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Oklahoma | I think there are some merits to your point Rich, depends on area and probably the type of forage. I saw a Old World Bluestem field in Central OK about 3 years ago that half was cut with a swather, half with a rotary. You could tell which side was cut with which machine as the rotary side was scalped. You could see where every disc went. Granted, probably due to operator error getting too close to the ground and pitching the discs a little too far down but in July with lots of heat and no moisture, there was night and day difference between the two sides. A college friend of mine who was a turf major for a while always told me that to get the cleanest cut, use a rolling knife like golf courses (very little damage, regrowth is quick), next is sharp rotating discs, and last is sharp inline knives (like a sickle).
I don't know about the costs on a self propelled machine but we traded off a 10ft hesston swather (older) a got a Fella 11'6" disc mower about 4 years ago to run in bermuda and haygrazer. We wouldn't go back to the swather. I don't know exact fuel useage for each tool but the time in the field has really sped up. Dad runs from 8 - 10 mph and I run it around 8 just due to not ever getting comfortable with running faster with our fields. With the swather we were running about 4 to 4.5 and in haygrazer it plugged up lots. In short grass the swather might be alittle better but we switched rakes from wheel rakes to the baskets and that seems to have helped alot. As for maintance on the Fella, so far, so good. When we were looking we looked at every type available at two farm shows. Come to find out, the Fella rep was a local producer who we knew. He gave us a list of producers in the area who had them and a parts book with every part and its price in it. So up front we knew what was needed for any repair that had to be made. Called some of the producers in the area and discussed with them and they all had good things to say about them including one who ran a fence post through his and had to make some repairs. He thought it was pretty simple to repair (torn curtains, broke support arm for curtain, few blades). Dad ran one of theirs in their field prior to ordering. If my memory is correct we picked up the Fella for under $8K. | |
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Rotary Swathers
