Push Rod

I'm actually not all that color preferential myself. If it runs, I'll buy it. Prolly break it. But I dunno what it is with Deere equipment, but as soon as I get near that stuff, it breaks.

I ended up with the 94 MacDon. They're dragging it out here tomorrow morning at 8am. I've been told by a few guys now that they're the simplest haybine on the market, so that suits my general intellect level.

Should have it wrecked by 2:30 or so....

Rod

sherod

Rod, you know that if you haven't got the heat wrench and the welder going, it ain't made right. Don't worry, from my farming/ haying experience you will soon get the chance to "improve" it.

Buddy of mine just baled the "missing" tedder bar. He seems to think he is too big to fit in the bale chamber....guess who he called. Gad, I wish his daughter would have said she broke it BEFORE we found it with the baler.

Ed

Push Rod

My first baler was an old 5510 Hesston that was "improved" dramatically by its previous owner. I'm not that bright, but I can learn from other's mistakes, so I attempt to control my desire to "improve" things these days. I'm usually successful, however my father often sneaks some "improvements" by me.

Rod

joefarmer

Any time, my wallet lightening friend!

brandon.

Push Rod

Well this whole saga isn't over yet.

The 94 MacDon came out here, and has obviously had a good home. Other than faded paint from being outdoors, and a scrape where its met a tree or another piece of equipment, you'd swear it was brand new. New knife, new guards, schwack o' new bearings, overall excellent shape.

However, the turkeys were supposed to send me a manual with it, and didn't. The problem I'm having is that it seems to turn over slower than most haybines I've seen. I can roll into heavy, tangled, rank alfalfa and cut at about 3 mph, which is where I expected it, however when you get into light stuff, I can't get much more than 3.5 mph before plugging it tight. Anyone know if there is an adjustment on the pump for more flow or more speed? As an experiment, I ran the tractor over PTO for a couple rounds yesterday, and it improved the cutting manners a great deal.

Rod

tool

Rod,

I've heard good things about the Mac Dons.

Sorry don't have any experience with them. Hope you get it sorted out though.

The "purple" cows here say hi.

vaquero

Rod,
Get you a Hesston disk mower/ conditioner. It even comes with a B series CUMMINS. We have an 8550s with 15'6" disk header and can cut irrigated grass alfalfa mix at 12 mph. I can lay down a 160 acre circle in a day and still have time to check my cows before dark. After running these disk mowers for several years now I can't even imagine what it would be like to have to run a sickle bar swather.
Hope the Mac Don works out for you, they seem to be pretty good outfits.
Kris

Push Rod

I was eyeballing a Hesston SP discbine. The only thing that stopped me was the price tag. Even second hand ones in average shape are selling for $30K up here, which is just a hair out of my league right now.

When I was looking, I talked to some people about discbines, and the only thing bad I heard about them was in light stuff they didn't cut all that well. Usually our alfalfa is pretty good up here, but last year with the drought, we had plenty of light fields to cut. How do the Hesston discbines respond to light stuff? By light, I mean 1/2 - 1 ton/acre.

We did manage to get the book on the MacDon unit, and got it tuned up properly now. With enough power (130HP), we're cutting 3 ton/acre at 5.5 mph easily, and can probably walk up another 1 mph yet. If it wasn't for the rough ground, we could be cutting light stuff at 8 mph, so we're happy for the moment. We'll run the MacDon for a couple years, then look for an SP sickle or discbine.

Rod

vaquero

Rod,
Glad to hear the MacDon is working good for you. That's a pretty good speed with reel/sickle bar header.
In the short or thin stuff ours cuts very well. All you have to do is slow down your disc rpm alittle and/or pick up your ground speed some. What is happening is that the disks are causing so much wind under the header spinning at 2000 rpm+, that it just lays over the crop and it doesn't get cut. Another thing that I do so that I can keep my speed up and not have to mess with my disk speed is to just angle my header down 2 or 3 degrees and this helps keep enough hay feeding through the header so that the wind doesn't get that bad.
We have a really bad gopher problem on three of our circles and where we used to go through two sickle bars a circle bulldozing through the mounds we now get a cutting out of a set of knives on our disk mowers (Just under 1000 acres per cutting). That in itself is enough of a reason why we went to a disk mower. As well as the acerage we have to lay down (speed).
I hear you about the price of the Hesstons. They are very expensive but in my opinion they are hands down the best out there. We have had all the JD, Case, NH dealers bring us out a machine to try and we just keep coming back to the Hesston. This is the last season for the swather we have now so I might look at some of the other guys again but I have a funny feeling it will be a Hesston again.
Hmmmm, I wonder if an intake and exhaust will help the Cummins any? I wonder if my Scotty III will fit?

Push Rod

Its definitely fast enough on some of our ground. We've got a few alfalfa fields that have been in hay for 12 - 14 years, and they are ROUGH. We don't have quite as many problems with the gopher and mole holes as we do with the holes dug by coyotes to get at the gophers. I was merrily cutting away, and picked up about 70 lbs of dirt when I was fiddling with the radio instead of watching what I was doing.

I was wondering about that. Our biggest problem up here is NONE of our farm equipment dealers have any kind of true knowledge on the machines. We end up having to figure stuff out on our own, and I hadn't talked to anyone running a discbine who had figured them out yet.

I have to give credit to MacDon for their excellent field manual though. The John Deere manual often said 'adjust part Y to X inches to suit conditions' without giving you any kind of bloody clue what the conditions were. The MacDon manual gives you hay moisture conditions, ground moisture levels, hay yield and horsepower, and tells you what every part on the unit should be adjusted to. Of course there was some fine tuning after that, but it was awful nice having a starting point, especially after I called the dealership and their answer was 'We don't know'.

We'll probably do one more MacDon unit around here before we seriously look into an SP discbine. We've only got about 2 cuts of 750 acres to do over the summer, so a Hesston discbine, while it would be nice, is probably an unnecessary expense at this time. But like yourselves, when we do buy one, it'll probably be a Hesston. The dehydration plants around here ALL run Hesston field equipment, and if they can stand up to the idiot operators and the poor maintenance of a dehydration plant, they can stand up to anything.

Rod

vaquero

"I was wondering about that. Our biggest problem up here is NONE of our farm equipment dealers have any kind of true knowledge on the machines. We end up having to figure stuff out on our own, ..."

I hear you about the dealers. It's come to the point around here that we have one guy at one dealer and another at the other dealer and if we can't get them on the phone for parts or help with a problem we just hang up. It's a real shame, they just can't get anyone that knows anything about equipment or even cares.
I was talking to the guy that runs our farming operation for us today about the MacDons and he said that they are very good machines. One thing I didn't realize is that they don't make a machine with a disk header, only sickle bars. He said that is the only reason this ranch has never had a MacDon swather over the years.

"The dehydration plants around here ALL run Hesston field equipment, and if they can stand up to the idiot operators and the poor maintenance of a dehydration plant, they can stand up to anything."

Even though our swather gets treated with kit gloves we have never had to replace a part on any of our Hesstons over the years other than the knifes. We only have three seasons on them before we trade it off for a new one but you would think you'd have to replace a bearing or two or something with over 7000 acres on it by the time we get rid of it. I'm like you'd mentioned earlier, not paint color loyal, but as far as a swather I don't see how you can go wrong with a Hesston.
Happy cuttn', Kris

Push Rod

" Even though our swather gets treated with kit gloves we have never had to replace a part on any of our Hesstons over the years other than the knifes."

Maintenance is so important, I don't know why some ranchers and farmers cut corners on it. I run our equipment hard around here, but its always maintained religiously and rarely gives trouble.

My little M&W baler has rolled 7000 bales with nary a blown bearing or worn chain. The chains look brand new, and its because I take 10 minutes every 4 or 5 hours, re-grease and re-oil and get back at it. There are days I almost hate the idea of going baling, cause I know its gonna be nothing but 12 or 14 hours of almost non-stop baling

Our 4020 John Deere has got 17,000 hours on it, but still puts down around 85 HP or so. Its definitely gettin tired now, but the motor has never had a wrench on it. We've replaced a generator and thats about it. But its always been maintained properly with the best available fluids used that were available. Same with the rest of our tractors. My 930 has 12,000 hours on it, and puts out 98 HP, more than factory power. Nary a wrench on that old girl either.

Rod

signature600

I'm supprised it took so long for someone to metion Heston machinery. Except for MacDon, it is the best there is. We have sold the stuff for 12 years now, and they have the absolute best balers, and their mowers are also top notch. Around here, if you mow with a Heston, you can bale it a day earlier than someone who didn't.

Rod, about your 4020, I'm sorry, even a great guy like you needs his head examined when he brings up something like that! (if you can't tell, I'm not a fan of the GREEN stuff, it's all orange for me) Just poking fun, because they really were good machines, it's the dealers and people that typically have them, and won't even consider anything else just jerks my chain.

Good luck on the rest of the haying season, we're about 2/3 done here, and business is crazy.

Chris

Push Rod

I know, I know, but I do gotta give the old girl credit. I'm definitely not a green fan myself.

What I can't believe is how much people are willing to pay for those old 4020s, and how loyal people are to them. This 4020 is actually my father's and I had deal worked out with the local Massey place. Our tired 4020 + $6000 = 125 HP FWA Massey with 808 (6?) Leon loader and joystick. The Massey was used of course, but in excellent shape. Dad refused to get rid of that green damned tractor I know the guy that bought the FWA. He's used it hard now for 4 years without turning a wrench on it.

At auction sales around here, 4020's will sell for anywhere between $7000 (poor condition) to $14,000 excellent condition with 143A front end loader. The tractors were only $6300 brand new! I just don't understand. I can buy 2 1135s, or an 1135 with Leon loader in excellent shape cheaper than the 4020, and the 1135 is easily twice the loader tractor. Heck, I can buy 5 930s for that money, and have a tractor thats every bit as tough as the 4020.

Rod

signature600

I'm glad to hear you like Massey, because next to Deutz, those are my other favorite tractors. That Perkins is hard to beat, but Deutz Air-Cooled's can do it without breaking a sweat. I'll get flamed for this, BUT, I LIKE THEM BETTER THAN CUMMINS!

HeHeHe, I'm going to find a big spoon, so I can keep stirring this pot.

If you guys want to talk tractors, count me in, I love them things.

Chris