Not enough tractors

[Texasmark]

I got my hay up yesterday so the effort was worth it....no rain on it which I had been sweating for a couple of months.

I have several things going simultaneously and have a question. I have a 9' Ford 538 Swather that I have been using with my 3910
but it is currently doing drum mower duty and working alone is is a real PIA to mount, dismount and remount that mower, mount the
swather, remove the swather, remount the mower, etc.. I have a '65 3000 that I thought about using with the MOCO and would like
some input from you users if you please:

Terrain: Flat, creek over flow area of bottom land for half of the field, the rest is up higher and drier. Sod is firm. Travel from my
farm to the hay patch location is flat and county road or firm soil also.

Crop: Mixed winter Rye and some weeds and some summer crops mixed in (Johnson grass)....middlin considering crop volume.
Good enough to get economy of effort, but no whistles and bells......about 3' height max.

Timeline: Not in a big hurry. At my age I'm running about half as fast (not halfassed.....grin) as I used to.

3910: Per Tractor Data is engine 47 HP, 4615# chassis wt (min specified)., PTO HP 42 HP.

3000: Engine 46 HP, 3900# chassis wt (min specified also)., PTO HP 39 HP.

Brakes on both are excellent as are the overall condition of both tractors.

I don't know what else to add.

Appreciate your inputs.
Thanks,
Mark

 

[Tom in Mo.]

As you probably know the 3910 has five hundred extra pounds on the 3000 and 20% more cubes. Even though the listed HP numbers are close, I believe the 3000 won't have the torque (read guts) that the 3910 has.

 

[Fordfarmer]

A 3910 will outwork a 3000... but the 3000 will handle the mower. A neighbor has been running a 9 foot New Holland mower-conditioner for years with a 3600.

 

[Texasmark]

Ok guys. Thanks for your replies......and the right answer.....grin.

 

[Leroy]

Question? What is a swather? something not known up here in Ohio.

 

[Tom in Mo.]

A Swather is a self propelled mower-conditioner with a cab for the operator. Common hay equipment west of the Missouri River. Cuts 12-16 foot swaths of hay per pass.
TexasMark is referring to what we in Missouri call a mower-conditioner.

This post was edited by Tom in Mo. on 05/21/2023 at 03:48 am.

 

[Tom in Mo.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swather

 

[sotxbill]

I ran a 9'ford 535 mowco (ottowa) for years on a 3000, but had a 730 loader on the tractor. HP was fine, but had to pick lower gears in very heavy coastal hay crop. ( boy was that a long time ago.) This is the first year in about 15 years for us to get the el nino back.. I could occasionally plug and lock up the mowco if the dew was high and too many wet fire ant mounds were involved.


SO.. based on that, pick your tractors based on the side load and hp requirements, along with crop density. I have not run a drum cutter???? I have run a mowcos, sickles, disc cutters. Only the disc cutter required a 5600 or bigger to track correctly due to side pull.