# Disc mower or mower conditioner?



## bbean (Jul 11, 2011)

I have an ancient Int 990 mower conditioner and am looking to upgrade to something a bit newer. I have a JD 2240 tractor (50HP) and we make hay for horses and getting it dry here in the mountains of Maine is hard to do. We have mostly timothy and grass hay and want something that mows faster and will dry quickly. Our hay tends to lodge a bit and it seems like a disc mower-conditioner would be good but I am wondering if 50 HP is enough. Our fields are flat and my friend ran a JD disc mower-conditioner with 33 HP although he said it ran hard. I'm also looking at a JD 1219 mower-conditioner and would appreciate suggestions on the benefits of a sicklebar unit VS a disc unit.
Thanks!


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## Hayking (Jan 17, 2010)

A disc mower will certainly mow faster than a sickle I just don't know if You have enough horses seems to me that would be min for a 10' I think 75 HP would be enough.


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## North Maine (Jul 1, 2011)

BBean this is my first season, but my friend has a NH discbine and I have a Hesston haybine (mower conditioner) and we did 60 acres at my place in Fort Kent, his discbine is MUCH faster and gets a much lower cut, leaving a nice clean field after whereas my haybine is SLOW and doesn't produce nearly as good of a cut. The price is what is was for me though... I got this Hesston for 800 bucks, his Discbine is easily worth well over 10k... thats a serious difference.


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## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

I have a Kubota M704 (68 hp), and a 9'9" JD mo-co I bought a couple months ago. I cut some THICK Hermothia today for planting grass, & it was all the tractor wanted. It'll cut OK, but I had to slow to 3 lo range to keep it from bogging down.


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## Edster (Feb 23, 2010)

bbean I just upgraded from an IH990 to a NH 1411 discbine. Min. hp required is 80hp. I can give ya a good deal on the 990 that way you can cut twice as fast.









Been right where you are now. My fields are thick and heavy and molasses ran quicker in December than I could cut with the 990. The real HP hog is the conditioner. You can find disc mowers that require alot less hp. I looked at a Vermeer 8'-0 cut that could be run with 35 hp. Add a conditioner and now you are up to 75 to 80 hp. I'm in Maine too and I wouldn't want to try to make hay without a conditioner. THe folks acroos from my field do it without a conditioner and they are waiting one to two days more for the hay to dry.

SO I guess you have two choices. Get a tractor with more hp, or find a disc mower and an old conditioner. I saw a conditioner on Craig's list just this past weekend for short money.


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## North Maine (Jul 1, 2011)

Edster my friend has a NH 1411, and he ran it on his JD 3020 with about 70 PTO HP and it ran like a champ all day never bogging or stressing the tractor, so I think NH is a little high on their min. HP requirements... I think a torqy 60-70 HP tractor with 1000 rpm PTO handles the 1411 quite nicely. You are right though, even up here conditioning is a necessity.


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## Edster (Feb 23, 2010)

North Maine said:


> Edster my friend has a NH 1411, and he ran it on his JD 3020 with about 70 PTO HP and it ran like a champ all day never bogging or stressing the tractor, so I think NH is a little high on their min. HP requirements... I think a torqy 60-70 HP tractor with 1000 rpm PTO handles the 1411 quite nicely. You are right though, even up here conditioning is a necessity.


The one I got is 540 PTO. Not taking any chances gonna run it behind the Massey 1100---94hp at the PTO. Guy I bought it from ran it behind a Ford/New Holland 85hp.

The


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## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

i'm quite sure your tractor will handle one of the smaller discbines, all you need to do is go slower. If you don't have lots of acres to cover nothing wrong with cutting at 5 mph or so. On the plus side the smaller sized disc cutters sell cheap ( a least around here) so you may get a good deal. Mixed grass hay... discbine for sure!


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## mjsneed99 (May 19, 2011)

I have a 1411 and run it with a New Holland 7635. The pto hp for my tractor is rated at 86hp. I wish i had a bigger tractor to run it. I can mow 20 acres in 1 1/2 hours and could run faster but my fields are a little rough. If you deceide to go with the discbine you will need more hp. The only problem i have ran into is on hilly ground my tractor gets hot and I have to slow down.


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## Larry (Mar 28, 2011)

If you want to travel at a decent speed 6-7 MPH (flat ground) you would need a good 70hp tractor with a 9ft disc mower/conditioner. I have a CIH 3309 disc mower conditioner that for 19 years I've used a 970 Case on it which is about 95 pto hp traveling at 8 mph. I have also used a Belarus 825 which is about 75-80 pto hp and it handled it fine too in heavy stuff. I think a 50hp tractor could run one but ... if you have hills your going to be in trouble and on flat ground you will have to drop your speed. Ideally you should go and hook on to one and make a few rounds and see how it works. If the crop is really lodged and its tough grass it does take hp. But with that said the faster you drive the more HP it takes to run it. In lighter hay crops it doesn't require a whole lot of hp.

This was some pretty heavy mowing here.










I now use a 125 pto hp tractor on it (cause its newer and nicer to run!) but like I said the 70-80 hp did work










Same feild being baled, I think this field did 85-90 bales an acre.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

If you drive slow enough you can most likely get by with a 9' discbine. However something else to consider, discbines do NOT like rocks. Look at it like this, if you wouldn't want to run your lawnmower thru the hay field because of rocks, a discbine isn't going to like it either.


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## Richardin52 (Aug 14, 2011)

I'm also in Maine in the Western mountains where it seems to rain every other day. When you talk about if you need a disc mower or a disc mower conditioner, it all depends.

If you try to get in dry hay in Maine in June your fighting the weather and green lush hay. In that case get a conditioner. If your not up against it and can wait till July after the heads have started to mature a little more then you can get by with a disc mower just fine. If you search around you can find research where hay that is spread out dries as fast or almost as fast as conditioned hay left in a win row. I use a disc mower and not a conditioner on a New Holland TN 60A. I cut hay on my farm and two others.

I was doing my last bit of first crop the last week of July it rained all day the day before I started. I had to wait till one PM before the grass was dry. I dropped every bit of hay that afternoon then tedded it the next morning after the dew was off. I tedder again at 2:00PM and the hay dry by 4:00PM.

When I was a kid we never cut dry hay till after July 4th. Nowadays you see guy putting up hayledge in June and you get the haying bug. I do too but plant your garden tinker your equipment and wait till the weather calms down and the hay matures a little more and you will get buy just fine with a disc mower without a conditioner.


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## farminfool (Aug 4, 2011)

A guy down the road uses a kuhn 243 with tine conditioners. It is 
7' 11"cut, works great and he cuts with a 45hp kubota...kuhn does recomend a 60hp though.....


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

It's generally accepted that while tine/flail conditioners work good on grass, if your planning on mowing any alfalfa, the tines can strip the leaves right off.


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