New Holland Haybine Rollers - how bad?

[Greenfielrider]

Hey everyone,

I looked at a New Holland 489 haybine today. While overall it looks okay, the rollers definitely show some aging.

The actual rubber “bars” or whatever they are called are in decent shape. It’s just the rubber between those “bars” that is peeling off and cracking.

How bad is this? Is it still usable for at least a couple of years?

We’re upgrading from a sickle bar mower, and we only have a 10-acre hay field, so it’s not like we are haying hundreds of acres with it—but obviously, we don’t want to buy scrap. The asking price is $1200…

 

[Mac AR]

Cutting 10 acres twice a year, those rollers will last a longer than you think. If the rest of the machine is in usable shape, I would say go ahead. Maybe try and get it for an even grand using the roller condition as a bargaining point, but I wouldn't try to get the guy down too far. Our neighbor ran an old Hesston that had one steel and one rubber roller until it basically had two steel rollers; he finally had to scrap it because he just couldn't keep it going.

Mac

 

[Greenfielrider]

Cutting 10 acres twice a year, those rollers will last a longer than you think. If the rest of the machine is in usable shape, I would say go ahead. Maybe try and get it for an even grand using the roller condition as a bargaining point, but I wouldn't try to get the guy down too far. Our neighbor ran an old Hesston that had one steel and one rubber roller until it basically had two steel rollers; he finally had to scrap it because he just couldn't keep it going.

Mac

Thank you for the advice.

So just because the rubber between those “bars” is in a bit of bad shape/missing in quite a few spots doesn’t mean that the bars will separate soon?

I have zero experience with haybines. This one is imo in the right price range for our op, the next one is 80 miles away, 1200 more expensive but with rollers that are in a better shape (a bit weather cracked, but no missing rubber)

 

[Mac AR]

Honestly it's hard to say. They may last a couple cuttings, they may last a few years, and they may swarm the first time you use them. I've seen guys use them that look worse though, and I've seen some that I thought looked better be destroyed by the end of the day. But as I said, if everything else is good on the machine it'd be worth taking the chance at $1200 to me anyhow. And there are options to have the rollers recovered, not really cheap but not as expensive as you'd think either.

Mac

 

[DanielW]

If everything else looks tight, I would try and get it for $1000 or less, use it this year, then evaluate the condition. If getting really bad, over winter you can work on stripping the rubber and stitching on intermeshing steel bars in place of the rubber. That's assuming everything else is in top-notch shape - If not, it's not really worth the price. Those were great haybines, but haybines really aren't fetching much money anymore now that everyone's getting rid of theirs as they go to disc mowers. If you're looking for one around this time of year you're going to pay a bit of a premium, but perhaps worth it if you need to get hay done this year. As a comparison, I bought an IH990 haybine in great shape (an excellent unit - one of IH''s few good pieces of haying equipment, and in my opinion at least as good as the New Hollands of the same era) for $280 last year. But that was in the late winter when no one was really thinking about haying equipment. I'll bet if the same one came up for sale 4 months later it would have fetched closer to $1500.

Scroll down to my response in this discussion to see my thoughts on how to replace the rubber with intermeshing bars:

Haybine crimping rolls

I have a Hesston 1071 haybine that I need a bottom roll for the rubber is coming off where can I get it redone at tried looking online but haven’t found anything thanks for any help

forums.yesterdaystractors.com

 

[rrlund]

I guess just call me pessimistic. All one of those bad spots has to do is grab one stem and start wrapping and all of a sudden, you'll have a mess that'll take an hour to cut off. To be truthful, I don't get that attraction for a New Holland haybine. I think you're buying a name, just like with a Deere. Between those laminated rolls and the wobble box knife drive, I just wouldn't buy one. Hesston made a far superior machine.

 

[Greenfielrider]

If everything else looks tight, I would try and get it for $1000 or less, use it this year, then evaluate the condition. If getting really bad, over winter you can work on stripping the rubber and stitching on intermeshing steel bars in place of the rubber. That's assuming everything else is in top-notch shape - If not, it's not really worth the price. Those were great haybines, but haybines really aren't fetching much money anymore now that everyone's getting rid of theirs as they go to disc mowers. If you're looking for one around this time of year you're going to pay a bit of a premium, but perhaps worth it if you need to get hay done this year. As a comparison, I bought an IH990 haybine in great shape (an excellent unit - one of IH''s few good pieces of haying equipment, and in my opinion at least as good as the New Hollands of the same era) for $280 last year. But that was in the late winter when no one was really thinking about haying equipment. I'll bet if the same one came up for sale 4 months later it would have fetched closer to $1500.

Scroll down to my response in this discussion to see my thoughts on how to replace the rubber with intermeshing bars:

Haybine crimping rolls

I have a Hesston 1071 haybine that I need a bottom roll for the rubber is coming off where can I get it redone at tried looking online but haven’t found anything thanks for any help

forums.yesterdaystractors.com

$280 is quite a different price, lol. Maybe I should really wait for winter or at least fall to arrive. After all it’s not like that I need it like now.

 

[Greenfielrider]

I guess just call me pessimistic. All one of those bad spots has to do is grab one stem and start wrapping and all of a sudden, you'll have a mess that'll take an hour to cut off. To be truthful, I don't get that attraction for a New Holland haybine. I think you're buying a name, just like with a Deere. Between those laminated rolls and the wobble box knife drive, I just wouldn't buy one. Hesston made a far superior machine.

Fair point. It’s all New Holland around here. Haven’t seen a used Hesston around here.

 

[rustred]

Fair point. It’s all New Holland around here. Haven’t seen a used Hesston around here.

The 489 does not have a wobble box like the 488. Much better set up. You just need to make sure that the chain that drives the knife gear box is in good shape all the time. If that chain breaks good chance it will get wound up in there and destroy the gear box. It’s a pretty trouble free machine. I have been using mine for quite a few years now and it’s basically trouble free. For that small amount of hay i would not worry too much over them rollers.

 

[MJMJ]

All of that rubber could come off and it would still mow 3x as fast as your sickle mower, and lay it out to dry better.

 

[Mac AR]

All of that rubber could come off and it would still mow 3x as fast as your sickle mower, and lay it out to dry better.

Exactly my thoughts. I've always said that if (when) my rollers fail, I'd remove them and continue to use the machine without them.

Mac

 

[Greenfielrider]

The 489 does not have a wobble box like the 488. Much better set up. You just need to make sure that the chain that drives the knife gear box is in good shape all the time. If that chain breaks good chance it will get wound up in there and destroy the gear box. It’s a pretty trouble free machine. I have been using mine for quite a few years now and it’s basically trouble free. For that small amount of hay i would not worry too much over them rollers.

That’s very good to know. Heard that those are quite failure prone and $$$ to fix

 

[Greenfielrider]

All of that rubber could come off and it would still mow 3x as fast as your sickle mower, and lay it out to dry better.

Very interesting thought. Maybe that’s the way to go. Can you just remove the rollers and still use the haybine if/when the rollers fail?

 

[MJMJ]

Very interesting thought. Maybe that’s the way to go. Can you just remove the rollers and still use the haybine if/when the rollers fail?

Sure, but there's usually no need to. And even with much of the rubber gone, the rollers still help pull the cut hay up off of the cutter and throw it out the back, which what helps keep cutting speed up. I know plenty of people that still prefer haybines because they're cheap to buy. When the rollers are shot they don't worry about it, it still mows the same. Honestly, the so-called decreased drying time from crimping is severely overstated. Tedding is far more beneficial for grass hay.

 

[will-max dairy]

Very interesting thought. Maybe that’s the way to go. Can you just remove the rollers and still use the haybine if/when the rollers fail?

Take the reel off... remove the conditioning rolls... put a bunch of leaf blowers on the bumper bar and aim them at the apron...


You guys are lucky I have a job to pay for my farm... because if I could just be a gentleman farmer... this is the kind of stuff I would be dreaming up in my shop...

I bet the unintended side effect of that would be that it would blow the bugs on the hay up into the air even better for the barn swallows that follow me whenever I'm in the field... lol

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Crimping the hay helps with drying if you are cutting Alfalfa or Red Clover hay, as crushing the hollow stems helps speed the drying process. Crimping a blade of grass as it goes through the conditioning rolls is really not a thing. A blade of grass isn’t going to show much of any crushing from the rollers , and will dry at the same speed as not run through conditioning rollers. For fastest drying of grass hay, set the windrows as wide as possible.

 

[MJMJ]

Crimping the hay helps with drying if you are cutting Alfalfa or Red Clover hay, as crushing the hollow stems helps speed the drying process. Crimping a blade of grass as it goes through the conditioning rolls is really not a thing. A blade of grass isn’t going to show much of any crushing from the rollers , and will dry at the same speed as not run through conditioning rollers. For fastest drying of grass hay, set the windrows as wide as possible.

Grass hay has stems. More so than alfalfa actually, for first cut at least. Second and third cut is mostly blades.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Grass hay has stems. More so than alfalfa actually, for first cut at least. Second and third cut is mostly blades.

Perhaps there is a bit of stem at the base of over mature grass, but by the time the grasses are that advanced, they are not as succulent and have far lower moisture content

 

[MJMJ]

Perhaps there is a bit of stem at the base of over mature grass, but by the time the grasses are that advanced, they are not as succulent and have far lower moisture content

Not a “bit of stem”, its at least 50% stem. Its how grasses grow here in the midwest, not sure about other areas. Blades grow about 1’ or so in early spring, then the main stem takes off as weather warms. They grow 3’-5’ and head out, thats when first cut is ideally done. This is a pic of typical orchard grass, just one of the grasses we have. Second and third cuts are mostly blades, but first cut is very stemmy.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Not a “bit of stem”, its at least 50% stem. Its how grasses grow here in the midwest, not sure about other areas. Blades grow about 1’ or so in early spring, then the main stem takes off as weather warms. They grow 3’-5’ and head out, thats when first cut is ideally done. This is a pic of typical orchard grass, just one of the grasses we have. Second and third cuts are mostly blades, but first cut is very stemmy.

By the time it has headed out like that, it doesn’t take much to dry. The protein level in the hay becomes very low, as the plant has put everything into the seed heads. Rye grasses and Reed Canary Grass makes lots of volume at this stage of growth as in your picture. It makes dry hay very easily. Harvesting at this maturity will result in lower protein quality, but everything depends on what you are feeding the hay to.