# Using a Disc Mower to Cut Bermuda Hay



## Robert1617 (Nov 13, 2009)

I have never used a disc mower before to cut hay, but I know they are popular. When you use a disc mower to cut hay does the hay end up in a row or laying flat on the ground, like it would if you cut with an old sickle bar type mower? What type of mower do the forum participants prefer? Any particular brand of disc mower liked by the participants? Are they low maintenance?


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## Richardin52 (Aug 14, 2011)

Very simple to use and yes the hay will lay flat much like a sickle bar. You can also winrow hay if you have the equipment to do it on the mower. I have a kuhn and a New Holland. Both are good mowers. Once you switch to a disc mower I would be surprised if you ever go back to a sickle bar.


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## LaneFarms (Apr 10, 2010)

I can't think of a reason to use a sickle mower other than for a lawn ornament. A disc mower can work at alot higher speeds. I typically cut at 8 mph and could probably go faster in smoother fields. I prefer vermeer mowers, they are comparatively priced and I have had good realiability from them.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Every tool has it's advantages, AND disadvantages.

I really like the disk mower, with the swath board removed. That is the least cost to have a full width swath.

The conditioning mower really was designed for alfalfa. Though I have mowed a lot of alfalfa with a simple mower, both sickle & disk.

Bermudagrass, except possibly for Tifton 85 bermudagrass, does not NEED conditioning unless there are an excess of johnsongrass or sunflowers in the field.

Now bermudagrass will dull a set of disk knives many times faster than alfalfa will. A drum mower will dull the blades even faster due to the faster blade speeds of a drum mower. We are not talking about hitting strange hard objects or rocks, the grass it's self will dull a set of blades.

A drum mower will leave a sort of windrow. The drum mower I have is a 6.5' cut while my disk mower is a 7' cut. I would rather have a 9' cut disk mower but the one I have is paid for.

In Alfalfa with a disk mower or disk mower conditioner I can cut at 15 mph, though 11 mph is more the norm. 
In bermudagrass with a disk mower I am pretty much limited to 7 mph, even with fresh razor sharp blades. In bermudagrass with a sickle mower 4 mph was really moving along.

If I had a paid for sickle mower and just 20 maybe 30 acres to cut I would stay with the sickle rather than spending new money for a disk mower.

If I had a lot more bermudagrass I would have one of the looks like a conditioner mower but looks will fool you, machine. If I got a new 9 ft disk mower I would also buy a caddy and have a pull type machine using a 3 point hitch style mower.

A sickle three point hitch mower is not too much trouble to hook up. A 7 ft disk mower for an 80 year old can be a two hour chore.

Oh yes my light tractor can pull the disk mower as well as the drum mower. I need the 60 hp tractor on the drum mower though as picking up the three point the on the 35 hp tractor the mower stays on the ground and the left rear wheel comes up!


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I like the Krone but I've only used it, a NH, and New Idea in the past. I actually prefer my old 9' NH 456 sickle mower. I cut around 60 acres but they are all small fields and a disc mower doesn't give me much of a speed advantage. It's easy to hook up, paid for, and any of my tractors will handle it. I rarely let the T-85 get stemy so I don't need a conditioner.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Mike120 said:


> I rarely let the T-85 get stemy so I don't need a conditioner.


I like that! 
Really Common, and to a good extent Coastal has such a high percentage of leaves and plus their small stems that most of the moisture in the plant can exit the plant by sunset, through the leaves. 
This a large advantage we Southern hay growers have over our Northan friends have. 
The down side is, being mostly leaf they are more prone to leaf shatter than alfalfa. Even in the bale. *!* 
Our friends in Kentucky may be wise to us as they are looking at bermudagrass being adapted to their climate & soil.

Now in the California Low Desert they could harvest their bermudagrass with a simple Grain Swather and make us in the Humid East turn green with envy. They put up some really great looking bright green bermuagrass hay. 50 lb bales in a shipping package set up on a pallot, *and* a cheap backhaul to Texas would cost me half my customers.

Grandpa told me, "The only thing worse than 3 months with no rain was 3 days of steady rain." It looks like we are in for 6 days of rain. Rain that is too light to do any good and too heavy to allow much work.

Have a Grand & Glorious Season.


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## wylde77 (Sep 29, 2011)

I recomend using a KUHN. They are the best out there on the market. I have owned a Krone and a John Deere, but I will never switch from a KUHN. There is hardly any maintenance on the new mower I have from them. It is a trailed disc mower. It allows fast working speeds of about 10-12MPH in alfalfa on a smooth field. About 6-8 on a rougher field. The machine does a great job. Most of what I do dries fast enough without a conditioning unit because my machine lays a wide flat windrow the width of the machine. I would highly recomend a KUHN.


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