Thoughts on cutting hay with a horse mower

[Farmallb]

There was mention of using a horse drawn mower on a tractor. This can be done. GOOD farmers had a fast smaller team for mowing and cultivating and mayby harrowing and planting/sowing, and a heavy team for plowing and discing. The smaller team was usually much faster than the heavier team. BUT if using a horse mower behind a tractor, pull it ONLY as fast as a man can quickly walk. ALSO, The mower was made to be put on a 12ft pole for the horses. IF using it on a tractor and not allowing for the rise in the pole, oil in the gearbox will not be where it was origionally ment to be and will soon leak out by the flywheel. To figure oout how high to raise the mower tongue, lay a light 12ft lathe or 1 X 1 along the shortened pole and raise the lathe and pole until the end of the lath is 3ft in the air. Then measure the distance from your tractor drawbar to the ground. Then take flat iron and weld up a hitch below the pole that mounts onto the pole, and also has the drop hith at the same highth as the tractor drawbar. I have used horse mowers, IHC & MH for many years when in my 20s/40s with no problem from them, with me cutting in 1st gear with a 1934 CC Case.

 

[Rich'sToys]

When I was growing up we had a neighbor who pulled a horse mower with a WD Allis. I don't remember too many specifics and never saw the rig up close, but seems like they had a hydraulic cylinder rigged up to raise and lower it.

 

[Charlie M]

When I was a lot younger I cut about 6 acres of alfalfa hay one year with a IH horse drawn mower. Pulled it with a BN tractor. Worked pretty well. For some of the mowing I was sitting on the mower and Dad was running the tractor. Some I did alone. Ended up putting up the hay lose with an old hay loader for a couple of beef cows I had at the time. I still have the mover - its a new big four mower which I just recently found out was made in the early 1900's. I now have a BN tractor again so I had the two hooked up last summer just fooling around. A lot of the older horse drawn stuff works well behind a small tractor. Biggest headache is the controls are all back at the seat on the implement.

 

[charles Leddy]

We had a neighbor and my Grandpa used Horse Drawn mowers behind tractors until the got to old or until about 1970. Grandpa was born in 1890 so lived through all these changes until he retired in about 1960. I have his place and found all the horse drawn equipment including one bottom walking plow,pond scoop,walking & riding horse cultivators. They never had a Hay baler,combine or cornpicker but had Binders and at one time threshing machine so most likely they knew how to manage this old equipment??.

One of Grandpa's regrets was he hit something and broke the tongue on the mower when he was old but he axed out a new tongue from a oak post and was happy.

What a thrill or feat it must have been for my Grandpa & Dad to live through all those big changes from 1900-1994.Wonder what they would think of the last 30 years of improvement & Changes?? cleddy

 

[paul]

Some good points!

Remember, lifting and lowering the mower isn’t designed for use on a tractor, so you have to run back or cobble something up to do that.

And wheel driven, the mowing doesn’t start until you are moving, so clearing clogs and starting in heavy hay is ‘different’.

I live in a very wet, lush, heavy hay growth area, lots of dew until noon and might set in again by 6:00pm grass never does dry out, so using a wheel drive mower that is perhaps a little light built isn’t much fun. Here the old horse drawn were mostly all sent to the iron pile as fast as possible, for something that handled tough conditions better.

In lighter, drier areas I bet they work a lot better and still can make some hay.I have to remember not everywhere is like ‘here.’

Paul

 

[markct]

Good advice for the farmer working a small farm 50 years ago, nowadays save yourself the frustration and spend a few hundred on a used pto drive sickle bar and you will have way less problems and cut more ground faster

 

[Tramway Guy]

When I was around 6 or so, my dad pulled a JD 5’ horse mower with a WC and then a WD. If one of my older brothers was around, they ‘rode the mower’, and saved a lot of getting on and off the tractor if there was a problem.

I still remember riding along to the nearest JD dealer to get a new pitman stick when one broke.

That was in late ‘50’s /early ‘60s.

We eventually got a New Idea trailing 7’ mower. What a difference! Still had the wooden pitman system though.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

When I was young we used an old horse mower to hooked to an AC B to mow pasture fields worked pretty good.

 

[C.Amick]

I always wondered what mowing through a yellow jacket's nest with a horse-drawn mower would be like.

 

[thethresherman]

Granddad mowed with an International mower converted from horse drawn in the 1950s. He was strong enough to lift the cutterbar with a rope. So for the first few years I used a #1 John Deere from 1923. Put a block of wood above the tongue to tip the mower back and had someone ride the mower to lift the cutterbar with their foot. My daughter rode it, my dad and the neighbor. I now use a 451 New Holland.

 

[Joel Sanderson]

I pulled an IHC #7 mower with my A for a very short time. I hung an anvil under the seat so it wouldn't slip. Wasn't the best system. Some of the nicest things about mowing with horses is that everything is ahead of you, it's quiet, and the horses know what they're doing. You don't get any of those with a tractor. My favorite way to mow hay is with a team and my McCormick New 4. Great way to mow, but I don't have a team anymore.

A good horse drawn mower can cost as much as or more than a good PTO driven mower. I paid less for my JD #5 mower than I did for that IHC #7.

 

[dwragon]

Thanks to all for the above information. I live in south central Oklahoma, so the grass/weeds doesnt stay wet too long, nor get too thick, as
I am in a sandyland area. I am looking at this idea for those reasons, and I have found two sickle bar cutters I can get for $100 each, with
8 ft reach. I like the fact that the sickle mower has a slip clutch. The cost of a gearbox is about the same as a used bushhog is another
factor, and I have been told that simply hiting an ant mound will destroy a gearbox, dont want to deal with that.

 

[Bret4207]

Just because you can do something doesn't mean it's the best option. I cleaned a horse shed/barn for years with a horse scoop behind a tractor. A skid steer is a lot better tool. I spread manure off a stone boat with a fork. A manure spreader is a lot better tool. I plowed a lot of land with a trailer plow behind a VAC. A 3 pt plow behind a larger tractor does the job faster and better. I raked hay with junk pile rakes. A good NH 256 does and much, much better job.

Just cuz you can make it work doesn't mean it's a great option.

 

[J Hamilton]

I'm sure it wouldn't be much fun for the horse either!

 

[DeltaSteve]

Sometimes the 'poor boy'way is the only way we get by. I've been there most of my life. We use what we have.We do what we must.

 

[PJH]

There was an old horse mower on the farm when I was a kid. I remember that it had to be pulled slowly.

A friend bought one cheap and pulled it behind an old Army Jeep.

My favorite horse drawn mower memories involve an 80 year old man in our neighborhood. He lived about a half mile south of town, and his property bordered IL Route 151. This is hilly country. Ed would mow the super steep highway slopes that bordered his property. I stopped to watch him one day. He was coming straight towards me with the bar uphill. The horses and Ed were in a vertical position, and the mower wheels were aligned perpendicular to the slope. It would have made a fantastic picture, with one horse positioned much higher than the other, and Ed splitting the difference between them. It is one of my many "wish I'd had a camera" memories.

Ed died in 1985 at the age of 100.

 

[jd man wis]

We farmed alot of years with one being with a b John deere. The mower is geared so you can go slow or kinda fast. I was mowing one time slow so the hay would kinda still stand up an thinking that it could stand up some and my dad said that I was going to slow. We mowed in 2 gear about 1/2 to 3/4 on the gas.
.

 

[SVcummins]

I will have a team someday I have always wanted to farm with a team

 

[tractorguy2]

Back in the early 2000's I had a neighbor that mowed hay with a horse mower and Farmall Cub. Later he bought a Ferguson TO20 it also worked fine pulling the mower.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

We pulled ours with a WC Allis Chalmers for several years after the horses went away. The pole had to be modified as mentioned below and we had a blacksmith make a special long, curved drawbar to pull it. That way, we could cut square corners. Sold the mower to a fellow who really wanted it bad and bought a New Idea PTO pull behind mower. The horse mower was a Moline. Had grease cups on it. No zerks.

 

[TomA in CA]

The first year I cut hay (1961) I pulled a horse mower. I went sailing down hill in 3rd gear with my Oliver HG. By the second year I had invested in a pto attachment and ran a #5 mower and never looked back.
Mostly for the 7' cut vs 5'.

 

[M Nut]

Next door neighbor has a horse mower sitting in the junk row from that exact situation. As he told the story, when the team took off on a dead gallop, and he couldn’t get them stopped, he rolled off the back of the mower on purpose, knowing if he fell it wouldn’t be a good outcome. When he found the team and mower two miles down the road, there wasn’t enough left of the mower to even hope to repair it. Internal gears were junk and drive parts destroyed. Horses were ok though.

 

[C.Amick]

That's what if figured would happen with horses. Neighbor said he rode on one behind Farmall Super A Tractor before his dad found a mower for the tractor. He said yellow jackets were bad news.