Robber roller verses flail mower conditioners

[TBA]

I have had roller mowers before. Few years ago i bought a JD 625 with flail conditioning. I know they are cheeper to buy and run but thinking about going back to rollers. New Holland 7220 is my choice, dont like the Deeres. I dont think flail dries as fast as rollers. Its all about dry time. Any thoughts ?

 

[RogerinIowa]

What crops? Impeller machines will pretty much tear H out of any crop to aid drying.

 

[TBA]

Mostly grass with some clover hay. Virginia weather is tough for hay making. My biggest gripe with the Deere is its big, not a simple machine and hard to clean up. New Holland is much simpler.

 

[paul]

My dairy neighbor really likes the steel roller Case mowers. I forget who makes what any more, aren?t they a version of New Holland?

Paul

 

[rrlund]

I don't think the flails dry as fast either. I bought a new Kuhn a few years ago. Always had rollers before that. Takes about a day longer to dry.

 

[rrlund]

One other thing I should have added,the hay does seem to be softer and more palatable with the flails. It rakes up in to a smoother windrow with fewer bunches in them.

 

[Case Nutty 1660]

a roller conditioner crushed the stems and speeds drying a flail unit does not crush as far as I know,, all I use here are sickle units with roll conditioners as they drum mowers do not work well in my rocky conditions,, no one out here uses a flail type mower any where near me,, in good hay years I have 2 to 3 ton per acre crop,, only one cutting here my units allow the hay to dry on 1 to 2 days in normal conditions I also run a 14' headers, the way I do it I have almost zero leaf shatter/loss, the pics show 1 1/2 ton per acre hay that year

 

[tomstractorsandtoys]

About 15 years ago a neighbor that milked about a 100 cows bought a new Deere machine with flails. From standing hay to silage he liked it better than a roll machine but he felt it took much longer to get dry hay with flails. After one year he traded it on a the same model with rolls. Deere seemed to really push the flails for a few years while it is rare to see the New Holland machines with them even though it was an option.All the new Deere machines on my local dealers lot are roll machines. I have a Deere 920 with rolls and like it. Tom

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I had my '19 hay custom baled and the guy used a JD flail type, first time I've seen one around here. Said flails are better for grass hay which is most of what he does and rolls are better for legumes. My field is heavy with trefoil and it dried fine but that was late July.

 

[Bill VA]

We have a Hesston 1110 sickle mower conditioner with steel on rubber rollers and a Krone 2801cv 9ft mower conditioner with impellers. Our experience is the Krone impellers dry hay faster than the Hesston. We are in the western mountains of VA and the video link shows the Krone in heavy first cut hay. 3 days in this hay from cutting to square bales with 14-15% moisture. I have the impeller tines about 1 inch off the conditioning good. It does not meal the hay, damage it or knock off the timothy head. Our hay is grass, no lugumes. YMMV...

Bill
Mowing Hay

 

[Bill VA]

conditioning hood...

No edit function....

 

[tom upton]

I run a 479 NH ( rubber rollers) seems to do a good job of breaking stems and dries down good and even if you have the weather. As long as you have decent weather I don't touch between cutting and baling. Makes decent hay.

 

[rrlund]

I have had roller mowers before. Few years ago i bought a JD 625 with flail conditioning. I know they are cheeper to buy and run but thinking about going back to rollers. New Holland 7220 is my choice, dont like the Deeres. I dont think flail dries as fast as rollers. Its all about dry time. Any thoughts ?

I'm with you. I went to a flail conditioner on a new Kuhn from rollers on a Hesston. Takes an extra day minimum to dry. The hay is softer and doesn't bunch as bad with the V rake using the flails though, so that's a plus.

 

[rrlund]

I'm with you. I went to a flail conditioner on a new Kuhn from rollers on a Hesston. Takes an extra day minimum to dry. The hay is softer and doesn't bunch as bad with the V rake using the flails though, so that's a plus.

I didn't notice this was a four year old post that I had already commented on. God I love this new format!