Mow, Rake & Round Bale with 40 HP.

[5030]

I get a lot of inquiries for "custom" bailing or should I say harvesting. I turn them all down. For one, I don't like running my expensive equipment in fields I don't know. You never know what is laying on the ground in the plants that you can't see. Most folks that want you to harvest, don't want to compensate you properly anyway and three, I got my hands full doing our own hay.

There is nothing worse than getting that "sinking" feeling after you hit something hidden in the hay. I know, I've done it. The first thing that goes through you mind is "I wonder what that is going to cost"

 

[cowboydoc]

The first thing that goes through you mind is "I wonder what that is going to cost"


ISN'T that the truth.

 

[jlemon]

That probably explains why almost every farmer I contacted about doing haying turned me down; they all said that they would only hay their own property and weren't interested in cutting on mine. I did finally find someone to do the work, and they took 600 square bales off my front field, so I get to keep 1/2 of that, which should be enough to keep 3 minis though the winter. So I don't really need the cuttings from the back, it was going to be extra insurance.

I guess next thing to do is contact the local USDA/Ag Extension and see what they recommend doing with the field.

 

[5030]

JLemon:

Read my previous post. I have to say this kind of "tongue in cheek", but I would advise contacting the extension agent about the disposition of your field. Instead, I'd go to the local co-op or elevator and see if they spray herbicides and apply the roundup. Then you can fit it up and replant it. I have got one cutting off a field by doing this but would advise against a fall cutting as if the plants are too short, you will loose the majority of them to winter kill. Next season, just don't forget to cut it.

 

[dancce]

Amen, to that!!!! I wish I had a dollar for everytime somone said, "Oh, yea, the field is clean,there's nothing in it that will cause you problems----or --yea, it's clean, it's been brushhogged for the last few years."
They forget to mention the rockpile or wellhead that is only one foot high or less ,that is easily seen in the winter, but is completely invisible when the grass is three feet tall and thick as dog hair.Or the tree stump that a brushhog will easilly go over, but it sticks up just high enough (2 inches +), that a disc mower will smash into it, causing $500- 1000 in repair costs.
The only way to keep from getting hurt to bad financially, is to carry insurance that will cover this kind of financial loss.

dancce

 

[HayDR]

It's just not a good idea to be using a disc mower in a field you have not mowed before or seen it bare in the winter. If you know that you will be harvesting it in the future get some metal fence post and mark every obstacle. If you are mowing around a barb wire fence make sure there is not any loose dangling wires or you find out just how fast the head of a disc mower turns. The wire will wind up around the mower and jerk the wire off the post. Now you will have to fix the mower and the fence. Another place of concern is near trees where fallen branches are concealed by the thick hay.

 

[5030]

I know you are disc mower crazy, but that goes for ANY HAY MOWER , whether disc or sickle. My MoCo has rock gards, but at 12 bucks each, they aren't cheap either. Hidden objects can be death to a mower. I'd dread it if a piece of angle iron slipped over the cutter bar and went through the crimp rolls.. I've never replaced one, but knowing JD, they aren't cheap.

 

[dancce]

The problem with most hay production in my neck of the woods, is that, technically most of the fields are not "hay-fields", but are actually pastures that people are harvesting the excess grass from during the heavy growing season. Most are rough, and being Oklahoma, many are restored or even still producing oil- fields. A tough well-biult disc mower is a neccessity. I use, and my dealership sells, primarily German made Krone machines that will mow down t-posts and even thin wall 2" pipe(not recommended). But even the toughest machine can be destroyed if care is not taken to avoid the obstacles.
I agree that ideally one should know the field he is getting into, but in the rush to get hay up and with local "custom" operators trying to get as much volume done with their equipment as possible, in many cases, they are not as careful as they should be.
It does keep our shop hoppin' during season. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

dancce

 

[5030]

Dannce:

We are just the opposite of you. Our fields are dedicated hay fields, and I know every inch of them. That's not to say the over the winter, during the freeze/thaw, rocks do surface and that's usually what gets my sickle teeth or a rock gard. Ocassionally, as 2 of our fields abutt a road, people throw their discarded items in the field. I hit an old lawnmower engine block last year. Cost me a few teeth and a couple of rock gards and no, the mower didn't eat it!!

 

[HayDR]

Vermeer uses the heavest blade in the industry. A full 5mm thick and the "Austemper" heat treating process that no other MFG uses.

Still one should refrain from using a disc mower to clip pasture, purchase a Rhino for that.