disc mowers

Help Support CattleToday:

mtncows

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 10, 2006
Messages
394
Reaction score
0
Location
virginia mountains
Might be interested in a dissc mower to cut late hay which doesn't need conditioning. I have a good haybine for the other and don't want to trade for a discbine.I think it would run faster and cheaper.What is the tallest stubble height you can leave?What brands have you had and what experiance have you had? Mostly interestred in NH JD and New Idea as they have closest dealers.
 
You should have rode down to the sale at Foxfield today. They sold a JD 935 that was in excellent condition for $5900. At that price one could afford to replace the haybine.

cfpinz
 
I have a New Idea 5408, stubble height about 3 inches. Used a Reese, stubble height almost scalped the field to about 2 inches. Reese was problems, New Idea no problems. Dairy just got a new off brand import. Leaves about a 3 inch stubble but the gaurds have all fallen off and that's in only a couple of hundred acres mowed.
 
mtncows":1zy7ns68 said:
Might be interested in a dissc mower to cut late hay which doesn't need conditioning. I have a good haybine for the other and don't want to trade for a discbine.I think it would run faster and cheaper.What is the tallest stubble height you can leave?What brands have you had and what experiance have you had? Mostly interestred in NH JD and New Idea as they have closest dealers.

I have a couple of questions and a suggestion.

Why would you own two machines when one will do? Why would you not trade in the haybine and add the money you planned to spend to buy a disc mower - and put it all together in a discbine?

I spent a lot of time pulling a discbine around this week - I generally average around 6-7 MPH when I cut a field of hay - volume to date has never affected my speed. Some of the hay I have been cutting is over my head and I stand just over 6 foot tall.

I can honestly say that it has our old - and no longer thought of - haybine - all beat to heck for cutting performance.

I have used most types of discbines including Kuhn. If properlay maintained, I really could not tell the difference in their performance.

The only mower I ever used was a NH - it worked fine - if I was to buy one I would not hesitate.

Just a thought from an old fart.

Bez>
 
Angus/Brangus":kq62zslq said:
Bez>":kq62zslq said:
mtncows":kq62zslq said:
Might be interested in a dissc mower to cut late hay which doesn't need conditioning. I have a good haybine for the other and don't want to trade for a discbine.I think it would run faster and cheaper.What is the tallest stubble height you can leave?What brands have you had and what experiance have you had? Mostly interestred in NH JD and New Idea as they have closest dealers.

I have a couple of questions and a suggestion.

Why would you own two machines when one will do? Why would you not trade in the haybine and add the money you planned to spend to buy a disc mower - and put it all together in a discbine?

I spent a lot of time pulling a discbine around this week - I generally average around 6-7 MPH when I cut a field of hay - volume to date has never affected my speed. Some of the hay I have been cutting is over my head and I stand just over 6 foot tall.

I can honestly say that it has our old - and no longer thought of - haybine - all beat to heck for cutting performance.

I have used most types of discbines including Kuhn. If properlay maintained, I really could not tell the difference in their performance.

The only mower I ever used was a NH - it worked fine - if I was to buy one I would not hesitate.

Just a thought from an old fart.

Bez>

I have a Kuhn disc cutter that leaves about 2" of stubble. Would like to have the stubble a little taller.

I thought a "discbine" conditions the grass as well as cuts it.
If this is right, does it make sense to condition a fine stemed grass like Bermuda?

It can condition - or you can slack the tension off on the rollers. Ours are quite adjustable.

As for Bermuda - I have never seen it - I was on the island a few times though.

Bez>
 
New Idea has a skid plate kind of deal you can ut on the bottom syrface that will get you more stubble height
 
Angus/Brangus":wrbxiqvi said:
I'm getting a very narrow swath of uncut grass on the inside. Not level, going too fast, accumulating dirt on inside, or cutting to far over? I'll figure out eventually.

Mowing too far over. If you like the straddle of the windrow, you may be able to hook up the mower with the right side of the 3 pt hooked to the outside of the mower and the left side hooked to the inside. That will shift it over just a little. On mine it's about 6 inches if I hook it up that way
 
Angus/Brangus":2wamq6sh said:
dun":2wamq6sh said:
New Idea has a skid plate kind of deal you can ut on the bottom syrface that will get you more stubble height

I think Khune has a bolt on skid also, to increase cutting height. I'm still working with mine to get things adjusted just right. I'm getting a very narrow swath of uncut grass on the inside. Not level, going too fast, accumulating dirt on inside, or cutting to far over? I'll figure out eventually.

Bez - yes they use mower conditioners on the beaches of Bermuda for seaweed harvesting. :roll:

So, you can slack off on the conditioner (tensioner) so as not to bruise the finestem grasses? This might work by offering the option to handle some of the heavier stalked grasses like Johnson Grass or Haygrazer. I wouldn't want to buy two machines.

I slacked ours off untill it had about a two inch gap between the steel and the rubber roller - it allowed me to put some timothy through the system last week that was to be used in a hay quality competition - no bruising of the heads was the main requirement.

The springs were slacked off to the rollers allowing them to separate with less pressure - the results were quite satisfacory.

As for skids. there are several types - you can go with OEM or with a jobber. We have our discbine set up with OEM rock guards and a jobber 2 inch rise skid plate - while we can adjust the tilt for the cut height , we cannot adjust some fo the rocks where we cut - so I went with the 2 inch skid plate under the rock guards. I have seen skid plates as high as 4 inches.

In event it matters I use a Case 8312 discbine.

In fact to change for more aggressive crimping I am about to help a neighbour change a top roll from rubber to steel today.

Bez>
 
You might consider buying the biggest disc mower you can handle with your tractor, thus cutting more hay in the optimum weather window. Ted the hay the 2nd day. Bale the 3rd.
I make good hay in a humid climate (usually humid--This is the dry year) with that system.
I would place more of a premium on speed than on conditioning.
 
dun":320oieq6 said:
I have a New Idea 5408, stubble height about 3 inches. Used a Reese, stubble height almost scalped the field to about 2 inches. Reese was problems, New Idea no problems. Dairy just got a new off brand import. Leaves about a 3 inch stubble but the gaurds have all fallen off and that's in only a couple of hundred acres mowed.

We had a custom operator cut for us with a New Idea disc bine. It did a fine job but did not look as heavy buildt as some. I did a search and found several for sale in the $3,500 to $5,000 range. That seemed more reasonable than the JD and NH models.

How long has your's held up, and do you think New Idea a better buy since it is an "off brand"?
 
Stocker Steve":1kujld01 said:
dun":1kujld01 said:
I have a New Idea 5408, stubble height about 3 inches. Used a Reese, stubble height almost scalped the field to about 2 inches. Reese was problems, New Idea no problems. Dairy just got a new off brand import. Leaves about a 3 inch stubble but the gaurds have all fallen off and that's in only a couple of hundred acres mowed.

We had a custom operator cut for us with a New Idea disc bine. It did a fine job but did not look as heavy buildt as some. I did a search and found several for sale in the $3,500 to $5,000 range. That seemed more reasonable than the JD and NH models.

How long has your's held up, and do you think New Idea a better buy since it is an "off brand"?

I don;t see New Idea as an ff brank, just a smaller one. I bought ours used, 9 years old at the time. One of the things I like about it is the simplicity. It's all gear driven down throguh each cutter, I would suppose tha there is a way to damage one gear in such a way that it could take out more, just have never seen it on any of the gear driven jobs. Adjusting the cutter timing is easy, you jus take the pot off and add or subtract shims as needed. The local farm store carrys blades for it, JD delaer carrys them, the independent tha just closed his doors carried blades for it. From when I was looking for blades it seems that the only other manufacutrer that anyone had a selection of blades for was Vermeer. I've only had it 2 seasons and all I've done is replace blades and grease the cutter pots and it the zircs a lick. Apparantly the previous owner didn;t understand lubricants cause it was drier then a popcorn fart when I got it. It had a strange metallic clicking noise when I got it and used it for the first 50 acres, that was a test drive to see if I wanted it or not. When I pulled the pots off I found about 10 feet of heavy gauge wire about a 4 gauge fence wire wrapped around the shaft under the pot. Ours is an 8 footer, if the time comes to buy a new one or got to a 10 footer I'll definitely be looking at New Idea before the others.
 
I found a pretty used white NI 5209 for $6,000 and two newer red NI 5209s for $8,900 and $9,900.

The white one has a hole wore through one of the turtles and the yokes on the crimping rolls are sloppy, but it still seems like the better deal. Are there any other areas to be concerned about with a New Idea disc mower?
 
Stocker Steve":2asf65j4 said:
I found a pretty used white NI 5209 for $6,000 and two newer red NI 5209s for $8,900 and $9,900.

The white one has a hole wore through one of the turtles and the yokes on the crimping rolls are sloppy, but it still seems like the better deal. Are there any other areas to be concerned about with a New Idea disc mower?

As with any used disc mower I would pull the posts, lube he drive train and set the timing correctly.
 
I have a New Idea 5407, and I love it. I can cut more than twice as much hay in a day than I could with the old haybine and it is 20 times more reliable. The part i like about a disk mower over a haybine/diskbine is there are no rollers to get clogged. Anyway, I would definetly recomend the New Idea.
 
BrianL":qwvu3nhg said:
I have a New Idea 5407, and I love it. I can cut more than twice as much hay in a day than I could with the old haybine and it is 20 times more reliable. The part i like about a disk mower over a haybine/diskbine is there are no rollers to get clogged. Anyway, I would definetly recomend the New Idea.

Do you condition your hay?
 
Stocker Steve":f6iskw0d said:
BrianL":f6iskw0d said:
I have a New Idea 5407, and I love it. I can cut more than twice as much hay in a day than I could with the old haybine and it is 20 times more reliable. The part i like about a disk mower over a haybine/diskbine is there are no rollers to get clogged. Anyway, I would definetly recomend the New Idea.

Do you condition your hay?

Not anymore. We went from an old mower/conditioner to just a disk mower. I dont think I miss the conditioning one bit.
 
Stocker Steve":3be3gvnn said:
I found a pretty used white NI 5209 for $6,000 and two newer red NI 5209s for $8,900 and $9,900.

We ended up buying a next to new Massy disc bine. It is the same machine as a New Idea. Now we just need some rain so things will start growing again.
 

Latest posts

Top