windrow inverters

jimg · Mar 8, 2006

Why arent these more popular...too slow, solution looking for a problem or ?? It seems like a great idea esp for legume hay where you want to treat the crop gently. It appears that only NH makes one...are there any others? Has anyone used one? For what and are you ustill using it?

Robert_in_NY · Mar 8, 2006

There are a few hay companies that make them also. H&S and Miller Pro/Oxbo make inverter/mergers that are like the NH. They do seem like a great idea but you find almost new ones for sale all the time. I am sure Richard or someone with more knowledge about them will chime in. All I can think of is the NH model is either too slow or too small as it is limited to one windrow at a time. Big dairys want to use mergers like Miller Pro has as it can invert the hay and merge multiple swaths at once.

jimg · Mar 8, 2006

<punt>...see next post /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

jimg · Mar 8, 2006

Thanx Ill check those mfgs. I was more interested in windrow inverters as a whole and not the NH model in particular. Thats the only one I could find. I was interested in finding out more about them to see if theyd be useful. Ive never seen one or lived in an area where they were used. Perhaps theyre very crop specific? I also searched the web for extension service/university papers about them but didnt find much...theyre only mentioned in passing. Perhaps theyre just a good idea w/o much practical appeal? Id like to learn more...

jimg · Mar 8, 2006

I found websites for the companies you mentioned and see they offer only mergers. I suppose mergers can be used as inverters? If so then I just misidentified the equipment and should have been looking at mergers all along.....

Robert_in_NY · Mar 8, 2006

I did have a video clip of the Oxbo/Miller Pro triple merger working at Empire Farm Days a few years ago but I can't find the disc it is on. It is a fun machine to watch work.

jimg · Mar 8, 2006

I think its the Miller site that has some clips of their machines working.

Thanx for pointing out that there was such a thing as mergers...I think thats where I was going wrong. It seems that merging and inverting are used interchangably for these machines. I also noticed that they can be very pricey!

I did find a couple university articles on the economics of mergers which proved pretty good reading.

Thanx again for your help!!

rambler · Mar 8, 2006

Neighbor had - still has? a NH inverter. Were all the rage for about 18 months around here. Seems they offered a good idea, but the payoff didn't live up to it. Very, very specialized machine, not very flexable. You need to mate up the moco width to the inverter, and then you are locked in. Only ever saw them used on alfalfa around here. Used to see them at auctions, held their price pretty good, but haven't seen one in a long time.

Can't offer too much, as I never ran one personally.

--->Paul

jimg · Mar 8, 2006

I found a paper on the economics of using them and if you havent done youre homework I doubt theyd pay off. New theyre pretty expensive and they seem aimed at big producers. OTOH if you could find one for a decent price used and you had the operation size to benefit then it might be OK? What those papers failed to mention is the moco/merger combination being tied together. How long ago was that 18 months? Perhaps the newer mdls are more flexible?

In case anyone is interested that paper is:
http://www.apec.umn.edu/faculty/wlazarus/forage_archive/Limits_arch.pdf

Another interesting one which is only loosely related is:
http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/rensselaer/Agriculture/alfalfa_research.htm

Charolais · Mar 9, 2006

There were a few in this area some years back. I've never used one. I "think" what may have happened was the rotary rake came about. With the inverter you still had to have a rake. I can only speak for the NH 254 & 255 rakes but I can do the same job that inverter does with one piece of equipment. With the NH rotary I can flip an already raked windrow because the rake teeth lift the hay from the bottom and brings it to the top. To do this I just use one side of the rake and disable the other side.

The newer conditioners will cut and spread the hay as wide as the cut path now. So an inverter wouldn't be wide enough to get a wide cut too. Most everyone here spreads the hay as wide as possible now to help with drying. Since we started that and use the rotary rake we can gain 24 hours in drying time.

This will differ across the country with different conditions. Humidity being at or near the top of the list of conditions.