Hay preservative systems for small squares?

   / Hay preservative systems for small squares? #51  
I have run many mowers over the years making baled hay and haulage. We had about 900 acres of hay ground of many types here in New Hampshire. Some was alfalfa, some alfalfa orchard grass mix , and some orchard grass/ timothy mix. When I was young, we had New Holland Haybines that were sickle bar with roll conditioners, then moved to New Holland disc mower with rolls. After that we had a mix of Kuhn mowers with flail conditioners that ran against a finger comb, then finally John Deere disc mowers with finger conditioners that run the hay against a rub shield. Switching from sickle bars to disc mowers was night and day difference in production with our stones. No mow stoping and pulling the sickle bar to repair a missing knife. The Kuhn finger conditioner with the finger/ comb system out dried all the others, but came with the price of some leaf loss in alfalfa. The New Holland disc mower with Chevron Rolls tended to send the hay threw the rolls sideways so the hay was not conditioned well. The John Deere rub shield method worked pretty good and they had more reliable cutter bars and were easier to service. None of them were perfect in all conditions. It came down to making some compromises to have a good reliable machine that fit our needs.
 

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