# At what speed should I drive my rotary windrower/swather?



## teepartied (Sep 5, 2015)

I am in a sense settling a debate. This is the second year we have had our windrower. It is a John Deere rotary cut windrower. At the top end of its speed, it runs around 9.5 regularly and obviously down to quite slow. Based on driving it, it seems that we get a cleaner cut when we cut on the higher end of the speed range, 8-9.5, but my neighbor, who likes to offer his opinion though he doesn't grow hay, insists that I am driving too fast. He insists that we purchased the "wrong" kind of windrower and that we should have purchased a sickle bar cutter. Is there a magic speed at which I should be cutting or should I assume that I should travel at the speed the machine lets me drive? I should add that our fields have furrows, so at the end of each row I have to slow to a stop to get lined up for the next swath and I slow down a bit when it gets bumpy.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

IMHO as long as it's cutting to suit you &/or your customer if you are a custom operator I'd tell your neighbor he needs to tend to his own knitting(mind his own business) & that you think you hear his wife calling him! :lol:


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Cut as fast as you want/can. If the swather can't handle it you will feel it. However you should consider the type of crop for how fast you have the rotors going. You have the right swather and your neighbor is wrong. Sickles are only good if you are only cutting alfalfa and also want to save money when buying a machine.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Teslan said:


> Cut as fast as you want/can. If the swather can't handle it you will feel it. However you should consider the type of crop for how fast you have the rotors going. You have the right swather and your neighbor is wrong. Sickles are only good if you are only cutting alfalfa and also want to save money when buying a machine.


Well cheaper machine and also if you don't value you're time very much


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

If I had to use a sickle machine to mow hay I would quit been there done that.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Your neighbor dont KNOW squat for 1 thing . I run JD disc heads and we will cut alfalfa 10 to 14mph most of the time. A sickle head canNOT keep up or do as good of job as a disc head . Shove that hydro forward ..................................


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

My brother is new to rotary mowers and he noted to me with amusement that the ops manual diagnosis to many cutting problems was to travel faster. Do what works.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Maybe your manual says to go faster to solve cutting issues. If so show it to the neighbor.


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## Farmineer95 (Aug 11, 2014)

As fast as you can with the hp available without stripping or hitting your head on the cab ceiling. Rotaries can cut a lot more different crops faster than a sickle.

Is the neighbor always right?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I usually cut 10-11 mph, if its too rough to go that fast then its time to burn the whole thing down, no-till to corn, no-till to beans then work the snot out of it till its as smooth as a baby's butt and replant to alfalfa.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

"You'll always get plenty of advice on how to farm from someone who went broke farming", is an old saying my Grandpa used to say. He got a lot of "advice" from people that didn't really know sh!t from shinola...

Getting "advice" from a neighbor who doesn't even grow hay falls into the same category, IMHO. I once had an old fart that Dad used to combine for back in the day, who I ran into getting parts for my disk mower, tell me that "those things are no good-- they "split the stems" when they cut, instead of making a clean snip-off cut like a sickle does-- the ragged cut impedes regrowth". All bullsh!t...

If I had to still use a sickle in these fire ant mounds and crap, gumming up all the time in our clay, I'd have quit by now. I've cut with a drum mower for 30 years and never had ANY problem with "regrowth" being slow... Just uninformed nonsense by a geezer...

Later! OL J R


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

luke strawwalker said:


> Getting "advice" from a neighbor who doesn't even grow hay falls into the same category, IMHO. I once had an old fart that Dad used to combine for back in the day, who I ran into getting parts for my disk mower, tell me that "those things are no good-- they "split the stems" when they cut, instead of making a clean snip-off cut like a sickle does-- the ragged cut impedes regrowth". All bullsh!t...


I used to hear the same thing, usually from people who couldn't afford to upgrade to a discbine. Of course sharp knives make a difference too, but those cost money.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

mlappin said:


> I used to hear the same thing, usually from people who couldn't afford to upgrade to a discbine. Of course sharp knives make a difference too, but those cost money.


Knives for a rotary don't cost as much money as a sharp sickle bar. Or nearly as hard to put in. Sickles used to be a twice year battle to replace. Never mind the random section or guard replacements in the field.


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## Maxzillian (Sep 11, 2014)

I couldn't begin to count how many times I've battled disc mower problems because an operator wasn't-running or couldn't-run fast enough to get a clean cut.

Disc mowers definitely have a minimum cutting speed; they're not lawn mowers. At one time I stuck a camera under the shields of a pull-type and observed that if we were pulling it too slowly, you'd see the crop build up on top of the cutter bar and then disappear in an instant once the conditions got hold of it. Consequently this mower was streaking and making lumpy windrows when this happened. This was some 1-5.2 foot tall Bermuda beside a river... we still needed 8 mph to get it to cut right and the old tractor that was pulling the mower couldn't keep cool if the PTO was idled down below 850 rpm. There were some minor changes we were able to do to the mower to help it out, but the results were minor as well.

I helped out another fellow who had a stand of alfalfa that was about 8" tall... I ultimately had to tell him there was nothing we could do to make the cut perfect. For the most part he could run enough speed to cut clean, but would streak when he slowed down for a low spot in the field. Unfortunately this wasn't acceptable for him, but I disagreed that his much older pull-type of a different brand wasn't having the same problem.

I'm convinced that if you can't maintain enough crop flow to keep the conditioner constantly fed, a disc will never cut right. That said, this appears to be a problem unique to roll conditioners as I've yet to run across a spoke conditioner with this complaint. It really makes me curious if just slowing down the conditioner could improve a cut versus slowing down both the discs and conditioner.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Maxzillian said:


> I couldn't begin to count how many times I've battled disc mower problems because an operator wasn't-running or couldn't-run fast enough to get a clean cut.
> 
> Disc mowers definitely have a minimum cutting speed; they're not lawn mowers. At one time I stuck a camera under the shields of a pull-type and observed that if we were pulling it too slowly, you'd see the crop build up on top of the cutter bar and then disappear in an instant once the conditions got hold of it. Consequently this mower was streaking and making lumpy windrows when this happened. This was some 1-5.2 foot tall Bermuda beside a river... we still needed 8 mph to get it to cut right and the old tractor that was pulling the mower couldn't keep cool if the PTO was idled down below 850 rpm. There were some minor changes we were able to do to the mower to help it out, but the results were minor as well.
> 
> ...


Wouldn't slowing down the conditioner cause it to do more of what your camera showed I wonder? That would be an interesting video to see. I should try and mount my gopro under mine to see what's happening. Though I suspect it's to dark. Maybe duct tape the curtain up for awhile to to get enough light.


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## Maxzillian (Sep 11, 2014)

Teslan said:


> Wouldn't slowing down the conditioner cause it to do more of what your camera showed I wonder? That would be an interesting video to see. I should try and mount my gopro under mine to see what's happening. Though I suspect it's to dark. Maybe duct tape the curtain up for awhile to to get enough light.


I don't think so, from what I could see it looked like the conditioner would yank a wad out and then it couldn't grab any of the incoming crop until another wad built up. It was pretty hard to see though, even though the camera had infrared lights, the amount of dust and debris under the shields made it hard to see anything a foot past the camera.


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## JMT (Aug 10, 2013)

Are self propelled rotaries more dependent on speed than pull type? How about width of cut. Do larger machines require more speed?


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## Farmineer95 (Aug 11, 2014)

I suspect that a light crop on a rotary with conditioner rolls has a lot of wind issues. Noted that tonight cutting some short but thick grass just tonight. Could see it carried around the reel of our so sickle McDon. Material was only in front of conditioner. Alfalfa clover and light grass. Still made a decent row but the cutterbar seemed to have double duty as it was stripping occasionally. Stop clean it off go again.

The tedder didn't seem to care.


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## Maxzillian (Sep 11, 2014)

JMT said:


> Are self propelled rotaries more dependent on speed than pull type? How about width of cut. Do larger machines require more speed?


I think self-propelled machines can be more flexible as some I've worked with allowed you to vary the speed of the head without idling the engine down. With pull-types you can realistically only wind them down to 75-85% of rated speed before you start running into cooling or horsepower limitations.


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## Wethay (Jul 17, 2015)

The old sickle machines relied on forward speed to keep the crop from just falling down on the cutter bar once it was cut. I haven't seen a sickle (sorry for the bad word) mower/ conditioner without a reel to get the crop from the cutter bar to the rolls. Out here in grass seed country I have heard that a problem with the disc machines is lack of speed. Slow down and it wants to double cut the crop, etc. They go fast and cut good in smooth fields. Rough fields and they don't do good. Unless they have changed their colors my thought is OHF (Orange Handle Forward).


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