Hay Equipment

[sidney411]

Well, we broke down and bought our own hay equipment after much frusteration trying to get some custom baler in to bale our hay. We bought a JD 535 baler, a Lely Splendimol 240 L disk cutter and a 10 wheel rake. Bought it all from one older gentleman who said he was just too old to run his operation by himself. While we were loading up our equipment someone else came out and bought his welder and batwing shredder. He seemed sad to see it all go. He spent quite a while with my husband and I, just showing us the in's and out's of the equipment. And he assured us that if we had any problems or questions to just call him anytime. I felt kind of sorry for the little old man as we left and he just stood there watching us go. Although I am really glad we got our own equipment now and don't have to depend on others to get our hay done. We cut about 1/2 the field on Sunday and raked and rolled some of it last night. Hoping to be done by Wednesday. Everything is so dry we don't even have to let the hay set, just lay it over and roll it up.

We got 38 bales of burned up, weedy hay for free that the guy was just going to burn anyway, all we had to do was haul it. We are planning on using it in washouts, well we dumped it off in the pasture and the cows ate 2 bales in the night and tore up 6 more to the point all we could do was push it off in the hole with the loader. Usually this time of year thay won't touch good hay much less devour terrible hay. We sure do need some rain.

 

[bigbull338]

i know how it can be waiting on custom balers. so glad you got the equipment to do your own baling. sure the old man was sad to see it go. b/c it ment he was retiring from something he loved. scott

 

[jkwilson]

Make sure you ask him for advice a time or two, whether you need it or not.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

Congrats on your equipment purchase Sidney. And now, how long do you think it will be before friends & neighbors begin to pester you about cutting & baling their hay -- as if you and your husband don't have enough to do, what with "regular" jobs plus lawn care and cattle businesses. :lol:

 

[msscamp]

Sidney, FYI - Our custom balers have a disc cutter, and they were telling dad today that the knives in the disc cutter have to be replaced on a frequent basis as they get dull. They said they sharpened the knives, but they were only good for about 50 acres/sharpening. They also said that the disc cutter could not compete with a sickle bar as far as acres cut. I have no idea how many acres you guys hay, but thought I would pass along the information.

 

[Chuck]

They also said that the disc cutter could not compete with a sickle bar as far as acres cut.

Thats odd. Every disc mower I was ever around would cut faster than I wanted to go if the field was rough at all. Much faster than I could go with my sickle mower.

 

[JMHayes]

The old man was probally not sad, but overwhelmed with joy knowing that his hay frustration has come to an end. I had the same problem you had with custom hay baling so I bought my own equipment 3 years ago. I bought my disc mower and wheel rake new and bought my New Holland 853 baler used. The man I bought it from told me the maddest he'd ever been was in a hay field. My response was "I can tell you've never had cows." How wrong was I? However, in the long run I am saving money by baling it myself and I've learned to enjoy it. You will go through knives on the cutter and make sure to watch how tight your breakaway arm is. Last week I thought mine was loose enough, but when I hit a hidden stump instead of breaking away it broke in half and tore the pto shaft out of it.

 

[Bez]

msscamp wrote:

They also said that the disc cutter could not compete with a sickle bar as far as acres cut.

G'day! Or perhaps I should say G'evening.

I laid down 50 acres or so today. I used a loader equipped FWD Case IH 5240 and a Case IH 8312 discbine.

Last week I greased it, checked the two gear boxes for oil and changed the oil in the cutter bed - looked at the knives and said - "Look a little dinged but good to go". They had about 150 acres on them from use last year.

The hay is about 4 - 5 feet tall in many places - very thick and certainly higher than the top of the PTO shaft on the equipment in all areas of the field.

I cut at around 8-9 miles per hour running the PTO at 900 - 920 RPM.

Those guys are cutting in some stoney ground - not watching where they are going, or they are not quite accurate with their story.

Best to you,

Bez

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,

The disc cutter is newer technology and faster than a sickle bar.
The blades on a disc cutter will last as long as you do not hit logs, rocks etc... If you are cutting away at just grass, then they will give you at least 500 acres or more.

Good luck with your equipment. Just remember, grease is a good thing.

 

[ironpeddler]

We bought a JD 535 baler, a Lely Splendimol 240 L disk cutter and a 10 wheel rake.

Lely 240 L Splendimo parts are available at any Vermeer deader. We have sold Lely disc mowers for over 15 years and they are great cutters. The use 20% lees HP than the oil bath cutterbar designs like Kuhn because Lely designed the first SHAFT DRIVE SYSTEM.

 

[flaboy]

We bought a JD 535 baler, a Lely Splendimol 240 L disk cutter and a 10 wheel rake.

Lely 240 L Splendimo parts are available at any Vermeer deader. We have sold Lely disc mowers for over 15 years and they are great cutters. The use 20% lees HP than the oil bath cutterbar designs like Kuhn because Lely designed the first SHAFT DRIVE SYSTEM.

So ironpeddler, would you recommmend a disk mower over a drum?

 

[sidney411]

Thanks All! I am under the impression that the disk cutter will do a better job then a sickle. We never even considered one of those. The blades look a little rough but went through our 40 acres in no time. We've got hog problems so they may not last as long as some peoples, the old man sent us away with a new set of blades though. Won't need those until after next year I think. We did check into the parts for the cutter before we got it and the rake parts are interchanageable with JD. My husband and his grandpa spent all day Sunday and part of the day Monday greasing the baler and repairing small things on it. The only thing they haven't been able to fix is the monitor. Something is whacky about it, something is not set right or something. I guess we'll have to get JD to fix that. We're hoping to roll the field before we take it in though, who knows how long they'll keep the thing.

AZ- I'll only bale neighbors hay after ours is done, and only if it's in tractor driving distance, we have yet to purchase a flat-bed, we have to borrow grandpa's everytime we need to haul something, and I will not borrow it to take the equipment to someone else's pasture to bale their hay. Besides, the less hay we bale the longer the equipment will last for us- the more money we can save.......

 

[bigbull338]

now i sickle mower cant cut 60acs a day. nor xan a sickle mower take tickle grass it will pluggup all day long. as for changing the blades a new set will cut 40acs an flipp them cut 40 more get new blades. scott

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

And a sickle mower isn't the best thing to have if you have to cut hay in a field with a bunch of fire ant mounds. I don't think the oldtimers had to contend with those mounds 30 or 40 years ago.

 

[bigbull338]

right az ant hills will eat a sickle up . then it takes 30mins to clean the dirt from it. an get back to cutting. bisc mover will blast though the hills. scott

 

[sidney411]

AZ - We have more of a problem with the hogs rooting everything up then we have with ant mounds. I can dodge an ant mound pretty easily without any death defying movements, some of the rutted up patches I have to nearly cut a 90 to keep from falling off in them. It's really rediculous.

 

[msscamp]

msscamp wrote:

They also said that the disc cutter could not compete with a sickle bar as far as acres cut.

G'day! Or perhaps I should say G'evening.

I laid down 50 acres or so today. I used a loader equipped FWD Case IH 5240 and a Case IH 8312 discbine.

Last week I greased it, checked the two gear boxes for oil and changed the oil in the cutter bed - looked at the knives and said - "Look a little dinged but good to go". They had about 150 acres on them from use last year.

The hay is about 4 - 5 feet tall in many places - very thick and certainly higher than the top of the PTO shaft on the equipment in all areas of the field.

I cut at around 8-9 miles per hour running the PTO at 900 - 920 RPM.

Those guys are cutting in some stoney ground - not watching where they are going, or they are not quite accurate with their story.

Best to you,

Bez

I don't have a clue which it is. I was only trying to give a heads up to potential problems.

 

[ironpeddler]

It is all in the application. If you need the capacity of 5-10 acres an hour no question the disc mower is the best choice. The CCM drum mowers are priced such the smaller operator can have the cutting technology of the disc mowers at less than half the price of a disc mower. A operator that is cutting 50 acres or less of hay can purchase a new drum mower for less than $2,500. It's a great fit for the 25-60 HP tractors. That drum mower will last them 20 years. Few disc mowers will last 20 years. We currently sell many disc mowers and will soon release our own disc mower made in the USA. We are testing the prototypes now and hope to have our mowers for sale next season.

 

[flaboy]

It is all in the application. If you need the capacity of 5-10 acres an hour no question the disc mower is the best choice. The CCM drum mowers are priced such the smaller operator can have the cutting technology of the disc mowers at less than half the price of a disc mower. A operator that is cutting 50 acres or less of hay can purchase a new drum mower for less than $2,500. It's a great fit for the 25-60 HP tractors. That drum mower will last them 20 years. Few disc mowers will last 20 years. We currently sell many disc mowers and will soon release our own disc mower made in the USA. We are testing the prototypes now and hope to have our mowers for sale next season.

Well, I currently use a disk mower but due to ant hills it is hard to keep the blades sharp but then that would be a problem with either. I plan to buy a new one in the near future. I guess I will just have to stick with the disc.