The better way

As I finished my mowing I got to thinking about the way I used to cut my hay. I began with a cycle mower that I pulled behind my old IH 350 and later improved to a haybine . Now I use a diskbine and let me tell you I would hate to go back to any of those older types. For one thing, I can mow a field of hay in less than a third of the time that it took with the haybine and days quicker than with the old cycle bar mower.

Around here I see several haying operations where they show up with several tractors pulling haybines to get their hay cut. They do get a lot done in a hurry but it looks to me as if it is a very costly way of doing a simple job. I also see the BTO with their high speed mowing machines, cutting in front and on both sides. I suspect that to is very costly as one of those big mowers could cost more than I paid for my farm.

In my way of thinking, if I were going to be running a hay business I would park those haybines and replace them with diskbines. One operator with one tractor would replace three of those machines. Maybe I am wrong but I am thinking that the savings on labor and tractor repairs would more than cover the cost of replacing the haybines with diskbines .

Note, I am not suggesting that all farmers get rid of their older types of hay cutting machine but I am looking at some of those commercial haying operations that seem to be stuck in the past.

One of these days there will be a machine that cuts, cures, and bales all in one operation, and it will do it all by itself using GPS.

I have run all 3, and I would go back to a double bar sickle mower any time for anything other than Sorghum Sedan. Less horse power. Less costly to purchase and I just like running them. I despise the discbine. Takes atleast a 100 horse to do what an old 30 horse tractor used to do. 100 gallons of fuel versus 25. Now tell me how efficient your discbine is.

I still cannot understand how a machine with a different type of cutter can cut so much more at the same width of cut and same ground speed, you cover the same exact acreage in the same time. The only way to cut more is to over speed the ground speed and that gets to the point of being dangerous.

I am pulling my diskbine with a Massey 1105 and I use less than one gallon per acre. The faster mowing comes more from efficiency than ground speed. I cut a bigger swath than most other types of mowers and I can cut through existing windrows without the danger of getting plugged. Thick heavy hay, downed hay , they do not matter, it cuts them all the same.

I stated in my post that I was not suggesting that anyone abandon their older mowing equipment but just saying that in my opinion I would not do a commercial operation wit anything but a diskbine.

I'm new to a discbine (second year) and still have trouble picking up the tire tracks from the first outer round or middle-of-field passes. What am I doing wrong?

I have an old IH 990 mower - it does pretty well, unless you get into tangled or wet stuff - then it's a PIA.
I'd love to have a Discbine, but I only do 6-10 thousand small squares a year, so it's more than I can afford. I agree though - if I were doing it to make a living, I would have one
Pete

The across the road neighbor does the multiple haybine thing. Biggest advantage is that if one craps out, They aren't "dead in the water".

Two ways it can cover more ground- one is increased ground speed- disc mower will cut at much faster ground speed. Also, at the corners, disc mower just cuts around the corner, sickle bar you have to lift and make a circle.

I grew up with sickle bar mowers- hated them, because in our country, we get rain in early summer, and by the time you can cut, everything is pretty much flat on the ground, with mole hills to boot. Bought a used Taarup 4 disc mower in about 1975, and never used a sickle bar again.

Yes most fields on my contours I can't go any faster then when I was using a haybine.

Just the not plugging saves a lot of time for me, then don't have to ride the clutch on the tractor when I get to a windrow!

we pull a 9 ft discbine with a oliver 65 hp gas and don't use near that amount a day

I cut all my hay with 2 New Holland 456 sickle bar mowers.I generally mow with a 31 HP Yanmar and run 4 1/2 MPH with the 7ft mower.Gets the job done but not real fast for sure but in my area
real fast equals torn up equipment as there are lots of stationary rocks to hit and very irregular fields.I bale about 400 5 1/2 X 5 1/2 bales a year with a couple NH 851 balers and use
a NH 256 to rake most times.My two mowers cost me $500 each and the biggest expense is a new sickle assembly every year at about $125.Plus I like how the mowers cut the hay I hate the way the
the disc mowers destroy the hay.Sickle mowers lays it down evenly and all I do most time is let it dry the day I cut, the next day and then rake and bale on the 3rd.No having to run a tedder
beating the hay to pieces.Plus when I sell a load of cattle or goats I can do what I want with the money not make equipment payments.

(quoted from post at 07:01:04 07/31/17) I still cannot understand how a machine with a different type of cutter can cut so much more at the same width of cut and same ground speed, you cover the same exact acreage in the same time. The only way to cut more is to over speed the ground speed and that gets to the point of being dangerous.

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Leroy, this has been explained many many many times here I don't know how you missed it. Disc mower conditioners will cut nicely at much higher speeds than sickle bar mowers. I never cut fast with my discbine only 5.5 MPH. One thing that you have to keep in mind is that those cattle are looking to the farmer for their next meal. Most farms are milking way more cattle than they did twenty years ago. The job has to get done. My little hobby farm covers the ground that used to comprise twelve individual farms with a family on each one. I am a one man hobby operation.

Mowed for years and NEVER had to raise the bar and turn like that. No mole hills to worry about

Never has problems plugging with the haybine and mowed with a 9' Case Mower-conditioner behind a 41 H Farmall with no live power. Ground speed was as fast as I would want to go in field.

Our fields were smoother than average and I still would not atempt to travel that fast in a hay field, I could have never stayed on the tractor at those high speeds you are talking about. And I did not have a field speed close to that fast.

There already was one, minus the GPS. There was a microwave hay mower/ baler in Farm Show 20 years ago. The inventor died before it could be perfected.

I watched the guys next door do one meadow that is larger than all the hay land on my place combined in a couple hours. Takes me weeks with haybines, especially this year when it's so wet. I don't have enough tractor for a discbine, but a drum mower or small disc mower would work. Someday.........

Working a side job for a local operation Ive gone from self propelled JD haybines that we thought were fast to batwing mowers that ARE FAST. I can mow 30 foot at a time at 12mph easily. It has cut our time drastically as we run two of these 7230Rs with these mower setups. I mowed 55 acres sunday in two hours and that was taking my time running 9.6 mph. The bad part is the fawns don't stand a chance.
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(quoted from post at 07:00:59 07/31/17) I have run all 3, and I would go back to a double bar sickle mower any time for anything other than Sorghum Sedan. Less horse power. Less costly to purchase and I just like running them. I despise the discbine. Takes atleast a 100 horse to do what an old 30 horse tractor used to do. 100 gallons of fuel versus 25. Now tell me how efficient your discbine is.

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Lazy WP,

25 versus 100 gallons of fuel? Exaggerate much? I might have agreed if you had said 25 gallons versus 26 gallons...

Reel and sickle machines are obsolete. I've cut with a NH 469, a 488, a JD 1525, a NI 5209, a NH 1411, a Gehl 2365, and now a Gehl 2415. I wouldn't give two nickels for a reel and sickle mower unless I could turn around and sell it. They're fine for good standing material in flat rock free fields, but not much else. There's a reason you can hardly buy a new reel and sickle machine in the past 15 years. You can't even buy guards and sections at the local hardware store anymore.