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Sunnyside, WA | I would go towards a disc bine. I think it was about 10-12 years ago when I lived in MN that it was a very wet spring/early summer. Took us 5 hours to cut 5 acres with the sickle machine so we tried out a 12' disc mower. It never left until two years ago when they upgraded to a 15'.
I bought a Hesston 15' three years ago and have done very little to it. Replaced 6 non-greaseable bearings on the conditioners and accelerator rolls, put a new spring and pulley on the main drive belt, and upgraded the 3pt hitch some. Other than that, just normal knife replacement. And we have some rocks to contend with, but I use a roller before planting triticale to try to push them down. You could never get me back in a sickle machine.
Cut about 10 acres per hour average with the 15' going 8mph. Bump to 10.5 and cover about 13 acres per hour. Take a little more hp to run a disc machine, but that has more to do with the speed and how much these big machines can throw a tractor around.
Steel on steel conditioners have always been my favorite, but that's personal preference. I would stay far away from the tine conditioners for alfalfa.
We run all JD tractors, but I would stay away from JD mowers. In true hay country out here, JD is a non contender. Hesston #1 and NH #2
Edited by J. Sheehan 6/10/2007 16:04
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sycle type mower vs discbine
