Mower and harvestor question...

cjpm

Would 105hp be enough to drive a 10 ft mower conditioner? I know that you would have to drive a good bit slower, than say a contractor, but would she manage it?

I'd hate to have to buy a smaller mower only to have to change it if I bought a more powerful tractor.


Also, I see a good few double chops for sale on donedeal. Would these pick up a 5 ft swarth or would it leave too much on the ground.... I know flails are not ideal!

simx

cjpm wrote: »

Would 105hp be enough to drive a 10 ft mower conditioner? I know that you would have to drive a good bit slower, than say a contractor, but would she manage it?

I'd hate to have to buy a smaller mower only to have to change it if I bought a more powerful tractor.


Also, I see a good few double chops for sale on donedeal. Would these pick up a 5 ft swarth or would it leave too much on the ground.... I know flails are not ideal!

100 horses should be ok for mower, cant see why a double chop wouldnt pick it either

gazahayes

Spent about an hour pulling wire out of a conditioner on the back of a butterfly mower it was so bad we ended up cutting off the wire guard as it had melted it to the shaft!

joejobrien

Yes the tractor will definitely drive the mower. What is your land type, hilly, boggy etc. These factors can sap the life out of your tractor and yes you can go down a gear or two but longer term it aint go to do your tractor much good and also you will get p...ed off going slower than you should.
On your harvester question, the answer is yes. BUT it is not very successful. It can depend what you want in terms of output. some are happy at 10/12 acres a day more want 50 ac/ day. It has a tendency to wrap around the auger especially as the grass gets drier.I would question its ability to pickup 8/10 feet of grass as they were desigined for 5/6 cut only..........maybe very light 8/10 swarths might work.
My advice is if your considering a harvester go for a precison chop , they are designed for for that job you can sharpen the knives easily on them , just think about sharpening on a double chops and crawling under to go at the flails!!!! and juice dripping on top of you with ground wet. O it all sound lovely!!

pms7

cjpm wrote: »

Also, I see a good few double chops for sale on donedeal. Would these pick up a 5 ft swarth or would it leave too much on the ground.... I know flails are not ideal!

Have you considered a small wagon?
Just did my first 17 acres last week, first time ever doing silage ourselves here. Worked well.

Sam Kade

joejobrien wrote: »

Yes the tractor will definitely drive the mower. What is your land type, hilly, boggy etc. These factors can sap the life out of your tractor and yes you can go down a gear or two but longer term it aint go to do your tractor much good and also you will get p...ed off going slower than you should.
On your harvester question, the answer is yes. BUT it is not very successful. It can depend what you want in terms of output. some are happy at 10/12 acres a day more want 50 ac/ day. It has a tendency to wrap around the auger especially as the grass gets drier.I would question its ability to pickup 8/10 feet of grass as they were desigined for 5/6 cut only..........maybe very light 8/10 swarths might work.
My advice is if your considering a harvester go for a precison chop , they are designed for for that job you can sharpen the knives easily on them , just think about sharpening on a double chops and crawling under to go at the flails!!!! and juice dripping on top of you with ground wet. O it all sound lovely!!

I worked with a farmer that picked up a 10' swarth with a double chop. Sharpening the knives is a winter job and it would be easier to take them off for sharpening.

iverjohnston

"just think about sharpening on a double chops and crawling under to go at the flails!!!! and juice dripping on top of you with ground wet. O it all sound lovely!!"

Never crawl under a double chop with a grinder to sharpen,flails, or change them.

Chain the drawbar to your loader, and lift her up until the spout sits on the ground. Its perfectly stable there,( well a New Holland 339 is anyway) and a lot easier to work at . Bellyband easy to look at also.

joejobrien

I never said to crawl underneath without satety concerns properly addressed. I would have thought that was a foregone conculsion where ever machinery was concerned just like i didnt advocate safety glasses with grinder use. I was merely making the point that it is a hard excerise unlike percision harvesters. The flails and knives are well dull at the end of days work unlke percison machines and can more easily be sharpened. Also set shearbar clearence in 5 mins .If that your thing work away and carry on burning lots of diesel. I never knew of anyone sharping either/both flails and knives twice a day. SPFH can edge knives while travelling and also move shear bar.

joejobrien

Sam what kind of output was he doing and yield was he picking up
How was he manging with the auger? Percison chop and SPFH took over the market. There was a reason What was lenght of chopp like. ? It was pretty difficult to handle in the pit in our experience. You can do anything but viability and time constraints often have to be looked at
Like i said it depends what you want20/50/70acres a day.

1chippy

Had the hp conversation with our contractor the other day. he said 130 hp would be the minimum he would run a 10' mower on

joejobrien

1chippy wrote: »

Had the hp conversation with our contractor the other day. he said 130 hp would be the minimum he would run a 10' mower on

Would agree with that.:cool:

tim04750

Ran a fiat 880 under a jd 1360 for a couple of years not a bother on her, stuck a 90-90 under it after that for a couple more years she flew it, 6 acres an hour no bother, both of em were two wheel drive, 4 wheel drive will sap a bit of power, as will hydraulic transmissions.

iverjohnston

Joejo, nowhere did i suggest you were advocating any dangerous practice. I never mentioned props or safety goggles. No need to be so defensive.I merely posted the method we used to change a full set of fails or sharpen them. Also made checking the flailing hangers for cracks a lot easier.

joejobrien wrote: »

I never said to crawl underneath without satety concerns properly addressed. I would have thought that was a foregone conculsion where ever machinery was concerned just like i didnt advocate safety glasses with grinder use. I was merely making the point that it is a hard excerise unlike percision harvesters. The flails and knives are well dull at the end of days work unlke percison machines and can more easily be sharpened. Also set shearbar clearence in 5 mins .If that your thing work away and carry on burning lots of diesel. I never knew of anyone sharping either/both flails and knives twice a day. SPFH can edge knives while travelling and also move shear bar.

satstheway

Our contractor has no prob cutting with 10 foot Deere mower on a same silver 104. 6 acre to the hour and well done.

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

1chippy wrote: »

Had the hp conversation with our contractor the other day. he said 130 hp would be the minimum he would run a 10' mower on

I think he is trying to stop putting ideas into your head

jd6920s

A general rule of thumb to drive a mower would be 10hp per foot,i.e 10 foot : 100 hp tractor minimum, but to achieve best performance with a 10 foot mower you would want 140 hp or more. A 100hp tractor would fairly slow on hills and heavy crops, and the tractor would be burning huge amount of diesel, where with a bigger tractor it wouldnt be under as much pressure.

Damo810

1chippy wrote: »

Had the hp conversation with our contractor the other day. he said 130 hp would be the minimum he would run a 10' mower on

Ott in my view. 130HP is the minimum for a fusion baler!


105HP should be fine, but what tractor are you using? The power they have at the PTO varies from whats at the drawbar/flywheel.

joe man utd

Damo810 wrote: »

Ott in my view. 130HP is the minimum for a fusion baler!

I know a fella running a fusion making 9000 bales a year on a 01 tm 125 he never got it stepped up or nothing and there isn't a bother on it...

redzerologhlen

jd6920s wrote: »

A general rule of thumb to drive a mower would be 10hp per foot,i.e 10 foot : 100 hp tractor minimum, but to achieve best performance with a 10 foot mower you would want 140 hp or more. A 100hp tractor would fairly slow on hills and heavy crops, and the tractor would be burning huge amount of diesel, where with a bigger tractor it wouldnt be under as much pressure.

I spent a few years mowing with a 6610 Deere and a 10 foot Krone in a village with no level field and it was never under any real pressure to be honest and it's a long way off 140hp, the same mower was often behind a 110-90 standard and it didnt make a meal of it either.

darragh_haven

redzerologhlen wrote: »

I spent a few years mowing with a 6610 Deere and a 10 foot Krone in a village with no level field and it was never under any real pressure to be honest and it's a long way off 140hp, the same mower was often behind a 110-90 standard and it didnt make a meal of it either.

Jeez, what did the villagers think of you mowing down the village........ Was it hard on knives

Gman1987

Mowed down our silage last week, I was mowing with a Ford 7610 and a 10 ft Kuhn mower, it was no bother to her, had a JD 6920s and a 10 ft JD mower also. The JD was using a grouper but I'd say it nearly burnt twice as much juice.

redzerologhlen

darragh_haven wrote: »

Jeez, what did the villagers think of you mowing down the village........ Was it hard on knives

Oh ya, the boss man used to follow me around with a car trailer full of flails You know what I mean

cjpm

Damo810 wrote: »

Ott in my view. 130HP is the minimum for a fusion baler!


105HP should be fine, but what tractor are you using? The power they have at the PTO varies from whats at the drawbar/flywheel.

Prob using a turboed ford 7610, she's only 2 wheel drive however the land is grand and flat.

Would a double chop leave much of the swarth on the ground?? that's my biggest worry...

cjpm

Ger1987 wrote: »

Mowed down our silage last week, I was mowing with a Ford 7610 and a 10 ft Kuhn mower, it was no bother to her, had a JD 6920s and a 10 ft JD mower also. The JD was using a grouper but I'd say it nearly burnt twice as much juice.

What model Kuhn Ger???

joejobrien

Hi cjpm
No We had no difficulty in that regard. With a 5 6" cut and a swarth thats 3 ft wide approx ,your challenge is going to be on a the corners.

simx

joejobrien wrote: »

Would a double chop leave much of the swarth on the ground?? that's my biggest worry...

No We had no difficulty in that regard. With a 5 6" cut and a swarth thats 3 ft wide approx ,your challenge is going to be on a the corners.[/quote]

Yeah they tend to leave them quite sharp alright

Gman1987

cjpm wrote: »

What model Kuhn Ger???

Kuhn FC300 mower, we got the 7610 tested on the PTO about 8 years ago, she was putting out 87hp on the PTO

CAtocork

A double chop does most of its chopping when it's cutting standing grass due to the concave shape of the knives.
If your picking up from a mower, it's technically a "single chop"
Buy a nice 10X and your will be up on 3-5 ac/hr and a nicer chop.

Rusty Fox

For a good few years we had a JD 6400 pulling a JD 1360 with swarther and she had no issues with it. Through the odd soft spot and none of our fields are exactly level. A beast of a little tractor.

9935452

Ger1987 wrote: »

Kuhn FC300 mower, we got the 7610 tested on the PTO about 8 years ago, she was putting out 87hp on the PTO

we ran a kuhn FC300, jd 1360, jd 1365 and kuhn 302gi over the last 10 year and by far the kuhns were the easiest to drive, less power needed , faster and cut cleaner. The JDs were power hungry,
They were all run on the same tractor. i believe the fact the kuhns were run in the 1000 box and the jds in 540 had an impact in this

freedominacup

redzerologhlen wrote: »

I spent a few years mowing with a 6610 Deere and a 10 foot Krone in a village with no level field and it was never under any real pressure to be honest and it's a long way off 140hp, the same mower was often behind a 110-90 standard and it didnt make a meal of it either.

I think a lot of contractors are substituting horsepower for brainpower/ability in their drivers. It's costing them in diesel without any doubt. Back in my mis-spent youth we thought 105-110hp was plenty under an 18ft Dooley now they all seem to need 150hp and almost double the fuel usage.

delaval

freedominacup wrote: »

I think a lot of contractors are substituting horsepower for brainpower/ability in their drivers. It's costing them in diesel without any doubt. Back in my mis-spent youth we thought 105-110hp was plenty under an 18ft Dooley now they all seem to need 150hp and almost double the fuel usage.

It makes me laugh when you see a 30' rake on a 150hp when a 100 would do. Our guy has it on a 4cyl 110 hp NH, using his head!!!!

yellow50HX

9935452 wrote: »

we ran a kuhn FC300, jd 1360, jd 1365 and kuhn 302gi over the last 10 year and by far the kuhns were the easiest to drive, less power needed , faster and cut cleaner. The JDs were power hungry,
They were all run on the same tractor. i believe the fact the kuhns were run in the 1000 box and the jds in 540 had an impact in this

i think the kuhn and the JD have the same beds

freedominacup

delaval wrote: »

It makes me laugh when you see a 30' rake on a 150hp when a 100 would do. Our guy has it on a 4cyl 110 hp NH, using his head!!!!

And a lot less diesel. Local contractor was telling us his 69XX J Deeres have a 400l+ fuel tank that struggles to get through 2 days hauling at silage. He could certainly do it for half that diesel cost.

oldsmokey

PMS7, was thinking of that route myself, fields close to yard, and not that much of a hurry, also labour scarce...what kinda wagon did you buy..tractor?..mower?...ta

pms7 wrote: »

Have you considered a small wagon?
Just did my first 17 acres last week, first time ever doing silage ourselves here. Worked well.

lalababa

How did you get on cjpm. Also was thinking would an old single chop pick up a row from a 5ft6 mower maybe have to take off the lower front bit. Would the grass be cut again by the single chop or just blown up ??

lalababa

Also how much of an advantage is wilting for 24hrs? Over single and double etc

pms7

oldsmokey wrote: »

PMS7, was thinking of that route myself, fields close to yard, and not that much of a hurry, also labour scarce...what kinda wagon did you buy..tractor?..mower?...ta

Went for 20 year old Krone Titan 6/40, think 7 ton grass, if full. Cost 7k. Noel Gleeson. TS110 in front, obviously need to gear down if going up a hill full. Got local guy with 10ft mower to mow. Bought a buckrake, also can hire in guy with loader. Did a small pit with tractor front loader, ok if empty load on pit. Do about 15 acres/ day. First year, very happy with the system. I split first cut so max 15-20 acres at a time. Much better for grass management. Pay for mowing and loader, €5/acre diesel for 110, allow €15/ac depreciation on wagon (10 year lifespan?), at least €20-30 cheaper than contractor. Even if same cost, never go back to contractor.