Mowers

box · May 18, 2022

Aspiring Peasants said:
We're cutting some decent crops off PP so it tends to be thick and often wet in the bottom. Cutting some stood up second cut (say 5 bales to the acre) it's OK. The thing is the crops are no different from what I used to cut with the Vicon drum mower and didn't have any problems

Aspiring Peasants said:
It's been on a 120 hp Zetor and a 100hp Massey

How fast are you driving? Some disc mowers can be quite finicky, and you do have a relatively high amount of power going into a relatively small mower.

I used to run a UFO (Reese) 2070 twin drum mower, it didn't give a sh!t what I put through it or how fast I went, as long as I kept the drum speed up. Cut was perfect every time (almost).

I decided I wanted something wider so I moved to a 2.8m Vicon disc mower, which was a huge disappointment. I found it didn't take much for it to "block up" and the belts would start slipping. Keeping the PTO speed up helped, but there were still conditions where I would have to slow down so it could keep clearing the grass from the discs.

I haven't had that problem since switching to a 3.4m Claas Disco (also belt driven) and it takes as much grass as I can throw at it as long as I can stay on the seat.

Long story short, get a drum mower, or trade that horrible Krone in for a second hand Disco. I'm guessing you haven't got Reese drum mowers over there? I think they only exported them to the States.

Jsmith2211 · May 18, 2022

Triangle said:
New Kuhn folds virtical same as green painted version jd r310r

only on the expensive option. the bogstandard one (which we have) is still the same.

mf7480 · May 18, 2022

box said:
How fast are you driving? Some disc mowers can be quite finicky, and you do have a relatively high amount of power going into a relatively small mower.

I used to run a UFO (Reese) 2070 twin drum mower, it didn't give a sh!t what I put through it or how fast I went, as long as I kept the drum speed up. Cut was perfect every time (almost).

I decided I wanted something wider so I moved to a 2.8m Vicon disc mower, which was a huge disappointment. I found it didn't take much for it to "block up" and the belts would start slipping. Keeping the PTO speed up helped, but there were still conditions where I would have to slow down so it could keep clearing the grass from the discs.

I haven't had that problem since switching to a 3.4m Claas Disco (also belt driven) and it takes as much grass as I can throw at it as long as I can stay on the seat.

Long story short, get a drum mower, or trade that horrible Krone in for a second hand Disco. I'm guessing you haven't got Reese drum mowers over there? I think they only exported them to the States.

We’ve always had Kuhn trailed mowers and had got used to the fact you could put any amount of grass into them at any speed with 200hp on the front and it would cut it and throw it out the back. We made the move to the addition of a front mower with a 2 year old Vicon that came up in a sale. It was a big disappointment, it just couldn’t take any sort of decent crop. Conditioner belts were forever playing up and the final straw was when the right angle gearbox went bang. We fixed it up and part exchanged it for a John Deere coloured kuhn, which is back to normal service of rattling on as fast as you want to do. It’s not even a problem coming into an already cut swath at an angle, the kuhn’s just pick it up and put it through.

Jsmith2211 · May 18, 2022

mf7480 said:
We’ve always had Kuhn trailed mowers and had got used to the fact you could put any amount of grass into them at any speed with 200hp on the front and it would cut it and throw it out the back. We made the move to the addition of a front mower with a 2 year old Vicon that came up in a sale. It was a big disappointment, it just couldn’t take any sort of decent crop. Conditioner belts were forever playing up and the final straw was when the right angle gearbox went bang. We fixed it up and part exchanged it for a John Deere coloured kuhn, which is back to normal service of rattling on as fast as you want to do. It’s not even a problem coming into an already cut swath at an angle, the kuhn’s just pick it up and put it through.

do the other makes not like cut swaths? Never had a problem with my kuhn either.

mf7480 · May 18, 2022

Jsmith2211 said:
do the other makes not like cut swaths? Never had a problem with my kuhn either.

No it would bulldoze it up into a massive lump, or start feeding it then burn the belts out. I’m not even sure what fuss is all about with the 3 blade discs, it didn’t cut particularly well either

Treg · May 18, 2022

box said:
How fast are you driving? Some disc mowers can be quite finicky, and you do have a relatively high amount of power going into a relatively small mower.

^^^^ This.
Most disc mowers have a very low power requirement.

Aspiring Peasants · May 18, 2022

Treg said:
^^^^ This.
Most disc mowers have a very low power requirement.

I was told to run it at 580 rather than 540, I don't go very fast, fields are a bit rough and it wouldn't take it going fast.

From the comments on here I'm beginning to think it just can't cope with thick crops of old grass. Probably OK on new seeds. I'm going to get a price for a Kuhn drum mower, it says in the sales literature they're indestructible

glasshouse · May 18, 2022

Aspiring Peasants said:
I know disc mowers are more popular than drum mowers but I really dislike my Krone disc mower. It's on its fifth season, it's unreliable and is hard to get as tidy a job as with the vicon drum mower we used to have.

Looking at alternatives, has anyone got a Weaving drum mower which I think are Samasz?

Alternatively how do people get on with Malone mowers and if so does using the topping skids replace having a topper. I'd rather have 1 machine than 2

TIA

Get a kuhn
Mines does 300 plus acres a year on some very rough opencast land without real issue.

Fendt516profi · May 18, 2022

Drum mowers CORTO - Forage harvesting | CLAAS

Egal welche Maschine, auf die CORTO Trommelmähwerke von CLAAS ist jederzeit Verlass.

www.claas.co.uk

ColinV6 · May 18, 2022

Treg said:
Pottenger disc mower here does 100 acres of silage & 40 acres of topping a year, never been over 540rpm , 16 years old never been apart .
Have read this thread with interest as was thinking of changing it this year , was thinking cheaper options but maybe better to stick with Pottenger by some of the comments.

Same we have Pottinger Novacats, came from Krone and wouldn’t go back to a Krone now. It gave no end of problems and was a heavy, power hungry mower.

The pottingers cut fantastically well.

Edit, just to add changing the blades on the “quick release” Krone was like playing Russian roulette with your fingers. Borderline a 2 man job.

Wellytrack · May 18, 2022

But how good are they at mowing lick buckets and drainage pipes??

Jsmith2211 · May 18, 2022

Aspiring Peasants said:
I was told to run it at 580 rather than 540, I don't go very fast, fields are a bit rough and it wouldn't take it going fast.

From the comments on here I'm beginning to think it just can't cope with thick crops of old grass. Probably OK on new seeds. I'm going to get a price for a Kuhn drum mower, it says in the sales literature they're indestructible

why a kuhn drum not a kuhn disc? on 135hp you'd run a disc conditioner no problem, would do a better job than a drum and condition the grass, takes a day off of drying times. Either kuhn or pottinger would be my choice. had a novacat before the kuhn and it was a good mower till dad cracked the bed in half trying to mow a large rut. that folded vertically too...

ColinV6 · May 18, 2022

Wellytrack said:
But how good are they at mowing lick buckets and drainage pipes??

View attachment 1036946 View attachment 1036947

I butchered a drainage pipe that was sticking out of the hedge for an umbilical hose and other than a nasty noise of plastic being destroyed everything was absolutely fine.

Wellytrack · May 18, 2022

ColinV6 said:
I butchered a drainage pipe that was sticking out of the hedge for an umbilical hose and other than a nasty noise of plastic being destroyed everything was absolutely fine.

The plastic one thankfully alerted me to a perforated concrete behind it.

Aspiring Peasants · May 18, 2022

Jsmith2211 said:
why a kuhn drum not a kuhn disc? on 135hp you'd run a disc conditioner no problem, would do a better job than a drum and condition the grass, takes a day off of drying times. Either kuhn or pottinger would be my choice. had a novacat before the kuhn and it was a good mower till dad cracked the bed in half trying to mow a large rut. that folded vertically too...

I'm just put off a disc mower by my experience with the Krone. The tractor it would go on is 100HP

Cowabunga · May 18, 2022

Aspiring Peasants said:
I'm just put off a disc mower by my experience with the Krone. The tractor it would go on is 100HP

For a moco I'd estimate 80hp for a 2.4m, 100 hp for 2.8 and 125 for a 3m machine. That’s on the flat in heavy crops at 13 to 15kph.
Moco saves about a day in drying time and just as critically it saves the first tedding if it is a spreading mower set to cover the ground with the cut crop.

v8willy · May 18, 2022

Cowabunga said:
Disc mowers tend to ‘like’ a fairly constant load and some disc mower beds certainly did not last as long when used in conditions that presented a variable no-load situation causing backlash in the gear train. I’m not sure whether that still holds true or, in fact, whether it was only ever a rural myth.

That used to be said about the older Tarrup mowers the 306/7 models but it think it was actually when topping lads lifted them slightly on the rams, that made them tilt forward & the oil wasn't getting the spread it should, that's my theory anyway.

neilo · May 18, 2022

Aspiring Peasants said:
I know disc mowers are more popular than drum mowers but I really dislike my Krone disc mower. It's on its fifth season, it's unreliable and is hard to get as tidy a job as with the vicon drum mower we used to have.

Looking at alternatives, has anyone got a Weaving drum mower which I think are Samasz?

Alternatively how do people get on with Malone mowers and if so does using the topping skids replace having a topper. I'd rather have 1 machine than 2

TIA

Happy enough with my 9’ Malone. It’s a Comer bed, as used by a lot of other brands, on a (typically Malone) strong frame.

As for the topping skids, they bolt on under the bed and just raise the cutting height by about 2”. Fine on a flat field, but if you have many humps & bumps, you have a 9’ long flat bed supported at each end, flexing over those undulations. I really can’t see how that’s going to do much for the life of the machine.

Malone engineer told me that it’s better run at around 600rpm than 540, which is obviously going to better for cutting cleanly, as long as the machine can handle it of course.

ford4000 · May 19, 2022

Changed an unreliable Kuhn that also cut badly for a Malone last year, its a heavier built mower that also thankfully cuts tidier.... But not as well as a PZ drum mower!!
Used the skids on the Malone for topping. Never had a topper here, always used a collection of old knackered disc mowers over the years

box · May 19, 2022

ford4000 said:
cuts tidier.... But not as well as a PZ drum mower!!

While we're on topic, who else has trouble getting a good consistent cut from disc mowers in long stalky seedy haylage type ryegrass & clover? Parts of the paddock will be perfect, like a lawn, then you'll get big patches that are an absolute eyesore. Go back a second time and the mower will take that stuff down like it should've the first time.

Some of the paddocks I mow have so much stubble and rubbish left behind in places that I'm tempted to go behind the baler and mow again (a few people around here actually do mow & rake behind the baler and will get another 2 or 3 bales per ha.....probably won't be doing it this coming season with the fuel prices etc). The contractors with their big flash tractors and big flash mowers seem to have the same problem. It definitely gets worse the longer/harder the grass gets.

New blades, sharp blades, dull blades, fast/slow travel speed, fast/slow PTO speed, different angle of attack/cutting height, even changed the mower - none of it seems to make any difference.

I really don't rememeber having this problem with the drum mower, even the old boy grizzles and moans that he would've got a clip around the ears if he was leaving a finish like that. But everything was better in the old days.

If it was grass season, I'd go out and take some photos.

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