mowing hay

@mink 33344 wrote:

if a man had a 7 foot mower and a team of horses how would it compare to a 7 foot sickle bar and a tractor on the same small field?

not sure about the comparison, mink, but my team and a six foot no.9 will drop about an acre per hour. tricky cause you can get in trouble. its easier to cut hay than clean it up, start small.
mitch

@mink 33344 wrote:

if a man had a 7 foot mower and a team of horses how would it compare to a 7 foot sickle bar and a tractor on the same small field?

I see this in two ways…… First, the value of the tractor, at least in one way that it differs from horses, has to do with stamina. If you are taking care to mow a good crop of hay, the same amount as you would with horses, there probably isn’t a huge difference. However, with the tractor you don’t have to stop there, and you can push it harder, to get more done. If you want to get more done, then getting a tractor could be beneficial.

The other way I look at it has to do with whether you are internalizing costs, or externalizing costs. Tractors are more cost effective as a rule because many of the true costs are externalized through environmental degradation from the production and use of fossil fuels, and through government subsidies to keep fuel prices low, and the through economy of scale which invariably runs into more destructive costs. Using horses you don’t have the option to externalize much of the costs, and conversely you have the opportunity to actually internalize costs through craftsmanship (application of power, and repair and maintenance), self-producing fuel, and limiting the costs of inputs.

I know I over-think this stuff sometimes, but like Donn, I decided years ago that animal-power was my choice, and I work within the given natural parameters without looking for alternatives…

I can lay down all the hay I want to work up during a good stretch of weather in about 2 hours with my horses, and that is enough for me.

Carl

Seems like most of the comparisions assume a well conditioned team. For those of us working out at a full time job and useing our teams on a part time basis there needs to be plenty of rest stops factored in to the production rate. Being new at this, only having my team for a little over a year I certainly underestimated the amount of time needed to stop at the end of the row and let the girls catch their breath. I find those pauses good for all three of us, I keep a thermos along and find that a few minutes to enjoy a small cup of coffee and think about the day. It also helps me be more appreciative of the effort my team is putting forward. When I use a tractor I expect to go none stop unless something breaks and I take if for granted all I have to do is keep fuel in the tank. With the team I can feel when the load gets heavier and the need for rest stops changes.

Last summer I ran my 6′ #9 right next to our 430 JD tractors with 7′ New Holland mowers. Actually in the same hay patches off and on. With my team in shape I would actually have to check up quite often because those black horses were just slightly faster than those little tractors could run. I am faster on corners with a good broke team than the tractors (at least with my brother running it). BUT…no matter how good a shape your teams are in, they will need a break. Even with a good running mower and sharp knife you still have to let your team blow. Thats when the tractor passes you up. I also found that 6 hours of mowing was all I wanted to put my horses through, while we will put in 10 hours on the tractors. This year I have spares and will run two mowers with 3 teams. Should be able to get some good out of them rotating a fresh team in every third day.
Had I been able to swap a team out at noon I may be able to come closer to the tractor mowers, but they are a little faster in my grass hay.
Been talking to Jonathan Lawton about the I&J mowers he uses and I think I can afford a new 9′ mower (with a small inheretance from my late grandmother). Having to put up enough hay to feed nearly 200 cows plus some yearlings, I suppose I can justify it. This should really make my brother on the tractor work his arse off to keep up with me.

Mowing is a very fun and satisfying job to do with horses. It takes just the right amount of skill to say, you will have to practice and get better with time. Easy enough so once you get the hang of it you can more or less coast around like you have been doing it your whole life. The biggest problem any beginner will have is plugging. The problem is, there are so many different ways to plug a mower and knowing which ones (or multiples) are afflicting you is the key to making the change that makes it work right. I could write a page on all the ways to plug a mower but I won’t do it right now. As far as makes and models goes, there are two important things to remember depending on what you want to mow and what you want to spend. First, there are lots of makes and models that will mow good if they will carry a good bar with good or new cutting parts properly adjusted. Second, the big advantage of McD #7 and #9 is that they made millions of them. They are everywhere, and you can buy any part for them.