Need sickle mower wisdom...

[Gumby]

I've used an old Vicon discmower-conditioner on my little plot of hay for about 6-7 years. One of man's greatest inventions, IMHO. In an effort to save some fuel, I decided to use an old IH sickle mower to mow the hay employing a smaller tractor. Up until now I just used the sickle mower to mow about 1 mile in dictch banks and it did an OK job. I had to stop now and then to clear big wads of grass from the bar, but it generally cut fine.

Last night I was out with the sickle mower on the hay field. It didn't turn out quite as bad as I thought it would, but it sure doesn't eat the hay like the mower conditioner does. Still had to stop a lot to clear wads off the bar. I was mowing light to medium weight red clover. I had more problems obviously where the hay got thicker.

Any advice from the experts who've run sickle mowers in the past?

Thanks.

 

[Anonymous-0]

You describe the exact reason most stopped using them to mow hay

 

[Anonymous-0]

And by not conditioning the hay you've added a day or two or three to the time required to dry the hay for baling.

The clumping probably comes from worn or bend guards not intimate with the mower sections. Remember a sickle cuts like scissors, not by inertia like a rotary mower. So the sections need to slide very close to the guards and both sections and guards need to be sharp.

Gerald J.

 

[Justin-PA]

Gerald is right on the sections/guards. They should be almost touching each other and sharp. Also make sure the sections are centered in the guards.

You may also need to adjust the angle of the guards. I run mine pointed up a bit, which helps with gouging and plugging (well, it helps a little!).

Ground speed helps. If you can run a little faster it helps clear the bar.

Finally, I adjust the shoes on my sickle as high as they go, which keeps the cutterbar about 3" off the ground. This helps on the gouging, helps keep the hay up off the ground to dry quicker, and helps the grass to regrow a bit faster (less stress on the plants).

Hope this helps.
Justin

 

[Ed S.]

Plus, you really have to watch so you don't run the bar in already cut hay. That will plug you up pretty quick...

es

 

[Charlie M]

Sickle bars work great when the hay is standing nicely with no fine stuff in the bottom. I've cut timothy hay like that in 4th gear with my H and an older IH mower. However for hay in any other condition they will never beat a haybine.

 

[Justin-PA]

Amen to that! All my fields are irregular shaped so I always have a triangle shaped piece in the middle and its tricky to cut it when 1/2 the bar is in cut grass. I finally found that raising the bar to about 6" so you clear the cut hay is the only way I could deal with it.

 

[GregC]

Is it plugging at the ends or in the middle? Plugging in different areas can have different causes. Most likely a problem with a guard or sickle. Changing the angle of your guards(pointing up or down)sometimes makes a difference. Also check to make sure the far end of the sickle bar is slightly ahead of the near end, so the far end cuts first.

 

[Harold Hubbard]

You are supposed to have young boy with a pitchfork to keep those points "pitched off", and to clear the bar when you plug it up anyway. He also needs to "pitch off the back swath", clear next to the unmowed hay around the outside, so the mower will not plug when you mow that. While he is not busy doing that he can spread out the clumps that you left when it sort of plugged, but cleared itself and went on mowing. At least that is what my father always did.

Seriously, when you come down to mow those points, mowing out of the point, there is no problem, you just pull up a wad of previously mowed hay, and shake it off when you get to the end. Mowing into the point leave the bar up until it will take a full swath, then drop it and go. Mow the left over triangle from the wide end when you come back across.

 

[charles todd]

Get a disc mower. PZ or Vicon.

Charles

 

[charles todd]

I am sorry. Not a disc mower, but a drum mower.

http://www.ccmachinery.com/drum_mowers.htm

Charles