haybine vs disc mower

[Russell Moore]

We have been using a sickle mower for several years now but are thinking about upgrading
which would be better a haybine or a disc mower
we want a good cut with fast as possible drying time so currently leaning on a haybine but wanting more openions
Thanks

 

[Ralph Bauer]

You can get disc mocos, I would go with that combo, if faster drying is needed, simple design, and most folks never look back once they go to a disk mower froma sickle... Have 3pt disc cutter (Case/IH MDX 91), no conditioner, but I live in sw Oklahoma, no need, it dries very fast anyways.

 

[sixtyninegmc]

I would rather have a haybine than a disc mower with no conditioner, but if you can afford a discbine (they take more $$$ and more HP) than I would go that route. You can get a discbine with a flail or roller conditioner, depending on what crop you have.

 

[thurlow]

Does your hay need conditioning? If you've been making quality hay with a sickle mower, a disc mower should be fine...........

 

[GordoSD]

If you are putting up alfalfa you should be conditioning it. It doesn't matter if you have good drying conditions. What conditioning does is flatten the stems of the plants so that they are dry when the leaves are dry. WO the conditioning your leaves will be overly dry, and want to fall off by the time the stems are dry.

 

[Ralph Bauer]

Agree, just got prairie grass though....

 

[tomstractorsandtoys1]

We went to a discbine and thay have good and bad points.The good,cut fast and will cut any wet or down material without plugging and no drag ups on point rows. The bad, to do a good job they almost shave the ground.With short stubble the hay settles to the ground and air cannot get underneath.The discbine throws the hay out the back which also puts it tighter to the ground.Hay cut with a discbine is harder to ted and rake and for us it seems to dry slower but you can cut faster and earlier in the morning.Both have good points we switched because we needed to mow faster and more per day.

 

[sixtyninegmc]

Curious what brand of discbine you are running that does not do well leaving stubble? Certainly not arguing, I really only have experience with my kuhn FC300G, and I do have high shoes on it, but it does quite nicely leaving about 6 inches of stubble. I like to leave some stubble for exactly the reasons you point out, we need avery trick we can to dry down the hay quickly.

 

[Russell Moore]

we will be mowing fescue and orchard grass
sounds like a mowing conditioner will better suit our needs with it being able to crimp all those steams
we also cut beans some and that sounds like it will work better with them also
Thanks for all the information
Now the hunt begins

 

[GordoSD]

Maybe plant 20 acres of alfalfa and see how it goes? What is your annual rainfall there? About 22 here and we get three good cuttings most years.

 

[Ralph Bauer]

Not ready to graduate to alfalfa, yet. Putting in few acres at a time bermuda (common b. on the runway, on the hay only portion trying to get spriggs of Midland 99),when I can afford it...lol (never?)...LOL
Doing few acres at a time, helps the wallet and cash flow, but foremost I am extreme highly erodible, and with the drought last year, vegetation is very poor...
here's a link to the mesonet rain summary for Mangum. The station is across the county road from my farm.
http://www.mesonet.org/index.php/weather/monthly_rainfall_table/mang
Best I can interpret it: "It varies greatly"
I know that irrigated alfalfa was ready to cut about every 3 weeks last year, until the wells ran dry.....!

 

[RevJJ]

Get a Reese Drum Mower just replace my first two drum bearings after 20plus years, and that was due to poly twine wrapping. Mine is the mounted version, but they make a trailed version thats about 11 foot cut.

http://www.tigercoinc.com/
drum mwer