# 12' haybine or 9' discbine?



## Hokelund Farm (Feb 4, 2014)

I'm watching my 3 and 1 year old while I type so I might be all over the place.

We currently run 2 older 9' haybines. Both are slow and I'm waiting for a major breakdown every time we cut. I'm debating on getting rid of one and keeping the other for ditches, and getting something that will be a little more efficient. We have always had haybines so I know them fairly well which is why I'm considering a 12 footer. Or even a newer 9' that cuts better. Or a 9' discbine?

Currently we have a Gehl 1090 and a NH 492

I've heard the MacDon 4000 will out cut the 492 by a lot and there is a nice one available close by.

Otherwise I'm looking for suggestions on a 12' haybine, or 9' disbine?

South central MN - I do need a conditioner - no impeller. I do have a small single row tedder.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

My vote discbine, once you get one it will be hard to hook up the back-up haybine ever again. BUT you need more ponies in front. IMHO 8 ponies per foot on a discbine is barely OK, 7 ponies per foot, they will be pooped at the end of the day, 10 ponies and you will be like this at 10 MPH.     

Larry


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

As a owner of a 12' haybine my vote would be a 9' discbine without a doubt. The only thing for me after using a center pivot mower it would be hard for me to go back to a side pull. Since your haybines are side pulls that probably won't be an issue for you. If you decide to buy a discbine I would seriously consider looking into a center pivot model though......once you use one you won't go back to a side pull.


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## Hokelund Farm (Feb 4, 2014)

We would be pulling the new hay/discbine with a JD 4230, which is right at 100 HP I think.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

FarmerCline said:


> As a owner of a 12' haybine my vote would be a 9' discbine without a doubt. The only thing for me after using a center pivot mower it would be hard for me to go back to a side pull. Since your haybines are side pulls that probably won't be an issue for you. If you decide to buy a discbine I would seriously consider looking into a center pivot model though......once you use one you won't go back to a side pull.


Depends on how one's fields are shaped. There are times when the side pull will be no less useful than a center pivot.

And I also vote disc. It's not even close.


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

Hokelund Farm said:


> We would be pulling the new hay/discbine with a JD 4230, which is right at 100 HP I think.


9 ft discbine you'll mow at twice the speed of a sickle and you'll wonder.....why did I take so long!


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## danwi (Mar 6, 2015)

Discbine you can run a couple gears faster and the only time you use reverse is to back the tractor out of the shed and hook to the machine all the rest of the time you are going forward. The 4230 should handle a 9 foot fine 12 foot and the 4230 needs to be healthy and well tuned, land not too hilly and it is harder to cut late rank hay. but thats no fun with a sickle mower either.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Wife and son still have a NH 478 HayBine. They kept thinking they might use it. It hasn't been used in about 3 years since getting a Disc mower conditioner.


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

danwi said:


> The 4230 should handle a 9 foot fine 12 foot and the 4230 needs to be healthy and well tuned, land not too hilly and it is harder to cut late rank hay.


The 4230 when new had 86hp and with that amount of hp it could barely run properly an 9 footer it would crawl with 12 footer on flat ground and I'm assuming it's a diesel and not gasoline.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Trillium Farm said:


> The 4230 when new had 86hp and with that amount of hp it could barely run properly an 9 footer it would crawl with 12 footer on flat ground and I'm assuming it's a diesel and not gasoline.


Tested 86 drawbar and 100 pto. It's plenty of tractor for 9 or 10'.


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## Idaho Hay (Oct 14, 2016)

Trillium Farm said:


> The 4230 when new had 86hp and with that amount of hp it could barely run properly an 9 footer it would crawl with 12 footer on flat ground and I'm assuming it's a diesel and not gasoline.


According to tractordata.com the PTO is 100hp on that 4230. My Kubota's PTO is only rated to 87hp at 540rpm and I run a 10'4" discbine through 3 ton/acre timothy with no trouble. So unless your engine is worn out, I think you should be fine. But I could be wrong... you'll have to decide.


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

Idaho Hay said:


> According to tractordata.com the PTO is 100hp on that 4230. My Kubota's PTO is only rated to 87hp at 540rpm and I run a 10'4" discbine through 3 ton/acre timothy with no trouble. So unless your engine is worn out, I think you should be fine. But I could be wrong... you'll have to decide.


I thought it was 86 at the PTO I stand corrected!


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

My NH TS100 at 100 hp engine and 90 hp PTO is just enough for a 9 foot Krone disc mower with flail conditioner on the 3 point linkage (EasyCut 280 CV). I reckon a 4230 would be just fine: if I had one I would use it in preference to the TS100. And yes, once you have gone to a disc mower conditioner you won't want to go back to a sickle. I still have a sickle haybine, a NH 461 that is about 50 years old and still in excellent condition, but I use it only in stalky crops like oats that prefer rollers to flails.

Roger


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## Beav (Feb 14, 2016)

run NH 7230 with a JD 7400 7 MPH could go faster but fear being bounced around like a ping pong ball in the cab. The only thing a haybine is better at is cutting in rocks. Other wise get a 9 or 10 foot diskbine going new or used?


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## Idaho Hay (Oct 14, 2016)

Beav said:


> run NH 7230 with a JD 7400 7 MPH could go faster but fear being bounced around like a ping pong ball in the cab. The only thing a haybine is better at is cutting in rocks. Other wise get a 9 or 10 foot diskbine going new or used?


Ping pong ball in the cab?... I know that feeling all too well. :wacko: It doesn't help that I'm always in a hurry to beat the weather.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I grew up mowing hay with a side pull NH495 which is a 12' machine. I personally wore two of em out over the years to the point of not worth repairing it.

Bought my own NH499 which is a center pivot, a huge step up over the 495.

Then bought a NH1431.

1: I'll NEVER cut hay again with a sickle bar machine.

2: Don't care if you gave it to me, but if the new disc machine wasn't a center pivot then you can keep it.


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

I used my cousins Discbine one time, I owned one myself within 3 weeks never ever used the haybine after that. I currently run a NH 1411 with JD 4020 ps 5th gear 4th uphill. Go run one you will be impressed.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> Depends on how one's fields are shaped. There are times when the side pull will be no less useful than a center pivot.
> And I also vote disc. It's not even close.


 Most all of my fields are irregular shaped and only in small 1-3 acre patches have I not seen an advantage to a center pivot.......by the time you cut the outside rounds to give enough turning room there isn't much of the field left to mow back and forth.


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## Idaho Hay (Oct 14, 2016)

I have a NH 7230 discbine that's a side pull machine. I cut and ted everything in circles, then rake, bale and pick up back and forth in straight lines. If I had a center pivot I would definitely cut back and forth as well... but I don't. This method works well for me.


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## labdwakin (Jun 21, 2016)

The disc type mowers are far easier and faster to sharpen and change blades on, little more maintenance on your lube because most of them have wet gear boxes that require 90w but it's worth the trade-off. I'm not currently running a conditioner, just a straight 9' and a little New Holland 617, but that sucker is WAY faster than any sickle type mower I've ever run. Another thing I like about the disc mowers is that most of the blades are reversible so you can basically have new blades on for 15-20 mins spent with a couple of wrenches and go again. I also like the fact that a disc mower has fewer blades... a 9 foot sickle is a far bigger pain in the neck to sharpen than just 14 disc blades.


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## Hokelund Farm (Feb 4, 2014)

Beav said:


> run NH 7230 with a JD 7400 7 MPH could go faster but fear being bounced around like a ping pong ball in the cab. The only thing a haybine is better at is cutting in rocks. Other wise get a 9 or 10 foot diskbine going new or used?


Definitely used.


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