Posted by JRSutton on July 24, 2015 at 05:53:30 from (96.237.53.179):
In Reply to: whats better posted by Nick167 on July 23, 2015 at 18:46:57:
Generally speaking - absolutely a haybine over a sickle mower. The crimpers help the hay dry faster, and they clog a lot less than a straight sickle.
I do a lot of hay separately with a few different partners, and even a little with our 4h club - so I use a lot of different equipment.
A discbine is where you want to be, hands down - but that's big bucks and you'd want 70+ hp. So working downward, a haybine would be next. A lot slower, but they do the job. We use a hesston ... for the life of me I can't remember the model number, but it's a 7 footer. we picked that up for 1500. I'd rather have 9' due to the speed factor, but it's proven to be a nice dependable machine.
We use a farmall A21 and sometimes a jd #5 sickle mower with the 4h club - both free. They work well when sharp and adjusted properly, in grass that's behaving, but when you get into a situation where it doesn't work well, it's a complete nightmare. Obviously the same speed concern with a sickle. And no conditioners means (for us) the grass is going to take longer to dry. Upside is maintenance is cheap and simple.
Always remind yourself though that there's a reason equipment has evolved over the years! A good reason.
So go with the haybine - but look for one that's more expensive. I mean, look at that one of course, but I'm guessing a $600 haybine's going to cost you ten times that much in parts, labor (your own), lost hay opportunities, and most of all frustration.
I've been down the road of trying to get hay equipment cheap. All you do is accumulate the rest of the world's headaches. It's always so tempting... Don't do it.
Buy the best you can afford. Reliability/dependability is king in the hay field, any hay field. Doesn't matter if you do 500 bales a year, or 5000.
Ask anybody that's done it and they'll agree - I'd rather go half as fast with equipment that is rock solid and going to work flawlessly, than go twice as fast with questionable equipment that needs a few field tweaks to keep it going, and breaks down hard a few random times a year.
Pay for reliability - it's an investment in your sanity.
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