Mower choice
- Thread starter Reggie.
- Start date
Arthur
Well-Known Member
Just picking out the 2nd line there, IMO this is where the machinery game and farrming in general is falling far behind, why should we have to work all the hours God gives us to have a wage far less than anyone else per hour plus be accountants and unpaid tax collectors, let the man buy the machinery he wants by all means but as far as I can see he is just joining the rat race that is providing a service and until machinery lads learn to use a calculator properly they will be working for the financial institutions and machinery dealers, rant over.
Seedsower
Well-Known Member
I wonder when was the machinery game much different and when will it be different again?
Around me there are too many silage and baling outfits in particular.
Silage is still being cut under 100 euro an acre for bigger jobs.
Baling and wrapping from 6 euro.
It's unsustainable particularly as the few available drivers are returning to the construction industry.
16.50 an hour to drive a digger on the centre Parcs job .in ballymahon.
Around here no lad under 30 wants to drive a tractor and who can blame them
Around me there are too many silage and baling outfits in particular.
Silage is still being cut under 100 euro an acre for bigger jobs.
Baling and wrapping from 6 euro.
It's unsustainable particularly as the few available drivers are returning to the construction industry.
16.50 an hour to drive a digger on the centre Parcs job .in ballymahon.
Around here no lad under 30 wants to drive a tractor and who can blame them
Win
Well-Known Member
If you want to see a long drawbar you want to get a centre pivot krone, with the one on the front its 58ft from front to back here!
Could @Reggie. not buy a mower and try it for a season? if it don't work out he can always sell it again, not new but a decent secondhand one, that way he won't loose a fortune if he needs to sell it.
jcb411abuser
Well-Known Member
The machinery all went wrong when it used to take 100ton of barley to buy a new combine and now for the same equivalent albeit more comfortable version it will take the guts of 1000ton to buy it.
And all machinery is the same, it's because joe soap has to pay for a bigger house a better car and 2 foreign holidays a year and that has to be earned from the same old primary industries that have been going for centuries.
People spend too frivolously
And all machinery is the same, it's because joe soap has to pay for a bigger house a better car and 2 foreign holidays a year and that has to be earned from the same old primary industries that have been going for centuries.
People spend too frivolously
Seedsower
Well-Known Member
By Joe soap do you mean farmers or the workers who manufactured the combine @jcb411abuser
Ozzy Scott
Well-Known Member
We are paying much higher rates down here, and even at that I dont see contractors rolling in cash, most just making a hard living
Peter
Well-Known Member
Your right its a lot of work between mowing,tedding and raking. I can see how the non conditioner mower makes this job look possible but I cant see all of reggies future customers been happy with the extra cost of tedding out the grass and then raking it back up. Id be putting out an outfit like this to mow 1000 acres.
Reading through this thread im wondering why lads dont rebuild older reliable tractors. Theirs is another thread here about buying a new john deere which looks to be a ridiculous cost to change and their are lots of new tractors that are bought for just summer work probably not doing much more then 500 hours a year. Say buy the likes of a tm165 with gearbox troubles you could have the gearbox completely rebuilt new brakes head and valves done tractor respayed on a new set of tyres for 30000 has to be a cheaper way of operating.
mixed fleet
Well-Known Member
Them two would mow a good bit of ground in a day. This is a local man, good operator. Same tractor as above I think.
nashmach
Well-Known Member
I'd be all for what you are suggesting but given the weather dependent nature of the work is it a reasonable proposition?
If it was a new tractor and it broke down, the dealer would likely have a demo or another tractor in the yard which would keep you going. However with the older secondhand tractor what do you do? Run two??
JOHNNY BOY
Well-Known Member
With the sort of payments on some of the newer tractors out there you'd nearly be able to do one for a year's payment
johndeere6920s
Well-Known Member
Probably not going to happen in the ops case but a man having 1k acres to mow to start off with.
Would he not be better to buy the likes of a 6850 deere with the drum damaged and put a set of triples on the front.
Probably work out the same money as a fresh tractor and mower
Would he not be better to buy the likes of a 6850 deere with the drum damaged and put a set of triples on the front.
Probably work out the same money as a fresh tractor and mower
Win
Well-Known Member
It may come to that if the new keep going up, but the thing is its only natural to believe newer is better doesn't matter what it is car, phone, e.t.c. Seeing as we are on a mower thread that is one thing that could probably be fully refurbished for a lot less than a new, buy a old or damaged one, put a new bed on it, refurb the gear box, new conditioner bearings, all the important bits are new or as new it would go for years.
muckymanor
Well-Known Member
Our contractor rakes everything ahead of the baler which I'm sure reggies lad does too. Makes no difference if it's cut with a conditioner, tedded or not, cut with a disc mower or not.
If everything is being raked, I don't see the need for reggie to buy a conditioner mower? Lads can choose if they want to pay extra for Tedding or not.
James
Well-Known Member
raking or tedding after a plain mower is a royal pain cause the grass lies so flat to the ground. this means your rake/tedder has to be set lower increasing the chances of soil contamination - unless you leave a real long stubble maybe
James
Well-Known Member
they are heavy - cut well enough tho
recycled
Well-Known Member
yep
ive seen us cghopping in behind a drum mower . were putting 5 into one so middle swath not getting moved by the rake , chopper can hardly lift it of the ground , ive seen us going back with the chopper and tyring it in the opposite direction to see if it will lift it , but its clapped tight to the ground and all lying in the direction of travel so the tynes just comb it
muckymanor
Well-Known Member
At this stage we have literally made thousands of bales that were cut with a disc mower and raked and we have never had an issue with soil contamination. Contractor recons that his next mower will be a disc mower. He teds all his own grass and most of his customers want theirs tedded too.
He recons moving grass on the flat is easier on the rake than moving 10ft rows
Peter
Well-Known Member
But it's extra cost compared to been able to just go out and pick it up out of the conditioned row the next day without doing anything more to the grass. I wouldn't rake up unconditioned grass without tedding it out first so now I have the extra cost of tedding and then I have to pay to get it raked back into a row. So if my conditioner mower broke down and the only man available came to mow with a non conditioner mower it would cost me double the money because the contractor didn't have a conditioner on his mower. If that happened I wouldn't be a happy man.
I find the replies on this forum comical at times. It's always a popular topic tedding and raking silage and then members turn around then and say that there's not enough money out of the job. If that the case why do lads be at it so?
If I was the op I would be getting into the car and calling around to his potential future customers and hearing their thoughts.
Green Grass
Well-Known Member
I heard somewhere the mchale have similar bed to samasz mower