Haybob or Grass Conditioner/Wuffler

Robson99

Have an old haybob which owes us nothing at this stage. Need to change it now though. We cut the silage / haylage / hay ourselves. 7ft mower. Undecided as what to get between
[a] New Haybob
Lely 300
[c] Conditioner / Wuffler
Have a budget of about 5k. It would be a long term investment as we have the old haybob 25yrs. We would have about 20acres of meadow each year. Machine must be able to ted & row. What are yeer thoughts / experiences

moy83

Robson99 wrote: »

Have an old haybob which owes us nothing at this stage. Need to change it now though. We cut the silage / haylage / hay ourselves. 7ft mower. Undecided as what to get between
[a] New Haybob
Lely 300
[c] Conditioner / Wuffler
Have a budget of about 5k. It would be a long term investment as we have the old haybob 25yrs. We would have about 20acres of meadow each year. Machine must be able to ted & row. What are yeer thoughts / experiences

I'd say get the new haybob as it will toss out and row in whereas the wuffler will only work in the rows . 5k is big budget for 20 acres a year

Robson99

Haybob cost something like £800 25years ago and we would still get €750 for it. 5k over 20 years it will be less than €1 per bale. If it increases quality of bales it will be very cheap. Also 5k allows for a swather. The haybob / lely would be less

Casinoking

A Lely is a far better machine to shake out grass than a haybob, that's what I'd be going for if I was in your position. A wuffler is a good tool but it won't be much use to you if you're trying to make hay. We had several types of haybob over the years and they all had the same problem, the more you turned grass the more they knotted it into lumps. The Lely does a much better job of lifting and spreading. It might not rake quite as clean as a haybob, but you'd want a very big field to make a bale from what it would leave behind.

Muckit

20 acres a year it is madness (I think) going for a new machine. All you want is something reliable. A haybob/lely/wuffler are not complex machines and easy keep going. A good clean second machine is what you want.

We bought a secondhand pz200 about 20-25 years ago. We would have been similar acreage/yr to what you want it for. At the time the oul lad reckoned that the bearings were f**ked in one of the reels and as it was my job as a young lad to turn the hay, he had me warned to turn off all immediately if it did happen. Guess what.... still waiting for those bearings to go!!

Take a look on donedeal, there are more secondhand machines than you could shake a stick at!! Most are being sold because they haven't been used in years and this year the sun is shining

redzerologhlen

Nothing like the lely type machines to shake out grass imo. The contractor I used to work with had a 4 rotor class one and it was very good too.

massey6480

Robson99 wrote: »

Have an old haybob which owes us nothing at this stage. Need to change it now though. We cut the silage / haylage / hay ourselves. 7ft mower. Undecided as what to get between
[a] New Haybob
Lely 300
[c] Conditioner / Wuffler
Have a budget of about 5k. It would be a long term investment as we have the old haybob 25yrs. We would have about 20acres of meadow each year. Machine must be able to ted & row. What are yeer thoughts / experiences

Buy a lely 300 only job for turning hay or silage haybob only makes lump`s had a haybob here for 20 yr`s changed for lely last year would`nt go back to a haybob again. Would`nt leave the field as clean after rowing but i presume your contractor rake`s in front of his baler .
Wuffler is only suitable for turning silage and a comprmise at that .

agriman27

What about a haybob 360 not very popular but I think they are an interesting machine robust and simple and would make good rows

Masseymad

sytrex haymaker are a good turner, i bought 1 last year way better than a pz haybob they dont leave lumps.

Robson99

massey6480 wrote: »

Buy a lely 300 only job for turning hay or silage haybob only makes lump`s had a haybob here for 20 yr`s changed for lely last year would`nt go back to a haybob again. Would`nt leave the field as clean after rowing but i presume your contractor rake`s in front of his baler .
Wuffler is only suitable for turning silage and a comprmise at that .

How good / bad are the lely for rowing?

Sam Kade

What's wrong with the old haybob? If it's still worth €750 can't be much.

trabpc

I honestly think those who spend €5000 to €6000. On a tedder or rake will always justify their purchace and slag off the old rake as useless, knots etc. Human nature. If it's good hay weather a few knots here or there won't really matter and the cattle wont tell the difference. For 20ac year, do up your haybob. If you contracting maybe something fancy. But I belive you will need two machines to replace your old rake proper. A tedder then a rake.

Muckit

A combination machine in any walk of life is always a compromise. The main question you have to ask yourself is 'can I live with compromise'?

Robson99

Anyone know what price the Lely 300 are new?