disc mowers

[spoon]

I was looking at a website tonite for some info on hay balers and they had a statement on there that I had never given any thought. It said that in their opinion rotary type disc mowers created a tornado effect which which deposited dirt and debris in your bales of hay that could cause illness to the animals consuming it. Thoughts? This was a horse friendly site and they recommended sickle mowers.

 

[iowafarmer]

Yeah i think there could be some truth to that. Sickle mowers do just cut and drop while disk mowers roatate. I think it does make a large difference how you have your disk mower set also such as the angle and whether you jsut drag it on the ground behing you or if you keep it just off the ground. The older style New Holand haybinds do seem to do a really nice job.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

You got to rake it before you bale it, would think the dirt would fall when rakeing. If you have to tedder it. If the debris is bad enough to be picked by the mower i would think the rake would pick it up anyway.

 

[dun]

You got to rake it before you bale it, would think the dirt would fall when rakeing. If you have to tedder it. If the debris is bad enough to be picked by the mower i would think the rake would pick it up anyway.

Bingo! If you use a side delivery rake the hay is much cleaner then using a wheel rake. Even if the hay was spotless, the wheelrake is going to pick up everything on the ground and stir up a whole lot of dirt and dust.

 

[Bez+]

I was looking at a website tonite for some info on hay balers and they had a statement on there that I had never given any thought. It said that in their opinion rotary type disc mowers created a tornado effect which which deposited dirt and debris in your bales of hay that could cause illness to the animals consuming it. Thoughts? This was a horse friendly site and they recommended sickle mowers.

I personally think it is balderdash.

And so would a whole bunch of custom horse hay guys and gals I know. In fact the largest hay seller in the region lives within a mile and a half from me. He does 15-20,000 big squares, countless rounds and a bazillion small squares. (yeah I know - but I sometimes think ever Andre loses count of how many folks and pieces of machinery he runs when it is haying time.)

Almost every small bale goes to Florida - I simply cannot imagine how much people are paying for that hay down there and lots is baled right out of the cut windrow. I know because I often help him out when he gets behind.

Set it right and it cuts clean.

We sometimes bale right out of the cut windrow ourselves - no raking - horses and cows all get the same stuff - been doing it for years with no ill effects.

But then again we feed our ponies round bales in the winter - let them all live outside in deep snow and never wash their feed before feeding either.

Maybe they are used to roughing it.

Personally I think that info may very well have come from a person with an agenda - like selling hay perhaps?

Regards

Bez+

 

[flaboy]

Bez, if it is T&A squares, they are $10/bale here from Canada.