A Tale of two mowers

[Donn Hewes]

I came home from HPD excited and determined to mow hay. Of course the ground is still wet and it will take another week for it dry out, but we mowed a little just say we did. The conditions where as bad as I had warned everyone they would be. The mower wheels where wet the whole time.

During the one hour we mowed before it started to rain! only one mower was plugging. I have for several years operated the same two mowers. Both have seven foot cutter bars and both with good knives and haybine type guards. Both have run great all spring as we have clipped pastures in some tough conditions. One is a number seven with wheels that have new lugs welded to the the cast wheels. the other is a number nine with the after market steel wheels sold to replace rubber tires.

In most good or dry conditions I would say the seven is the better mower; quieter, easier to pull; but in swamp conditions the nines wheels are wider (about 7″) with rebar lugs and they just don’t slip. With this mower I could mow the bottom of a pond if the water wasn’t too deep. This interesting to me because it confirms my believe that the condition of the wheels is so important to the operation of the mower; and they only become more important as the cutter bar length increases or the ground get softer or wetter.

Good luck making hay everyone. I am sure my next post will be how to fill wagons half way to keep ruts to a minimum!

[Roscoe]

We had same conditions last year. I only could mow 2/3 of my hayfield. in the wetter part of the field knives were in the water and the horses made 8″ deep holes with their hooves.
This year are the conditions ideal so far. I made the mower ready in the evening, hooked the horses up and made a short test run. Morning at 5 I hooked them up and started mowing. Not even half way around the field one mare wanted to make the turn were we last year did, but I didn’t let her because this year we can do the whole field. Anyway, she started acting up, jumped in the harness and the pitman broke!

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