# Double 9 vs Pair of 9 ft mower



## goldenpennyelk (Sep 28, 2009)

How much faster is cutting with a double 9 ft sickle mower compared to just a single sickle bar or a pair of 9 footers? I assume twice as fast just based on the math, but what about time spent turning around etc. When cutting small grass fields do you have to leave more with the double 9 because of the size of equipment? Is it cheaper to run with two 9 footers with small tractors or double 9 with more HP required? Leave labor costs out of the equation and then what is most economical.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

What do you mean double 9 ft sickle mower? Similar to running a front mower on a tractor with butterflys or trailed hydroswing on the rear?


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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

Sorry, hadn't used sickle mower in more that 25 years. Went to disk conditioner about 20 years ago. Two would be faster and more economical if they were on the same tractor.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

We know that a 9ft discbine would be a lot fast than a 9ft sickle machine. Pulling 2 9ft machines with their own small tractor would be about twice as fast as with one 9ft machine..... and the double 9????? What do you mean? Rather than going that route, a 13ft discbine would probably cut as much as two 9ft sickle machines, and you might not need a bigger tractor than with the 'double 9'.......

Rodney


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

Using like a Rowse double mower is twice as fast as a single. I still have one in ND. No problem turning with them either. Good machines in prairie grass hay. Has a little of a learning curve but will cut lots of hay. Does not take much hp at all. 35 to 40 horse for the double although you see all kinds of tractors hooked to them. Mike


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## fredro (May 12, 2012)

still think a 10"6 krone would out cut 2 9"


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I still have mixed emotions on the sickle/disc argument. I always maintained my 9' NH 456 and as far as I can tell, my 9' disc mower doesn't really cut any faster. The disc mower WILL cut in conditions that would choke the sickle but that usually involved a new, overgrown field, not one that I cut on a regular basis. I can cut with the sickle using a much smaller open station tractor, where I use twice the HP & diesel to cut in the larger cab tractor with the disc. The cab with AC is a LOT more comfortable though and if I had large, smooth fields I could probably run faster than I do. I still think the sickle cuts a lot cleaner and I don't have to change blades on the sickle nearly as often as on the disc mower.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

Mike,
I'll argue with you all day. I like the job that a sickle machine does, but how fast can you drive with a sickle - 4 to 5 mph? Easily double that with a disc mower. We have a NH1499, and I think it cuts very well. The 16ft disc machine that runs most of the time will cut rings around that thing. Like you said, it'll take a LOT more fuel to do it, and it cost more.

Rodney


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

The way I took it was that the poster was wanting to know if using a double sickle mower like a Rowse is faster than using 2- 9' single sickle mowers. At least that is the way I understood it. Mike


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## jpritchett (Sep 22, 2009)

It really depends on your hay. Alot of guys out in the heavy swamp ground they run the single 9' or single 7' Kosch or Rowse bar mowers. They run faster than a double 9'. You can put your tractor in a higher gear. About 15 years ago we was running 2 Double 9' Kosch Mowers until we switched to windrowers. When we made the switch to a Disc mower we ended up buying a Double 9 Rowse because are JD 4995 disc mower was not cutting are upland prairie hay short to the ground and leaving streaks out in the field. But i have to say a disc mower is so much faster but it does not do the job that a sickle will do.

You dont need a big tractor to run a bar mower. You dont need live PTO. Two is faster than one. In small fields you wont leave any hay. Just make sure you watch the end of the bar when you are cutting along the fence.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Rodney,

Keep in mind that HERE I am cutting smaller 10-15 acre fields that are not very smooth. A couple of years ago I was cutting one field with the sickle mower and a friend was cutting the adjacent field with a disc mower. I beat him and we weren't racing. I was also cutting those fields every 21-25 days and could run 5-6 mph without a concussion. For various reasons I've increased the cut times to 27-30 days since I switched to the disc mower and I can run a little faster in the bigger tractor, I just don't like to 'cause the field looks like hell when I'm finished. I've pulled a friend's trailed disc mower and it doesn't seem to bounce like my 3pt mounted one does.

A set of aggressive, over-serrated sections would last me a whole season on the sickle. I went through a couple of sets of blades this year with the disc mower, and I usually hit them with a flapper disk between uses. The disc mower will out cut the sickle in a much greater range of conditions, but it comes with a higher cost in maintenance and fuel. I would love to try a double Rouse, but I expect it would be a PITA in smaller fields and I've already gone to a disc mower.

Another point is that I'm only cutting for myself....I'm not racing from field to field doing custom work. The higher cost of the disc mower only increases my feed costs, so in my case more time does not equal less money. Actually, I think the sickle is more appropriate for my situation, but I got the disc mower very cheap and I prefer to cut in the comfort of the cab tractor. I could probably put a 1000 PTO stem in the tractor and lower the RPMs to cut back on fuel usage, but I'd still burn more than the JD on e-PTO and I like the AC.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I'm not sure why some people have trouble with disc blades. We used to go though sections and guards like crazy on the haybine, never mind knife drives too. The discbine might need 4-5 knives per 100 acres of mowing, our old 489 would need 10+ sections and at least one guard and knife drive bolt. This is almost all from rock damage.

We have heavy yields and where the haybine often streaks the disc mower only streaks if your blades are really mangled from a rock or you hit a really thin patch of hay.


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