Best Disk Mower

PN14

Looking at buying an 8ft disk mower and looking for thoughts on what is the best currently.

Will do some small quantity of meadows maybe 30acres and mostly topping say 100 acres per year so not overly worked.

Currently have a 5ft6 vicon. Nice mower but needs some bed repair after hitting a rock backend of last year so thinking of upgrading.

Any thoughts on what make is best and why?

Signpost

I bought one in 2015 after a fair bit of research. For rougher ground Pottenger seemed to be recommended, for the cream of the crop in the general run of things John Deere were being plugged by a lot of lads. I went for the pottenger in the end & can't fault it so far

Robson99

Have a Malone and very happy with it. Second choice would be a krone

tismesoitis

Just got a malone 800 last week. Mowed a couple a acres the weekend very pleased with it!!

mythos110

Have a Malone 800 for the last 3 years. Grand on meadows but a disaster topping. Keeps leaving ragworth behind and skipping over grass when you try to cut a little higher for topping.

Have a JD1365 for mowing the silage and its unbeatable for quality of cut.

davidk1394

For what your doing something like a maragon might suit you or these new samaz mowers perhaps ? Cheap, low maintenance and low HP required. Have 2 krone mowers here after having Kuhn and Major (which was a major disaster). Krone leaves a clean cut. Having the quick change blades and the safe cut system is great when your in ground your not sure of

Sam Kade

davidk1394 wrote: »

For what your doing something like a maragon might suit you or these new samaz mowers perhaps ? Cheap, low maintenance and low HP required. Have 2 krone mowers here after having Kuhn and Major (which was a major disaster). Krone leaves a clean cut. Having the quick change blades and the safe cut system is great when your in ground your not sure of

Topping on rough ground would leave a marangon in bits. If you have level fields and drive it handy you might get away with it.

rs8

krone easy driven, and roll pin saftey cut!! also very clean cutting!!

darragh_haven

I have a Lely splendimo 9ft. Find it excellent for both silage and topping. We top very little ground anymore, and don't know how it'd perform on rough ground...
Traded in a trailed 8ft major topper that we bought new 27 years previously

Sam Kade

darragh_haven wrote: »

I have a Lely splendimo 9ft. Find it excellent for both silage and topping. We top very little ground anymore, and don't know how it'd perform on rough ground...
Traded in a trailed 8ft major topper that we bought new 27 years previously

Is that a centre pivot mower? Going over 9' with a mounted mower, the centre pivot is the way to go.

cjpm

darragh_haven wrote: »

I have a Lely splendimo 9ft. Find it excellent for both silage and topping. We top very little ground anymore, and don't know how it'd perform on rough ground...
Traded in a trailed 8ft major topper that we bought new 27 years previously

She didn't owe ye anything anyway.....

darragh_haven

cjpm wrote: »

She didn't owe ye anything anyway.....

My dad is a cow man. But hes a damn fine machinery man too. Most machines are bought nrw and end their days here too.

bogman_bass

Best mower? Kuhn
Is it worth the price? Probably not

RobinBanks

I dont have a mower, but was told if i was considering one to look at Malone because the frame is galvanized ( the cow dung will eat into the non dipped frame i suppose) or Taarup/Kverneland

lab man

Malone don't have a top repair bed like jd or kuhn

PN14

Thanks for all the replies lads. Good to get some first hand feedback from people.
Going to look at a mid mount Kverneland. Had been advised to avoid a Malone by a friend who wasn't happy with the finish cut but would have thought that galvanized frame would be an asset.
We have a few different dealers local so a project for the next few days to call into a few.
Had seen the shamaz on donedeal not sure I d go down that route. They look ok but long term reliability & parts might be an issue

lab man

Malone mower will skin da ground

Dunedin

lab man wrote: »

Malone mower will skin da ground

I have the Malone 8 foot, bought new three years ago.

Cuts meadow very clean but I find that I have to keep blades very sharp or else it's poor enough for topping as it passes over a lot of docks and thistles.

lab man

I'm only going by the trailed mower I have

Aravo

Sorry for bumping old thread. Currently have 5ft 6 rear mounted mower (vicon). Looking at rear mounted 8ft mower for 100hp tractor, good clean cut, easy changeable blades, does not clog. Also am I best to keep the smaller mower for topping. Any advice welcome.

raypallas

Aravo wrote: »

Sorry for bumping old thread. Currently have 5ft 6 rear mounted mower (vicon). Looking at rear mounted 8ft mower for 100hp tractor, good clean cut, easy changeable blades, does not clog. Also am I best to keep the smaller mower for topping. Any advice welcome.

Have a look at Krone 8ft or 9ft shaft driven side mounted.
Excellent build, recently upgraded from a 9ft conditioner to 9ft disk both krones. You'd fly away with the disk mower, no pressure on the tractor and cleans the ground very well. Has quick change blades as well.

mycro2013

Kuhn.

ruwithme

Aravo wrote: »

Sorry for bumping old thread. Currently have 5ft 6 rear mounted mower (vicon). Looking at rear mounted 8ft mower for 100hp tractor, good clean cut, easy changeable blades, does not clog. Also am I best to keep the smaller mower for topping. Any advice welcome.

If your grazing ground is fairly safe mow away with new mower. 8FT cut you'd never go back to 5ft 6. have a Kuhn 8ft disc here for both jobs.unbreakable so far 10 years now.

ruwithme

raypallas wrote: »

Have a look at Krone 8ft or 9ft shaft driven side mounted.
Excellent build, recently upgraded from a 9ft conditioner to 9ft disk both krones. You'd fly away with the disk mower, no pressure on the tractor and cleans the ground very well. Has quick change blades as well.

Why did you move away from a conditioner?

Reggie.

ruwithme wrote: »

Why did you move away from a conditioner?

Was thinking that myself. To move away from a conditioner would have been a downgrade I would have thought

mycro2013

Reggie. wrote: »

Was thinking that myself. To move away from a conditioner would have been a downgrade I would have thought

There's no real benefit as each swarth is being rowed up by rake in most cases. Resulting in the conditioner not being utilised.

raypallas

ruwithme wrote: »

Why did you move away from a conditioner?

Tractor was under pressure for power (96hp) and a bit light on the back with the weight of the conditioner. Keeping the old one and removing the conditioner for topping as well tho. Tractor sings along with the new one even in very heavy crops.

Gudstock

Krone have a great reputation for farmers machine, the quick change blades are a big plus also.

Reggie.

mycro2013 wrote: »

There's no real benefit as each swarth is being rowed up by rake in most cases. Resulting in the conditioner not being utilised.

Alot harder to rake up non conditioned swaths tho. Esp if it gets rain

Reggie.

Gudstock wrote: »

Krone have a great reputation for farmers machine, the quick change blades are a big plus also.

Only thing about quick blades is that the bed is at a steeper angle cos the discs are higher. Which in turn can cause the blades to become damaged more often

raypallas

Reggie. wrote: »

Was thinking that myself. To move away from a conditioner would have been a downgrade I would have thought

Yes in a way, but conditioner on our own was totally clapped out and going to cost huge money to repair. Wanted to go new for a new mower for reliability with out having the tractor under too much pressure as won't be getting more power for a good number of years yet. Will probably pick up a tedder for this year to make up for the lack of a conditioner.

ruwithme

Dealers seem to be pushing krone mowers e.t.c in recent years. are they considered more affordable than the Kuhn and others?

Aravo

8ft mowers mounted at rear 3 point linkage
Marangon (Spain) 6k,
Malone & Major 7k ish,
Kverneland 8k
Krone 8k ish,

mycro2013

There is no really difference in price if you dealing without the need to trade in. With a good discount available. Plus your buying out of season which will also beneficial.

Pottinger have an interesting model as there offering at 9ft is the same price as competitors 8fts.

jimmy G M

Gudstock wrote: »

Krone have a great reputation for farmers machine, the quick change blades are a big plus also.

We bought a new Krone 8ft mower there recently .... after 2 years of thinking about it ... checking alternatives etc ... from what I can figure they are very well made, cut well, have disk safety features and the quick change blades were the clincher.... Kuhn well up there too and Kverneland but went with Krone in the end... picking it up before the end of the month ... hopefully...

Aravo

jimmy G M wrote: »

We bought a new Krone 8ft mower there recently .... after 2 years of thinking about it ... checking alternatives etc ... from what I can figure they are very well made, cut well, have disk safety features and the quick change blades were the clincher.... Kuhn well up there too and Kverneland but went with Krone in the end... picking it up before the end of the month ... hopefully...

Can you put spacers on the Krone for topping. Best of luck with it

jimmy G M

Aravo wrote: »

Can you put spacers on the Krone for topping. Best of luck with it

Thx...Yeah you can get topping skids but they are not standard with it. We managed to get a set thrown in with the deal...

Grueller

jimmy G M wrote: »

Thx...Yeah you can get topping skids but they are not standard with it. We managed to get a set thrown in with the deal...

I have them here for a kverneland 9ft and only ever used them once the say she was brand new. Ever since I just lengthen the top link and it works away the finest.

Sami23

jimmy G M wrote: »

We bought a new Krone 8ft mower there recently .... after 2 years of thinking about it ... checking alternatives etc ... from what I can figure they are very well made, cut well, have disk safety features and the quick change blades were the clincher.... Kuhn well up there too and Kverneland but went with Krone in the end... picking it up before the end of the month ... hopefully...

Did you go 8 or 9 ft and what did you end up paying for it. Only asking as I'm thinking of buying an 8ft myself this year and will buy Krone if I am. Thanks

raypallas

Aravo wrote: »

Can you put spacers on the Krone for topping. Best of luck with it

You can get them all right but we didn't bother but our ground has nearly all been reseeded at this point or would be cut for silage every year anyways, think you would have a better job without the skids. On the bed there is a shear pin that protects every disk and if you were to hit something it pops up the disk to protect the others. You then just replace the pin there and then in the field (supposed to only take a few minutes but has never had to do it) and set off mowing again.

jimmy G M

Sami23 wrote: »

Did you go 8 or 9 ft and what did you end up paying for it. Only asking as I'm thinking of buying an 8ft myself this year and will buy Krone if I am. Thanks

8ft, €8,000 with skids inc. The standard asking price seems to be €8,400 but managed to haggle him down. Straight deal.

Sami23

jimmy G M wrote: »

8ft, €8,000 with skids inc. The standard asking price seems to be €8,400 but managed to haggle him down. Straight deal.

Thanks, big money but a very good machine.
Best of luck with it anyway.

jimmy G M

raypallas wrote: »

You can get them all right but we didn't bother but our ground has nearly all been reserved at this point or would be cut for silage every year anyways, think you would have a better job without the skids. On the bed there is a shear pin that protects every disk and if you were to hit something it pops up the disk to protect the others. You then just replace the pin there and then in the field (supposed to only take a few minutes but has never had to do it) and set off mowing again.

Generally we don't bother with skids when topping, but we have one field with a couple of stoney out-crops so they should be handy for that. Probably wouldn't have bought them, but they came as part of the deal.

jimmy G M

Sami23 wrote: »

Thanks, big money but a very good machine.
Best of luck with it anyway.

Hope to knock 15 years out of it.

raypallas

jimmy G M wrote: »

Hope to knock 15 years out of it.

Hoping to do the same here, keep the oil changed and a light wash and oiling at the end of the year should keep it right.

Aravo

raypallas wrote: »

Hoping to do the same here, keep the oil changed and a light wash and oiling at the end of the year should keep it right.

Yes to all of the above. Our mower must be 20yrs old but it's well minded. I like the idea of a larger mower and I have personal control of things, but as I work full time it comes to a stage is it viable or am I just being a busy fool with cutting, turning, rowing, drawing in bales.

Who2

jimmy G M wrote: »

8ft, €8,000 with skids inc. The standard asking price seems to be €8,400 but managed to haggle him down. Straight deal.

is that for the standard mower or the centre pivot?

Reggie.

Who2 wrote: »

is that for the standard mower or the centre pivot?

That sounds like a standard mower

jntsnk

Who2 wrote: »

is that for the standard mower or the centre pivot?

What make was it? If it was a Krone it’s the standard not central pivot

lab man

RobinBanks wrote:

I dont have a mower, but was told if i was considering one to look at Malone because the frame is galvanized ( the cow dung will eat into the non dipped frame i suppose) or Taarup/Kverneland

stay away from malone

jimmy G M

Who2 wrote: »

is that for the standard mower or the centre pivot?

Standard Krone mower, AMR 240 . The centre pivot adds around 1,200 if I remember correctly and I think the smallest centre pivot is 9ft. So a 9ft centre pivot was coming in around €10,500 or something like that.

Will see how we get on with this one for a few years anyway . Brother picked it up yesterday and was topping rushes before spraying over at his place...