Disc mowers?

[Tha Ulsterscot]

So having run into trouble in very heavy grass crops today with the old drum mower, I'm starting to think about a new disc mower.(now remember the THINK bit) . What have others bought and what sort of money is involved? needs to be 8 ft. cut and could do without a conditioner.

 

[Dave W]

Roughly what budget you thinking?
Personally I don't think there's a lot to choose between the mainstream machines if it's just a straight mower

 

[Jerry]

So having run into trouble in very heavy grass crops today with the old drum mower, I'm starting to think about a new disc mower.(now remember the THINK bit) . What have others bought and what sort of money is involved? needs to be 8 ft. cut and could do without a conditioner.

pottinger novadisc.

Makes a clean job in light or heavy crops for me.

 

[Sid]

pottinger novadisc.

Makes a clean job in light or heavy crops for me.

Heavier duty is the Novacat

 

[JCB_JCR]

Got an old Novacat conditioner mower and amazed how well it tolerates rushes, gorse bushes, bits of tree etc that I have cut with it.

 

[Wellytrack]

Got an old Novacat conditioner mower and amazed how well it tolerates rushes, gorse bushes, bits of tree etc that I have cut with it.

It won’t forever!

 

[Tha Ulsterscot]

Roughly what budget you thinking?
Personally I don't think there's a lot to choose between the mainstream machines if it's just a straight mower

Haven't priced anything yet.

 

[Dave W]

Haven't priced anything yet.

Thinking new or used?

 

[Davy]

Got a 9ft malone recently. Seems to do everything it's meant to, was £6250 at the time.

 

[robs1]

Got a 9ft malone recently. Seems to do everything it's meant to, was £6250 at the time.

Is that the plain mower or conditioner?

 

[Sharpy]

So having run into trouble in very heavy grass crops today with the old drum mower, I'm starting to think about a new disc mower.(now remember the THINK bit) . What have others bought and what sort of money is involved? needs to be 8 ft. cut and could do without a conditioner.

Are the ribs OK on the drums, or the wee metal plates if it's a pz?

 

[tinsheet]

Krone, 12 years still going strong.

 

[Finn farmer]

Krone, Pöttinger, Kuhn. We've a Kuhn Gmd Hd, thinking it's 4m wide and cost us 10000€ inc. Vat when new. Done great for a few years and probably 1200 acres.

 

[box]

I went from a 2m drum mower to a 2.8m disc mower. I'd happily go back to a drum mower if someone made a mounted hydraulic fold machine that was 2.8 or 3m wide......probably never going to happen.

Drum mowers are cheap and cheerful, they do the job reasonably well and they're pretty much indestructable. They can struggle a bit with long grass that's been flattened by wind or rain, not the end of the world. Everyone told me that disc mowers take less power to run and mow grass than a drum, but I haven't found that to be the case as long as the drums are kept up to speed. I still run a Maxam 2500 drum mower for topping or the odd very small cut of silage because I hate the disc mower so much (sadly the Maxam is rear mounted, not side mounted, so leaves tyre tracks and isn't really suitable for silage/hay).

I paid $5600 NZD (2800 lbs) for a Vicon 228 Extra in well used but tidy condition, good parts backup from Kverneland dealer and it's not too heavy. Take off about 25% for a 2,4m/8f machine. Belt drive so it tends to not explode if you hit something solid that locks up the discs.....not that I've ever had that happen

No more scalping with the disc mower though, that's a bit of a bonus. Or maybe I've already flattened all the humps out with the drum mower.

 

[Sid]

I went from a 2m drum mower to a 2.8m disc mower. I'd happily go back to a drum mower if someone made a mounted hydraulic fold machine that was 2.8 or 3m wide......probably never going to happen.

Drum mowers are cheap and cheerful, they do the job reasonably well and they're pretty much indestructable. They can struggle a bit with long grass that's been flattened by wind or rain, not the end of the world. Everyone told me that disc mowers take less power to run and mow grass than a drum, but I haven't found that to be the case as long as the drums are kept up to speed. I still run a Maxam 2500 drum mower for topping or the odd very small cut of silage because I hate the disc mower so much (sadly the Maxam is rear mounted, not side mounted, so leaves tyre tracks and isn't really suitable for silage/hay).

I paid $5600 NZD (2800 lbs) for a Vicon 228 Extra in well used but tidy condition, good parts backup from Kverneland dealer and it's not too heavy. Take off about 25% for a 2,4m/8f machine. Belt drive so it tends to not explode if you hit something solid that locks up the discs.....not that I've ever had that happen

No more scalping with the disc mower though, that's a bit of a bonus. Or maybe I've already flattened all the humps out with the drum mower.

Remember a wide drum mower in the UK called a grasshopper

They are bloody excellent mowers, you can mow as fast as you can stay in the seat and it will cut clean. It will need at least 100hp on it preferably 120-30 to get the best out of it. Built like no other mower, I think they were done for airfields originally. Is it 10 blades per drum? Memory is a bit hazy on that.

I'd have bought it if you were in Kent.

130 hp for a 10ft cut, you could run double that with disc mower front and rear.

They sounded like a 747 taking off when at full running speed.

Cheaper than a disc, maybe but there are usually two versions of disc mowers top gearbox drive or heel belt drive the latter being the lighter cheaper option.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Not a Lely

 

[neilo]

Got a 9ft malone recently. Seems to do everything it's meant to, was £6250 at the time.

Is that the plain mower or conditioner?

That will be a plain one. Mine is 3 yrs old and does what a plain disc mower should do well enough.
There are only a few bed manufacturers (Malone use a Comer bed), and the mower manufacturers just build the frame to mount them, with some building them stronger than others.

 

[daveydiesel1]

I went from a 2m drum mower to a 2.8m disc mower. I'd happily go back to a drum mower if someone made a mounted hydraulic fold machine that was 2.8 or 3m wide......probably never going to happen.

Drum mowers are cheap and cheerful, they do the job reasonably well and they're pretty much indestructable. They can struggle a bit with long grass that's been flattened by wind or rain, not the end of the world. Everyone told me that disc mowers take less power to run and mow grass than a drum, but I haven't found that to be the case as long as the drums are kept up to speed. I still run a Maxam 2500 drum mower for topping or the odd very small cut of silage because I hate the disc mower so much (sadly the Maxam is rear mounted, not side mounted, so leaves tyre tracks and isn't really suitable for silage/hay).

I paid $5600 NZD (2800 lbs) for a Vicon 228 Extra in well used but tidy condition, good parts backup from Kverneland dealer and it's not too heavy. Take off about 25% for a 2,4m/8f machine. Belt drive so it tends to not explode if you hit something solid that locks up the discs.....not that I've ever had that happen

No more scalping with the disc mower though, that's a bit of a bonus. Or maybe I've already flattened all the humps out with the drum mower.

Afaik kuhn makes a 4 drum mower that is hydralic folding

 

[Dave W]

I've had quite a few of these 4 drum vicons over the years. Imported from holland. Very popular over there

 

[Wellytrack]

I've had quite a few of these 4 drum vicons over the years. Imported from holland. Very popular over there

Do they work well?