Mower or MoCo

[Boycey]

Making haylage and some hay, no silage... please can you advise as to which I should be looking to and why??

 

[eagleye]

moco it sets it up off ground a bit better for tedding or raking.
mower alone leaves grass flatter and harder to pick up clean without stones or soil.
Just my observations as we had mocos and then went to mower only, find strands of grass still on ground after tedding and raking for haylage.

 

[TripleSix]

Moco uses more fuel and has more wearing parts.

I don't consider them to provide much advantage

 

[Farmer_Joe]

Takes a day off the grass dying/drying out as it breaks stems. Get one with a full spread on it does 2 jobs for 1

 

[Finn farmer]

Moco uses more fuel and has more wearing parts.

I don't consider them to provide much advantage

Speeds the drying process tremendously. I hate tedding, so leaves one process out of the equation. We don't do regular hay though, but for haylage and silage a moco is a must.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

MoCo is great in settled weather, but a conditioned swath is a sponge for moisture; a straight mower row will turn a heap of water if mowed dry, standing.

Down here you see virtually zero mower-conditioners for that reason, but go north an hour and they're everywhere because you can generally get the heat to make the system work.

More expense and moving parts to replace is really what it boils down to, many farmers will have a decent disc mower for everything from topping to silage. One of each would be ideal.

 

[Dog Bowl]

All my mowers have conditioners. Saves a day of drying and leaves a far better swath to run a tedder or rake through at a quicker speed.

 

[Munkul]

MoCo. Gives wilting and drying a head start

 

[Jackov Altraids]

Kiwi Pete is spot on [as usual].
If you are only looking to do haylage and hay, I'd get a conditioner.
The main downside would be grass dries too quickly, soaks up too much water or the ground stays too wet under the swarth, but this shouldn't trouble you, especially if you have your own baler.

 

[Pan mixer]

For the first time ever in 40 years of making hay I have a non conditioning mower this year, so far so good, I make haylage and hay though.

I have long suspected that the conditioner saves a day on early cuts but it strips leaves and leaves them more vulnerable to shattering and subsequent loss in the more mature crops - ones that are well headed and past flowering.

I bought a non conditioner mower because;

I needed a bigger mower,

I couldn't afford the larger tractor that a bigger mo-co would need.

conditioners seem to be the bit of mowers that break down the most.

some of my grass used to stall the mower when the conditioner got hold of it before the blades had cut the grass off (this was a real pita when the crop was lodged towards the mower).

Admittedly current mower leaves the crop flatter and doesn't seem to make a narrow row which I always thought was good to allow as much land as possible to dry out.

 

[Jackov Altraids]

For the first time ever in 40 years of making hay I have a non conditioning mower this year, so far so good, I make haylage and hay though.

I have long suspected that the conditioner saves a day on early cuts but it strips leaves and leaves them more vulnerable to shattering and subsequent loss in the more mature crops - ones that are well headed and past flowering.

I bought a non conditioner mower because;

I needed a bigger mower,

I couldn't afford the larger tractor that a bigger mo-co would need.

conditioners seem to be the bit of mowers that break down the most.

some of my grass used to stall the mower when the conditioner got hold of it before the blades had cut the grass off (this was a real pita when the crop was lodged towards the mower).

Admittedly current mower leaves the crop flatter and doesn't seem to make a narrow row which I always thought was good to allow as much land as possible to dry out.

On the Krone mowers, you can change the gears to either have neighbouring discs in opposite directions for a wide swath or have the ones on one half in one direction, the other half opposite, for a narrow swath.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Get a moco and a tedder. Every livestock man should have a tedder as a bare minimum if he is involved in conserving grass or other forages.

 

[Sid]

Get a moco and a tedder. Every livestock man should have a tedder as a bare minimum if he is involved in conserving grass or other forages.

Tedder is more important to my forage production than a mower

mower alone leaves grass flatter and harder to pick up clean without stones or soi

Increase cutting height, better regrowth, better quality , less likely to hit stone with the mower as well.

If tedder needs to be hitting the ground then you are cutting too low IMHO