huge garden, critters and more lawn and pasture than we would ever use! We needed a TRACTOR; not a riding mower or tractor wannabe, but a real TRACTOR. The answer to our needs materialized in the form of a '44 Farmall A, complete with cultivators, discs, single plow, a 5ft.Woods belly mower and one, mounted spare 9.00x24 rear wheel.
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