Mower for dairy

On brand, how many contractors do you see not running Claas mowers?

I have an old Claas dicso 3050 plain mower. I bought it second hand and it's suffered thousands of acres of abuse here. It cuts some huge silage crops destined for the dry cow clamp and probably does 4-500 acres pre mowing each year. Today it is cutting docks, thistles and rushes on undulating pp parkland. When we finally kill it I'll look to replace it with an identical one.

Kuhn, Claas or Pottinger everywhere you go around here.
 

O'Reilly

Member
JD or krone for contractors round here. Have a plain Kuhn for ourselves though, is no trouble. Friend who does thousands of acres of long stringy horse stuff moved from claas to krone years ago.
 

Stuart1

Member
What conditioner mowers have you now? Out of interest what litres/acre fuel use do you know between the 2? And how many hp up front?
Went for two new class front and rear. I think I’m around 3.5l per acre. On hilly land here so tractor works hard. On a 630 claas whatever horsepower that is?
 

Stuart1

Member
Why would the condition mower give a cleaner cut.Are you comparing the same brand just with / without conditioner
I think the unconditioned mower was allowing heavy cuts of grass to get dragged along with the bed, glad I don’t have to look at that again. I had to use the straight mower on the back for a few days because claas hadn’t delivered the new rear mower…. The front mower with the conditioner left the cleanest cut.
 
I think the unconditioned mower was allowing heavy cuts of grass to get dragged along with the bed, glad I don’t have to look at that again. I had to use the straight mower on the back for a few days because claas hadn’t delivered the new rear mower…. The front mower with the conditioner left the cleanest cut.

I was of the understanding the conditioner of mowers so equipped help put the swath through the machine and clear the cutterbar which is important given the volume that must pass through, particularly in heavy crops and with any forward speed involved.
 

Stuart1

Member
I was of the understanding the conditioner of mowers so equipped help put the swath through the machine and clear the cutterbar which is important given the volume that must pass through, particularly in heavy crops and with any forward speed involved.
I wouldn’t doubt it.
 
Interesting you say that, our grass was cut with a Claas this year and aftermaths are terrible, look like a late June suckler cow stubble rather than 25th May cut
Exact same problem here, excuse is it’s the grass’s fault. I’d say it’s probably the man going to fast and not cutting it keen enough. Trouble is doing that uses more fuel and where’s the incentive to do that for a contractor when he’s charging by the acre and fuel is so expensive
 

box

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
NZ
Thanks all for the replies. I'm about as confused now as when I posted the thread!!🤣
A plain disc mower will be fine. They're all pretty much the same, go pick one that you like which is 3.4-3.6m wide.

I personally run a belt driven Claas Disco 3550 (3.4m cut) behind 130hp and it works well.
 
Thanks all for the replies. I'm about as confused now as when I posted the thread!!🤣
Me too, and I’ve had a plain mower for 8 years and haven’t encountered the problems mentioned on here so I’m quite happy with mine.
I traded a 3m trailed moco for a 4.4 m plain mower, it’s easier driving and was 5k cheaper than another 3m trailed moco so no regrets here.

Only downside is you’re completely committed to raking with a plain mower but as we were doing that anyway and almost certainly tedding that’s not an issue here.
 

Cowwilf

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cheshire
Thanks all for the replies. I'm about as confused now as when I posted the thread!!🤣

You'll never get a definitive answer as it's personal preference.

I went from Moco to plain mower 7 years ago for same job as @RJ1 is looking to do never looked back. Nice clean cut never blocked it. No noticable difference in silage quality much easier to lift and drive cheaper to buy and to run, I found my Moco a heavy lump for pre mowing/ topping.
 

jerseycowsman

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cornwall
Evening

Just wondering about buying a mower and would prefer other dairy farmers' input rather than post in machinery.

Would be used for pre-mowing, mowing surplus paddocks for bales and maybe pit silage along with contractor probably (1st cut and a later bulkier cut).

Would you go for a plain mower or with a conditioner?

Tractor would be 125hp.

Thanks
You don’t want to do pre mowing with a conditioner on, the grass will heat up and go off quick.
 

RJ1

Member
Location
Wales
Me too, and I’ve had a plain mower for 8 years and haven’t encountered the problems mentioned on here so I’m quite happy with mine.
I traded a 3m trailed moco for a 4.4 m plain mower, it’s easier driving and was 5k cheaper than another 3m trailed moco so no regrets here.

Only downside is you’re completely committed to raking with a plain mower but as we were doing that anyway and almost certainly tedding that’s not an issue here.
You'll never get a definitive answer as it's personal preference.

I went from Moco to plain mower 7 years ago for same job as @RJ1 is looking to do never looked back. Nice clean cut never blocked it. No noticable difference in silage quality much easier to lift and drive cheaper to buy and to run, I found my Moco a heavy lump for pre mowing/ topping.

I think I'm edging towards a plain when the time comes, for the mix of work it will do here. Ideal for pre mow and a compromise for silage, with a tedder. We rake anyway so no problem. Probably a 3.5m ish would be sensible.
 

Jdunn55

Member
This is the job done by our straight krone mower (10 years old) in heavy hay (8 bales average to the acre) ground that had gone to lie down
 

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