# best self propelled haybine?



## tanjman (May 27, 2011)

hey guys i am working on taking over the family ranch and we are looking for a new hay cutter. we are currently running 2 Hesston 6550 haybines with 16 foot heads. we love them and the hydraulic drive but we are needing something bigger thatcan cut more. we are currently haying just over 1000 acres of alfalfa as well as some grassland and meadows and are gaining more each year. we have alot of rocks where we hay so i am trying to stay away from discbines. the local Hesston dealer in the area is unreliable and could care less about their customers and we would like to switch brands unless the newer Hesstons are that much better.

Thanks


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## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

What are your options for dealers and where are you located? The reason I ask is that some friends I know out by Yuma AZ who use MacDons that I visit when work takes me there and love them. Their Mac Dons are the only SP machine I have ever operated and they are very nice and easy to operate. When in the southwest I see a lot of Hesstons at work as well.

Not many SP units in Indiana, but the ones I see are mostly JD and some NH. I agree with the dealer comment...sometimes I think the companies have no clue how bad some of their dealers are...our New Holland guys in one area are unrealiable as well and the same guys owns three. John Deere at least never lets me down locally. But near Indy the New Holland guys in Plainfield are great. So it is a manager/owner thing I believe...I like both brands machinery wise...kinda goes with my quote on the signature block.

Good Luck


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## tanjman (May 27, 2011)

we have hesston new holland macdon john deere, all the major ones, no vermeer or Claas dealers around though, we need something that will let us go through as many acres as we are now with just 2 people, my brother went to the marines and and my grandfather passed away so our operation is tight, we run our a$$e$ off to get things done the way it is. i have no bias on equipment, it all gets the job done


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## maknhay (Jan 6, 2010)

Why do so many people think you have to stay away from a disc cutter just because you have rocks??? We run a 9260 Hesston with a rotary head. The cutter bar is so much lower profile than the NH 1431 (I think?) we had, it's crazy how much we save on knives because of running the cutter bed at a flatter angle. In your situation where you need to maximize your time I'd go with a MacDon with the new R85 head. My neighbor has a couple seasons on an M200 with the R80 and they love it. He can run better than 16mph where we can only go 13 to 14. The high speed road travel would be nice for you also if your land is spread out. I'd much rather swap out a couple knives with a cordless impact then screw with sickles anymore. I'm not trying to be a wise a$$ here when I say that it's not hard to find those rocks when all you have to look for is a speed bump in the stubble after the hay is off. And I know it's getting harder to do, but there still are kids out there willing to actually work. Three of them, a four wheeler and a garden tractor dump bed trailer can cover quite a few acres in a day.


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## JoshA (Apr 16, 2008)

I'll agree with maknhay.

Regardless of header style (sickle or rotary), if you hit a stationary (I mean something that isn't going to move, but instead is gonna halt the machine) object [rock] you're going to have serious damage. A rock that will damage sickles and guards and knives, will damage knives on a rotary. Cordless impact and one bolt an you've changed a knife. For the amount that we have to replace them, I keep a socket drive with that size socket in the tool box along with a flat head screw driver. Those are the only tools I keep on the swather other than a grease gun.

We've hit rocks. Some bigger than basketballs. In the 4 years we've had discbines, we've only replaced knives.

I've run sickle on haybines and on swathers for cutting grain. Tools for that involves a box of knives, a box of guards, punches and snipes and hammers and rivots or small bolts and nuts and wrenches. And a helluva lot more time to fix. Assuming the rock didn't wedge and brake the sickle.

Now if you hit something stationary at 15mph...... well keep your seatbelt on, or you'll be replacing a windshield. Then maybe a header.

Now as for preferences, I like Hesston. I run a new rotary swather with a double conditioner and a swath merger. They're slow on the road, but they're simple. Likely the best factory conditioner on the market.


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## maknhay (Jan 6, 2010)

How are you liking the double conditioner? Other than the fact it doesn't crush the crop, do you think it equals the drying time of a crusher roller?


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## cattleranch (Dec 17, 2010)

I would seriously consider a rotary tanjman. I have seen them throw giant rocks out of them with no damage but I have also seen the same on a sickle except not thrown out. We bought this: Amazon.com: Hitachi WR18DL 18-volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Impact Wrench: Home Improvement and it takes the same amount of time to change all the knives (20) on our Agco rotary as it did to change about 3 sections our NH sickles. Also the only things we have done to the cutterbed are put knives in and flip the turtles (they were starting to wear through).


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

OT: One thing I'd like to say one about dealers, if the dealer near you can't be trusted then don't buy from him. We have a Kubota dealer within a 1/2 mile of the farm. My wife gave him a shot but his salesman didn't even know what half the stuff on the tractor was for. My wife's late Father told her to never buy anything from him. We drove 25 miles north to a family operation that's been selling Kubota's since 1989 and in business since 1965 and are probably the biggest Kubota dealer in state and their service shows why. Our Kubota's glow plugs weren't working it didn't take long last fall to find out. They picked up the tractor on a Friday, fixed it, brought back on the following Monday, it was still under warranty but no warranty that I know of covers pickup and delivery, they didn't charge us a dime for anything, that what I call service. I even asked if they were sure we didn't owe them something.

I guess what I'm trying to say is the dealer means almost as much as the equipment itself. Now we don't have a close New Holland dealer at all so we gave the guy 1/2 mile away a chance and bought a new New Holland rake from him this spring, so far I'd say we're mediocre at best with his service. A piece of equipment delivered with at least 2 grease fittings that were inaccessible without getting out some tools and fixing it myself is a bad way to get started with my wife when she buys a piece of equipment because I know they didn't grease those fittings before delivering it with position they were in. You can't grease a 90 degree Zerk that pointed straight at the yoke of universal joint.

I'm watching all these Haybine vs. Disc mower conditioners as she may be buying one next year, not self propelled but a pull type, right she's mowing everything with a NH 478 Haybine.

Good luck on your decision and keep us informed.


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## tanjman (May 27, 2011)

whats a disc cost? we hay alot in the foothills and we would go through a pile, not too many stationary rocks but alot littler ones. time is of the essence and i like the macdon's for that reason. i have a neighbor that runs one and seems to like it, all we've ever run was heston and new holland and i'm liking the newer new hollands. they seem pretty stout. i'll be doing alot of checking before i drop the 60-70k after college is over next spring unless dad has troubles this year, the best dealer we got around the area is green but the service department is crap so its six of one half dozen of the other. also we'll have hay coming out our ears, we are in an area that is getting poured on and its flooding all around us, we should be able to sell hay like its going out of style, be nice to pay for it instead of a loan for once


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## cattleranch (Dec 17, 2010)

We paid 25,000 for our 12 foot pull type Agco. Dealer quoted us about 85 for a new 15 foot MF. You might find a used 9635 for a good price.


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## tanjman (May 27, 2011)

i dont want a pull type at all, they cut slower and take longer to turn around in the fireld, and for the acres we have I just cant justify it, I dont see how they are any cheaper than a self propelled either because of the extra tractor that you have tied up to run them, and for all the moving we do they are more of a hassle than they are worth to us. several of our fields have small trails to get back to them and they are all around harder to use. not to cut you down at all but they just arent for us


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## cattleranch (Dec 17, 2010)

The only reason we went PT is because we use the tractor during the winter to feed cows. Otherwise self propelled is definately the better route. Good luck on your choice.


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## tanjman (May 27, 2011)

havent been on here in a while, helping family members get moved out in minot and watching it rain everyday. I dont know how much hay will get put up around the whole state of ND. im thinking we wont get a new one for at least a year


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## johndeerefarmer (Jun 22, 2009)

JoshA said:


> I'll agree with maknhay.
> 
> Regardless of header style (sickle or rotary), if you hit a stationary (I mean something that isn't going to move, but instead is gonna halt the machine) object [rock] you're going to have serious damage. A rock that will damage sickles and guards and knives, will damage knives on a rotary. Cordless impact and one bolt an you've changed a knife. For the amount that we have to replace them, I keep a socket drive with that size socket in the tool box along with a flat head screw driver. Those are the only tools I keep on the swather other than a grease gun.
> 
> ...


I agree that with rocks, discs are loads better than sickles. Change a blade or two and you are on your way and if the blade's not bent just turn it over and use the other edge. With the sickle you end up replaced guards and knives. My grandpa started out with a 4" horse drawn sickle bar back in the forties. Later it was converted to tractor drawn but my grandpa and dad spent most of their time fixing it. We got our first disc mower in 1987. In 10 years of use, we broke one knive, bent two or three and nicked a bunch. Only major trouble was when I tried to mow a steel fence post. It was left over from an old fence project. It knocked a hole in the cutterbar but with some JB Weld fixed it right up.


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## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

Self propelled cheaper then a pull type? Depends on economy of scale inorder to drop $80,000 on something that is only used a few months of the year. Alot of producers don't have that kind of cash no matter how big your operation is. Try drying a 16 foot swath in my neck of the woods.


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## Hayking (Jan 17, 2010)

If your cutting hay everyday you can't afford to be hooking and unhooked plus with the self propelled your not as tired at the end of the day. Once you get a self propelled you wont want another pull type


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## Hay Boy (Jun 28, 2011)

I would have to agree with most of these guys on the rotary (disc) headers. Spending 80K on a haybine that wouldn't have the capacity of the larger PT disc mowers for only 30K, how does that pencil out? If you flatten the header angle you shouldn't have too many issues with rocks. Also, the knife takes the brute of the punishment, the discs will still last just about as long, so you wouldn't have to worry about replacing discs frequently. It's too bad you don't have a quality Hesston-Massey dealer, I think they make some of the best hay equipment on the market. A buddy of mine told me the other day that he heard that Hesston is coming out with a new windrower sometime soon. Hopefully they have increased the field speed and road speed so that they are comparable with MacDon and Deere. Like someone else said it's always an option to go to another dealer a little farther down the road. I'm curious what area are you from?


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Hayking said:


> If your cutting hay everyday you can't afford to be hooking and unhooked plus with the self propelled your not as tired at the end of the day. Once you get a self propelled you wont want another pull type


I typicaly never unhook from PT cutter once haying season starts until it is over.I put a MF 1105 on it.$8000 tractor.A SP would be nice but i can't justify the $80K


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## man of steel (Feb 1, 2010)

swmnhay said:


> I typicaly never unhook from PT cutter once haying season starts until it is over.I put a MF 1105 on it.$8000 tractor.A SP would be nice but i can't justify the $80K


Would not a proper comparison be a new mower($30,000) and a new tractor($80,000)? After all you will be getting a new SP machine for $80,000.

(just using the numbers provided)


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## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

swmnhay said:


> I typicaly never unhook from PT cutter once haying season starts until it is over.I put a MF 1105 on it.$8000 tractor.A SP would be nice but i can't justify the $80K


going to hook my MF 1105 to my discbine this morning. I'll unhook and hook as many times as it takes to not have to spend 80 vs. 20.


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## LeadFarmer (May 10, 2011)

downtownjr said:


> What are your options for dealers and where are you located? The reason I ask is that some friends I know out by Yuma AZ who use MacDons that I visit when work takes me there and love them. Their Mac Dons are the only SP machine I have ever operated and they are very nice and easy to operate. When in the southwest I see a lot of Hesstons at work as well.


Your friends wouldn't happen to be the Sharp brothers would they? I live in the Roll area (near Yuma).

We have run New Holland sickle type SPs for years, but we just traded one of them in for a MacDon M200 discbine. It's definitely not the cleanest cutting machine we've ever had, a discbine will never cut as clean as a sickle, but I think that the added speed, reduced daily operation time etc. make it pretty hard to beat. I was cutting at nearly 10 acres an hour in 2 TPA alfalfa.

If you are haying in an area with lots of rocks I would actually PREFER a discbine machine. Like someone mentioned before, the cutter bar is a lot more low-pro on our disc machine than sickle type. Plus, the knives are so cheap and easy to replace on a disc header, its not like pulling a sickle.


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