Vermeer TM1210 Disc Mower

[C-Ranch]

So, I sold my SP swather (15ft Sickle) and would like to upgrade to a rotary. However, the tag of a new SP is $200k and with only 200acres to cut (3 times per year) it's hard to justify or pencil out such an expense. I started looking at used SP machines and good low hour machines that are 10yrs old are still bringing good money even if the head is wore out. Then a few days a ago an ad popped up showing Vermeer's TM1210 pull type rotary mower. I called local dealer and was told a new one is $67k. Does anyone run or own this machine? Downside it does NOT have a conditioner and I do a lot of alfalfa hay. Grass hay I don't see as being an issue, but I've always ran a conditioner with alfalfa. Yes, Vermeer has smaller rotary mowers with conditioners, but I don't want to cut with a smaller machine. If anyone has a TM1210 or even the TM1400, please chime in with the good, bad, and ugly of these machines. Thank You!

 

[Atimm693]

If good drying weather is hard to come by in your area, you may find that any cutting time saved with the bigger disc mower is quickly negated by an extra day of drying due to lack of conditioning. However, if you get plenty of hot, dry weather, it may not be an problem for you.

I'm not a huge fan of Vermeer's top secret parts network. You cannot get a single part for them outside of a dealer.

 

[C-Ranch]

Warm weather in my neck of the country isn't hard to come by. Can't seem to buy a rain storm. If it weren't irrigation all we'd grow is weeds and sagebrush..

Didn't realize parts were an issue with Vermeer, but I have never owned a piece of their equipment either, so haven't tried googling parts.

 

[Dave]

Saturday evening was talking to B as he wrenched on his baler. He said the new part he was working on cost $900. Said a new baler was $150,000 and he priced a new swather this year. They quoted him over $200,000. We discussed the wisdom in just buying hay rather than making it.

 

[C-Ranch]

Saturday evening was talking to B as he wrenched on his baler. He said the new part he was working on cost $900. Said a new baler was $150,000 and he priced a new swather this year. They quoted him over $200,000. We discussed the wisdom in just buying hay rather than making it.

I certainly have thought about putting grass under the pivots and just running a few more head of cows and not blocking the sun with any equipment. However, I fear that one day buying hay might even be out of reach. No easy solutions. This year I did hire a custom guy to cut everything, so I'll see how that pencils out in the end. Have contemplated having everything custom cut and just buying another baler, so could keep up with the rake. But, that comes with buying another bigger tractor. The frustrations are never ending, If only we could grow $$$ instead of hay/cattle, but were would the joy in that be...

 

[kenny thomas]

I certainly have thought about putting grass under the pivots and just running a few more head of cows and not blocking the sun with any equipment. However, I fear that one day buying hay might even be out of reach. No easy solutions. This year I did hire a custom guy to cut everything, so I'll see how that pencils out in the end. Have contemplated having everything custom cut and just buying another baler, so could keep up with the rake. But, that comes with buying another bigger tractor. The frustrations are never ending, If only we could grow $$$ instead of hay/cattle, but were would the joy in that be...

I recently seen a v-rake that was on the front of the tractor pulling the baler. Is that a possibility? My fields are small so probably would work here but i sure liked it.

 

[Dave]

I certainly have thought about putting grass under the pivots and just running a few more head of cows and not blocking the sun with any equipment. However, I fear that one day buying hay might even be out of reach. No easy solutions. This year I did hire a custom guy to cut everything, so I'll see how that pencils out in the end. Have contemplated having everything custom cut and just buying another baler, so could keep up with the rake. But, that comes with buying another bigger tractor. The frustrations are never ending, If only we could grow $$$ instead of hay/cattle, but were would the joy in that be...

Yes that was part of the discussion. Years like this when grass hay is $100 a ton and alfalfa is $150 a ton it would certainly pencil to just buy it. But then there are the years like 3 years ago when hay was $300 a ton..........

 

[Atimm693]

Saturday evening was talking to B as he wrenched on his baler. He said the new part he was working on cost $900. Said a new baler was $150,000 and he priced a new swather this year. They quoted him over $200,000. We discussed the wisdom in just buying hay rather than making it.

Main feed roller broke on our 604 Pro this spring. $1600 and a drive to Iowa to get one. Came in an Agco box. Had about 10,000 bales on it, nothing went through it. Just fatigue I guess, more than half of those bales were haylage.

We had a Vermeer MC840 for a few years. Rebuilt the cutterbar many times. Upgraded to a NH DB313 in 2021, seems to be a better machine overall. Also have three CNH dealers within a 30 minute drive, and I can order any part I need for it online. Vermeer dealer is about an hour away, and they're the only option.

 

[C-Ranch]

I recently seen a v-rake that was on the front of the tractor pulling the baler. Is that a possibility? My fields are small so probably would work here but i sure liked it.

I have seen a video on YouTube, looked pretty slick. Not sure if it would work or not on alfalfa. I'm assuming for grass only because ease of dry down.

 

[C-Ranch]

Main feed roller broke on our 604 Pro this spring. $1600 and a drive to Iowa to get one. Came in an Agco box. Had about 10,000 bales on it, nothing went through it. Just fatigue I guess, more than half of those bales were haylage.

We had a Vermeer MC840 for a few years. Rebuilt the cutterbar many times. Upgraded to a NH DB313 in 2021, seems to be a better machine overall. Also have three CNH dealers within a 30 minute drive, and I can order any part I need for it online. Vermeer dealer is about an hour away, and they're the only option.

That doesn't look like a good day in the field. You don't think a rock went through it? Deere, Case, MacDon, Massey, NH are all closer to me then Vermeer. Sad thing is guys who runs just about any color say only Deere and Vermeer show up. The rest are stuck in the AC and just want to sell parts. I had good luck with MacDon (parts wise) and only needed a field call once. Seems like parts have all gone up and service has gone down.

 

[kenny thomas]

I have seen a video on YouTube, looked pretty slick. Not sure if it would work or not on alfalfa. I'm assuming for grass only because ease of dry down.

I have never grown Alfalfa but sure looks like a time saver in grass. And labor, fuel, tractor.

 

[cfpinz]

Main feed roller broke on our 604 Pro this spring. $1600 and a drive to Iowa to get one. Came in an Agco box. Had about 10,000 bales on it, nothing went through it. Just fatigue I guess, more than half of those bales were haylage.

We had a Vermeer MC840 for a few years. Rebuilt the cutterbar many times. Upgraded to a NH DB313 in 2021, seems to be a better machine overall. Also have three CNH dealers within a 30 minute drive, and I can order any part I need for it online. Vermeer dealer is about an hour away, and they're the only option.

That's disheartening, to say the least.

 

[Ned Jr.]

After reading recommendations here on CT I bought a Krone tongue pull rotary mower a few years ago. That’s turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I have it hooked to a Case 95C and it handles it real well. I also have a SP Case rotary mower, it’s 13 foot. The main difference between the two is when I fill them up the SP takes around 75 gallons and the 95C take around 17. The Krone is less prone to break downs also. We haven’t had any trouble with it. I bought a single Krone rake a couple years ago too. Had to go to a dealer 5 1/2 hours away to get it. They told me the apron would be fine to leave on but it started tearing a few miles down the road. Had to pull over and take it off.I told my rep about that and had a new one in the mail the next day. The rake is heavy made like the mower. Very happy with Krone!

 

[CowboyRam]

After reading recommendations here on CT I bought a Krone tongue pull rotary mower a few years ago. That's turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. I have it hooked to a Case 95C and it handles it real well. I also have a SP Case rotary mower, it's 13 foot. The main difference between the two is when I fill them up the SP takes around 75 gallons and the 95C take around 17. The Krone is less prone to break downs also. We haven't had any trouble with it. I bought a single Krone rake a couple years ago too. Had to go to a dealer 5 1/2 hours away to get it. They told me the apron would be fine to leave on but it started tearing a few miles down the road. Had to pull over and take it off.I told my rep about that and had a new one in the mail the next day. The rake is heavy made like the mower. Very happy with Krone!

I have a Krone baler and the only problem is that the parts are expensive. Of course they have to take that boat ride across the big pond.

 

[C-Ranch]

After reading recommendations here on CT I bought a Krone tongue pull rotary mower a few years ago. That's turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. I have it hooked to a Case 95C and it handles it real well. I also have a SP Case rotary mower, it's 13 foot. The main difference between the two is when I fill them up the SP takes around 75 gallons and the 95C take around 17. The Krone is less prone to break downs also. We haven't had any trouble with it. I bought a single Krone rake a couple years ago too. Had to go to a dealer 5 1/2 hours away to get it. They told me the apron would be fine to leave on but it started tearing a few miles down the road. Had to pull over and take it off.I told my rep about that and had a new one in the mail the next day. The rake is heavy made like the mower. Very happy with Krone!

I'll have to look into Krone. I think there is a dealer about an hour and half from me. How wide is your krone? I'm assuming it has a conditioner? Do you find yourself mowing about the same speed as your SP swather? Neighbor just demo'd a new Case SP for a few days. He ended up going back and crawling into his old swather to finish cutting. Said his Massey did a better job cutting. Hard to justify spending big $$$ on something that does a poor job. You'd thing day and age and for the amount they want for equipment, they'd all work and get the job done.

 

[Atimm693]

That doesn't look like a good day in the field. You don't think a rock went through it? Deere, Case, MacDon, Massey, NH are all closer to me then Vermeer. Sad thing is guys who runs just about any color say only Deere and Vermeer show up. The rest are stuck in the AC and just want to sell parts. I had good luck with MacDon (parts wise) and only needed a field call once. Seems like parts have all gone up and service has gone down.

It had probably a third of a bale in it when the roller broke, we did kick that around and didn't find anything in it.

We have had very good service from Vermeer's Haydoc service however, I don't have any complaints there.

After reading recommendations here on CT I bought a Krone tongue pull rotary mower a few years ago. That's turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. I have it hooked to a Case 95C and it handles it real well. I also have a SP Case rotary mower, it's 13 foot. The main difference between the two is when I fill them up the SP takes around 75 gallons and the 95C take around 17. The Krone is less prone to break downs also. We haven't had any trouble with it. I bought a single Krone rake a couple years ago too. Had to go to a dealer 5 1/2 hours away to get it. They told me the apron would be fine to leave on but it started tearing a few miles down the road. Had to pull over and take it off.I told my rep about that and had a new one in the mail the next day. The rake is heavy made like the mower. Very happy with Krone!

I don't have any first hand experience with it, but I think Krone has the best shear system on disc mowers. They use a roll pin and a threaded shaft on the disc hub, if the pin shears, the hub unscrews away from the cutterbar so it can't beat against the adjacent cutters.

The shock hubs on the New Holland seem to work as advertised, I have heard that if one shears and you don't shut it down quick enough, the adjacent hubs can shear as well from hitting together. Hasn't happened to us yet though, I think I've sheared three hubs now.

I'm not sure if Vermeer has changed how you service their cutterbars. On ours it's about a 2-3 hour job to pull each turtle and check the grease in each pod. The New Holland has a dipstick for each pod, takes about 30 minutes, no disassembly required. The Vermeer relies on sealed bearings to hold the grease in, so you need to check it at least once a year.

 

[Ned Jr.]

I'll have to look into Krone. I think there is a dealer about an hour and half from me. How wide is your krone? I'm assuming it has a conditioner? Do you find yourself mowing about the same speed as your SP swather? Neighbor just demo'd a new Case SP for a few days. He ended up going back and crawling into his old swather to finish cutting. Said his Massey did a better job cutting. Hard to justify spending big $$$ on something that does a poor job. You'd thing day and age and for the amount they want for equipment, they'd all work and get the job done.

I think it’s 11 foot 7 inches. We put up 1 cutting of hay and it can be thick so we get along better with smaller windrows. You can role right along cutting with it. It has tines for conditioners, I think they come with rollers too which would probably be better with alfalfa. It can mow as fast as our SP and seems to go through heavy laid down hay even better. The knives seem to stay sharp for longer for some reason. My wife pulls it usually. If the two of us mow for around two hours it’s enough hay for a good day for our 3 small balers or my 3x3 baler.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Strange I've never seen a pull type mower that can keep up with a SP mower in terms of acres per hour. Travel speed across the field maybe the same but the turn times on the headlands with a SP is where the big savings is.

 

[Ned Jr.]

My wife has that mower figured out well. On a 45 degree corner she can turn into it and is probably faster than me on the SP. When a patch comes to a tip and she has to raise up I'm faster. I tried to download a video of her making a corner but it says it's too long. Our patches are odd shapes and we go around instead of back and fourth. That's my dad in the SP a few years ago. He would have been around 80 years old.

 

[C-Ranch]

I think it's 11 foot 7 inches. We put up 1 cutting of hay and it can be thick so we get along better with smaller windrows. You can role right along cutting with it. It has tines for conditioners, I think they come with rollers too which would probably be better with alfalfa. It can mow as fast as our SP and seems to go through heavy laid down hay even better. The knives seem to stay sharp for longer for some reason. My wife pulls it usually. If the two of us mow for around two hours it's enough hay for a good day for our 3 small balers or my 3x3 baler.

I actually got a quote today on a Krone Easy Cut TC500. I believe it's a 16ft cut if I recall with 2 still conditioners. Definitely a lot less $$ for a pull type versus SP. Still waiting all options. I saw today Massey has a 16ft that is basically the header that is used on their SP. I may get a quote on it tomorrow, just can't find much about them except from Massey's promo videos.