Anybody Ever Try to Feed Goldenrod?

[farmersamm]

I finally got my mower running........................too late to beat the crap that's grown up through the Johnson Grass. This was a beautiful field at the beginning of September. It appears to be Goldenrod. I'm a day late, dollar short.......is what it is I guess. Gonna roll it up, and see just how bad it feeds.

On the flip side, I've seen them eat just about anything once it's in the roll. Or..............eat around it..........and you find it in the bottom of the feeder when you go to change bales. Dunno how this is gonna pan out(sigh)

Also........a disc mower question

This is the first time in my life I've run a disc mower. For 30yrs I've run the old Hesston Hydro Swing.

I'm experiencing problems. The mower will cut some stuff, but leaves the finer stemmed grasses just pushed over. I'm not thrilled about this.

I'm thinking it's a blade problem, and have replaced all of them.

I'm thinking that the blades are just beating the crop, not cutting it. I've had similar problems with a Bush Hog with dull blades. The thing will cut heavy woody brush, but just skim over grass. Been the same thing with the disc mower. It cuts Sumac, Blackberry bushes, and Persimmon saplings just fine, which is what I bought this mower for...........reconditioning one of our hay fields. But it's supposed to be cutting the good grass too.

Find out today if the field's dry enough to work. Got rained out on Tuesday night.

I have high cut skids on the mower, but I don't think they're contributing to the problem. What's being cut is at the skid shoe height, just problems with either not cutting, laying it down, or ragged tearing, of the crop. CROP he says A fine word for garbage.

This is the worst mess I've ever dealt with. Looks like an abandoned lot

I'm not sure I'm gonna like this thing. If you have trouble with a sickle machine you see it immediately. It's all shoved into a windrow, and any problems show up on the clean ground. You know if you have a bad section, or guard..........leaves a strip. This doggone thing.......you don't know crap unless you keep climbing off the tractor to see if it's actually cutting.

 

[DRussell]

View attachment 88226

I finally got my mower running........................too late to beat the crap that's grown up through the Johnson Grass. This was a beautiful field at the beginning of September. It appears to be Goldenrod. I'm a day late, dollar short.......is what it is I guess. Gonna roll it up, and see just how bad it feeds.

On the flip side, I've seen them eat just about anything once it's in the roll. Or..............eat around it..........and you find it in the bottom of the feeder when you go to change bales. Dunno how this is gonna pan out(sigh)

Also........a disc mower question

This is the first time in my life I've run a disc mower. For 30yrs I've run the old Hesston Hydro Swing.

I'm experiencing problems. The mower will cut some stuff, but leaves the finer stemmed grasses just pushed over. I'm not thrilled about this.

I'm thinking it's a blade problem, and have replaced all of them.

View attachment 88227

I'm thinking that the blades are just beating the crop, not cutting it. I've had similar problems with a Bush Hog with dull blades. The thing will cut heavy woody brush, but just skim over grass. Been the same thing with the disc mower. It cuts Sumac, Blackberry bushes, and Persimmon saplings just fine, which is what I bought this mower for...........reconditioning one of our hay fields. But it's supposed to be cutting the good grass too.

Find out today if the field's dry enough to work. Got rained out on Tuesday night.

I have high cut skids on the mower, but I don't think they're contributing to the problem. What's being cut is at the skid shoe height, just problems with either not cutting, laying it down, or ragged tearing, of the crop. CROP he says A fine word for garbage.

This is the worst mess I've ever dealt with. Looks like an abandoned lot

I'm not sure I'm gonna like this thing. If you have trouble with a sickle machine you see it immediately. It's all shoved into a windrow, and any problems show up on the clean ground. You know if you have a bad section, or guard..........leaves a strip. This doggone thing.......you don't know crap unless you keep climbing off the tractor to see if it's actually cutting.

I got a disc mower last spring. Used it several times this summer. I'm no expert, but what I've found is that my disc mower needs to run at full PTO speed. Anything less and it doesn't cut right. I would also change those blades.

 

[Roger in Iowa]

Are you running at pto speed? Rotary knives need speed to impact and cut. Dull doesn't help.

 

[NY 986]

View attachment 88226

I finally got my mower running........................too late to beat the crap that's grown up through the Johnson Grass. This was a beautiful field at the beginning of September. It appears to be Goldenrod. I'm a day late, dollar short.......is what it is I guess. Gonna roll it up, and see just how bad it feeds.

On the flip side, I've seen them eat just about anything once it's in the roll. Or..............eat around it..........and you find it in the bottom of the feeder when you go to change bales. Dunno how this is gonna pan out(sigh)

Also........a disc mower question

This is the first time in my life I've run a disc mower. For 30yrs I've run the old Hesston Hydro Swing.

I'm experiencing problems. The mower will cut some stuff, but leaves the finer stemmed grasses just pushed over. I'm not thrilled about this.

I'm thinking it's a blade problem, and have replaced all of them.

View attachment 88227

I'm thinking that the blades are just beating the crop, not cutting it. I've had similar problems with a Bush Hog with dull blades. The thing will cut heavy woody brush, but just skim over grass. Been the same thing with the disc mower. It cuts Sumac, Blackberry bushes, and Persimmon saplings just fine, which is what I bought this mower for...........reconditioning one of our hay fields. But it's supposed to be cutting the good grass too.

Find out today if the field's dry enough to work. Got rained out on Tuesday night.

I have high cut skids on the mower, but I don't think they're contributing to the problem. What's being cut is at the skid shoe height, just problems with either not cutting, laying it down, or ragged tearing, of the crop. CROP he says A fine word for garbage.

This is the worst mess I've ever dealt with. Looks like an abandoned lot

I'm not sure I'm gonna like this thing. If you have trouble with a sickle machine you see it immediately. It's all shoved into a windrow, and any problems show up on the clean ground. You know if you have a bad section, or guard..........leaves a strip. This doggone thing.......you don't know crap unless you keep climbing off the tractor to see if it's actually cutting.

I would expect that cattle will eat around the goldenrod. A neighbor years ago was not mindful making haylage and had goldenrod plus bull thistle in his feed. The cows left most of that mix at the bottom of the feed bunk. Luckily for him that only amounted to a few tons of feed but his son cautioned him to avoid that part of the feed or blow it back on the ground.

 

[NY 986]

View attachment 88226

I finally got my mower running........................too late to beat the crap that's grown up through the Johnson Grass. This was a beautiful field at the beginning of September. It appears to be Goldenrod. I'm a day late, dollar short.......is what it is I guess. Gonna roll it up, and see just how bad it feeds.

On the flip side, I've seen them eat just about anything once it's in the roll. Or..............eat around it..........and you find it in the bottom of the feeder when you go to change bales. Dunno how this is gonna pan out(sigh)

Also........a disc mower question

This is the first time in my life I've run a disc mower. For 30yrs I've run the old Hesston Hydro Swing.

I'm experiencing problems. The mower will cut some stuff, but leaves the finer stemmed grasses just pushed over. I'm not thrilled about this.

I'm thinking it's a blade problem, and have replaced all of them.

View attachment 88227

I'm thinking that the blades are just beating the crop, not cutting it. I've had similar problems with a Bush Hog with dull blades. The thing will cut heavy woody brush, but just skim over grass. Been the same thing with the disc mower. It cuts Sumac, Blackberry bushes, and Persimmon saplings just fine, which is what I bought this mower for...........reconditioning one of our hay fields. But it's supposed to be cutting the good grass too.

Find out today if the field's dry enough to work. Got rained out on Tuesday night.

I have high cut skids on the mower, but I don't think they're contributing to the problem. What's being cut is at the skid shoe height, just problems with either not cutting, laying it down, or ragged tearing, of the crop. CROP he says A fine word for garbage.

This is the worst mess I've ever dealt with. Looks like an abandoned lot

I'm not sure I'm gonna like this thing. If you have trouble with a sickle machine you see it immediately. It's all shoved into a windrow, and any problems show up on the clean ground. You know if you have a bad section, or guard..........leaves a strip. This doggone thing.......you don't know crap unless you keep climbing off the tractor to see if it's actually cutting.

I would expect that cattle will eat around the goldenrod. A neighbor years ago was not mindful making haylage and had goldenrod plus bull thistle in his feed. The cows left most of that mix at the bottom of the feed bunk. Luckily for him that only amounted to a few tons of feed but his son cautioned him to avoid that part of the field or blow it back on the ground.

 

[farmersamm]

Hey..........before I get outta here, a little background on this mess.

We started to have equipment problems about 3yrs ago. It's taken just about that whole time to get everything running again. Rebuild the baler, make a wheel rake usable, and do some front end work on the Oliver. And finally, just when we were ready to go..........found out that the new mower was not set up right on the caddy, and the tractor wasn't capable of the needed hydraulic float. Been a real mess.

During that period I made a bad decision. Instead of letting someone cut my fields, I just kept plugging away, hoping to get everything up and running. The neglect of the ground is coming around to haunt me. This part of the deal is on my head, on my dime.

 

[DRussell]

Hey..........before I get outta here, a little background on this mess.

We started to have equipment problems about 3yrs ago. It's taken just about that whole time to get everything running again. Rebuild the baler, make a wheel rake usable, and do some front end work on the Oliver. And finally, just when we were ready to go..........found out that the new mower was not set up right on the caddy, and the tractor wasn't capable of the needed hydraulic float. Been a real mess.

During that period I made a bad decision. Instead of letting someone cut my fields, I just kept plugging away, hoping to get everything up and running. The neglect of the ground is coming around to haunt me. This part of the deal is on my head, on my dime.

Hope springs eternal. Next spring will be better...hopefully.

 

[farmersamm]

Are you running at pto speed? Rotary knives need speed to impact and cut. Dull doesn't help.

Full out 540rpm. Seems to do a bit better at lower speed, but still not right. I'm sort of in between gears..................lost half of them when the high side on the Hydra Power failed. I'd like to run at 4 high, but I'm running in 5 low. It's a bit hard on the motor. Around 5mph or 3 1/2 is what I've got at this point.

 

[farmersamm]

I would expect that cattle will eat around the goldenrod. A neighbor years ago was not mindful making haylage and had goldenrod plus bull thistle in his feed. The cows left most of that mix at the bottom of the feed bunk. Luckily for him that only amounted to a few tons of feed but his son cautioned him to avoid that part of the feed or blow it back on the ground.

Same same with Blackberry stems. Usually find them in the bottom of the feeder.

 

[farmersamm]

Hope springs eternal. Next spring will be better...hopefully.

that's no joke. ROFLMAO

 

[DRussell]

Full out 540rpm. Seems to do a bit better at lower speed, but still not right. I'm sort of in between gears..................lost half of them when the high side on the Hydra Power failed. I'd like to run at 4 high, but I'm running in 5 low. It's a bit hard on the motor. Around 5mph or 3 1/2 is what I've got at this point.

What tractor are you using? 5 low seems a bit fast. I'm thinking of a 1750 Oliver.

 

[Roger in Iowa]

Wonder if round baler silage would make the mixture more palatable?

 

[Centerplate]

The blade you have lying on the machine, I would sharpen. You also need to run full RPM. I cut mostly alfalfa and run at near 9 miles per hour.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Wonder if round baler silage would make the mixture more palatable?

Baling it wet and wrapping it won't turn it into candy.

Best off leaving it dry and long so the cattle can pick through and eat what's edible, and throw the rest under 'em for bedding.

 

[flying belgian]

View attachment 88226

I finally got my mower running........................too late to beat the crap that's grown up through the Johnson Grass. This was a beautiful field at the beginning of September. It appears to be Goldenrod. I'm a day late, dollar short.......is what it is I guess. Gonna roll it up, and see just how bad it feeds.

On the flip side, I've seen them eat just about anything once it's in the roll. Or..............eat around it..........and you find it in the bottom of the feeder when you go to change bales. Dunno how this is gonna pan out(sigh)

Also........a disc mower question

This is the first time in my life I've run a disc mower. For 30yrs I've run the old Hesston Hydro Swing.

I'm experiencing problems. The mower will cut some stuff, but leaves the finer stemmed grasses just pushed over. I'm not thrilled about this.

I'm thinking it's a blade problem, and have replaced all of them.

View attachment 88227

I'm thinking that the blades are just beating the crop, not cutting it. I've had similar problems with a Bush Hog with dull blades. The thing will cut heavy woody brush, but just skim over grass. Been the same thing with the disc mower. It cuts Sumac, Blackberry bushes, and Persimmon saplings just fine, which is what I bought this mower for...........reconditioning one of our hay fields. But it's supposed to be cutting the good grass too.

Find out today if the field's dry enough to work. Got rained out on Tuesday night.

I have high cut skids on the mower, but I don't think they're contributing to the problem. What's being cut is at the skid shoe height, just problems with either not cutting, laying it down, or ragged tearing, of the crop. CROP he says A fine word for garbage.

This is the worst mess I've ever dealt with. Looks like an abandoned lot

I'm not sure I'm gonna like this thing. If you have trouble with a sickle machine you see it immediately. It's all shoved into a windrow, and any problems show up on the clean ground. You know if you have a bad section, or guard..........leaves a strip. This doggone thing.......you don't know crap unless you keep climbing off the tractor to see if it's actually cutting.

I don't know anything about feeding cattle but take the high cut skids off and sharpen those blades. You have to be able to cut short grass shorter. Run at 540 or higher. I run my bota disk mower at 570. But Kubota has 3 blades per pod. I think that's better. I run any kind of hay at 6 mph except road ditches. To ruff and to many surprises.

I

 

[cjunrau]

View attachment 88226

I finally got my mower running........................too late to beat the crap that's grown up through the Johnson Grass. This was a beautiful field at the beginning of September. It appears to be Goldenrod. I'm a day late, dollar short.......is what it is I guess. Gonna roll it up, and see just how bad it feeds.

On the flip side, I've seen them eat just about anything once it's in the roll. Or..............eat around it..........and you find it in the bottom of the feeder when you go to change bales. Dunno how this is gonna pan out(sigh)

Also........a disc mower question

This is the first time in my life I've run a disc mower. For 30yrs I've run the old Hesston Hydro Swing.

I'm experiencing problems. The mower will cut some stuff, but leaves the finer stemmed grasses just pushed over. I'm not thrilled about this.

I'm thinking it's a blade problem, and have replaced all of them.

View attachment 88227

I'm thinking that the blades are just beating the crop, not cutting it. I've had similar problems with a Bush Hog with dull blades. The thing will cut heavy woody brush, but just skim over grass. Been the same thing with the disc mower. It cuts Sumac, Blackberry bushes, and Persimmon saplings just fine, which is what I bought this mower for...........reconditioning one of our hay fields. But it's supposed to be cutting the good grass too.

Find out today if the field's dry enough to work. Got rained out on Tuesday night.

I have high cut skids on the mower, but I don't think they're contributing to the problem. What's being cut is at the skid shoe height, just problems with either not cutting, laying it down, or ragged tearing, of the crop. CROP he says A fine word for garbage.

This is the worst mess I've ever dealt with. Looks like an abandoned lot

I'm not sure I'm gonna like this thing. If you have trouble with a sickle machine you see it immediately. It's all shoved into a windrow, and any problems show up on the clean ground. You know if you have a bad section, or guard..........leaves a strip. This doggone thing.......you don't know crap unless you keep climbing off the tractor to see if it's actually cutting.

You say you replaced all of them. question is when? If you cut trees they won't last long and will NOT cut grass. My dad says every 500 acres he flips his and then 500 and throw away or something like that.. If there is a tilt on that machine I think I was told it needs to tilt down just a little but I may be wrong. That machine should cut better than any sickle bine ever would. nobody I know would go back to sickle once they use a disc.

 

[peteL]

Golden Rod makes tasty honey.

 

[farmersamm]

You say you replaced all of them. question is when? If you cut trees they won't last long and will NOT cut grass. My dad says every 500 acres he flips his and then 500 and throw away or something like that.. If there is a tilt on that machine I think I was told it needs to tilt down just a little but I may be wrong. That machine should cut better than any sickle bine ever would. nobody I know would go back to sickle once they use a disc.

The blades were replaced Tuesday evening, after getting out of the field.

I'm not cutting TREES Sumac saplings generally run around 1/8 to 1/4" diameter, same with the other stuff. It's not unusual to find this stuff in hay around here, especially during a drought. Guys push the edge of the field out further.

 

[THinAl.]

Change your blades and pay close attention to the direction of each turtle when changing. There is an arrow on each blade showing the direction of cut. Also, it looks like you need to tilt the front side of your mower down. I use Krone mowers and they will cut the material that’s shown in your picture.

 

[farmersamm]

Well guys...................just got back from walking a bit of the field. Needed to see if it's drying down enough to get back to it. If I can't make an imprint with my heel, she's good to go. We're on heavy clay here. I figure around 1:00 ought to be an open window.

Looked very carefully while I was up there. The problem isn't as bad as I thought. This new type of machine is confusing me. It's hard to tell what's been laid down, or knocked down.

The shoes seem to be working as desired. I'm lookin' at around 4+ stubble.............. Excellent!! Some areas are around 6". Same as I've always cut with the sickle mower. In over 30yrs we've never used chemical.........lower yield isn't really lower yield when you stack it up against spraying, and ultimately thinning a stand by scalping it.

I've never never left less on a field. Keeps the weeds out, and makes for a healthy stand the following year when cutting Native Blue Stem. In Sorghum-Sudan it makes for rapid recovery for a second cutting. Same with Johnson Grass.

Try to get some detailed pics this afternoon when I get back up there.