Mower choice

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.

I get your point. I suppose I was saying that a lot of contractors these days rake 2 or 3 rows into 1 in order to speed up baling. Certainly around here that's what contractors are doing. There is no advantage to them spending extra on a conditioner or extra on diesel to work it. You pay the baler man by the bale regardless of whether it's raked to 27 ft or 30ft or baled from a conditioner row. Maybe it's different in other parts of the country?
 
I get your point. I suppose I was saying that a lot of contractors these days rake 2 or 3 rows into 1 in order to speed up baling. Certainly around here that's what contractors are doing. There is no advantage to them spending extra on a conditioner or extra on diesel to work it. You pay the baler man by the bale regardless of whether it's raked to 27 ft or 30ft or baled from a conditioner row. Maybe it's different in other parts of the country?

Its different in the rest of the country. Raking is generally charged by the acre. Why dont more contractors run swarthers on their mowers if their raking for free?
 
I get your point. I suppose I was saying that a lot of contractors these days rake 2 or 3 rows into 1 in order to speed up baling. Certainly around here that's what contractors are doing. There is no advantage to them spending extra on a conditioner or extra on diesel to work it. You pay the baler man by the bale regardless of whether it's raked to 27 ft or 30ft or baled from a conditioner row. Maybe it's different in other parts of the country?

Its different in the rest of the country. Raking is generally charged by the acre. Why dont more contractors run swarthers on their mowers if their raking for free?
 
I get your point. I suppose I was saying that a lot of contractors these days rake 2 or 3 rows into 1 in order to speed up baling. Certainly around here that's what contractors are doing. There is no advantage to them spending extra on a conditioner or extra on diesel to work it. You pay the baler man by the bale regardless of whether it's raked to 27 ft or 30ft or baled from a conditioner row. Maybe it's different in other parts of the country?

How much per bale for baling and wrapping?
 
My contractor charged me €10/acre for raking with average of 7 bales/acre works out €1.50 per bale (dear) If tedded out it would add another €1.50/bale
My baling with a fusion cost €6/bale (reasonable i taught) plus plastic
The mowing i did myself but costing it at€20/acre would work out at €3
 
I get your point. I suppose I was saying that a lot of contractors these days rake 2 or 3 rows into 1 in order to speed up baling. Certainly around here that's what contractors are doing. There is no advantage to them spending extra on a conditioner or extra on diesel to work it. You pay the baler man by the bale regardless of whether it's raked to 27 ft or 30ft or baled from a conditioner row. Maybe it's different in other parts of the country?
By the acre here for raking loose a few acres per hour after the non conditioner mowers.
Tines closer to the ground to try and clean it.
 
I paid my man about a month ago. Only made 29 1st cut , mowed it myself with a drum mower. In unlevel field that's usually grazed. Roped 3 together for him with a Vicon Lely. 60 2 nd cut mowed myself with 8 ft moco. He raked it to speedhimself up.
He didn't charge anything for raking , so I can't see how he can afford to spend €20 k odd on a rake , never mind putting a tractor and driver at it.
Majority around here wouldn't pay to spread and rake afterwards. I can't say I blame them . 10 yoyo an acre for each job , to save 2 bales an acre , if you are lucky , plus risk of contamination from soil/dung.
I agree 100 % with @Peter s points above.
 
Its different in the rest of the country. Raking is generally charged by the acre. Why dont more contractors run swarthers on their mowers if their raking for free?

There is 6 contractors within less than 4 miles of here, all working within this area. All 6 have rakes. All 6 mow with conditioner mowers. All 6 rake either 2 or 3 rows regardless of whether the farmer wants it raked. (1 has a rotunde).

It's no advantage to the farmer to have conditioned rows raked so why would he pay per acre. It must to the advantage of the contractor in speed of baling or all of these lads wouldn't have invested big money into rakes because all of them charge by the bale?
 
I paid my man about a month ago. Only made 29 1st cut , mowed it myself with a drum mower. In unlevel field that's usually grazed. Roped 3 together for him with a Vicon Lely. 60 2 nd cut mowed myself with 8 ft moco. He raked it to speedhimself up.
He didn't charge anything for raking , so I can't see how he can afford to spend €20 k odd on a rake , never mind putting a tractor and driver at it.
Majority around here wouldn't pay to spread and rake afterwards. I can't say I blame them . 10 yoyo an acre for each job , to save 2 bales an acre , if you are lucky , plus risk of contamination from soil/dung.
I agree 100 % with @Peter s points above.
We try to wilt most of our grass for feeding to the cows to at least 40% dm. This is done by cutting with the disc mower and tedding it out and then having it raked. Even if you cost that at €10 per acre for each process the savings are much greater. We have better feed. We have 1/3 less bales. We use 1/3 less wrap. Less bales to handle, less bales to feed. Bales go much further at feeding time.

It's grand if you make 100 bales but with us, unwilted bales would have a bale count of 1000, whereas we can have bale count down as low as 700 by wilting with the same amount of feed on a dry year.
 
How much is it for baling and wrapping?
No mowing no raking no wrap supplied.

€6 to €8.

In galway our contractor mows, bales and wraps for €8 per bale, but that's only 150 bales per year. He will wuffle silage for €1 per bale extra or hire out the wuffler for us to use ourselves
 

We do indeed two seasons done. Had small issues which are corrected on all new mowers from the ones I saw at the ploughing. They do give a good cut to be fair. There very very heavy tho I wouldnt be putting it onto a small tractor but u will be fine with the massey and the paint work is pure shite but seems to be the case with all new machinery. Only broke one condition tine so far. What way are they priced against others
 
We do indeed two seasons done. Had small issues which are corrected on all new mowers from the ones I saw at the ploughing. They do give a good cut to be fair. There very very heavy tho I wouldnt be putting it onto a small tractor but u will be fine with the massey and the paint work is pure shite but seems to be the case with all new machinery. Only broke one condition tine so far. What way are they priced against others
They're about 4 k less than a 3.2 kv trailed mower. I wud prefer a trailed mower an the kv is a good mower. It's the price that has me interested. I don't think I wud ave an issue with the weight. Good to hear your happy after 2 seasons. :Thumbp2:
 
P
Alright guys. Just looking for advice here.

No mower at present but was asked to take over the mowing side of things of another contractor as he is winding down. Approx 1300 acres of his with about 400 of my own.

Not too fond of a trailed mower so thinking of a 9ft mounted mower. Probably have to go with the centre pivot ones.

Don't think I could take all the acrage so roughly 1000 per year but more realisticly possibly 600 to 700 to start due to my own contracting commitments.

I'm running a landini 5-115H. 110 horses to play with.

Cheers in advance
get a pottinger
 
They're about 4 k less than a 3.2 kv trailed mower. I wud prefer a trailed mower an the kv is a good mower. It's the price that has me interested. I don't think I wud ave an issue with the weight. Good to hear your happy after 2 seasons. :Thumbp2:

Ya in fairness mchale were very quick to fix the issues il hand that to them. The brother does most of the mowing and he still prefers a trailed. I need a mower for topping on the farm so might buy a new or good second hand Centre pivot and then change the mchale for a trailed. We can then use the 3 point linkage for places can't access with the trailed
 
There is really no way around needing a rake. If you are satisfied with low dm silage, and want it in 10ft narrow rows then you won't need it, but if you are looking for it either spread out from a moco or redder or just a plain mower it has to be raked to fit the pickup.
You just won't dry grass in narrow 10fts in any reasonable amount of time. Raking is a process though that could be cut out, put wider pickups or front rakes on the tractor or baker mounted rakes.
It would be much better to spend that time and money in tedding.
I guess it depends on the customer we are taking about here, id never let a contractor in the street if he wasn't going to spread it out in a wide swath and rake it, it wouldn't dry and he'd be too slow lifting the 10fts, it's also in the farmers interest that the job is finished in a timely fashion, I don't want to take 3 days on a job that should be done in 2.
 
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