# Pottinger mowers are here



## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

We got the mowers in last week. They had been at the dealers for awhile but since everything is growing so slow and it looks like it will be a late year, I figured no rush. For those interested I'll post back on how well they work once I get into the field. So far it takes about 20 minutes to hook up the front mower and rear mowers and all the hoses. One thing that surprised me is the weight.....they are heavy. These mowers are going on a 930 Fendt which is a big tractor. The front mower at 11' isn't too bad but the rear 2 11' ones are heavy and squat the tractor a little bit if they are put on first. With the front and rear combo it does balance the tractor out nicely. We have hydraulic top links on the front and rear of the tractor so hooking up the 3pt hitch makes it a breeze. One other surprise is the height. You really need to get the rear hitch as a low as possible to keep the height down. Only real limitation on how low to go is the pto shaft clearance on the drawbar. The dealer will be down to show us how to use it and set it up when we get into the field. Either I'm getting old or this stuff is getting complicated. Right now we can run it with the isobus on the tractor monitor with the touch screen. They are going to show us how it can be controlled by the joystick of the tractor making it like a sp. I've read the manual but still don't know how to do that. Overall very happy with setup. We plan to use the mowers in the evening and morning to mow then unhook them and put the tractor on the 3x3 baler. I talked to a few farmers that have the mowers and they are very happy with the performance of them but none of them hook/unhook them like we plan to do. This had me a bit nervous till I had first hand experience with mounting the mowers. I just couldnt see spending 300+ on a Big M that has only one purpose. So for anyone thinking of going this route I'll let you know how it works out. BTW these are the v10 model with a 351 front mower with a mowing range of 30-33'.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Pics of machine in action please!!!

Tell me more about that Fendt....was it originally in Canada? What about service in Maryland, is the AGCO dealer there able to help?


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

Will post some picts once out. We bought the fendt and mowers new. Our dealer is about 2hrs away but everyone we talked to said good things about them. They sell both and set the tractor up for them. So far this yr they've sold 14 of the pottinger mowers so they know what they're doing. I like that the mowers integrate so well with the fendt. There are no strings to pull on the mowers. All controlled from in the cab with iso bus controls. Drive a fendt is all I can say. Very impressive.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I'm a small time Poettinger/Pottinger (both spellings are apparently used) guy. One rear NovaCat 305.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

@ aarondeere, what kind of conditioning system does your Pottinger have? Also what is the weight and hp of the Fendt that your mower is going on? Been interested in the idea of using a tractor as an sp mower. Real sp windrowers don't impress me anymore.


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

slowzuki said:


> I'm a small time Poettinger/Pottinger (both spellings are apparently used) guy. One rear NovaCat 305.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That don't look small time to me. We started with an old 8' haybine back years ago and thought that was big time. As long as things get done in a timely fashion I figure it's all good


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

We have the rubber rolls. I'm hoping it works well. I'm use to steel rolls on a hw365 sp. This will only have 11' going through the rolls so that should help. Weight wise haven't scaled it up but it has no weights on it and very big tires so it floats well. I am like you and not all that impressed with sp's. They are slow to go down the road and bog down in heavy hay. This shouldn't and at 300hp I hope not.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Mine has flails, I unfortunately have not heard the most positive reviews of the pottinger roll conditioners on the novacats. You can drop them easily and run unconditioned as well.


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

I've already talked to b&d rolls and they can retrofit them. What have you heard bad about the pottinger rolls?


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

How about uploading us a video when you get her going.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

The guys running large acres on them sound like they have more trouble with the roller crimper than any other part of the machine. I'll try to look around to see if I can find any links.



aarondeere said:


> I've already talked to b&d rolls and they can retrofit them. What have you heard bad about the pottinger rolls?


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Congrats on the purchase. Do you mind sharing how many acres they will cut?


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

Ill get some videos when we get going. Ill also get some weights on the mowers. As far as acres go, we are on the low end of what they typical are for but should be around 2000 to 2500 acres. Other than part time help and my father to bale during harvest season I have no full time employees so I need to maximize my time. I could easily have a person run a 9' mower all day and get the job done but finding help that is reliable and safe are hard to come by. I would much rather just do it myself and if I can knock down 60 acres a day quickly. We just traded in a sp and I was having a hard time keeping up. With the slow transport speed and bogging down in layed over hay, I barely could keep up. I figure spend more money on equipment less on labor.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I think you'll like them, the butterfly's are balanced so the mount dismount is a lot easier than mine. Also the hydraulic top link makes adjusting on the fly easy. My manual top link is a workout to adjust the cut height if the mower isn't set down quite right.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

aarondeere said:


> Ill get some videos when we get going. Ill also get some weights on the mowers. As far as acres go, we are on the low end of what they typical are for but should be around 2000 to 2500 acres. Other than part time help and my father to bale during harvest season I have no full time employees so I need to maximize my time. I could easily have a person run a 9' mower all day and get the job done but finding help that is reliable and safe are hard to come by. I would much rather just do it myself and if I can knock down 60 acres a day quickly. We just traded in a sp and I was having a hard time keeping up. With the slow transport speed and bogging down in layed over hay, I barely could keep up. I figure spend more money on equipment less on labor.


I have a couple questions? So these mowers on your tractor can cut 33 feet in one pass? Did I get that right? Did you buy both 3 mowers and the Fendt tractor at the same time or did you already have the Fendt? But yet you think you can only cut 60 acres a day? If you had to buy both the Fendt and mowers wouldn't have you been money ahead to buy say one MF SP rotary, NH rotary, or any SP rotary, which in my experience can cut way more then 60 acres a day with a 15 foot head. Though I don't know much about what your are cutting or the fields you are cutting. If you already had the tractor I can see it I guess.....But I have no idea how much these mowers cost. I don't mean to be critical just basing my questions on what you have said. 60 acres a day seems way to little for what you have. Or maybe you meant 600 acres? I'll also add that unhooking those 3 mowers then hooking to a large square baler doesn't sounds like fun every time you want to cut then bale.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

He's saying 60 acres easy per day while he is doing everything else. With hydro top link dand fendt hook ends dropping the rear mower is fast.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

I am with Teslan on this. It sound like enough cutter bar to keep two or three balers busy. It looks like a great set up but oversized for this operation. Mel


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Oversized? Lol....impossible to be oversized IMO....if. Can cut 60 acres in 3 hours vs the 14 it takes me now? That's more time for the grandchildren, the wife, flying, or planting other crops, whatever ya want cause you bought and paid for labor with the machine.....now I understand gates, field size etc. but I can't get my cutting done fast enuf....I currently run a 6-series with 10' cut and a 7-series with 10' cut, two tractors burning two times the fossil fuels, with two operators.....
Probably saving $ in the long run.....definitely have more time on your hands, something that's always good in farming.

I would definitely love to have THAT set-up for sure....I had no idea that fendt was even imported into the U.S.....never see them mowers here either....


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

WOW 14 hours and your running 2 tractor????


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

Here's the deal. These mowers can cut a few hundred acres a day. I can get 60 acres made a day so that is what I shoot for. If I get it cut sooner it dries sooner and I can bale it sooner with less chance of rain and better quality. Yeah way overkill but like I said I'm running a large hay operation with minimal help so I need large equipment....large rakes, tenders ,baler. We bought this all this yr. We needed a larger tractor for the baler and needed a new mower. 2 birds with one stone. Hooking unhooking is a piece of cake. Same goes with hooking up the baler. If you run one of these you'll not want to go back to a sp. I'm much further ahead than one of those.


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

Here's the deal. These mowers can cut a few hundred acres a day. I can get 60 acres made a day so that is what I shoot for. If I get it cut sooner it dries sooner and I can bale it sooner with less chance of rain and better quality. Yeah way overkill but like I said I'm running a large hay operation with minimal help so I need large equipment....large rakes, tenders ,baler. We bought this all this yr. We needed a larger tractor for the baler and needed a new mower. 2 birds with one stone. Hooking unhooking is a piece of cake. Same goes with hooking up the baler. If you run one of these you'll not want to go back to a sp. I'm much further ahead than one of those.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Looks good to me. Some may have more time as well as less rain and more help available. What works for one won't work for all. Looks like a nice addition to the operation.


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

Now that is a hay mower.....


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

rajela said:


> Now that is a hay mower.....


What I meant on the 14 hrs. Was running one mower (i wasnt real clear bout that) cuts time in half with two, the only reason I went with two....like Aaron said, quicker it's cut, quicker it's dry. We always talk about tight windows, best way is to get it cut in a timely manner to provide for dry down the initial day of cutting.....nothing better you can do for fast dry down.....

But like most things i would like, Seems i have a bit of a cash flow problem.....


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

With front hitch and pto options becoming more popular on tractors these days, I think these setups will become more popular in time and also many just running the front mower. I see JD, NH,MF,Krone now all offer triple mowers now. A few yrs ago it was just Kuhn, Pottinger, and Claas so it looks like a trend. Type in pottinger v10 on youtube and you can see these things run. Something new for this yr which is neat is the rear mowers side shift and now know when the tractor is turning by using the tractor steering sensors and will automatically side shift on turns to compensate for skipping. Talking to the pottinger rep, these mowers have been out for quite some time but they have made some real improvements in the last few yrs. Impellers were the only option available till just a few yrs ago along with no conditioners. He said they have been focusing a bit more on the dry hay farmer whereas most users were for silage hay. This setup is definitely a drain on cash flow but if speeds up the operation it will pay for itself.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

They've had the rollers available since hmm 1988 or something like that, probably just never ordered any into the US.


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

slowzuki said:


> They've had the rollers available since hmm 1988 or something like that, probably just never ordered any into the US.


Oh....did not know that. Rep made it sound like this was new in the last few yrs. I'm still surprised that more mfgs still don't offer some sort of super conditioning.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

So now that you have a fast way of mowing, somewhat fast way of baling. What do you have planned for picking up the 3x3 bales fast? Especially since as I've learned on this site you should have them out of the field before night in the east.

As far as the mower thing. I think it is more of a preference thing. In the east guys like the mower type of thing like you have on your fendt or smaller operators just pull behind. Or out west where it's preferred to have SP disc swathers. Maybe it's a tedding thing why mowers are better in the east?


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

The old swathers that brought everything to the middle to go through a little tiny conditioner are kinda pointless out here it seems. How would you get 2,3,4 ton per acre hay through them and then how do you get it laid back out the width of the mower?

I know newer swathers seem to have larger throats but with the expense, lack of any experience with them and short season here it makes far more sense for most to use that money on a tractor.


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

I shouldn't have generalized about sp. Out west where you have wide open roads and less humidity and less down and tangled hay I could see them working very well. That's not to say they don't work good here its just it's a pain to get down small narrow roads and with the hydraulic headers they tend to stall out in down thick hay. I really thought about going back to a pull type to have the 4wd and better power before going this route. On moving the hay we use a telehandler that has grabbers that pick up 3 bales at a time. An accumulator behind the baler that drops 3 bales at a time and a few semi trucks to get them out of the field along with a few flat bed wagons. At the barn a skid loader that has grabbers too unloads. Then they either are sold as big square or put through a low compression machine and sold as small square. We have it down pretty well. The sp with the new steering systems will help a long ways as to getting down the road. No more drifting from side to side and higher cutting speed.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

aarondeere said:


> I shouldn't have generalized about sp. Out west where you have wide open roads and less humidity and less down and tangled hay I could see them working very well. That's not to say they don't work good here its just it's a pain to get down small narrow roads and with the hydraulic headers they tend to stall out in down thick hay. I really thought about going back to a pull type to have the 4wd and better power before going this route. On moving the hay we use a telehandler that has grabbers that pick up 3 bales at a time. An accumulator behind the baler that drops 3 bales at a time and a few semi trucks to get them out of the field along with a few flat bed wagons. At the barn a skid loader that has grabbers too unloads. Then they either are sold as big square or put through a low compression machine and sold as small square. We have it down pretty well. The sp with the new steering systems will help a long ways as to getting down the road. No more drifting from side to side and higher cutting speed.





slowzuki said:


> The old swathers that brought everything to the middle to go through a little tiny conditioner are kinda pointless out here it seems. How would you get 2,3,4 ton per acre hay through them and then how do you get it laid back out the width of the mower?
> 
> I know newer swathers seem to have larger throats but with the expense, lack of any experience with them and short season here it makes far more sense for most to use that money on a tractor.


Yeah I can spread our windrows out to about 7-8 feet. That's good enough for here to dry without tedding anything. Even not spreading it out works too. I guess tiny roads would limit a 15 foot machine from going very easily and with all the rain you folks get I guess it would lay down the grass pretty good. Though I have cut some pretty rank grass here and it never has slowed down our SP disc swather. Now had all kinds of trouble with a sickle machine. They suck in grass hay.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

The 10 ft baskets are bad enough here, the NH 489 mower we had was 9 ft cut but almost 12 or 13 ft wide and couldn't get into a lot of places as the swing didn't get it behind the tractor 100%






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Teslan said:


> Yeah I can spread our windrows out to about 7-8 feet. That's good enough for here to dry without tedding anything. Even not spreading it out works too. I guess tiny roads would limit a 15 foot machine from going very easily and with all the rain you folks get I guess it would lay down the grass pretty good. Though I have cut some pretty rank grass here and it never has slowed down our SP disc swather. Now had all kinds of trouble with a sickle machine. They suck in grass hay.


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## aarondeere (Dec 24, 2013)

Quick update. Have cut some alfalfa, orchard grass, and rye. So far very happy. Hooking and unhooking has not been a problem. Very easy and takes about 20 minutes for both the front and rear mowers. A bunch of hoses but not hard to hook up. Just need a nice level area for parking it. Tractor works great on both the baler and mowers. Powerwise, the tractor dynoed around 295hp and is plenty for the mowers. I can cut at any speed and feel comfortable at 10mph in heavy hay. Only twice where I was going up hill cutting down rye I could only go about 7mph because of power. The dealer came down and had it setup where I can control all the mower functions from the joystick just like a sp. I can still control it through the touch screen if I want. I have not mastered how to make turns and not skip. I gradually make the turn then stop back up and get straight and then go again. Only happens on the first headland and after 3 passes I have plenty of room to make my turns. I usually keep the mowers in at 30ft for the first pass to help keep skips to a minimum then put it in auto where the mowers automatically side shift as the tractor turns. In this mode I'm at about 32ft a little less then the maximum 33ft. I have cut one field that is steep where I had to keep the mowers in the whole time because I was skipping even when going straight in the out position. On average without pushing, I can cut about 25 acres/hr. Conditioning I thought maybe with 3 smaller mowers vs 1 large mower, I might have faster dry down time but so far haven't noticed any faster drying time. I have noticed that teddering is better. The windrows are smaller and more even and the tedder has an easier time spreading the hay. Overall very happy with the mowers. Goes down the road easier and faster and productivity has greatly increased.


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## traden86 (May 16, 2013)

That is a nice bit of kit right there!! Have always been been my dream to have a Fendt with a set of Krone mowers. Have heard good things about the Pottingers as well.


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