Impeller/flail vs roller conditioner

[DCB4]

Borrowed a 630 jd moco over the weekend to cut some hay. I'm 100% sold on it after cutting 100 acres. I plan on getting rid of my side arm and purchasing a moco. My question is has anyone used a impeller/flail type conditioner with success in a sorghum-sudan field? I know a roller would probably be more ideal but I've heard the maintenance cost on the roller type can get higher and have had the local dairy guy who runs about 4 of these mocos tell me he prefers the flail over the roller in alfalfa. Which I thought was odd. What kind of longevity can you get with the rubber rollers and are steel rollers comparable in how they operate? Haven't looked too much but also curious if one with steel rollers is harder to find

 

[Atimm693]

Flails will provide a better cut in a light crop compared to rolls of either kind, which can blow the crop away from the cutters.

I have always heard that flails aren't good for legumes, but a lot of guys say they will work okay if set up properly.

Interlocking rubber will crimp better than straight steel, intermeshing steel is about equal IMO. Neither are lifetime parts, rubber will fall apart and steel rolls will eventually bend in some way, but they still last a long time.

 

[Rydero]

How many acres you doing? I'm not using a JD Moco (New Holland Haybine) but mine has to be 15 years into putting up at least 1000 round bales a year and I've never done anything to a roller. The guys running discbines here with lots of use aren't getting the life out of the cutting part to wear out the rollers.

 

[callmefence]

How many acres you doing? I'm not using a JD Moco (New Holland Haybine) but mine has to be 15 years into putting up at least 1000 round bales a year and I've never done anything to a roller. The guys running discbines here with lots of use aren't getting the life out of the cutting part to wear out the rollers.

Isn't a Moco and a discbine the same thing??
Different than a haybine in that they use disc instead of a sycle bar?

 

[Rydero]

Isn't a Moco and a discbine the same thing??
Different than a haybine in that they use disc instead of a sycle bar?

Yes they're the same thing. Haybine/Discbine is just the name New Holland uses. Moco is JD's term.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Flails for grass and rolls for alfalfa is the general consensus. I run a steel on steel roll machine and it does an adequate job at everything. Next mower will most likely be a JD flail machine as I do very little alfalfa so I want the most aggressive conditioning I can.

The JD flail design is different from the NH machines and is more aggressive.

Other big downside with flails is that in thick heavy hay they can eat a LOT of power.