muffler, Wilter, opinion wanted.

popgun

Just was interested to here people's opinion on differant brands of muffler/wilter. I've heard some brands aren't great and others are stronger but you don't always get what you pay for.
I'm just very interested in buying one and don't want to make a mistake.
I make about 600 bale's a year and would always have a fairly heavy swart. Sometimes a 30 foot swart depending on the crop.
Any opinions would be great.

flatout11

popgun wrote: »

Just was interested to here people's opinion on differant brands of muffler/wilter. I've heard some brands aren't great and others are stronger but you don't always get what you pay for.
I'm just very interested in buying one and don't want to make a mistake.
I make about 600 bale's a year and would always have a fairly heavy swart. Sometimes a 30 foot swart depending on the crop.
Any opinions would be great.

cant see any of them doing much in a 30 ft swarth except burning diesel driving them around the field.....

popgun

Yeah it wouldn't be that often it would have to deal with a 30 foot but definitely 20 foot on a regular basis. I have had the loan of one this year and found it fantastic but it was 6500 new

flat out !!

I have Bridgeway engineering one, probably one of the cheaper ones on the market. It will take 20 foot swarts of heavy grass no problem, and is a great job. Bought it 6 yrs ago. Didnt take it out of the shed this yr, wasn't much point with the way the weather was.

popgun

Thanks flat out!! that's the type of info I was looking for.

Sam Kade

Wufflers is what they are called. They will have a leisurely time this year

F.D

seems a bit pointless trying to wuffle 20ft swaths, even heavy 10's the air doesent get in that well
I'd imagine tedding out is the only way to get it to wilt quickly as its spread over a bigger surface area
Just wondering would you be better just mowing it out flat and row it up into a 20 or 30 foot once the to has wilted on top, would it be a similar result to the wuffler as the rake would leave a fluffed up swath?

reilig

If you mow flat out, will a wuffler be any good for just turning the grass? Will it row up also??

flat out !!

F.D wrote: »

seems a bit pointless trying to wuffle 20ft swaths, even heavy 10's the air doesent get in that well
I'd imagine tedding out is the only way to get it to wilt quickly as its spread over a bigger surface area
Just wondering would you be better just mowing it out flat and row it up into a 20 or 30 foot once the to has wilted on top, would it be a similar result to the wuffler as the rake would leave a fluffed up swath?

Yeah, i'd agree wit u on that, but my pit silage contractor doesn't offer that option, if u get good drying conditions the 20 foot row will dry a lot by going tru it wit the wuffler. I'd use it for 10 foot rows before i'd bale too. Even straw the odd time.

F.D

I'd say they do the job alright, and especially in straw they would be brilliant, i was more making the point with 20 ft of heavy grass you would expecting a lot from a machine to get it to dry, more from the point of view its still in a swath and eventually it will flatten out again even after been fluffed up

popgun

Thank's lad. Yeah my contractor does mow flat and then it's raked into swarth's but I'm sure like so many other's this year I got rain just before it was bailed. This is where I would be using the wuffler to try help dry out the swarth, it worked very well for me this year made a great job of drying them out.
Another reason I'd like something strong is because I have a neighbour that like's to borrow stuff and he would break iron, he never fail's but to do some damage.

muffler

Did someone call?

sonnybill

Anyone using the JF hay flash or old belt side turner with success for drier silage/ haylage ? Like the idea that it leaves it down on a dry section.. Or are there offset wufflers that do same?

kay 9

sonnybill wrote: »

Anyone using the JF hay flash or old belt side turner with success for drier silage/ haylage ? Like the idea that it leaves it down on a dry section.. Or are there offset wufflers that do same?

Still use a turner here. Does a good enough job for us. Was using a swather/wuffler last week, terrible thing to throw grass towards the tractor and pto and not the easiest machine to set for rougher ground, it'll either not pick the grass or dig up soil and that's terrible for fermentation.

Justjens

Have had a Bridgeway conditioner about 10 years, think the newer model has many necessary improvements. But if you have a perfectly flat field with no humps or hollows, ridges or bumps it does a fantastic job, if not you soon will have!

A good sturdy machine that I have failed to break, not from lack of trying. Will easily handle 20' of grass and leaves a lovely square/boxy swarth to bale. It's not the fastest machine, but then I'm in no hurry......and I only have 8' swarths.

In a normal year running the conditioner through a heavy swarth just before the baler will not make much difference as the grass will not have enough time to dry much before it's baled. If it's mown flat a better investment IMO would be a 6M tedder.

bogman_bass

The way to dry grass is to increase the surface area exposed to the sun. The way to do that is Theo spread it out as much as possible. Keeping it in the row ain't gonna cut it IMO

CloughCasey1

sonnybill wrote: »

Anyone using the JF hay flash or old belt side turner with success for drier silage/ haylage ? Like the idea that it leaves it down on a dry section.. Or are there offset wufflers that do same?

Seen local dairy farmer rowing up two heavy paddocks he cut with disc mower with hayflash last week. Looked like he travelled twice one way and twice the opposite to get as heavy a swarth possible for baling.

kay 9

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

Seen local dairy farmer rowing up two heavy paddocks he cut with disc mower with hayflash last week. Looked like he travelled twice one way and twice the opposite to get as heavy a swarth possible for baling.

We do the same here before baler comes in

divillybit

We've an Elho wuffler on our farm and its a good machine. Little to go wrong with them, with the odd shear bolt to be replaced. Wufflers are wide machines though, and if you're wuffling a 7 foot swarth the wheels on the side of the wuffler can trample the edges of the adjacent swarths, which can make it harder for the baler to pick this up cleanly. We get a contractor in with a bigger mower now to do most of the mowing and its a better job

sonnybill

kay 9 wrote: »

We do the same here before baler comes in

I like the side turner in that it's dry on top after condition mower and it just flips it over to the left onto dry ground.

Wuffling that I used unless much newer more expensive ones that can be set to leave grass off just threw it down onto same wet part of field

Down side of side turner I borrowed is the blockages... Needs more gaurds around the chain to prevent down time with knife

lakill Farm

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

Seen local dairy farmer rowing up two heavy paddocks he cut with disc mower with hayflash last week. Looked like he travelled twice one way and twice the opposite to get as heavy a swarth possible for baling.

whats a hayflash?

I bought a 16ft single roto rake last winter. contractor mowed with 9ft conditioner. I left for 20 hours and fired 2 swarts together where heavy and 3 together where it was lighter. baler is a F5500 and he packs a solid bale so didn't mind

satstheway

divillybit wrote: »

We've an Elho wuffler on our farm and its a good machine. Little to go wrong with them, with the odd shear bolt to be replaced. Wufflers are wide machines though, and if you're wuffling a 7 foot swarth the wheels on the side of the wuffler can trample the edges of the adjacent swarths, which can make it harder for the baler to pick this up cleanly. We get a contractor in with a bigger mower now to do most of the mowing and its a better job

What model of wuffler is it?

divillybit

satstheway wrote: »

What model of wuffler is it?

I think the brand is Elho.

satstheway

divillybit wrote: »

I think the brand is Elho.

I was looking at a elho master 300.
If this is the same do you reccomend them or are there any problems to watch out for?

divillybit

satstheway wrote: »

I was looking at a elho master 300.
If this is the same do you reccomend them or are there any problems to watch out for?

No mechanical problems really with them, theres little to go wrong except for the odd shear bolt breaking. Had a few punctures too with the left hand tyre which would be the one nearest the ditch. They are fairly wide so care is needed if you're on the road with them. Its a 7ft mounted mower we have and probably the best system in our case I think would be to use a single rotor rake to combine two 7ft rows and then wuffle it once then before baling. It'll manage 2 x 7ft rows alright. We dont have a single rotor rake though and as the wuffler is so wide one of the wheels on it does usually trample the edge of the adjoining 7ft row which sometimes means the baler doesent pick up that row as cleanly.